Divorce Issues

Divorces and custody actions usually involve a number of topics. If you want to know what to expect, review the list below. If you have no children, review the first section. If you have children, you will need to review both sections.

This will help give you an overview of the issues that will be covered during mediation. If you are ready to make an appointment for mediation you can schedule a session now, or call to schedule one by phone. If you have questions, we are here to help.

Divorce Without Children

Property and Debts acquired by either party during the course of the marriage, regardless of whose name is on the title (Kentucky is not a title state)
Debts (this is what is most people are splitting)
Non-marital property and interests (most often premarital property, inheritances, and gifts)

Divorce With Children

With kids (all of the above, plus) and this works for non-marital paternity actions, divorced people who want to revisit their current court orders related to:

Custody - not time sharing, this is a legal status regarding decision-making authority - who gets to make the decisions regarding the child(ren), specifically medical, educational and legal decisions. Custody in Kentucky can be either sole or joint, with the default custody status being joint custody.
Time sharing/visitation - this is the actual amount of time each parent or defacto custodian spends with the child(ren). In Kentucky the new default timesharing schedule is equal time. In mediation, your schedule is whatever you agree to (from no schedule to the most complicated schedule imaginable) and is not dictated by what the Judge feels is the best schedule.
Child support - Can be calculated several different ways depending on the timesharing schedule and the parties desires. Child support calculations should include daycare and health insurance costs for the children. As part of the mediation, we can run the different calculations, such as the traditional method and the Colorado (equal time sharing) method to help you both reach a mutually beneficial agreement.
Extraordinary Medicals & Extracurricular costs - Extraordinary medicals are any medical costs for the child(ren) over-top of the cost for health insurance, including co-pays, Rx, labs & screens, and reaching deductible, and exceeding coverage limits for a policy. Often extracurricular should be agreed to between the parties especially if there are significant time and costs requirements.
Taxes - Who gets to claim each of the kids on which years. This is often an area of negotiation for other considerations during negotiation.
Other things such as decisions on involvement in clubs, church attendance, contact with new people (extended family, new relationships, etc.) and agreeing on specific things that the parties anticipate will be an issue in the future.

Divorce Issues

Divorce Without Children

Property and Debts acquired by either party during the course of the marriage, regardless of whose name is on the title (Kentucky is not a title state)

Debts (this is what is most people are splitting)

Non-marital property and interests (most often premarital property, inheritances, and gifts)

Divorce With Children

With kids (all of the above, plus) and this works for non-marital paternity actions, divorced people who want to revisit their current court orders related to:

Taxes - Who gets to claim each of the kids on which years. This is often an area of negotiation for other considerations during negotiation.

Other things such as decisions on involvement in clubs, church attendance, contact with new people (extended family, new relationships, etc.) and agreeing on specific things that the parties anticipate will be an issue in the future.