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Mar 05

Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements – Why You Should Have One

By: Valerie E. Anias, Esq.

There is a misconceived notion that asking for or discussing a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement implies distrust or concern over your relationship and its future.  This isn’t true!  There are a significant number of benefits gained as a result of a prenuptial agreement, or postnuptial agreement if you’re already married.

There are two ways to dissolve a marriage: divorce and death.  Prenuptial or postnuptial agreements help in making the dissolution as easy as possible. 

The reality is this: marriage is both a romantic and business relationship.  With very few exceptions nearly everything is or becomes marital.  As such, nearly everything can become subject of costly litigation in the event of divorce or death.  A well drafted and all-inclusive agreement will limit many of these issues.  For example, the agreement will identify what is and is not marital property, each parties’ rights in the event of death or divorce, predetermine rights and obligations for spousal support, inheritance, and more.  In addition, the agreement will have a complete financial disclosure including each spouses’ assets, liabilities, and income.

A properly drafted agreement will provide a full financial disclosure to both prospective or current spouses.  It will list all assets, income, real property, personal property, etc.  For example, what if you have your great-grandmother’s engagement ring?  You’d want to be sure that said ring would remain with you, your children, and/or your family.  If you were to pass, the value of that ring may ultimately be considered part of your estate and have to be divided.  That could mean sold. 

When contemplating whether you think a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement is needed for you, you should consider whether you want to be on the hook for your partner’s debt in the event of divorce or marriage?  Whether you want your spouse from a second marriage to inherit more than your children from their first marriage?  Whether you want your private business to be impacted in the event of divorce or death?  

Obtaining a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement is simply a combination of planning and protection.  Planning for the future of your spouse, children, and yourself while simultaneously protecting your spouse, children, and yourself.

Jan 22

How to Make Co-Parenting Successful

By: Valerie E. Anias

Figuring out how to co-parent after a break up, separation, or divorce is difficult.  We especially see breakdowns in communication during the holidays.  Now that the holidays are behind us, ERA Law Group, LLC want to help parents by identifying various resources available to help them Co-Parent.

Some parents find difficulty in communicating with one another.  At times the communication is simple and other times, it is rather difficult.  Nonetheless, both must parent their children.  Removing face-to-face conversation is sometimes the best place to start when trying to co-parent effectively.  The below programs and apps provide various resources for the separated and divorced parents.

  1. Our Family Wizard

Our Family Wizard is an online program which provides a platform for communication.  The parents can “email” back and forth, add items to a joint calendar, and, most importantly, if their dispute needs to be taken to Court, the correspondence can be tracked by the Court.  This also serves as a means to encourage parents to speak with each other in a respectful manner and keep it about the children.  There is an annual cost of approximately $100.00 per parent.  This is a web-based program though there is an app for iOS and Android.

  • 2Houses

Similar to Our Family Wizard, this program offers a mutual calendar, financial tab, and photo album tab.  It does not allow for direct communication but there is a journal function which allows parents to make notes.  The financial tab is particularly helpful as it outlines each parents expenses and each parent can upload what expenses they have paid on behalf of the child.  There is no cost to this program.  This is a web-based program though there is an app for iOS.

  • Kidganizer

Like the former two programs, this is also a means for both parents to keep information related to their children in one central location.  It does not permit the parents a platform for direct communication such as Our Family Wizard, but there is an alert system to alert each parent regarding important events like doctor appointments or parent-teacher conferences.  This is an iOS only app program and costs $1.99.

  • Custody Junction

Custody Junction provides a Scheduling Center which allows parents to schedule their visitation/events/vacations, etc. up to 2 years in advance.  It also has a Tracking Center which allows parents to track when events were created, edited, amended, what the expenses were, who was present at each event, etc.  It gets rid of the “he said, she said” regarding who, what, where, and when.  Similar to 2Houses, it also has a Reporting Center which provides for accumulated expenses as well as reporting about child support payments, denied or forfeited parenting time, etc.  This program is only web-based and costs $47.00 per parent for a 1 year subscription.

  • Appclose

AppClose is a combination of the above 4 programs.  It has a joint calendar, a messenger option like texting, an expense forum that acts like Venmo by requesting reimbursement from the other parent as well as the ability to track expenses, the ability to create a parenting schedule, set important reminders, and keep track of family information such as immunizations, date of births, etc.  Much like Facebook, it also has a NewsFeed function which displays all communications, events, etc. at a glance.   This is a free app only program available for iOS and Android.

  • SKEDi

This program is a family calendar of sorts.  It syncs your calendars so that each parent and/or child knows everyone’s schedule.  It also has the capability of being shared with caregivers and babysitters if necessary.  This is an iOS only app program and costs $9.99.

Co-parenting is key.  The victim in parental miscommunication is the child.  If you and your co-parent are suffering from severe communication breakdowns, contact our office at (410) 919-1790 and schedule your free 30-minute consultation.