Jefferson County, West Virginia, Family Law Blog

Parents usually understand how important it is to focus on their child's best interests during the divorce process. When deciding on child custody matters, data and research seems to support that most children benefit from joint custody situations. While this might vary based on unique family needs, many West Virginia families are now utilizing joint custody. However, this raises some understandable questions regarding child support. 

If a child's parents share joint custody, they may spend equal amounts of time physically caring for their child. This means that both parents are buying groceries, paying for housing and other daily costs associated with child-rearing. Does support really come into play in these situations? In the end, most likely. There are still those non-daily costs to consider, such as school fees and health care that one parent might end up unfairly shouldering more than the other.

Settling is often given a negative connotation. Teens and young adults in West Virginia are frequently told to not settle when it comes to their dream job, house or partner, giving many the idea that settling in any aspect of life is an inherently bad thing. However, when it comes to divorce, settling is not necessarily a bad thing. 

Unless someone wants to wind up dragging their feet and checkbook through court, negotiating is a necessary part of divorce. However, the point of negotiations is not to wind up with everything that a person wants. Negotiations should instead be viewed as a way to achieve some of what both people want. This means letting go of things that would be nice to get and focusing on what is most important to a person, whether that be keeping the family home or working out a better parenting schedule. 

Young adults are often told they must work and save with one, final goal in mind -- retirement. Most West Virginia workers dutifully contribute to employer-provided retirement savings accounts and some even establish their own. People spend decades of their lives saving for the period of time in which they will be able to sit back and just relax. But what happens when divorce throws a wrench in your retirement plans? 

In general, women tend to take a harder financial hit during divorce. A 2008 study found that divorced men's incomes typically increase by about a third, while divorced women's incomes fall by nearly a fifth. This can make saving for retirement difficult on more than one account. Not only do divorcees usually divide their retirement savings with their ex, but women have less to save afterwards. Some may even begin to worry that they will never be able to retire. 

When creating and freezing embryos, West Virginia couples typically create an agreement about how they will handle unforeseen incidents, such as the ending of their marriage or a sudden death. However, a new out-of-state law appears to supersede those agreements. Determining how to handle frozen embryos during a divorce has long been a difficult issue in family law, and this new law could potentially set a precedent that other states may follow.

Couples freeze embryos for any number of reasons. Perhaps they are both focused on their careers or are struggling to conceive, but the main goal is usually always the same -- to produce a child. However, couples can agree that if they divorce that they will destroy the embryos or that one or both parties may still use them at any time. For couples in a different state, this decision may be out of their hands.