Kate Beckinsale Divorce: Does Len Wiseman Have Any Rights Over His Stepdaughter?

It’s official: Kate Beckinsale and Len Wiseman are getting divorced. After a plague of rumors over the last few months, during which both parties were photographed without their wedding rings, director Wiseman officially filed for divorce. Neither is seeking spousal support and it is believed that the two have a prenuptial agreement.

While Wiseman and Beckinsale have no children together, Beckinsale does have a 17-year-old daughter from a previous marriage. This brings up an interesting question ”“ does Wiseman have any parental rights over his stepdaughter?

Colorado Stepparent Custody & Visitation

While we can’t speak for other states with different laws, if Beckinsale and Wiseman were Colorado residents, Wiseman would have certain rights over his stepdaughter, though those rights would be much less powerful than Beckinsale’s.

Given the high rate of divorce in this country, many children have stepparents. A stepparent in Colorado may assert custody of a child if he or she has been one of the child’s primary caretakers for six months. Additionally, courts are able to grant visitation for stepparents who have acted in the place of a parent.

Stepparents have an easier time obtaining visitation rights than they do custody rights over stepchildren. It all hinges on the court’s interpretation of what would be in the best interests of the child. If the stepparent was an active participant in the child’s life, has been an active participant for a decent length of time and it would be a detriment to the child for the stepparent to be removed from the child’s life, the courts will likely grant some rights to the stepparent.

Ask a Denver family law attorney about your rights as a stepparent in divorce.

Can I Stay On My Spouse’s Health Insurance After My Divorce?

Maybe your work doesn’t offer health insurance. Maybe it does, but your plan through your spouse’s work is better. But what happens when you separate? Can you stay on your spouse’s insurance, or do you have to seek out another provider?

Issues of Health Insurance in Divorce

No matter whether you are legally separated or divorced, you have the option of staying on your ex’s health insurance in a limited capacity through the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, or COBRA. If your ex-works for a company with more than 20 employees, COBRA eligibility is automatic. If your spouse works for a company with less than 20 employees, you might still be eligible for Colorado’s mini-COBRA.

However, your spouse’s company is only required to provide COBRA coverage to you if you notify the insurance provider within 60 days of your divorce. If you fail to notify them in time, you will not be covered under COBRA.

Additionally, you cannot use COBRA forever. There is a 36-month limit on COBRA coverage, so while using your ex’s insurance might buy you some time, you should still be ready to transfer to your own health insurance plan when COBRA expires.

Before you decide on COBRA coverage, you should compare the rates with the health insurance provided by your own job, if there is any. While many employers pay a portion or all of employees’ health insurance premiums, COBRA requires you to pay your whole premium (and in some cases, more). COBRA may be convenient, but it can be more expensive than finding your own plan through your employer.

Our Denver family lawyers are well-equipped to assist you in ensuring that your needs are taken care of following divorce.

We’re All Celebrities: What Has Social Media Done To Divorce Cases?

The celebrity divorce is the quintessential aisle dressing of shopping centers across America. It seems like every day there’s a new cover story alleging an upcoming celebrity divorce (and sometimes they’re right. Sometimes). And we eat it up! Why is it that celebrity divorces are so popular? And is social media making the average person’s divorce more like a celebrity divorce?

Social Media, Divorce & The Court Of Public Opinion

What separates the average divorce from a celebrity divorce is that celebrity divorces are often these public spectacles that everyone wants a piece of. Some celebrities will use sites like Facebook or Twitter or even YouTube to tell their side of their story, hoping to garner sympathy and, in some contentious cases, turn the public opinion against their spouse.

Nowadays, social media has allowed the average divorcee to use social media for the same purposes ”“ to air their exes’ dirty laundry in hopes of gathering support or sympathy or even tangible things like property or child custody. It can be as simple as emailing their estranged partner’s family to allege infidelity, or something as far-reaching as posting a picture of the partner’s new boat as a way of spiting the partner for lying about assets.

We understand that divorce is an intensely personal, emotional process and that recovery takes a long time. But it should also be a private process. There’s nothing wrong with discussing your divorce with close friends or family members, but putting it out there on social media can often lead to disastrous consequences. Know that in your divorce, all of these electronic records are going to be used by both yours and your former partner’s attorneys in order to come up with asset division plans and parenting schedules. Keep your divorce out of your friends’ Facebook feeds, or it might come back to haunt you.

Our Denver family lawyers use thorough electronic discovery methods in order to ensure that you receive your fair share in divorce.

