San Jose Divorce Lawyer Blog

According to a recent survey of more than 1,500 family law attorneys in California and across the United States, more than half of the survey respondents reported that they have seen an increase in the number of requests for postnuptial agreements in the last three years. Interestingly, a large number of the divorce lawyers surveyed said that they have seen a rise in the number of wives who are making those requests.

Postnuptial agreements, or postnups, are much like prenuptial agreements, with the significant difference that they are made after the couple marries, not before. Essentially, postnups are voluntary marital contracts entered into by couples who wish to decide and dictate how their assets and finances are divided in the event that their marriage ends in divorce. The agreements can also cover other family law issues such as spousal support, property division, children and probate.

If you are going through the divorce process in California, you may be uncertain of how your split will affect your insurance needs, eligibility and availability. We will give a brief overview of how the different forms of insurance are affected by divorce.

Health insurance: It is important to notify your insurer of your divorce as soon as it becomes finalized. Continuing to cover your ex-spouse after divorce is technically insurance fraud and, as such, could cause you to be dropped from your insurance plan. The uninsured spouse can continue to be insured through COBRA, but will be required to pay the full cost of the insurance policy.

A California man will spend the next three months in jail after being convicted of bigamy. Following his arrest, the man admitted that he had married three different wives, although the women involved suspect that number is higher. He had reportedly attempted to divorce at least one of the two California women he married, but those attempts apparently were not successful.

According to court documents, the 51-year-old man married his third wife in Utah in January 2011. Not long after their wedding, the man suddenly announced that he had to fly back to California to sell a house. Noticing that the man was acting strangely, the woman began to research him on the Internet. She ultimately discovered that he had been married several times, but that he had never divorced any of his former wives.

According to a new study, the vast majority of children experience no lasting negative emotional, social or academic effects as the result of their parents' divorce. In fact, the kids of parents who remain in a troubled marriage seem to be negatively affected at the same rate as children of divorced parents.

Specifically, the research indicates that about 85 percent of kids whose parents divorce are not negatively affected by the split. Interestingly, the same number - about 15 percent - of children whose parents remain married despite a high level of conflict experience negative psychological or academic issues during childhood.

Prior to the economic recession, couples that divorced in California often had difficulty with and disagreements about the financial aspect of their divorce. That remains the same today. Now, however, people are not fighting over who will get the family home, the stock options, the retirement plans and the savings account. Instead, they are working out who will take the credit card debt, the student loans and the underwater mortgage.

The point is this: regardless of the situation, money has always been and will always be one of the most complicated, contentious aspects of a divorce. As such, many divorcing couples are now choosing to retain the services of a financial planner, to help them work out not only the details of their divorce but also to help them prepare for life after their split.

Earlier this week, we wrote about the process of attaining financial independence and stability after divorce, with advice on updating accounts and building your credit after your divorce is finalized. We will continue that discussion today, offering a few more good steps toward financial stability following a split.

As in marriage, it is important to develop a comprehensive, detailed financial plan in divorce. Here, it may be helpful to meet with a financial planner to help you determine your income and expenses and to create a budget. It is important to look at both your short- and long-term needs when doing so, considering day-to-day bills and expenses for the former and future expenses such as college and retirement for the latter. In addition, if your divorce settlement included any lump sum payments, you will need to determine how you are going to handle those amounts and how that will factor in to your financial plan.

As many of our San Jose readers are well aware, the divorce process can be (and often is) long, complicated and stressful. So once that process is finally complete and your divorce becomes final, you may think that the hard work is over. Unfortunately, that is not necessarily the case. It often takes several steps to fully separate your life from that of your former spouse, especially when it comes to your finances.

Therefore, in order to attain financial independence and stability after your split, you may want to take some or all of the steps listed below.

In 1983, the Uniform Law Commission issued a set of rules and recommendations on how to draft prenuptial agreements. That blueprint was adopted by just 26 states, some of which made changes to the recommendations then and in the years since in order to fit the state's individual family laws and needs.

Given that history, it is no surprise that prenuptial agreements have become a source of much confusion and frustration for family law attorneys and couples in California and throughout the country. States have widely diverse rules on how to draft prenup and how to handle challenges to them in divorce. And in an increasingly mobile society in which couples may meet, marry, live and divorce in completely different states, this clearly presents a number of logistical and legal challenges.