Kennedy Law Associates' Blog

During the happier times of your marriage, you loved packing up the car and heading to the Blue Ridge Mountains to spend some time in your cabin. Now that you are planning for a divorce, though, your vacation home could give you some serious headaches. 

As you probably know, not all divorces are the same. For couples with many assets, equitably dividing property can be difficult. If you have a second residence, you should realize it may become a bargaining chip in your divorce. You should also know a few other things about how your cabin or vacation property may affect your divorce proceedings. 

During and after a divorce, there are many things you must consider. Initially, your concerns lie in the formalities of the actual proceedings, such as dividing assets and debts and constructing a parenting plan. Once the dust settles, you can begin getting other parts of your life in order.

One of the things you may have neglected to take care of during the divorce proceedings is retooling your will and life insurance. Why is it crucial to take care of these estate documents soon after divorce?

Emotions can run high and co-parenting can be a challenge when a couple is divorcing. Parents certainly want the best for their children, including protecting them from stressful situations. Some parents have found that nesting is an answer to their predicament of who will live where and with which parent shortly after divorce. In nesting, the kids stay put in the family home, and the parents swap separate living spaces back and forth according to an agreed-upon schedule.

The key to the idea of nesting working out is that parents must be capable of getting along well. It is advised that families only use this as a temporary solution until final decisions are made in child custody matters and other legal issues. If nesting goes on too long, therapists agree that children may get mixed messages that cause them to think their parents might reconcile the marriage.

North Carolina couples going through a divorce have to make many important decisions about property division. One of the most critical decisions has to do with what will happen to the marital home.

In many situations, one spouse will end up buying the other spouse out and keeping the home. If the property is jointly owned, this can be accomplished by having one spouse sign away his or her right to the title via a quit claim deed. However, while a quit claim deed removes the right of ownership from a spouse, it does not remove that spouse from his or her responsibility to pay the mortgage. If the spouse that keeps the home fails to pay the mortgage, it can negatively impact the other spouse's credit. In order to avoid such a scenario, experts recommend that the spouse who is keeping the home should get a new mortgage loan.