By Henry Gornbein

We have been going through some of the worst economic times since The Great Depression.  Numerous articles and newscasts have stated either that the housing market has bottomed out, or is still going down.  In Michigan, we have the most depressed housing market in the United States.  Other states, including Florida, California, and Arizona – just to name a few, are also going through some horrible economic times with regard to housing.  In the past, before the economy bottomed out, homes were a family’s most valuable asset.  In the last year and a half, that has changed substantially.  In many of my divorce cases, the marital home is no longer an asset, but is heavily encumbered by debt.  Many people purchased homes in the past ten years, expecting their home to become a piggy bank for future savings and retirement.  Sadly, this is no longer the case.  Many people were obtaining mortgages, followed by home equity loans and second mortgages, based upon numbers that no longer exist.

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Parenting time is the number of overnights that each parent has with the child or children as the result of a divorce action or a paternity action.  It is based upon the Child Custody Act, and the same factors that are reviewed by the courts in determining child custody, are also looked at with regard to parenting time.  Parenting time can run the gamut from one parent having the children most of the time, and the other parent having a set schedule, such as alternate weekends and maybe one evening a week for dinner and alternate holidays, along with time set forth during the summer and school breaks, to a situation where the parties may have equal parenting time with various schedules being set forth by agreement or set by the court.  Every situation is different and a parenting time schedule that makes sense for an infant or young child, will make no sense for a nine or ten-year-old.  Teenagers will often need very different schedules because they want to spend more time with their friends, along with their involvement in school activities, and less and less time with either parent.  

In these tough economic times, where people are trying to save money and want to have an amicable divorce, an excellent way to do this is through a pre-divorce mediation package.  I have handled several of these successfully, and would like to explain how it works.

Both the husband and wife meet with an attorney who specializes in family law and is also certified as a mediator, as are all of the attorneys at Gornbein Smith Peskin-Shepherd.  An agreement is reached at the first meeting that the attorney will be acting as a mediator and will not be representing either the husband or wife in the divorce.  The role of the attorney will be to meet with the parties to cover all issues in the divorce in an effort to help them resolve everything in an amicable fashion.

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By  Henry S. Gornbein

9.   Find out as much about your financials as possible before you file a divorce, so that there will be no surprises.

8.   Try to find out as much as possible about your job security and if you aren’t employed, see what your options are for employment.

7.   Carefully consider all options, especially whether or not the marriage can be saved.

6.   Think about your house. Does it have a negative equity? Can you afford the payments? Do you want to stay in the house, or leave?

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In these troubled economic times, more and more people are turning to the protection of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to resolve their debts and protect their property from foreclosure and repossession.

More than 1 million people filed bankruptcy last year alone, and the numbers are only climbing as the recession hits homes.

Some people are finding that in order for them to save their homes from foreclosure or to gain control of their bills, they need to file bankruptcy in the middle of their divorce.

This can lead to many questions as the legal proceedings of bankruptcy and divorce intersect.

Read on to get answers to some bankruptcy and divorce questions you may have.

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