| Property Division in Divorce: Personal Injury Awards |
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| Personal injury awards are paid to injury victims to compensate for personal injury, pain and suffering, lost wages, loss of future earning capacity, loss of consortium (i.e., loss of companionship), medical expenses and damages to property when the loss occurred due to another's negligence. In a divorce, a question might arise as to whether such awards can be considered as separate property or marital property, i.e. joint property of the spouses. There are two primary methods by which courts typically classify such awards as marital or separate property, i.e. the analytic approach and the mechanistic approach. More... |
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| Fault-based Divorce: Cruelty |
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| There are two basic approaches to divorce: fault-based divorce and "no fault" divorce. Most states permit a "no fault" divorce on the grounds that the marriage is irretrievably broken. Some states still require a fault-based divorce, some allow no-fault divorces, and a few states permit both. The fault grounds or reasons for divorce vary from state to state. Cruelty is a specific fault ground for divorce in most of the states that allow fault based divorces. Prior to the introduction of no-fault divorce grounds, cruelty was the most frequently used reason in seeking a divorce. More... |
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| Alimony: Rehabilitative Spousal Support |
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| Alimony awards, also called "spousal support," are usually granted at the court's discretion upon a determination, which takes into account certain factors, that spousal maintenance is necessary. Some of the factors considered when determining alimony payments include the education of the spouses, their respective work experiences, income histories, ages, health, the length of the marriage, and the time either spouse has spent out of the work force. Alimony may be either temporary (often called "rehabilitative alimony") or permanent. The court grants rehabilitative spousal support when one spouse has been disadvantaged in order to equalize the burden of the divorce. More... |
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| Alimony: Rehabilitative Spousal Support |
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| Alimony awards, also called "spousal support," are usually granted at the court's discretion upon a determination, which takes into account certain factors, that spousal maintenance is necessary. Some of the factors considered when determining alimony payments include the education of the spouses, their respective work experiences, income histories, ages, health, the length of the marriage, and the time either spouse has spent out of the work force. Alimony may be either temporary (often called "rehabilitative alimony") or permanent. The court grants rehabilitative spousal support when one spouse has been disadvantaged in order to equalize the burden of the divorce. More... |
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| Alimony: Reimbursement Support |
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| Reimbursement support is one way in which a spouse (the paying spouse) who received the other spouse's (the receiving spouse's) monetary support during marriage repays that support after the parties divorce. The benefit rendered could be in the form of educational costs, money spent toward establishing or operating a business for the supported spouse, and similar types of support. To be eligible for reimbursement support, the benefits should have been received during the marriage, and the receiving spouse should have provided most of the family support during the marriage period in question. More... |
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