Family Law
In an effort to save money during divorce, many couples turn to self-help legal forms and generic advice found on the Internet rather than hiring a family law attorney. When parties attempt to represent themselves in the divorce process and forgo the benefit of legal counsel, they place themselves at risk of adverse legal and financial consequences that could end up costing them more than if they had hired an attorney. Before you elect to…
The North Carolina Child Support Guidelines provide a formula for determining the presumptive child support obligation for parties’ whose combined adjusted gross income is $300,000 per year or less. The child support guidelines allow various factors to be taken into consideration when determining each parent’s presumptive child support obligation. These various factors include, but not are not limited to, adjustments for work-related child care expenses, health and dental insurance expense for the child, and a…
Separate property is considered property (either an asset or debt) that belongs to one spouse individually. Separate property is not subject to equitable distribution and its value is not included in the marital estate. Separate property includes: property that was owned by a spouse prior to marriage; property acquired in exchange for separate property; and property that was received by gift or inheritance. It is well established that gifts to a spouse from a third-party…
As its name implies, a premarital agreement (also known as a prenuptial agreement) is an agreement that parties enter into before marriage. To be considered a valid premarital agreement, the agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties before the marriage. The agreement becomes effective when the parties are married. In the event the parties do not sign a premarital agreement before they are married, they cannot sign such an agreement after they…
Separation agreement is a general term used to describe a written contract that spouses enter into to address some or all issues arising from their marital separation. A separation agreement may be a simple agreement that establishes the parties’ date of separation, or it may deal with broader issues, including child custody, child support, alimony, and/or division of marital property and debts. In North Carolina, there is no law that requires spouses to sign a…