What Can We Learn From The Brangelina Divorce?

Location is very important in divorce. Because state laws regarding things like property division vary widely throughout the United States, choosing where to file for divorce is important. Is your state an equitable division state or a community property state? Do both spouses live in different states? What about the kids? What happens to property in states that neither party resides in?

The Brangelina divorce demonstrates some of the complexities of location in divorce. The two own quite a few properties all over the world. From their multimillion dollar compound in Los Angeles to their New Orleans French Quarter mansion to their southern France chateau, the couple needed to make an important decision: where do we file for divorce, and why?

Jurisdictional Differences In The United States

In community property states, assets earned or acquired during a marriage are understood to be equally owned and are divided as such. Even if one spouse is unemployed, that spouse is still entitled to half of the marital assets. In equitable division states, the courts determine what property is marital and which is separate, tally up the marital property and negotiate an equitable, but not necessarily equal, division. Colorado is an equitable division state. Depending on the nature of your finances and assets, choosing between an equitable division state and a community property state can drastically affect your divorce settlement.

If you own property in Colorado and another state and are filing for divorce, another question you need to ask is: do you fulfill the residency requirement for the state to file for divorce? For example, in Colorado, one spouse must be a legal resident of Colorado for 90 days before a divorce can be filed. You are allowed to file for divorce anywhere that you and your spouse meet residency requirements. You can use this information strategically, even for property in other states, because often the rules of the state where the divorce is filed take precedence over the rules of other states.

One last thing you should look at is spousal support laws (also known as maintenance or alimony, depending on where you’re from). If you intend to collect spousal support, look into the laws in Colorado and the other states where you meet residency requirements to determine if the laws for maintenance might be favorable if you file for divorce somewhere else.

Our Colorado family law firm can assist you in matters of property division regarding properties both in and outside of Colorado.

Are Women Worse Off In Retirement After Divorce?

Earlier this year, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney of the U.S. Joint Economic Committee released a stunning report about the gender pay gap and the long-term effects it can have on women. It also addressed how lesser pay over a long term slashes the retirement prospects for women, an effect that has drastic implications for divorcing women.

According to the report, over the course of a woman’s career, she can expect to make a little over $10,000 less than a man in the same role per year. Over a lifetime, that amount can reach a staggering half million. Not just that, but the report noted that women tend to leave jobs more frequently than men, making them less able to set up pensions (33 percent of women have pensions, compared to 55 percent of men). Women also generally have lower salaries.

Not only that, but because women often bear the brunt of taking care of the immediate needs of their families, they often invest less in their retirement accounts than men do. As a result, women often have less money than men during retirement ”“ and if divorce happens, this can be detrimental to womens’ prospects for the futures.

The Effect of Divorce on Women and Retirement

Because women are less able to plan for retirement than men, in addition to the expenses of filing for divorce, attorney fees and the disputes that go on during property division, divorcing women are typically disadvantaged in divorce. In fact, divorced women actually have some of the highest poverty levels among women ”“ even widows are generally at less risk of poverty than divorcing women. Only women who never marry have worse poverty levels.

So, how can women prepare for retirement and divorce in light of the overwhelming pressures they face? Women should be aware of how their divorce settlements will affect retirement accounts for both themselves and their spouses. Consider the future values of assets during the process of marital asset division, not just the current values. Many divorcing couples are interested in the here and now ”“ who gets the house, who gets the cars, who gets the boats. But often, retirement accounts (due to their tax-free growth) are much more valuable in the long term than other property. Trading some assets away during the divorce may be a worthwhile exchange for a portion of a spouse’s retirement fund.

Our Denver family law firm can assist your family in property division to ensure that both parties receive an equitable, future-proof portion of your marital assets.

Can I Get A Divorce In Colorado If I Am Pregnant?

Divorce is stressful. Pregnancy is stressful. And both at the same time?

When divorce comes up during a pregnancy, there are a lot of questions to ask. How does the divorce affect child custody? What about child support? If you divorce before birth, is it easier or harder to deal with these issues?

For fathers, the divorce might bring up worries about legal paternity, which is required for the father to have visitation rights, custody and child support obligations. Fortunately, establishing paternity even in divorce is usually a simple process. If the parties are married, then paternity is automatically presumed. If the parties are unmarried, the father can submit a Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity (which won’t include child custody or child support issues) or file a judicial action for paternity (which will include support and custody issues. If, for whatever reason, the mother decides to deny paternity, then the father would have to undergo a paternity test.

