Divorce Glossary

Spousal support

Even after the divorce, a spouse must provide financially for his ex-partner, if he has no income of his own or earns considerably less. The basic rule is that both ex-partners should have the same amount of money each month. The amount of spousal maintenance is therefore calculated by calculating the difference between the two incomes. Of this amount, the financially weaker partner receives half.

A right to maintenance does not exist if a divorced person can take care of himself. After the divorce, women who have taken care of the household for years are also obliged to seek a job. Exceptions apply if you look after small children at home. The one who pays maintenance to his ex-partner may keep 1000 euros of his salary himself. Does he earn, e.g. 1200 euros net, he has to pay a maximum of 200 euros maintenance to his ex-partner.

Read more about maintenance here.



youth Welfare Office

The youth welfare office monitors in the divorce process that the best interests of the child are not endangered. For this purpose, it offers counseling to parents, for example on how care and visitation rights can be regulated. In part, the youth welfare office continues to give these advisory services to independent providers.

In addition, the family courts can use the youth welfare office if they get the impression during the process that the parents can not agree on a solution bearable for the child. The Youth Welfare Office then sends an employee or a representative as a procedural lawyer (also called "child advocate") in the process.

mediation

Mediation is a process in which spouses, with the help of a neutral third party, discuss the main points of their divorce and seek to reach an agreement. It can prepare and accompany the actual divorce process, but not replace it: The actual divorce judgment can only be spoken by a state court, even with custody issues, the court has the final say.

Mostly mediation deals with the distribution of assets, maintenance, care and access rights. The impartial mediator who accompanies and structures the negotiations is often a psychologist or a lawyer. At the end of a successful mediation is usually a written agreement between the two parties. It can be put on record at the divorce court. In custody matters, the judge can then, if the agreement of the parents does not correspond to the best interests of the child, then make his decisions accordingly.

A session at the mediator usually costs around 120 euros. Most couples need several sessions to agree on all points. But when it comes to maintenance and assets, the cost of mediation is often much lower than the cost of a trial before the state court.



couples therapy

If a relationship is in crisis, couple therapy can help. With the help of a therapist, the partners can find out what's going wrong and decide if they want to stay together or separate. Even if a partner is already determined to split, a couples therapy can make sense: It can help to deal emotionally with the separation situation. Kittening an already broken relationship through a therapy usually does not work.

The partners can meet individually or together for the sessions with the couples therapist. A couples therapy is not paid by the health insurance. The prices are usually between 70 and 120 euros for a one-hour session. The meetings with the therapist usually take place every two weeks or one month. The number of sessions a couple takes varies greatly - the duration of therapy ranges from a few months to a year or more.



Legal aid

So that everyone can lead a process, the federal states take over the court and legal fees for people who have too little money for it.

Any person who has less than 15 euros per month, after deduction of taxes, income from expenses, housing costs and allowances, is entitled to legal aid. Especially in family disputes, which include divorce and custody, it is granted very often. So it's usually worthwhile to go to the lawyer for an initial consultation and to ask him about the chances of legal aid. The lawyer can apply for legal aid at the competent court.

If you have a monthly income above the maximum of 15 euros, you can apply to pay the legal fees in installments.

Read more about the costs of divorce proceedings and financing options here.

litem

In some processes, the children also have some kind of lawyer: the process guardian. It is used by the court if the judge fears that the parents' interests conflict with the best interests of the child.

A mediator is independent and represents only the child.He can be a lawyer or have a pedagogical education - because his job is to accompany the child through the separation phase and find out what he wants. He also presents this before the judge. The cost of his work is part of the legal expenses that the parents must bear. If the court considers it necessary to appoint a mediator, the parents can not refuse.

lawyer

Without a lawyer, you can not file for divorce. If your partner wants a divorce and has applied, you do not necessarily have to hire your own lawyer. In many cases, however, it is advisable to have your own adviser and process representative. Because only a lawyer can put in court applications.

Although a divorce is often referred to as a "common lawyer", the lawyer represents only the interests of his client, that is, the spouse who hired him. If there are disagreements in court, he will do nothing that his client disagrees with. Even if the spouses want to make a settlement, they each need their own lawyer.

However, if there are no more issues to be resolved in court, you can save money by giving up your own lawyer.

