Fortunately, Indiana has a strong and growing economy with little debt. For this reason, along with its central location, many marital estates are in excess of one million dollars. Divorcing parties in this situation are fortunate in that they likely have enough money to properly account for the basic cost of a divorce which is a complex legal transaction (including tax issues, determining finances through a financial declaration, attending a parenting class, and valuing and dividing assets that were often not contemplated to ... Read More
06
Mar2017
10
Jan2017
In Indiana, there are two higher courts a party may seek an appeal from any final trial court order. There is an appeal as a matter of legal right to the Indiana Court of Appeals. A party dissatisfied with a decision of the Indiana Court of Appeals may seek discretionary transfer to the Indiana Supreme Court. This blog covers the five most common types of appeals taken to the Indiana Court of Appeals from final orders in domestic cases (i.e., paternity, ... Read More
22
Nov2016
Time shares and boats bring many families a great amount of joy during the marriage. However, they sometimes bring back the memory of a divorced or failed relationship and most litigants do not want the timeshare. Upon divorce, time shares are often a great deal of contention in the property settlement because in most locations, they are slow to sell and have on-going dues associated with them. Typically, neither party wants the time share. This blog addresses three (of the other) ways to address time ... Read More
15
Sep2016
tThe Indiana Dissolution Act encourages parties to reach agreements; and in fact, parties to a divorce can agree to a division of assets that a trial court judge could not order under the law that guides judges. This is because of the constitutional right to contract, strongly enforced by Indiana trial courts, the Court of Appeals, and Indiana Supreme Court.
This means that having buyer’s remorse and later wanting to go to a contested divorce trial or further negotiate is ... Read More
13
Jul2016
In today’s digital world, complex financial transactions and the ability to sort out fact from fiction is difficult in all arenas. This is especially true in the context of divorce. A neutral investigator may assist the attorney and client in these tasks to ultimately help move the divorce along consistently with the trial objectives and presumptions in property and custody statutes.
In the past, the “private” in “private investigator” has conjured up sleazy images for attorneys and litigants, evoking the thought of ... Read More
06
Apr2016
Under Indiana law, a trial court starts dividing the marital estate with the presumption of an equal division. There are numerous reasons for the court to deviate and award the other spouse more if it is fair (equitable in legal parlance). A category that is often overlooked is “dissipation” of marital assets, which means the illicit or illegal acts of a party has reduced the amount of the estate available to divide.
This blog looks at three common types of dissipation of marital assets. The first ... Read More
24
Sep2015
Marriages, particularly those of a long duration, usually intermix marital property of all kinds in organic ways that can be hard for the divorce court to untangle in dividing the marital estate in a just and reasonable manner. There are many aspect of the evidence the trial court must consider. In this blog, we cover five key things that apply in most divorce cases.
The first is Indiana follows a one-pot theory, whereby property owned by the parties coming into the marriage, acquired during the marriage up to the point a ... Read More
08
Jul2015
Most divorces, even highly contentious ones settle outside the court. Today’s trial court judges do a great deal of case management, such as guiding the parties to mediation, appointment of GAL, and custody evaluations. These steps result in most cases settling on the parties terms. The trial court judge must of course approve any agreement, and will not approve one that is not in your children’s best interests, but typically those issues do not arise.
Only a small portion of cases ... Read More
07
Jul2015
While real life domestic litigation is gritty and full of harsh realities of relationships and what happens when they end, there are three important legal lessons Indiana divorce or domestic litigants can take from the new movie or sequel “Ted.”
First, everything that is not a child, even a family heirloom, beloved toy or pet is property. There is not custody or visitation rights to items. Indiana trial courts are bound to divide it and divide all property in a just and reasonable way.
Second, court is serious. This is ... Read More
11
Dec2014
Indiana follows the “marital pot” theory to determine what property is “marital property.” The “marital pot” theory means that ALL assets and liabilities, owned byeither Husband or Wife BEFORE and DURING the marriage, no matter how the property is titled, is jointly owned by the husband and wife equally and collectively.
Indiana is unique in that there is no “separate” property, like many states recognize. Other states may consider debts or assets held before the marriage to be “separate” or property acquired during the marriage ... Read More
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