Nine Items to Think About at the End of Your Divorce

9. It is important that you are fully advised of the consequences of any settlement, and that you understand the agreement. Remember that property settlements cannot be changed. Parts of the settlement regarding children, including child support, parenting time, and custody, are all modifiable in the future. Spousal support is normally modifiable unless it is set forth as non-modifiable, and that should be carefully considered as well, especially in our current economic situation where people are losing jobs so frequently.

8. If there is medical insurance and COBRA to be kept in effect, make sure that the forms are taken care of immediately because there is only a 30 day grace period, and then the rights may be waived.

7. Make sure that any deeds for transferring of homes or other real estate are signed and taken care of at once.

6. Make sure that any Qualified Domestic Relations Orders for transfer of pensions or 401Ks or IRAs have been properly handled and are taken care of as soon as possible. In this economy, when you are transferring funds from 401Ks or IRAs that are tied in with the stock market, it is important to make sure that you don’t have a set sum, but these are transferred based upon fluctuations in value up to the date of transfer so that everyone is protected.

5. Make sure that all life insurance is properly handled so that if there are to be changes in beneficiaries, or cancellation of insurance, this is taken care of as soon as possible.

4. Any credit cards that are to be changed should be taken care of as soon as possible.

3. Titles to motor vehicles should be transferred, and this should be taken care of as rapidly as possible.

2. Any meetings necessary for signing of documents or transfer of funds should be taken care of without delay because the longer things drag on, the harder it is to unravel any situation should there be problems. It is important to have a checklist and often a closing in a complicated case to make sure that everything that has been agreed to is taken care of.

1. All child support and spousal support orders must be in place. It should be done at once so the person receiving his or her support, does so in a timely fashion. In cases where there is a delay between the finalizing of divorce case and the actual entry of child support and/or spousal support orders, an agreement should be in place where there can be direct payments until the court order takes effect. Last, but not least, it is important to bear in mind that a settlement or judgment is as good as the parties are. If someone wants to find a loophole, or fail to honor the agreement or judgment, then that person will do so, no matter how well an agreement is drafted. This will result in more court appearances and litigations. It is important to have a good attorney help you through this situation. Everything should be finalized, and all of the steps taken care of as quickly as possible, so that there are no loose ends after the divorce is finalized.

Michigan Family Law information provided by Bloomfield Hills, MI divorce attorney Henry S. Gornbein.