Kansas City Legal Blog

A divorce in Kansas can involve multiple steps, from dividing marital assets to determining if spousal support is necessary. If a marriage resulted in children, another major issue is co-parenting arrangements. Making an honest effort to make co-parenting work could minimize the legal and emotional challenges that sometimes complicate matters.

Parents are often advised to put the best interests of the child first when working out child custody arrangements. Barring circumstances where a child is in physical danger, alienating one parent often does more harm than good. With household rules, it can be helpful to establish general guidelines everyone should follow (e.g., be respectful and patient) to maintain consistency. Children may also benefit from having a calendar in both households that clearly references agreed upon arrangements with holidays, vacations and special occasions to avoid awkward and potentially contentious situations with scheduling.

If a construction dispute took place in Kansas or anywhere else in North America in 2016, it took about 14 months to resolve. Furthermore, average disputes had a value of $21 million, according to Arcadis. Unsubstantiated claims were one of the most common reasons why construction disputes were resolved through a formal resolution process either inside or outside of court. However, the use of building information modeling (BIM) can help resolve disputes in a timely manner.

Information from a BIM program can be used to determine if a job was completed in a manner consistent with a building contract. It can also be used to demonstrate the impact of any changes that were made during the course of a project. BIM also can determine who authorized a change during the construction process, which could reduce the odds of a frivolous claim being made. A record of progress made during a project can be created by laser scanning to determine the size and features of a given space.

After having children, you likely enjoyed looking at your family as yourself, your spouse and your kids. You may have gotten along as a cohesive family unit for some time, but due to one reason or another, you realized that the marital relationship was no longer working. While you may feel that divorce would be the answer to regain some level of personal happiness, you may wonder whether it would work in the best interests of the kids.

Many people contemplate the idea of remaining married for the sole purpose of allowing their children to have both parents under the same roof. However, you may not know whether that type of situation could truly benefit your kids. If you face this conundrum, you may want to ask yourself certain questions about your situation.

When people in Kansas make the decision to end their marriages, they often find that the financial aspects of a divorce can be among the most significant. This is one reason why changes to the tax code that affect the way divorces are handled are compelling many couples to try to finalize their divorces before the end of 2018. These changes can have a significant effect on both parties to the divorce with long-term financial repercussions.

One of the most well-known changes to the tax code affects the way alimony and spousal support are handled. These changes will only impact divorces that are finalized on January 1, 2019, and thereafter. However, the changes will have no impact on divorces that are finalized before that date. Under the current system, the individuals who are responsible for paying alimony can deduct the amounts they pay from their taxes each year. For people in high income brackets, this can cut up to 50 percent from their annual tax burden. In addition, the recipient pays taxes on the spousal support income in his or her own, usually lower, tax bracket. Those funds can also be directed to an IRA for retirement.