While once considered only the province of the rich and famous, premarital agreements are becoming more common in today’s society. A premarital agreement is a contract signed before the marriage between the soon to be husband and the soon to be wife which sets forth the division of assets and liabilities in the event of death and/or divorce. For example,…
Divorcing couples are often faced with the issue of having a large portion of their respective net worths in 401(k) Retirement Plans. These assets consist of tax-deferred investments which are taxable upon withdrawal and which often carry a 10% Tax Penalty if withdrawn prior to age 59 ½. With proper planning, exceptions in the Tax Code allow a divorcing couple…
The New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled a divorce court does not have the powers of a bankruptcy court in the case of Katherine F. Beal and R. Keith Beal on April 11, 2006. In the Beal case, the divorce court was asked, as is frequently done, to divide up the parties’ assets and debts. The couple had assets of approximately…
The New Hampshire Supreme Court, in a relatively short opinion, held that an obligor’s attempted suicide does not necessarily disqualify his request for modification of child support. In the matter of Fontaine and Dunn, Mr. Dunn and Ms. Fontaine had twin daughters. The couple was never married. In 2001, Mr. Dunn sustained a self inflicted gun shot wound to the…
New Hampshire has a homestead exemption of $100,000, which generally means that after your mortgage both you and your spouse each have a $100,000 protection from creditors. If you and your husband own your home together, and your husband realizes he has some financial troubles in his business and he transfers his interest in the homestead to you for no…