Oklahoma divorce information

A common question regards whether one spouse is entitled to alimony in Tulsa, Oklahoma, if he paid for his spouse’s college education and the marriage breaks up. The answer may be “yes”, but depends on the situation.

Divorce is a tumultuous period for both parties. We enter the state of marriage with the hope that we will stay together. And most often, we act accordingly.

We become one financial unit, sharing all we have and supporting each other, emotionally and financially. When the marriage begins to dissolve, the support, emotional and financial, often halts as we begin to look to our own financial and emotional futures.

Here are some of the rules regarding alimony in Tulsa, Oklahoma and how they might be applied to different types of situations.

Rules for Alimony in Tulsa

Oklahoma has guidelines in place regarding the awarding of alimony during a divorce. This means that rather than making a strict calculation regarding alimony according to the rules set forth in a statute, the judge will look at each situation individually to determine if alimony should be awarded, how much alimony should be awarded, and for how long.

The judge will look at such things as the length of the marriage, the needs of each spouse, and the ability of each spouse to support themselves. In addition, even though one spouse may need alimony, the court will only order alimony in Tulsa if the other spouse has the ability to pay it. The decisions made in alimony awards are very complex. These awards are very fact bound.

There are two basic types of alimony in Tulsa: spousal support alimony and property division alimony. (Okla. Stat. tit. 43 § 134)

The purpose of spousal support alimony is to allow a spouse time to transition into a new life. This type of alimony is often granted when one of the spouses stopped working outside the home in order to raise children within the home.

Property division alimony is not really a spousal support issue. It is a monthly alimony payment made to a spouse in lieu of a certain amount of property given to the other spouse in a property division settlement.

Paying For College Betters the Marital Community

Paying for one spouse to go to college is a financial investment in the marital community. It allows the receiving spouse to earn a higher income after graduation. The paying spouse has permanently increased the earning capacity of the receiving spouse.

Therefore, it is likely that the Oklahoma divorce court will want to compensate the paying spouse for that contribution through some sort of alimony payment. This is especially likely if the paying spouse then went on to quit working outside the home to raise children.

Low-cost Initial Consultation: Tulsa Alimony Attorney

Your choice of an Oklahoma divorce attorney is critical, especially regarding any alimony in Tulsa issues. Before you retain our family law attorneys, you are invited to have a initial, confidential, no-obligation consultation to help you determine whether our family law services can meet your particular needs.

For a initial consultation with a Tulsa family lawyer about your alimony or spousal support concerns, call the Divorce Law Office of Tulsa today at 918-924-5526.

Spouses have a moral and ethical duty to be honest with each other, especially in their financial dealings in a Tulsa, Oklahoma divorce case. Unfortunately, once a marriage begins to unravel, spouses may often try to take care of their own needs at the expense of their spouse.

As the marriage moves closer toward a finalized Oklahoma divorce case, emotions run high and it may be tempting for a spouse to try hide assets in order to try to better their own position. Fortunately, Oklahoma law is designed to prevent that.

Protecting Assets in an Oklahoma Divorce Case

Once papers are filed to start an Oklahoma divorce case, an immediate temporary injunction is automatically put in place to prevent the transfer of assets by either spouse. It also stops the spouses from making significant changes to retirement accounts, insurance, and the like.

The parties to a divorce in Tulsa are under an affirmative duty to make full disclosure of their assets to the court, so that the court may divide marital assets equitably during the divorce process.

Document Your Assets

Going into the divorce process, it is wise to carefully document your financial assets if at all possible. You can make copies of bank and retirement statements. You can also make copies of investment statements if you have them. You can also take photographs of physical items belonging to you both. Sometimes these items are in the home, but other times they may be kept at work or with relatives.

If you suspect that your spouse will or is trying to hide assets in your Oklahoma divorce case, it is best to be pro-active in your approach to proving the net worth of marital assets.

Discovery May Help

Once the divorce proceeding has begun, discovery can begin. If you suspect that your spouse is hiding assets, it is possible to flush those assets out during discovery. There are a number of tools that your Tulsa divorce lawyer has at his or her disposal during discovery that can help do this.

Interrogatories are written questions that your spouse will have to answer. Asset questions are often the subject of interrogatories.

In addition, a Document Production Request is often used in conjunction with interrogatories to have your spouse produce copies of all documents identified in their responses to interrogatories. Often, once these are obtained, depositions of the parties are taken. Your spouse can be asked about assets, and about their responses to discovery.

Your attorney may also be able to subpoena records from other persons or institutions that your spouse may be using to hide assets.

Finally, if your marital assets are worth quite a bit, and discovery only reveals some of them, you may want to consider hiring a forensic accountant to help. This may be particularly helpful, if your spouse’s business or businesses are extensive.

Sometimes, a spouse attempts to hide the true value of a business or may try to hide assets within their business. Forensic accounting, while expensive, may reveal those assets.

If the court determines that your spouse is trying to hide assets, you may be awarded a portion of those assets and your attorney’s fees and costs in whole or part for any motion made before the court in that regard.

Initial Consultation with a Tulsa Divorce Lawyer

In any Oklahoma divorce case, it is important to carefully evaluate all the financial assets of the couple and to ensure that the judge is made aware of all the relevant facts that might impinge on his or her determination regarding equitable distribution of the assets.

For a low-cost confidential consultation with a qualified Tulsa divorce lawyer, call the Divorce Law Office of Tulsa today at 918-924-5526.

A common question regards just what are Oklahoma divorce laws inheritance issues, or whether an ex-spouse is entitled to the other spouse’s inheritance.

