House and Home - Experts and Resources

Two Homes For The Holidays

Posted to Relevant News by Amanda Lockhart on Fri, 11/11/2011 - 8:14am

Most of the time when you think about the way a divorce impacts kids, you think about young children who aren't emotionally mature enough to deal with what's happening. Well, it's not just younger kids who have that problem. College students whose parents get divorced may be able to handle things on the surface. But it's a strain on their emotions nonetheless.

I read a piece in the student newspaper from California State University-Chico that really shed some light on the subject. And it's a poignant subject for this time of year as college students get ready to come home for the holidays. A lot of them have two homes to go to. Balancing time with both parents can be a struggle, particularly if the divorce happened while the student was away at school.

Separate But Happy

Do two people in love have to always be together?

Posted to Relevant News by Naomi Dunne on Fri, 06/17/2011 - 7:38am

Because I’ve been known to have a one-track mind, I’m still thinking about what I wrote about last week: Should some people just stay single?

My partner and I have been talking about this a lot lately. We are two of the most compatible people I’ve ever known. We live together. We run a business together. We work in our home office together.

And we are completely and utterly sick of each other. Actually, that’s not entirely true. We’re not sick of each other, we’re sick of not being alone.

Here’s the thing: We’re both very independent people. We’re both people pleasers. We both go out of our way to make the other person desperately, completely, ragingly happy. It’s exhausting, and I don’t think we want to do it any more.

We want to eat what we want for dinner. We want to stop discussing the color of paint on the walls. We want to stop planning and talking and communicating. We both just want to be left alone.

Is Your STBXH Hiding Assets?

Asset hiding occurs in almost half of all divorces

Posted to Relevant News by Rachel Small on Fri, 02/25/2011 - 8:07am

Often when divorce papers are filed, suddenly marital assets are shifted, shuffled and hidden. Even though it‘s illegal and unethical to conceal marital property the practice is more common than you think. Wealthy people have been known to squirrel away assets in foreign trusts. But asset diversion is no longer a shill game of the rich.

Spouses of ordinary means may give interest-free loans to girlfriends as they contemplate divorce. Or business owners may place their mistress on the payroll at extremely high salaries. A spouse may even overpay their income taxes, often when the payment exceeds the actual income tax debt, and then, after the divorce is over, file an amended return with a request for a refund of the over payment so that the refund is not shared with the other spouse.

There are examples of guys who stop paying the mortgage on jointly-held property and allow the bank to foreclose. Then at the foreclosure sale, the ex will have his parents buy the property back so the ex-wife is cheated out of some of the marital property.

Six Steps To Protect Your Credit Rating Through Divorce

Posted to Relevant News by Katherine McKee on Wed, 02/09/2011 - 7:29am

While divorce may end one relationship, the one you have with your creditors goes on. So when your marriage is falling apart, it's urgent that you to take the neccessary steps to protect your credit.

To avoid a drastic hit on your credit score, you need to act in order to weather a financial storm created by divorce.

Financial experts have documented that a woman's credit takes a bigger hit than a man's when a couple splits up. Without a solid credit history in your own name, you won't be able to qualify for re-financing the marital home. And you're also likely to end up with high-interest credit cards and auto loans.

Consumer financial guru John Ulzheimer makes the following useful suggestions to protect your credit through divorce:

New Book Urges Wannabe Brides to Settle

Look what happened to Jenny Sanford for following that advice

Posted to Relevant News by Jill Brooke on Mon, 02/08/2010 - 8:47pm

In an ironic twist, Jenny Sanford and Lori Gottlieb are hitting the bookstores at the same time. In Marry Him - The Case For Mr. Good Enough, Gottlieb says women should be less picky and settle, and now Sanford will be on the same talk shows discussing the consequences when you do.

Sanford's book is called Staying True, written because her husband wasn't True Blue. Of all her revelations, one sticks out in my mind. Jenny Sanford acknowledged that she was never in love with Mark Sanford when they got married. "It wasn't exactly love at first sight," she said. "It was more like friendship after first sight."

The former investment banker from Lezard Freres calculated that investing in a resume instead of a person would reap rewards. She did get to be the First Lady of South Carolina. But she didn't get to be the First Lady of his heart.

They produced successful campaigns as well as four adorable sons. It wasn't enough. It rarely is when love isn't the driving force in the relationship.

German Woman Divorces Husband for Being a Neat Freak

Posted to Relevant News by Justin Marshall on Mon, 04/06/2009 - 7:31pm

The notion of a husband who loves to clean, fold laundry, and do other daily chores is such a turn-on that it inspired a picture book, Porn for Women. But men beware — before you run off to buy a Swiffer and a gallon of Lysol in the hopes of wooing your wife to bed (or bath, or beyond), know that there’s a fine line between squeaky clean and psycho sterile.

This week, a German man learned this lesson the hard way when his wife divorced him for his obsessive cleanliness. She was apparently able to tolerate his overly zealous behavior (constantly tidying up and rearranging furniture) for 15 years, but felt he had finally crossed the line when he decided to deal with a dirty wall the hard way: by knocking it down and rebuilding it.

Housing Crisis Complicates Debbie Matenopoulos Divorce

Posted to Relevant News by Jill Brooke on Wed, 01/28/2009 - 9:22am

Marital homes are not only assets but increasingly sources of dueling divorce battles. And here's a doozy that was reported in People.

Debbie Matenopoulos's estranged husband says their marital house is now only worth $4.3 million and not $8 million, and she better sell or he'll stop supporting the Los Angeles' home's upkeep.

In court documents, Jay Faires, 45, an L.A. music executive who makes $37,500 per month before taxes, is demanding that the E! Entertainment host, 33, either help pay the mortgage, agree to refinance, or move out and sell the home, according to his filing.

Furthermore, pulling the rug from under her, he says they both lived beyond their means and she had better adapt to a new reality.

He also says he's floored by all the expenses that he has to pay compare to her.

House and Home - Experts and Resources

filter by topic