If you are in the process of divorce or separation, you might be a little down in the dumps for the holidays.  But it’s the season for giving, so we thought we might cheer you up with these twelve free and useful gifts we pulled together from the Internet for you.

1. Free Visitation Schedules and Percentages
2. Free Child Support Calculator
3. Free Alimony Calculator
4. Free Online Financial Calculators
5. Free Interest Calculator for Judgments
6. Free Alimony Recapture Calculator
7. Free New Blog on Coping Strategies for Divorce Emotions
8. Free Notes from the Universe
9. Free Calendar and Messaging for Co-Parenting After Divorce
10. Free Sample Parenting Plan (PDF)
11. Free Divorce Coaching Interactive Program
12. Free Divorce Email Newsletter (Upper Right Corner of This Page)

Years ago Maryland and Virginia added no-fault divorce grounds to the traditional fault grounds.   DC has moved completely to no fault grounds.  However, even if you file on no-fault grounds, marital misconduct still comes into play in all three jurisdictions.

Alimony. In each jurisdiction, the law provides a list of factors the court must court must consider in determining alimony.  In Maryland and DC, one of the factors is circumstances surrounding the estrangement of the parties.  In Virginia, adultery can prevent a spouse from receiving alimony unless the court finds that would create a manifest injustice.

Property. In determining how marital property is to be equitably distributed, each jurisdiction has another list of factors the court must consider.  In Maryland, there is a catch all provision that includes any other factors that the court considers appropriate.  In Virginia, one factor is circumstances contributing to the dissolution of marriage.  In DC, it is circumstances contributing to the estrangement.

Custody. Marital misconduct does not necessarily make you a bad parent.  The test is best interest of the children.  But the parties think it is important that the judge know what a scoundrel the other parent is, especially if the other parent is slinging mud, too.

As a result, the parties spend 90% of their time in discovery and trial trying to prove fault.  While most of the judges I’ve talked to say it affects their decision by 10% or less.

Michelle Pont and her husband started a truck hauling business in 1991 in California.  Over the years they accumulated millions in properties and investments.  But when Michelle decided to divorce, she discovered that her husband controlled all the family assets.  She maxed out all her credit cards on legal fees and expert witnesses in the first few months of the divorce.

She thought about taking a settlement for less than she thought was fair.  Then she discovered Balance Point Divorce Funding, a Beverly Hills company that lends money for divorce expenses in exchange for a percentage of the money obtained by the borrower in the divorce.  There are no interest charges and no payments are due until the recovery.

Attorney Stacey Napp, started Balance Point last year, after her own lengthy and expensive divorce.  She says she has loaned more than two million dollars to ten women for divorce expenses so far.

Read More:  Taking Sides in a Divorce, Chasing Profit by Binyamin Appelbaum

A Boston law firm has started a blog called “Our Family Business at Odds” written by members of the firm and a business consultant.

It is dedicated to avoiding, resolving, mediating or litigating the disputes that arise in family businesses.  A recent article is about the McCourt divorce which involves the Los Angeles Dodgers as the family business.

Family businesses, says the introduction, “are not like every other business. Family businesses are personal and evoke strong emotions, which sometime go back generations, which can make them especially volatile. These strong emotions must be taken into account when attempting to resolve disputes.”

We see a lot of business owners in the Washington, DC area.  These cases are usually interesting because they involve not only divorce law, but business law, corporate law, partnership law, contract law, patent law and tax law as well as the emotional issues.

by Michael F. Callahan

With home prices down and unemployment up, some people who would like to divorce cannot afford to separate.   As in other divorce topics in the Washington area, the answer to the question “Can I get a divorce if neither I nor my spouse has moved from the marital home?” is, “It depends on the jurisdiction.”

Maryland cases hold that you cannot be divorced on “separate and apart” grounds without moving out because, even if the parties want to divorce and no longer cohabit, that is have sexual relations, they cannot be said to be living separate and apart if they live in the same house.   This has been held to bar the divorce when one spouse moves back in even temporarily for financial or other reasons.  Lillis v. Lillis, 235 Md. 490; 201 A.2d 794 (Md. 1964).

The Maryland Court of Appeals recently allowed a limited divorce to proceed on constructive desertion grounds where the spouses still lived in the same house.  Last year the Maryland legislature considered a law that would have allowed divorces in certain cases on grounds of voluntary separation while the parties still lived together, but it did not pass.  Next we’ll examine how Virginia views divorce without moving out.