The answer to your question is, it depends. There are several factors that could color how Tulsa divorce law and the court see your inheritance money.

So here are some basics that might help you get a clearer picture of your particular situation.

Marital Assets vs. Separate Assets

In Oklahoma, the courts differentiate between marital assets and personal property assets. Marital assets are those assets obtained during the marriage. That would include income and all things generally associated with what your income will buy: homes, cars, investments, bank accounts, jewelry, and the like.

Most of the assets that a couple obtains during marriage fall into this category. Marital assets belong to both parties and upon divorce, the court is charged with their equitable distribution among the divorcing spouses and their creditors.

Separate assets are assets that either belonged to one of the spouses before the marriage, or were obtained by one of the spouses during the marriage either by gift or inheritance. This is where Oklahoma divorce laws inheritance issues can come into play.

During divorce, gifts and inheritances remain the sole property of the person to whom they were given. The inheritance or gift must have been made solely to the one spouse in order for it to be considered separate.

If the gift or inheritance was given to both spouses, it is considered to be a marital asset. However, if you and your spouse signed a valid prenuptial agreement (sometimes called an “antenuptial agreement”), the terms of the prenuptial agreement may govern the issue.

This is the basic rule, but how the spouse who owns this separate asset treats it during the marriage is a key factor in determining how it will be handled during the divorce.

FAQ: Oklahoma Divorce Laws Inheritance

Under Tulsa law, separate property can be transmuted into marital property if the separate property is co-mingled with other marital property, either for the benefit of the marriage or for the benefit of the other spouse.

Transmutation of property is a legal construct that allows a court to say that the basic nature of the separateness of the property no longer exists. The property has been so much a part of the marital assets, that its nature has been “transmuted” from separate to marital, or from marital to separate.

Basically, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, the court will say it is a duck, even if it started out life as a goose.

How We Transmute Separate Property into Marital Property

This list is not exclusive, but here are some of the ways separate property can be transmuted.

If you deposit your inheritance check into a joint account, or purchase a home that is held as joint property with right of survivorship, that will be enough to transmute the asset.

If you purchase a car with the separate asset and the car title is in both names, it will be considered to have been transmuted.

If you deposit your inheritance check into a separate account but you later add your spouse’s name, making that account a joint account with right of survivorship, that too will transmute the property.

If you use the inheritance for the benefit of the marital couple, that too will transmute it. For example, transmutation may occur if the separate property is used for improvements to the communal home.

There are other ways that separate property can be co-mingled, but the above list is probably the most common ways of co-mingling.

Other Court Ordered Treatments of Separate Assets

It is also possible for a court to use separate assets in other ways during a divorce. The court is concerned with equitable distribution of the assets.

So if a child or spouse needs care and there are little or no marital assets to care for them, the court may choose to use a portion of your inheritance to fill that gap.

Low-cost Initial Consultation: Tulsa Divorce Attorney

The classification of property during a divorce can be a complicated matter. Hiring an experienced Tulsa divorce attorney is critical to make sure that the court is made aware of all the facts regarding Oklahoma divorce laws inheritance issues.

Call the Divorce Law Office of Tulsa today at 918-924-5526 to make an appointment for your initial consultation.

A qualified domestic relations order Oklahoma, or QDRO (pronounced as “Quadro”), is a tool that can be used in a Tulsa divorce to allocate retirement benefits to a spouse.

It is an order of the court that tells the retirement account or benefit administrator that a specified portion of retirement benefits will now belong to the other spouse as part of the divorce settlement.

Normally, retirement benefits are not assignable during the beneficiary’s lifetime. A qualified domestic relations order Oklahoma carves out an exception to that rule.

FAQ: Qualified Domestic Relations Order Oklahoma

A QDRO may be executed by the spouse to divide assets as part of the settlement agreement. A qualified domestic relations order Oklahoma may also be used to help a spouse pay alimony, child support, or both.

Retirement accounts are often a major asset held by the marital community, second to, or sometimes more valuable, than the communal home. As such, they are often subject to allocation by the court during a divorce.

Because Oklahoma is an equitable distribution state, rather than a state that splits assets in half, it important to understand that many factors will be considered by the judge in whether to divide retirement benefits and if so, in what proportions.

Like decisions about alimony in Tulsa, the court considers factors such as the length of the marriage, past contributions made to the community, future earning potential, and the like.

Tax and Other Ramifications

In addition, it is important to understand the tax ramifications of a qualified domestic relations order Oklahoma.

The QDRO itself acts like a directive allocating funds from a retirement vehicle to another person. If that spouse takes the funds directly, or has them deposited into a regular bank account, there will be tax ramifications to that individual. The taking acts as a withdrawal.

If the spouse has those funds rolled over into another retirement vehicle such as an IRA, the payment of taxes will be delayed until withdrawal.

There may be other issues that need to be resolved in negotiations regarding the QDRO allocation. For instance, if the assigning spouse had earned a portion of that money before marriage, that portion may be considered to be his or her separate property. These issues need to be resolved before the qualified domestic relations order Oklahoma is drafted.

Low-cost Initial Consultation: Tulsa Family Law Attorney

Whether or not a qualified domestic relations order Oklahoma is involved, a Tulsa divorce constitutes a major change in the financial lives of both spouses.

It is important to carefully evaluate all the financial assets of the couple and to ensure that the judge is made aware of all the relevant facts that might impinge on his or her determination regarding equitable distribution of the assets.

For a low-cost confidential consultation with a qualified Tulsa family law attorney, call the Divorce Law Office of Tulsa today at 918-924-5526.