Recent Posts in Who Do You Recommend? Category

Free Divorce Calculators for
Property Division, Support, and Taxes

I recently had the opportunity to meet with Donna Smalldon, who is a collaborative law financial neutral and co-mediator based out of Portland, Oregon. Donna regularly trains legal professionals in beginning and advanced conflict resolution techniques as applied to divorce and family law matters and proceedings. She serves as a collaborative law neutral and divorce mediator both in Oregon and in Palm Springs, California. You can learn more about her at Applied Divorce Solutions.

Donna introduced me to something that I want to share with you: Family Law Software by Dan Caine. Dan has developed programs for use in determining income and tax calculators, property division calculators, alimony "buy-out" calculators, sale of home calculators, and much more. Some of these can be used for free to test different scenarios as you begin to evaluate and plan for your life during and after divorce. These invaluable tools can be accessed at FamilyLawSoftware.com.

The property division calculator is a must-use for those who are evaluating an equitable division of property within the economic divorce. For those who are considering a spousal support buy-out, Family Law Software provides a solid foundation for figuring out a current value for a lump sum payment instead of payments over time.

Understandably, the price for using the free program materials that Family Law Software provides is that they will email you your answer - you are exchanging your contact information for some free help, probably a fair trade.

I hope you find this useful!

Form 8332 Must Now Be Submitted With Your Return
If A Noncustodial Parent Wishes to Receive the Dependency Exemption for a Child

• The name of the child
• The name and social security number of the noncustodial parent claiming the exemption deduction
• The social security number of the other parent
• The signature of the custodial parent
• The date of custodial parent's signature
• The year(s) for which the claims are released

However, for divorce decrees (or similar orders) issued after 2008, the IRS will no longer accept a divorce decree in lieu of of Form 8332 or the qualifying statement.

For divorce decrees or orders issued before 2009, if the decree or a separation agreement went into effect after 1984 and before 2009, the noncustodial parent can attach certain pages from the decree or agreement instead of Form 8332, provided that these pages provide information that is substantially similar to 8332. However, to be eligible to do this, the divorce decree must state:

• That the noncustodial parent can claim the child as a dependent without regard to any condition (i.e., such as the common language that the claiming parent must first be current on their support obligation)
• That the other parent will not claim the child as a dependent; and
• The years for which the claim is released

The noncustodial parent must attach all of the following pages from the decree or agreement:

• A cover page (that includes the other parent's SSN)
• The pages that included all the items described above
• A signature page with the other parent's signature and the date of the agreement

This means that in every child support order from now on (and before as stated above), particularly where the Court utilizes the guideline formula (Xspouse, Dissomaster, etc.) and in doing makes assumptions about how the dependency claims will be distributed, that there must be additional order directing the custodial parent to sign Form 8332 -and parties will be very well served to have that form with them at the hearing so that they can ask the custodial parent to sign it then and there. Otherwise, a payor noncustodial parent may find that they were ordered to pay more support by the Court than otherwise on the mistaken belief that they would be getting a tax savings, only to find that the IRS disallows it.

Here is Form 8332.

Thanks Brian! By the way, I highly recommend Brian's services as a thorough professional tax preparer, accountant, and CPA.

• Backed up my computer to Time Machine
• Verified disk permissions and then performed a repair on each of my office computers in Disk Utility
• Made sure I was running the latest VMWare update (as of today, 3.1.3)
• Downloaded the Mac Os X 10.6.8 Update Combo v.1.1 (go to support on the apple site and type in "Mac Defender" and it will come up as one of your choices)
• Updated one computer to run Snow Leopard where I hadn't realized it wasn't
• Updated every other program I had, including all XP updates
• Rebooted the puppy
• Backed up to Time Machine again
• Emptied all my trash folders (Apple and MS)
• Purchased and installed Lion

Randy Bauer Audio and Video
760-776-8179

Serving Palm Springs, Palm Desert, and the Greater Coachella Valley

The Supreme Dragon Chinese and Seafood Restaurant

Call them at 760-321-4954 and tell them Thurman sent you!

Q.  Thurman - who do you recommend for court reporting services in the Coachella Valley? I work with an insurance defense firm in Sacramento, and we have a case pending in the desert and have a number of people to interview.

Tom H., Sacramento Attorney

I have residential property in La Quinta  My wife and I are divorcing and in the process of splitting assets.  She and her parents employed * * * of * * * in Palm Desert to value the property.  I'd like a second opinion regarding its value.  

I need some help in getting an honest appraisal.  What would your fee be to provide some help in finding an appraiser?

Thanks.

Frederic

Thurman