Family Attorney
Divorce often rings in new year
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Call it the stealth New Year’s resolution, the last-resort plan few people are willing to discuss during the year-end focus on holiday cheer and family. But after the seasonal festivities wind down and the relatives return home, couples on the brink of divorce often find their way to attorneys’ offices in January and February to start the process, legal experts say. “A lot of people try to stick it out through the holidays,” said Kathleen Miller, a certified financial planner and certified divorce financial analyst in Kirkland, Wash. “They don’t want to disrupt the family at that time. It’s not unusual that come January you start to see a lot of filings.” Some couples may be prompted by introspection that’s common around the end of the calendar year, said Sharyn Sooho, a divorce attorney and co-founder of DivorceNet.com, an online resource based in Newton, Mass. “We want to start the new year with a fresh start, and for some people that means getting out of what they think of as a bad marriage,” she said. Others may be more calculating in their timing. Employment and tax information begins to arrive at the end of January, making it easier to find out about earnings and any bonuses, commissions, investment dividends or interest the couple may share, she said. “It’s financially a good time to start the process.” Sooho, who’s specialized in divorce law for 28 years, estimates about a third of new divorce proceedings are initiated in the first two months of the year, with the other big spike coming in September at the beginning of the new school year. All of which can leave a hole in the pocketbook, not to mention the heart. A relatively straightforward divorce can run each party $2,000 on the low end and easily reach five times as much if it’s drawn out, contested or requires valuation of complex assets such as a business or stock options, said Sheryl Garrett, editor of the new book “Surviving Divorce” and a certified financial planner in Shawnee Mission, Kan. More : money.cnn.com |
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