Estate Planning After Gray Divorce
A disproportionate share of divorce cases involve people over 50. On the one hand, gray divorce can be a relief. A main motivation behind this phenomenon is people realizing that, now that their children have grown up, life is too short to stay in an unhappy marriage. Of course, for every recently divorced senior who has been saving up for a fabulous senior single life for years, ever since the kids started to show signs of independence and it started to become obvious that their spouse was never going to change, there is at least one who planned to stay married for life and was completely blindsided by the sight of the divorce petition. Whether the divorce was your idea, a mutual decision, or the shock of a lifetime, it necessitates revision of your estate plan. If you are old enough to have an estate plan but not too old to begin a new chapter in your life, a Dade City estate planning lawyer can help you build an estate plan that suits the new you and protects you and your heirs from poverty.
Abolition of Permanent Alimony Leaves Florida Seniors Out in the Cold
If your spouse surprised you with divorce papers after a long marriage during which you were out of the workforce, you are in a vulnerable position. It is of little consolation that thousands of older women in Florida are in a similar situation to yours. A
Florida recently enacted a law that has removed permanent alimony as an option in divorce cases; until recently, the family courts had the option to award permanent alimony after marriages that lasted 17 years or more, if the lower income spouse had no other source of financial support that would keep him or her out of poverty. The courts will honor existing marital settlement agreements (MSAs) and court decisions that stipulate permanent alimony, but it will not issue any contested divorce decrees that require one spouse to continue paying permanent alimony indefinitely. In other words, the current cohort of gray divorcees needs family law attorneys and estate planning lawyers more than ever.
Contact a Florida Estate Planning Attorney About Moving On From Gray Divorce
An estate planning attorney can help you plan for your financial future if you got divorced late in life. Contact The Law Office of Laurie R. Chane in Dade City, Florida to discuss your estate plan.
Source:
cbsnews.com/miami/news/florida-gov-desantis-signs-bill-ending-permanent-alimony/