Fathers may also worry that they will be less likely to have custody of the baby. As far as the law is concerned, that is not true ”“ both parents have equal claim to the child. However, the courts are responsible for assigning custody and will have to approve any proposed custody plans. They will only approve what they feel is within the child’s best interest. Judges understand the need for both parents to foster a connection with the baby and will often recommend frequent visitation for the non-custodial parent. The best way to ensure a parenting time schedule that works best for you and your child is through mediation, rather than just letting the judge come up with one.

As for child support, it works the same way for pre-birth babies as it does for ones that are born. You can petition for child support even before the baby is born, and it is calculated the same way (and you can find out how it is calculated using our app.) You shouldn’t wait to file for child support, but know that no orders will be given until the baby is born.

Our Denver family lawyers are well-equipped to assist pregnant mothers in matters of family law.

Protecting Your Inheritance During A Divorce

If you have received a substantial inheritance and are currently married or are soon-to-be married, you need to understand how divorce might affect your inheritance.

Whether you will have full control over your inheritance depends largely on what you do with it. In Colorado, property is divided equitably in divorce. If you receive an inheritance, that inheritance is what is known as separate property. Separate property is not divisible in divorce; however, depending on how you handle your inheritance, it is possible for it to become marital property.

Commingling Assets

A way that your spouse could lay claim to a part of your inheritance is through what is known as commingling assets. This means that you combine your inheritance assets with your joint marital assets. This usually happens when the inheritor places money from inheritance into a joint checking account, but that’s not the only way assets can be commingled. Commingling also happens when inheritance is used in a joint purchase ”“ for example, using inheritance money to purchase a marital home.

One way to protect your inheritance, or a part of it, is to obtain a postnuptial agreement dictating which part of the inheritance is marital and which is separate. The easiest way to protect your inheritance though, is keeping it in a separate account. Know this, however ”“ if you share a portion of your inheritance, but keep some of it in a separate account to protect it from divorce, the portion you hide away may still be considered marital property. Sharing a portion of your inheritance creates a presumption that you intend to share all of it. If this is not the case, proving that you did not intend to share the whole inheritance is a burden placed on you, the inheritor. This means you must have ways of showing that you did not intend to share the whole thing, such as requiring both parties’ signatures on joint accounts for withdrawals. If you do commingle assets, a divorce lawyer may be able to help you trace back the assets to the original owner, which can help your argument that the property was separate, not marital.

If you have questions about property division and are worried about your inheritance in divorce, discuss your concerns with a Colorado family law attorney.

Ready For Mediation? Tips For Mothers Mediating Child Custody Disputes

Divorce is a stressful process that becomes significantly more so if you have kids. No parent wants to be away from their child for any longer than they have to, but when divorce happens, there’s really no avoiding the problem of custody. But there are ways to help alleviate that problem; one of those is through child custody mediation.

The point of mediation is to have both parents work out mutually beneficial custody arrangements and parenting time schedules that are in the best interests of the children. Mediation is almost always required in child custody disputes in court, but can also be entered into voluntarily before a case is ever filed. Mediation is one of the best ways to come up with a plan that works for you, your spouse and most importantly, the little ones. After all, why endure the stress of fighting it out in court only to have a judge impose a schedule upon the parents and children, when you can do it yourselves, save money and end up with a schedule that is actually workable for everyone involved?

However, if parents are prone to arguing, or if one parent has a more dominant personality, mediation can be intimidating if you don’t know what to expect. But don’t let fear of the unknown drive you away from mediation; even in contentious custody battles, mediation has a lot of benefits and can help reduce or relieve the stresses of fighting for your kids. Here are some tips to help you get ready for custody mediation:

  • Choose a mediator who is a reputable family law attorney that has been doing mediation for at least a few years. There is no license to be a mediator, so anyone can put themselves out there as one. Always check qualifications, such as asking if the mediator has taken a 40 hour mediation course, and make sure they are family law mediators who have dealt with parent and child issues before. An experienced family law mediator can be effective and convincing about the reality of the situation if the other parent is being unreasonable.

  • Preparation Is Key

    Whether you have a lawyer or are going on your own, come with your schedule and calendar that you need for your and the other parent’s work schedule. Know the dates that school starts, when holidays are, when spring, summer and winter break are and what you would like to do during those times (want to visit grandparents? Teach your kids to ski? Etc.)

