Don’t let ex get away with his one-sided plan
Q During COVID, my husband left his job to care for his elderly parents. Sadly, they passed six months ago. He decided he is not going back to work and going to live on his $2 million inheritance. He inherited an annuity that pays $65,000 per year. I am a teacher with similar income. Before leaving his job, he was making three times what his annuity pays. He wants to divorce. He said we need to split our marital estate equally, but he can keep his inheritance because it is not a marital asset.
He also said we will share our kids equally and since we earn the same there will be no child support.
I’m in shock. I have no idea how I will survive on my salary and stay in town so our kids who are finishing 10th and 11th grades don’t have to change schools during high school. I’m afraid to even hire a lawyer because I feel like I need to save every penny right now.
A His plan is very one-sided and while he might get some of what he wants, he will not get it all. I suggest you either hire an experienced mediator to help negotiate a fair agreement or hire an experienced family law attorney to help you. If you try to do this alone and let him convince you to do things his way, you really will have to save every penny.
The easy part is your teens are at ages where the parenting plan should not be controversial. Unless there is a reason not to have an equal parenting arrangement, it’s not something to fight about. However, if one of you is going to stay in town and the other is going to move, your children will probably want to spend more time with the person remaining in town.
Because your husband voluntarily left his job and is capable of earning almost $200,000, a judge can attribute that income to him and set child support using his prior salary. Or he can go back to work and earn the money. He will have to pay support even if you have equal parenting time.
His inheritance is trickier. Because it came at the end of the marriage, you probably won’t get any of it. But you should get a larger share of the marital assets on account of his keeping his inheritance. So, it may be you can keep the equity in the house in exchange for his keeping his inheritance. This would let you stay in town at least until your youngest finishes high school.
You can also look to have him pay a larger share of college because of his inheritance. And, to the extent his inheritance produces an income, including his annuity, that income will be considered for support calculations.