Family Law Blog

Prenuptial agreements have a better reputation today than they did a decade ago. It's becoming increasingly common for couples planning to tie the knot in North Carolina to explore their options with a prenup. This document can spell out who owns what before the "I dos" are exchanged.

A prenup can be especially beneficial if one or both parties owns a business. One option is for a spouse-to-be/business owner to determine the company's premarital value so that it won't be subject to distribution should a marriage end. It's also advisable that an owner decide what will happen with business appreciation or depreciation from the date of marriage. For example, the business owner may opt to share profits and losses with their new spouse.

Although married millennials may be more likely than their Gen X or baby boomer counterparts to keep finances separate, this might not be enough to provide financial protection in a divorce. While equitable property states like North Carolina usually require an equitable but not necessarily equal distribution of marital property, an attorney could argue that either spouse's earnings were also marital property.

Instead of relying on separate accounts to ensure financial security in case of divorce, financial professionals advise creating a prenuptial agreement. When couples create a prenup, they must be upfront about their finances. This could actually be a healthy conversation that leads to greater trust. However, a prenup is not right for all couples. If this is the case, there are other steps spouses can take to safeguard their finances.

If you recently learned that divorce is in your future, you may wonder about how you should tell your kids about this news. Planning an important conversation like this can have many facets. For example, you might wonder when should you tell them, who should participate in the conversation, what they might understand and what you should expect from the conversation.

Pick the right moment

Many people in North Carolina rely on food assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. This government program serves an average of 40 million people across the country, helping them to make ends meet and receive assistance with basic nutrition needs. In many cases, SNAP recipients are single parents raising their children. Around 37% of children living in single-parent families are also living in poverty.

There are a number of complex causes for these children's poverty, and SNAP makes only a small dent in the burden borne by their parents. Some argue that one major cause of poverty in single-parent households is the failure of non-custodial parents to pay child support or fulfill their obligations under an existing support order. However, less than 50% of all poor single parents with custody of their children even have a child support order in place. In some cases, these parents have less access to and time to deal with the legal system to obtain a support order. In other cases, they feel that their informal support agreements with the other parent will be endangered by going to court.