Kennedy Law Associates' Blog

Many North Carolina women who would have been expected to remain home and raise children in past decades are choosing instead to enter the workforce and pursue careers, and virtually all sociologists think that this development is a positive one. However, several studies into the impact that income disparities can have on relationships reveal that successful women are far more likely to see their marriages end in divorce.

If the research behind these studies are correct, then the problem is a serious one. According to data compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than one in three wives now earn more than their husbands. A Harvard University professor who studied more than 6,300 relationships in 2016 found that men do not react well when they are not the primary breadwinner and they behave especially poorly when they only work part time or do not work at all. In these situations, she found that the likelihood of a marriage coming to an end increased by a worrying 33 percent.

Some North Carolina couples may suffer a drop in their credit ratings after they end their marriage. This can happen because of the strain of living on a single income or because joint debt is not paid off after the divorce.

Women may suffer larger blows to their credit rating than men. In part, this is because they have lower incomes than men on average. However, an Experian survey also found that half of divorced women reported that their credit was ruined by a former spouse. One of the main issues is that while a couple may agree to split a debt in their divorce agreement, creditors are not bound by this. If the debt is not paid, they will pursue the person the debt belongs to.

Changing names, changing passwords and revising estate plans are among the tasks that may still await some people in North Carolina after they get a divorce. People might need to revise their wills or trusts, change their beneficiary designations and get new powers of attorney.

The couple may have agreed to divide property during the divorce, but some of that property would still need to be retitled. A quit claim deed is a document that can be used to remove an ex-spouse from the title of a home, and refinancing can take the spouse off the mortgage. Vehicles and other assets might also require retitling. A qualified domestic relations order is prepared by an attorney and sent to the plan administrator for dividing non-IRA retirement accounts. IRAs usually have their own rules associated with their division. People may want to roll retirement account distributions from divorce into a new account.

When people in North Carolina get a divorce, it may be for one of three main reasons. According to some experts, growing apart, being unable to make up after fighting, and a psychological phenomenon known as "flooding" can all contribute to divorce.

One study found growing apart to be the number one reason cited by couples as leading to divorce. While this can be difficult to define, it basically refers to one or both people no longer being invested in preserving the relationship. These marriages do not necessarily end because one person has done anything wrong but simply because the people no longer wish to be married to one another. "Repair" is a word in the relationship world that refers to a couple's ability to come back together after a disagreement. Some therapists and researchers say that this ability is more important in a marriage's longevity than what the couple are actually fighting about.