Free Legal Clinic October 25, 2011, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.

Legal Clinic

NEWSRELEASE October 5, 2011 UVU’S LEGAL STUDIES PROGRAM TO SPONSOR FREE LEGAL CLINIC Through a joint effort between Utah Valley University’s Legal Studies Program and the local legal community, those in need of legal services will be able to receive free legal advice at a clinic scheduled for Oct. 25 in the UVU Library. “This…

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An expensive conversation: The need to learn to communicate with your co-parent

I was in court the other day contesting a temporary restraining order (TRO) that had been brought against my client to prohibit my client from enrolling the parties’ children in a new school after my client had moved, even though my client-parent is the primary caregiver. The opposing party-parent claimed that my client-parent, allegedly based on…

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Waste of the Marital Estate

When a spouse grossly misuses property of the marriage, to include cash or money earned by either of the spouses, this is termed “waste of the marital estate.” Examples of waste of the marital estate include, but are not limited to money spent on extramarital relationships or gambling.  Marital assets expended on habits or hobbies by…

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Interesting Article on the Timing of Divorce

I just happened to run across this interesting article, “Best & Worst Times – Financially – to Split Up.”  Interesting thoughts, though I don’t necessarily agree with everything in the article (see my prior posts on those subjects).

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Extra-marital property

The most common extra-marital asset or property that a spouse may receive  during the marriage is an inheritance from a spouse’s parent(s).  This asset is not treated as income like wages or other earnings earned during the marriage, in part, because the spouse did not receive the inheritance due to the receiving spouse’s efforts during the…

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Comingling of property in the marital estate

The biggest difficulty in separating out each spouse’s property and/or debts from marital property, or the “marital estate,” is that most times spouses will commingle their property and/or debts during the marriage.  Unless a very clear accounting is kept making it clear that the intent of the spouses was to maintain the property or debt…

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Premarital property

Premarital property is that property that each spouse brings into the marriage, which is each their separate property and generally not considered part of the marital estate. As in all things legal, there are exceptions to the premarital property laws.  The biggest exceptions have to do with commingling of premarital property or debts with marital…

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Property Division

General Rule: property division in divorce is generally done by gathering all the property obtained during the marriage and then dividing it equitably, which usually means equally. All the property obtained during the marriage is often called the “marital estate.”  The marital estate includes both assets and liabilities or, in other words, stuff and debts. …

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Contested Divorce is Expensive

Of late I have been contemplating a flurry of incoming phone calls from folks looking at getting a divorce or who have been served divorce court papers by their spouse.  It is no surprise that, given the current economy or not, cost is a huge concern for people, as it should be.  Costs to be…

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