A challenging aspect of ending your marriage is discussing divorce with your 3-year-old child, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Talking to your young child about divorce requires preparation and the use of appropriate language understood by your youngster. Explaining divorce requires cooperation between you and your spouse and a reasonable attempt to set aside your differences for the sake of your child, at least during the conversation itself.

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Thursday, the Florida Senate passed alimony reform legislation (SB 718) by a 29-11 margin. The Senate sent a strong message to Floridians that current alimony laws will change. If proponents succeed in the House next week, permanent alimony will be harder, if not impossible, for spouses in long-term marriages to get.

The bill allows existing agreements to be modified to reflect the new law.

The ramifications of such a drastic move would be far reaching for everyone — payers, alimony recipients, children of divorced parents. Although there have surely been abuses under current law, rather than reform, the bill is a complete overhaul of a system that works — albeit not perfectly. Many divorces are handled through mediation, which is now required by law.

Divorcing couples are also opting for collaborative divorces in an effort to avoid a court battle, exert more control over the process and craft their own settlements. Click here to find out how the Divorce Without War® approach can work for you.

Written as a remedy for a minority of men and women, the bill leaves the majority of alimony recipients at risk.

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You can divorce your spouse, but unless you take extra steps to protect yourself, ditching debt from jointly held cards is more difficult. Credit card companies aren’t bound by divorce decrees, so they can go after you for jointly incurred debt if your former spouse doesn’t pay.

This is why divorce attorneys, financial planners and credit counselors recommend that you leave your marriage with no joint debt. By either paying off the joint cards together or dividing up the debt on joint cards and transferring it to cards in each partner’s name, the goal is to remove your liability for your partner’s debts. It’s also important to inventory your wallet and make sure all joint credit cards are canceled during the divorce process.

The consequences of going into your newly single life with jointly held debt are potentially painful: Should your ex file for bankruptcy or just not pay what he or she is supposed to pay, your creditors can go after you for the full amount of the debt, plus interest and penalties. You can include provisions in the divorce agreement to force your ex to pay up, but going back to court is expensive and time-consuming.

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If you are going through a divorce or legal separation and you or your spouse own retirement plan assets, you will most likely be required to share these assets. In some cases, the assets may be awarded to one party. Whether you are giving up the assets or receiving them, you need to understand the rules that govern the asset division. Proper handling is critical in ensuring that the right party is responsible for paying applicable taxes. The type of retirement plan – that is, whether it is an IRA or qualified plan – determines the rules that apply.

Click here for an overview of these rules from investopedia.com.

Divorce creates new challenges for parents, but there are many strategies that will help you both adjust to the challenge of single parenting.

For whatever reason you and your spouse divorced, there are bound to be concerns about the effect on your children. Whether they were clued in or were completely shocked by their parents’ divorce, every child is affected in his or her own way. There are many helpful strategies to minimize the damage of divorce on children and to maintain peace in the family and yes, it is still a family, even if the parents live apart.

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Divorce can be one of the most financially devastating events in life. The costs that accompany divorce include legal bills and the cost of an additional residence, and with around 45% of marriages ending in divorce, millions of Americans face the financial strains of divorce every year.

When a second marriage ends in divorce, money management strains can be even greater, because couples may have children together as well as children from previous unions, prenuptial agreements are more likely to be involved, and people in second marriages are often older, with more deeply ingrained financial tendencies.

Good money management after divorce should begin before papers are filed to minimize potential financial problems. If you are divorced or in the process of divorcing, smart money management requires considering your income, regular bills, short term goals, health and life insurance, retirement planning, and emergency funds.
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