Divorce
Jason Barnette – Tennessee Divorce Lawyer
Divorce is one of life's most painful experiences,and your emotions will be on a roller coaster during the process. As your divorce lawyer, Barnette Law Offices has the experience to understand the difficulties that arise and the ability to help you deal with those difficulties during this stressful time.
Some of the various issues that may be involved in a divorce in any part of Tennessee include grounds for divorce, property division, alimony, child custody and child support.
1) Grounds for Divorce
A divorce proceeding usually starts with grounds for the divorce. Twenty years ago, if you didn't prove grounds for divorce, you couldn't get divorced in Tennessee. Grounds for divorce are still litigated and are important to some people; specifically, in cases of adultery and abuse.
The most common grounds for divorce is irreconcilable differences, which is Tennessee's version of a no-fault divorce, or misappropriate maritial conduct. If the couple can't reach an agreement to file for divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences, one of the parties must allege one of the classic grounds, such as inappropriate marital conduct, adultery, bigamy, habitual drug use, habitual drunkenness, or a felony which was not disclosed prior to the marriage.
2) Property Division
Some assets are separate property which include those things belonging to a person before he or she gets married,or received as a gift or inherited during the marriage (so long as their partner didn’t improve its value). For the most part, everything else will be considered marital property, which is subject to division between the parties. Everything else is marital property which needs to be divided.
Many people who have significant assets such as businesses are often concerned about how those assets will be treated. If one spouse owns and runs the business he or she will probably get to keep it in addition to its future earnings. However, keeping a business often comes at a hefty price. The business will typically have to be valued using one or more approaches: according to its market value, the value of its assets, or the value of its income stream. In a typical situation, the three approaches are blended to arrive at a 'fair market value' and the spouse keeping the business is required to 'buy out' the other spouse's interest in cash or other assets.
3) Alimony
Tennessee has four kinds of alimony:
- a) Alimony in futuro, which is traditional or permanent alimony. Alimony in futuro payments continue each month until they die or remarry.
- b) Rehabilitative alimony, in which a spouse receives payments until they can become self sufficient.
- c) Transitional alimony, which are payments designed to transition one spouse from being married to being single.
- d) Alimony in solido, which is alimony designed to make property division more fair.
In Tennessee, alimony is primarily based on the need of the person receiving it, the ability of the other person to pay it, the length of marriage and the fault involved in the grounds for divorce (not the sole determinative factor although).
4) Child Custody
Child custody in Tennessee can be a highly contested issue in divorce. While the legislature has tried to move toward shared parenting, the courts know that shared parenting won't work if the parents don’t get along. For this reason, it's common for children to live with one parent and to visit the other parent every other weekend.
In Tennessee, child custody is determined by factors such as the age, mental health, education and job commitment of the parties, love and affection shown toward the child, and who has been primary care giver. However, the standard is the best interest of the child and accordingly, Barnette Law Offices encourages mediation to quickly come up with a solid and amicable co-parenting plan.
5) Child Support
Child support is how much money the non-custodial parent will have to pay the parent with custody. In Tennessee, child support is determined using a formula that considers such factors as the incomes of both parties and the amount of residential time the child spends with each parent. It is a fairly simple process but, one which can be negotiated with the opposing party.
6) More Information about Divorce
If you are currently going through a divorce or contemplating the first step, please schedule a consultation with Jason Barnette, Esq. of Barnette Law Offices, LLC. We can be reached at http://www.barnettelawoffices.com or 615-585-2245.
Tennessee Family Law Attorney Jason Barnette of Barnette Law Offices, LLC, serves clients throughout Tennessee, including Davidson County, Maury County, Robertson County, Rutherford County, Sumner County, Putnam County, Knox County, Williamson County, and Wilson County just to name a few.
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