With my wife and I both working remotely with less workload than usual, it seems like a good time to end the discussion about our divorce and write an agreement. We’re stuck in a problem.
We have a pretty large investment portfolio. So far it has lost some but has remained relatively stable due to high bond investments. Either way, we’re trying to figure out what budgets are there and what kind of maintenance payments are due. There will be no child benefit because our children are grown up. I make way more than her, but she doesn’t spend much and plans to buy a small apartment for cash if I buy it out of the house, which means she can really get by on her salary because she doesn’t even do it have a mortgage.
She tells me that when we figure out what alimony I’ll pay, I can’t count the income from the bonds she’ll get for her total income. That doesn’t seem fair to me – it will still be income.
I want to be sensible and do this. Who is right here?
Let’s take a closer look at what you just told me. You earn significantly more than your wife; Your children have grown up, which means this is likely a long-term marriage. She plans to cut back on her lifestyle after the divorce to make ends meet. and you want to include investment income in your annual income, but you fail to say that you will do the same for your income, increasing your solvency.
Maintenance is based on the needs of one party and the solvency of the other party and will typically not exceed 30% to 35% of the income gap. Since alimony is no longer a taxable event, most people agree to a tax-free percentage of 22% to 28%. So the question is, what does that look like using just the middle of 25% of the difference in your earned income?
Your wife is under no obligation to reduce her lifestyle after the divorce. Case law says that if the marital lifestyle can be maintained it should be, and if not then you should share the burden of the victim. Just because she plans to cut her housing costs doesn’t mean you will have to pay less child support. Also, find that where you make more money, you save more for retirement than she can, which means that she will have to plan for higher retirement savings in the future.
The case law also expressly states that the income from income-generating assets that have been split in connection with a divorce need not be taken into account when determining a maintenance allowance. This is especially true if such income has historically been reinvested.
If this is what you really want to achieve, find out an amount of alimony to live on that will do your wife justice without counting capital income.
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