What Should I Discuss with My Washington, DC, Arlington and Fairfax Divorce Attorney?
Child Custody & Visitation
We understand that nothing is more important to you than your children. That is why we start gathering information and formulating a strategy during your initial consultation to achieve a result that is best for your children from your perspective. We will address the following questions and more:
- Where should my children live?
- Will my spouse support them if they live with me?
- If my spouse gets the children, when will I see them?
- Who pays for the children’s living expenses?
- How will I obtain information and documentation from my children’s school if I do not see them everyday?
- How do I prevent my spouse from exposing the children to his or her significant other?
- What can I do to prevent my children from being involved in court proceedings?
Together, we will answer these questions and more, and effectively strategize to achieve a custody and visitation result that puts the children first.
Asset & Property Distribution
Distribution of property and assets can be contentious and complex. If you are concerned about the division of property, assets and debts, you need a law firm that can provide aggressive and highly experienced legal advocacy. Firm Principal Michelle C. Thomas has extensive experience handling high asset property distribution and routinely addresses issues such as property appraisal, property re-tracing, business valuation, investments, division of retirement funds, stock options and more.
You worked hard for the money…or you have supported the career of a spouse who did. When faced with a divorce, many issues come to mind such as:
- What assets will the Court divide?
- Will the Court consider everything I did to maintain the home, even if my spouse paid the mortgage?
- Who will get the house?
- Who stays in the marital home during the divorce?
- If my spouse stays in the house, do I still have to pay the mortgage?
- If I purchased it before the marriage, do I get to keep it?
- What if I did not contribute anything to the mortgage payments? I maintained the house, cleaned, arranged for repairs, painted, and more, should I get the house?
- What happens if neither of us can afford to keep the house?
- Do I keep my 401(K) account? I earned it myself!
- What happens to my stock options that I acquired during the marriage, but am exercising after the marriage?
- My spouse incurred significant debt during the marriage, am I still liable?
- What about my business? It is built on my goodwill, is my spouse entitled to any of it?
- How will I identify where my spouse keeps his hidden assets?
- What if my spouse is hiding assets in off-shore account? What will we do then?
- Will the house be sold? If so, how much will I receive from the proceeds?
- What if I owned several properties prior to the marriage, and used equity from those to purchase the marital home? Shouldn’t the house remain my property?
- How much is my spouse’s business worth
During your initial consultation with our firm, and throughout our representation of you, we will answer these questions and more. In a tough economy, protecting your property rights is of paramount importance to this firm. There is life after divorce, and we want you to be financially equipped to face the future without worry. We will develop a strategy, with the assistance of experts including tax advisors, financial planners, business valuators, CPAs, real estate experts and more to help you reach your goals.
Spousal Support or Alimony
Whether you were the primary breadwinner or a stay-at-home spouse, the issue of Spousal Support or Alimony is likely in the forefront of your mind. Even though the marriage is ending, the financial obligations may not based upon several factors. By way of example, the courts consider the age and health of the parties, the length of the marriage, incomes, earning capacities, contributions (money-wise and non-money related) to the marriage, support of spouse’s career, sacrifices of one’s career, and more to determine whether spousal support should be paid, and if so, how much. At M.C. Thomas & Associates, the goal of our Washington, D.C., Arlington and Fairfax divorce lawyers is to protect your interests and assist with securing your financial future. Common questions are:
- What assets will the Court divide?
- Will the Court consider everything I did to maintain the home, even if my spouse paid the mortgage?
- Who will get the house?
- Who stays in the marital home during the divorce?
- If my spouse stays in the house, do I still have to pay the mortgage?
- If I purchased it before the marriage, do I get to keep it?
- What if I did not contribute anything to the mortgage payments? I maintained the house, cleaned, arranged for repairs, painted, and more, so should I get to keep the house?
- What happens if neither of us can afford to keep the house?
- Do I have to divide my 401(K) account?
- What happens to the stock options that I acquired during the marriage, but am exercising after the marriage?
- My spouse incurred significant debt during the marriage, am I still liable?
- What about my business that was built on my goodwill? Is my spouse entitled to any of it?
- How will I identify where my spouse keeps his hidden assets?
- What if my spouse is hiding assets in off-shore accounts?
- Will the house be sold? If so, how much will I receive from the proceeds?
- What if I owned several properties prior to the marriage, and used equity from those to purchase the marital home? Shouldn’t the marital home remain my separate property?
We will answer these questions and more during our initial consultation and representation of you to help you reach your goals. Given that many of our clients are business owners and corporate executives, we understand that a financially savvy firm is important to your success after the divorce. Our divorce law firm distinguishes itself by involving the expertise of tax experts and financial advisors to determine the type of monetary payment that yields the greatest tax advantages, and in turn helps to keep more money in your pocket.
Next Steps
There are many complex decisions that have to be made once you decide to divorce. With the emotional issues with which you are confronted, it is best to rely on experienced divorce and family law attorneys to help you make sound decisions and guide you through the process. That way, you can focus on the emotional aspect of divorce, and we can do the rest. Please contact our Washington, D.C., Arlington and Fairfax divorce attorneys for your informative, initial consultation with Attorney Michelle C. Thomas.
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