  • In addition to the calendar dates, have an idea of activities that you, the other parent and the children have on a daily basis. Does a child go to soccer after school? Piano lessons on Wednesday? Do you always have to stay late at work on Wednesday, but have flexibility on Fridays? Have tentative daily schedules and reminders written down so you can plan accordingly.
  • Do you or the other parent have relatives or good friends that live nearby that want to be helpful with the children? A court cannot order grandma to pick up the kids and take them to swimming practice on Thursdays, but if grandma wants to be a part of it, you can put that in the mediated agreement. Can the kids, if they are old enough, stay at home alone after school if they check in with the neighbor who works from home? Speak to friends, neighbors and family beforehand to offer additional solutions to common parenting scheduling problems.
  • Enter mediation with an open mind and a calm demeanor. Even if the other parent is being unreasonable, always stay calm and collected during mediation. Accept the fact that you cannot control what the other parent says or does in mediation; you can only control your reaction. Getting upset will never help your situation. If you do get upset, it’s okay, but ask for a 10-minute break and get some fresh air to help you calm down.
  • Understand that it might take a few sessions to work out an agreement and plan. If you do not come to an agreement on the first session, know that you did not fail. Sometimes, people need time to reflect and may come back to another mediated session with some new insights into what really matters and what needs to be done. As they say, hindsight is 20/20 ”“ an unsuccessful first session helps both parties identify ways to move forward.
  • Take the time to understand that when parents do not live together, neither parent is going to get as much time with the child(ren) as they would like. Think about the situation from the child’s point of view. It’s your job as a parent to do what is best for the kids, even if that means you might not get to see them as often as you’d like.

The Denver family law attorneys at Divorce Matters provide mediation services for divorcing couples in Colorado.

What Do I Do If My Ex Is Not Paying Child Support?

What do you do if your ex-spouse refuses to make court-ordered child support payments?

Being a single parent can be tough, and child support payments help the parent keep bills and childcare costs under control. So it can be devastating when one party refuses to make those payments.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to force your ex-spouse’s hand. The state takes child support very seriously, and those who do not pay it can suffer some pretty serious consequences. Not paying can lead to long-term financial ruin.

Consequences of Failure to Pay Child Support

Every month that child support is not paid, a judgment is issued against the non-paying party. These judgments, while destroying the party’s credit, build interest at a rate of 12% annually, compounding every month. This means that the longer the person waits to pay, the more they will owe ”“ it is not difficult for a monthly sum of a few hundred dollars to rapidly snowball into a ten thousand or even hundred-thousand-dollar problem.Additionally, child support cannot be discharged through bankruptcy, and the statute of limitations on child support judgments is 20 years. It can’t just be swept under the rug and ignored.

If the financial consequences are not able to convince the party to pay up, there are things we can do to help. The non-paying party can be held in contempt of court, which can put them in jail for up to 180 days and fine them for noncompliance. The courts can order wage garnishments on the nonpaying party, up to 65 percent of that person’s wages. The courts can also attach liens to property owned by the nonpaying party. In short ”“ it’s never worth it to withhold child support payments.

If your ex-spouse is withholding child support payments, our Denver divorce attorneys can help you bring legal action against your ex-spouse.

Who Keeps The Embryos? Colorado Divorcing Couple Spar Over IVF

The question of child custody is a fairly routine one in divorce cases, but definitely not like this.

A case currently pending before the Colorado Court of Appeals pits two parties against one another in a divorce case. The issue? Who gets control of the cryopreserved embryos the couple has left over from in-vitro fertilization?

Mandy and Drake Rooks divorced in 2014. They already had three children, all conceived through in-vitro fertilization. As is usually the case, the couple had a few leftover embryos, which were kept frozen. After the divorce, though, Mandy wanted to use the embryos to have a fourth child, something that she said Drake agreed to during the marriage. Drake, on the other hand, said no. Mandy could not have a fourth child biologically through any other means, because she had no more viable eggs.

This is not the first time such a custody battle has happened. A Michigan couple once underwent a legal battle over five frozen embryos in very similar circumstances. The father did not want more children, while the mother did. The judge ended up ruling in favor of the father, citing that he had a choice of whether or not he wanted more children.

In the Colorado case, the court ruled against Mandy on the basis of consent. Because Drake was unwilling to allow his genetic material to be used for Mandy to have another child, she could not force him. Additionally, the Rooks’ child support agreement stipulated that any child under Mandy’s care would lead to an increase in Drake’s payments, which would be unfair to him if Mandy were to have a child with his genetic material against his consent.

Our Denver divorce lawyers are well-equipped to handle all matters of child custody.