Shelton Family Law Blog

For years, the common and alarming statistic was that half of all U.S. marriages end in divorce. Although there was a period when the divorce rate was nearly that high, it came at a time when divorce had first become widely available and socially destigmatized. Since then, the divorce rate has been declining steadily for decades.

These days, the divorce rate is certainly lower than it had been. But the statistics can be hard to compare because marriage rates have also fallen. Many couples, especially millennials, are choosing to cohabitate instead of getting married.

Millennials in Connecticut and across the country are using prenups a lot more often to cover property that is held separately, inheritances from family, business ownership interests and other assets. Part of the reason may be the millennial generation's tendency to marry later than previous generations did. Since 2005, the median age for marriage has risen to 29.9 from 27 for men, and the median age for women has risen to 28.1 from 25.5.

According to Pew Research Center, the millennial generation has expanded to include anyone born between 1981 and 1996. It's the youngest generation that can remember 9/11 directly and the first generation to enter the workforce during and following the 2008 recession. Pew went on to say that the state of the economy at the beginning of millennial careers had a significant influence on their financial decisions, including the choice to sign a prenup.

It can be a challenge for a Connecticut couple to determine how they are going to divide their business during a divorce. The divorce process already has enough emotional challenges on its own. When a couple throws in a business that both of them may have been emotionally invested in, the challenges can skyrocket.

Before making any decisions, a divorcing couple needs to sit down and get the facts. The most important fact is the exact value of the business. Until they have this information, they do not know what they are trying to divide. Next, each party has to determine what they want from the business. Does one individual want to run the business while the other one simply wants financial compensation for the part of the business they owned? Answering these questions will help a divorcing couple make decisions about what to do next.

The ability to claim a child or another dependent on a tax return can have a profound impact on the ability to claim deductions or credits. It can also impact a person's chances of claiming Head of Household status. If there is no custody or similar agreement in place, the IRS will use a series of rules to determine which person gets to claim a person as a dependent.

First, if the dependent is a child, parents are generally given preference over those who aren't the child's parents. In the event that parents share custody equally, the parent who has the highest adjusted gross income generally gets the credit. This is because the person with the higher income is thought to have done more to support the child. The same rule comes into play if a parent doesn't claim the deduction but someone else does.