Customize Your Divorce Settlement to Meet the Needs of Your Family
Customize your divorce settlement to meet the needs of your family

If couples hope to achieve a fair divorce settlement that is acceptable to both spouses, thinking outside the box is essential. I've never had the exact same settlement for any of my Nashville clients because each family is unique and so are the solutions to their problems. A settlement that I am currently crafting with a couple is a good example. They own a home. The husband has moved out and the wife and child are living in the marital home. He cannot afford to buy out the wife's share of the equity in the house. She can't afford to own a home, so she'll need to rent. We decided that the wife should live in the house for a period of time. Rather than paying rent in an apartment, the wife will live in the house rent free with their daughter for two years until the daughter leaves for college. This solution will keep the ex-wife' s expenses low and therefore reduce her need for alimony. In two years, they will sell the house. The equity will be determined at the time of the divorce. The equity will be paid when the house is sold. Reasonable rental payments the wife avoided paying for 2 years will be deducted from her portion of the equity.

This agreement allows the wife to get on her feet financially, minimizes the alimony paid by the husband and allows the mother and daughter to remain living in the marital residence without disrupting the child's high school years. I call this a win-win solution. I find great satisfaction in helping my clients craft unique and fair settlements that truly meet the needs of their family, preserve assets while minimizing the emotional and financial costs of divorce.