Maryland Grounds for Absolute Divorce
Maryland Grounds for Limited Divorce

Clients complain about the costs of discovery and experts to value things like pensions, businesses and other assets.  Frequently they waive discovery and valuation and instruct us to skip it altogether.  Steve Linden, who appraises classic automobiles, tells the story of a couple getting divorced and dividing up their martial assets.

The husband had purchased a couple of cars a few years earlier.  One was a beautifully restored 1966 Plymouth Valiant convertible that the wife drove.  The other was a 1970 Plymouth convertible that the husband drove from time to time.

As Linden tells it, “As the divorce proceeded the husband casually suggested that his wife keep the 1966 Plymouth convertible and he keep the 1970 Plymouth convertible. She didn’t see any problem with this and readily agreed. Her attorney however felt that it might be wise to have both cars appraised just to make sure that the value of both cars were similar, even if not exactly the same.”

Linden valued the wife’s care at $15,000.  But the husband’s car turned out to be a very rare and very valuable Hemi Cuda convertible, worth over a million dollars.

by Michael F. Callahan

There was another issue in the Smith case that I discussed last week.  Mr. Smith had retired two weeks before his divorce trial.  Before the decision was entered, we asked the judge to reopen the trial to take evidence of money that Mr. Smith failed to disclose in the amount of $30,000 that he received for accrued leave at retirement.

Mr. Smith’s lawyer argued that these funds were not marital property and so they belonged entirely to Mr. Smith.  Thomasian v Thomasian, 79 Md. App. 188, 556 A.2d 675, 1989 Md. App LEXIS (1989), held that a divorcing spouse’s accrued leave was not marital property.  The trial court agreed.

On appeal, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals distinguished between accrued leave and accrued holiday pay, and actual pay received during the marriage.  The Court said that Mr. Smith was owed money for the accrued leave when he retired and was actually paid for the leave before the entry of the order of divorce.  It was no longer accrued leave, which is not marital property, but it was now money in hand, which is marital property.   Smith v Smith, 996 A.2d 416; 193 Md.App. 29 (2010).

by Michael F. Callahan

During their marriage, Mr. Smith’s mother conveyed real estate to her son and his wife, jointly.  In their divorce, we represented Mrs. Smith.  Mr. Smith contended that his mother really intended to give the property to him.  But he told her to make the deed jointly to him and his wife for convenience, so that his wife would not have to go through probate in the event of his death.  The mother was deceased at the time of the trial.

He asked the trial court to give him a monetary award based on his contribution of the real property to the marriage. Contribution to the acquisition of property titled to the parties as tenants by the entirety is a factor that the court must consider in determining whether to make a monetary award. Md. Code, Family Law Article, Sec. 8-205(b)((9).

The trial court ruled the real property was marital and ordered it sold and the proceeds divided equally.  The husband appealed.

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals held that the deed was conclusive evidence that husband’s mother gave the property to both parties.  Therefore the husband’s contribution to acquisition of this property was equal to wife’s, that is zero, and the trial court did not err in declining to grant him a monetary award.  Smith v Smith, 996 A.2d 416; 193 Md.App. 29 (2010).

Want to buy some divorce insurance?  Jennifer Saranow Schultz reports in the New York Times that SafeGuard Corp. of North Carolina is offering the world’s first divorce insurance called WedLock.  For each $15.99 per month you pay, you can buy $1,250 in coverage.   The benefit covers the costs of divorce such as lawyer fees or setting up a new home.

Then, if you get divorced, you send Wedlock proof, and they’ll send you a check for the amount of insurance you purchased.  You have to be married at least four years, however, before the payout.  You can buy riders to shorten that to three years or get your premiums back if you don’t make it that long.  Every year the company automatically adds another $250 to the coverage for each unit you buy.

The company helpfully provides calculators on its site for Divorce Probability and Divorce Costs to help you figure out much insurance you need.

“The Un-Divorced” is an article in The New York Times by Pamela Paul.  It describes what may be a growing trend in relationships in which two people are living separate lives but see no reason to divorce.  They may even be living with another paramour.  They file joint tax returns and stay on the same health insurance policy.  They might keep each other as pension and life insurance beneficiaries.

As John Frost, 58, says, “Why bring in a bunch of lawyers? Why create rancor when there’s nowhere to go but down?”

I call this Option Zero.  I tell my clients you have two options.  One is a Separation Agreement.  Two is a divorce.  Oh yes, and there is Option Zero.  Do nothing.  Stay married.  Be un-divorced.

Most do not go for Option Zero.  Some want to get remarried.  Some are desperately unhappy with their lives in the status quo and want to move on.  Others do not want to keep contributing to the marital asset pot.  A few, however, can tolerate being un-divorced.