Legal Question in Family Law in Maine

Re: Divorce.. I'm bewildered

This is a devastating piece of news, there is no doubt of that. Facing the mchanics of a divorce seems, at first, like an insurmountable task. The best way to deal with the path forward is to take the case in sections.

First, you do not indicate whether or not the two of you have children. If you do, those childrens' issues are the most important and have priority over everything else: will the children remain in the home? With whom? What will the contact schedule with the other parent be? What will be the child support? Who is covering the children's health and dental insurance?

The next piece is to look at the marital assets and debts. It's important to list them all. In Maine, there is a legal presumption that all assets obtained from the day of marriage are marital in nature. This includes contributions to retirement accounts. All debts taken on from the date of marriage are also presumed to be marital.

Once you have a handle on the assets and debts, a plan will need to be formulated as to how they will be divided. There is an erooneous "common knowledge" that all assets and debts are divided evenly. That is untrue. In Maine, marital assets and debts are divided equitably; that is, fairly. This may mean, for example, that you are entitled to more than 50% of the assets, or that your husband is responsible for more than 50% of the debt.

Lastly, there are issues of spousal support and attorney's fees. The presumption is that once a marriage is 10 years or more in length, there will be some spousal support paid by the higher income spouse to the lower income spouse. The presumption is further made that the support will continue for one-half of the length of the marriage. Unlike child support, which is determined by a chart, spousal support is flexible and is based upon the higher income spouse's ability to pay and the lower income spouse's need.

That is a lot of information to digest. The first steps are always to be sure that the children are safe and kept as isolated from the divorce as possible. The second is to begin compiling all the assets and debts. If you would like to discuss this in more detail, please do not hesitate to contact me.