Identifying Your Priorities in a Divorce
During a divorce, the property, funds and retirement benefits you have acquired throughout your marriage may be divided. For this reason, it’s essential that you and your attorney identify your top priorities and create specific goals for your divorce settlement. Doing so will help you get what is most important to you out of your divorce.
Children from your marriage
For most parents, the care and support of children is the top priority in a divorce. Talk with your lawyer about your goals for child custody and how much child support you believe would be fair. Additional considerations related to your children may include visitation schedules for your spouse and extended family members, custody plans for school vacations and financial support for education and extracurricular activities.
Spousal support
Before beginning negotiations, it is wise to decide whether you would like to receive spousal support, also called alimony. If you feel as though you have sacrificed your income by leaving or scaling back at your job for the sake of your family, you may be able to receive support from a spouse with a greater earning capacity. Your attorney will help you arrive at an appropriate alimony figure, and will assist with negotiations to achieve that desired amount.
Special items
If you have special pieces of property that you would like to retain after your divorce, it is best to identify them upfront. For example, if you would like to retain ownership of a vacation home or family pet, you should inform your lawyer of these outside items so that they may be prioritized from day one of negotiations.
Keep in mind that certain items may need to be compromised on to reach a settlement. By identifying your priorities in advance, you can focus on what is most important to you, and minimize negotiations, fees and time spent on items of lesser significance.
For further guidance when you’re going through divorce, contact the dedicated Long Island family law attorneys at Bryan L. Salamone & Associates.