The best way to find a lawyer is to get advice from friends, the business directory or search services on the Internet. A lawyer may hold the title of Specialized Lawyer for Family Law if, as a lawyer, he has worked on a certain minimum number of divorce, custody and alimony cases and attends ten training sessions on this area each year. However, there are many good and experienced lawyers who do without this title.

If you are unsure if you would like to work with a lawyer you do not know, most of them offer a free first interview where you can get a personal impression.

Separation / Separated live

The condition for the divorce is that the marriage has failed. In the eyes of the legislator, this is the case when the spouses have separated. Separation means: the couple is no longer allowed to have a household together.

In most cases, the partners move into different apartments. A separation is also possible within the same apartment, if the coexistence is organized in a similar way as in a shared flat: Everyone has their own room, their own account, buys independently, washes, irons and cleans for themselves. If the court has doubts, Witnesses must confirm that they have a separate household.

If both spouses want the divorce, a year of separation is sufficient. Judges only recognize a shorter separation time if the continuation of the marriage would mean an unreasonable hardship. If the couple live separately for more than three years, this automatically proves that the marriage has failed. The judge will divorce her, even if a partner does not agree.

An excerpt from the shared apartment is the clearest proof of the beginning of a separation year. If you are separated from home, you should be able to present a dated written document explaining the break-up or naming witnesses confirming the beginning of the year of separation.

During the separation, a partner who has little or no income is entitled to separation support.

Separation Maintenance

If the spouses have separated, the partner, who has less income, is automatically entitled to maintenance for the duration of the separation period. It is irrelevant whether the weaker partner could also live on his own salary alone. Separation maintenance serves to provide partners with a standard of living comparable to marriage during the separation phase. In principle, a total income is calculated from the income of both partners and divided by two. If a partner is a sole earner, he is allowed to keep four-sevenths of his income, ie one seventh more than the non-working partner.

The one who receives maintenance from the other is usually not obliged to seek work and to earn a living completely by himself.

Separation maintenance must be paid until the divorce becomes final. Thereafter, there may be a claim for post-marital maintenance, which is similar, but not always the same calculated as the separation maintenance.

Trial in court

For the divorce a certain chamber of the district court is responsible, the family court. The divorce is always decided by a single judge.

In divorce proceedings there is lawyer compulsion; This means that only a lawyer can apply to the court. So if you want a divorce, you must first go to a lawyer. If your partner wants a divorce and has already filed an application through his lawyer, you will be notified by the judge. Then you can either agree directly or hire a lawyer yourself. You can apply for it yourself only with your own lawyer and require, for example, that maintenance, compensation, custody and similar issues be heard in court.In addition to the pension equalization, the judge does not investigate such divorce consequences by itself. Often, however, it is more cost-effective to agree on these points out of court.

If the court has all the documents, it will start a divorce. Viewers are not allowed to do so. In the case of mutual divorce, both spouses must declare that they want the divorce and have complied with the year of separation. If only one partner wants the divorce, he must explain this and prove that the couple has been living apart for three years. If the lawyer has made an appropriate application, also maintenance, child custody and the like. negotiated. Then the judge pronounces the divorce. If both refrain from appeal - this is only possible if both are represented by an attorney - the divorce becomes final immediately, otherwise after the end of the four-week appeal period.

Versorgungsausgleich

During the period of a marriage, the spouses usually acquire pension rights. In the case of pension equalization, as in the case of asset equalization, it is a question of dividing up these claims.

How high the pension rights are depends on how much and how long a working person has paid. A spouse who retires professionally for the family earns fewer claims than the one who works full-time for the entire duration of the marriage. This imbalance is intended to remedy the supply balance.

It includes entitlements from statutory pension insurance, civil service, professional benefits, occupational pensions and private pension insurance acquired by the spouses during the marriage. Each insured person has the right to know from his pension fund at any time the current calculation of his pension. The spouses also have a claim against each other for information as to what the other's pension rights are.

Simplified, pension equalization works like this: it is based on the pension that each spouse would receive if they retired on the day of the divorce. The difference between the two amounts is divided by two; one half receives the partner with the lower demands. In this way, the pension entitlements of both partners are the same on the day of the divorce. In the case of pension equalization, no money is transferred; Only entitlements to the future pension are transferred from one pension account to the other.

gain compensation

If you have not made a marriage contract with your husband, you live with him in a winning community. Their assets divide them in the divorce according to the rules of the profit-sharing.

