People in Charlotte considering divorce may wonder about the impact that tax reforms will have on the end of their marriages. Divorce can bring significant changes to people's annual tax returns, and the types of changes will soon themselves be strikingly different. Tax reforms passed into law as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will go into effect in 2019, reversing the way that alimony and spousal support have been treated in the U.S. tax code for almost 80 years. While the changes … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2018
Financial assets and divorce
Some couples in North Carolina who get a divorce experience significant stress from the financial uncertainty that may result as they go through the divorce process. However, they can maintain control of their lives and lower their stress levels by taking a serious look at their financial situation. This means having a complete understanding of all of their liabilities, income, assets and expenses. Individuals can have many different types of financial assets. They may include certificates of … [Read more...]
Business valuations and adjustments to divorce settlements
Business ownership in North Carolina creates many variables for married people to consider when they pursue divorce. Sometimes, both spouses own roughly equal shares. However, it's more likely that only one spouse has a controlling stake in the company. The spouse who has enough shares to exert control might try to skew the valuation of the business to influence the outcome of the divorce settlement. Attempts to reduce a business's value on paper include hiding assets or downplaying their … [Read more...]
Crafting a divorce settlement later in life
Those who divorce at an older age generally don't argue over child custody or child support matters. Instead, the primary issue is how to divide assets in an equitable manner. Specifically, most older couples tend to spend most of their time determining how to divide a retirement account such as an IRA or 401(k). In some divorce cases, a couple may choose to divide the money in the account 50/50. However, this isn't necessarily the best way to do it. Even if assets are split evenly, it must be … [Read more...]
Police lineup reform in North Carolina
North Carolina was one of the first states to respond to the introduction of DNA evidence and the miscarriages of justice it uncovered by changing the way police departments in the state perform eyewitness lineups. DNA evidence has been used to free hundreds of wrongly convicted individuals, and scrutiny of court transcripts reveals that the juries in these cases were often swayed by eyewitnesses who made mistakes. The Eyewitness Identification Reform Act, which was signed into law in 2007, … [Read more...]