How Can I Sign Massachusetts Banking Separation Agreement

How to industry sign banking massachusetts separation agreement

welcome to this presentation on how to draft a separation agreement a guide for self-represented litigants this is kathy ludwig up the franklin law library and i'll be presenting the slides prepared by suzanne hoy of the barnstable law library let's get started you and your spouse have decided to get divorced if you are in agreement a divorce can be pretty straightforward you can get most of your forms from the court or online at mass.gov but the one form you will not find is a separation agreement today i'm going to go over the steps for you to create your own separation agreement this workshop is designed for divorcing couples who are in complete agreement if you disagree on any aspect of your divorce you should seek the assistance of an attorney or divorce mediator what is a separation agreement a separation agreement is a legally binding agreement that determines the division of assets and the payment of debts as well as controls ongoing obligations such as alimony and child support it also addresses issues of child custody and parenting time if the parties have children together all separation agreements start out pretty much the same with a statement identifying the parties the date and place of the marriage the date and place of your separation and the names and birth dates of any children born to the parties after setting out these facts each separation agreement will be a little different based on your family and financial situation so let's start with the division of marital property you and your spouse can decide to divide your assets any way you wish but the judge is going to want to see that you did it fairly and equitably this means that you can't give one person all of the assets and make the other responsible for all of the debts when addressing the division of assets in your separation agreement you need to identify all of your assets and tell the judge how you plan to divide them your assets will include all these listed here real estate motor vehicles bank accounts pensions and stocks and investments as well as other tangible personal property just like with your assets you will need to divide your debts fairly these include debts owed by both parties or by just one party for example if one party used an individual credit card to pay for home improvements the judge may not think it is fair for only that party to be responsible for that debt debts that will need to be addressed are listed here they are credit cards car loans mortgages tax liabilities and school loans your separation agreement also has a section on insurance life insurance can be used to guarantee a party support obligations and with health insurance many employers allow divorcing parties to retain an ex-spouse on their health insurance also the parties need to provide for health insurance coverage for the children of the marriage alimony is spousal support that can be paid by either spouse to the other if you're thinking about alimony you probably need to speak to an attorney or divorce mediator because it can be quite complicated the alimony laws set out a number of factors that the court would consider in setting the amount and duration of alimony these include the length of the marriage the age and health of the parties the standard of living of the parties the amount and sources of income of the parties and the employability of the parties once you have decided how to fairly divide your assets and debts it is time to move on to the child related issues if you have no children you are done the last pages of your agreement will tell the court whether you would like the separation agreement to merge or to survive the divorce judgment in the case of any future changes the last pages of your agreement will also contain your notarized signatures if you have children then you will need to address child-related issues in your separation agreement this section is usually titled schedule a and comes after the notary page when you are deciding the child related issues you need to make your decisions based on what is in the best interest of the children not what is easier for the parents there are two different kinds of custody physical and legal physical custody is where the children live and which parent makes the day-to-day decisions about the children legal custody is who makes the major decisions for the children such as health care education and religion each one can be shared custody also called joint custody or soul custody you can also decide on a combination of shared and sole custodies usually the non-custodial parent pays child support to the parent who has the child most of the time run the child support guidelines to see what the guidelines would set as child support you can decide on any amount but if the amount does not match the child support guidelines you will need to give the judge a reason the current child support guidelines say that the custodial parent will pay for the first 250 dollars in unreimbursed medical expenses and the parties can agree how any amount over two hundred and fifty dollars will be split between them for tax deductions usually the parent with 51 percent or more parenting time will automatically be allowed the child deductions the child tax credit can be switched between the parties whenever the parties change the tax deduction the custodial parent will have to notify the irs by filing irs form 8332 one of the more challenging negotiations will be a parenting time schedule here are some things you'll want to address you can be as specific as you'd like but in the very least you should make certain that your parenting schedule is specific enough so that the court is able to enforce it should there be a future disagreement between the parents for example a clause such as parent number one can have parenting at the convenience of parent number two is too vague for the court to enforce remember that the standard here is the best interest of the child not what is easiest for the parents if you cannot come to an agreement you can seek the advice of an attorney or speak to a divorce mediator here are some useful resources here's a tip on finding a divorce mediator make sure that the mediator is going to give you a separation agreement at the end of the process some mediators will supply only a memorandum of understanding which will not be accepted by the courts there are a lot of resources out there for you to get additional information the trial court law libraries compile information pages on topics including divorce child support and child custody and parenting time they can also assist you through live chat text and email or you can call your local law library for help mass legal help covers most everything you need to know in their online book family law advocacy for low and moderate income litigants the probate and family court in your location may have a lawyer for the day program where eligible litigants can get assistance navigating the court process and the court service centers can help litigants fill out and file the various forms needed for divorce including separation agreements thank you for attending our workshop today on how to draft a separation agreement