This means that everything your husband had before marriage is still with him after the divorce. Everything you have brought into marriage remains your possession. For each spouse is calculated how much extra fortune he has accumulated during the marriage - that's the gain. If you had, for example, before the marriage 10,000 euros on the savings account and at the moment of divorce 25,000 euros, their gain is 15,000 euros. If your husband had saved 5,000 euros before the wedding and now 40,000 euros, he has made 35,000 euros gain.

From the point of view of the legislator, both partners contribute in equal parts to the creation of a fortune: those who take a back seat to look after children and therefore can save themselves little keep their other partners free to work and can pay. The aim is therefore that both spouses get the same share of the assets in a divorce.

It is therefore determined who has made more profit from the spouses. He has to pay the other so much that in the end, both go out of wedlock with the same fortune. In our example, the man would have to pay 10,000 euros. About the gain compensation arises only a claim to money; You can not demand a specific item, such as a car or a piece of furniture, from your ex-husband.

It usually makes sense to settle the extra compensation out of court. When it comes to high sums, otherwise high court and legal fees.

Services Maintenance

Usually, after the divorce, each partner must try to take care of themselves as soon as possible. A spouse gets a partner from his ex only if he has no chance on the job market - for example because he is ill or has lost his connection to working life after many years in the household. An exception is the support: If you take care of the children from the marriage at home, may require from the other parent financial support.

However, as long as the children actually need care, they are entitled to maintenance. If the youngest is three years old and can go to kindergarten, the mother is usually able to work half-time. If the youngest child is eight years old, many of the mother's courts have a duty to work full-time. However, these decisions are very dependent on the individual case. In the case of disabled or difficult-to-educate children, for example, the entitlement to childcare can also last much longer.

Dusseldorf table

The Dusseldorfer table contains guidelines on how much maintenance single parents can demand from the other parent for the common children. The amount of maintenance depends on the age of the child and the income of the parent who has to pay the maintenance. The Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf updates this table at regular intervals.

The Dusseldorfer table is not anchored by law - it only serves to ensure that the judges in the various federal states award the maintenance claims to a similar extent. In individual cases, the judges may also deviate from the requirements of the table.

married name

Anyone who has changed their name after marrying is allowed to vote after the divorce. It is possible to keep the marriage name, that is, to keep the name of the ex-partner or a double-name. The ex-partner must not ban this.

Anyone who has adopted the name of the partner during marriage can also give themselves a double name with the divorce and prefix or append his birth name. Finally, there is the possibility to resume the birth name after the divorce.

visitation rights

The right of access, also known as visitation rights, is the right of each parent to maintain contact with their own children. It is irrelevant whether the parents have joint custody or whether one meets the parental care alone.

The other parent is required to facilitate contact. As a rule, it is already determined in the divorce proceedings who may see the child when. The parent the child lives with is encouraged not to schedule these days with other appointments for the child. Anyone wishing to exercise the right of access and to invite the child to his or her will usually pick it up at the door of the apartment where the child lives. If he lives in another city, it may be reasonable for the person staying with the child to drive to the train station or the airport so that the ex-partner can pick it up there and accompany them on their journey to their city can. The cost of traveling to the other city must be borne by the person exercising his right of access.

The right of access is also a right of the child: it may ask to see the other parent, even if he has no interest in a contact. However, if he is so dismissive of the child that the encounters are a great burden on the child, the courts refrain from pronouncing a visit.

Requirements for the divorce

By law, marriage is divorced if it fails. This is the case when the conjugal partnership no longer exists and can not be expected to be restored. So the partners have to live separately.

If both agree with the divorce, a year of separation will suffice. If a partner refuses to divorce, the marriage may be divorced against his will if the couple has been separated for three years. The duration of the separation must be proven in court.

Today, it no longer depends on the reasons why the marriage has failed. If, after a sufficiently long period of separation, proof is furnished that the marriage has failed, the family court will divorce it upon application by a partner.

Why Is Discovery Important in a Divorce or Family Law Case in Missouri and Illinois? (March 2024).



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