Austin Texas Family Law Blog

If neither you nor your soon-to-be ex grew up with divorced parents, you can't fully understand how your children may feel about their parents splitting up. This is true regardless of how many books and articles you read about healthy co-parenting.

You can gain valuable insights from other adults whose parents were divorced. Although their experience as children of divorce may have been decades ago, children's feelings about their parents breaking up haven't changed significantly over the years.

The decision to divorce when you have an infant is usually an especially heart-wrenching choice. However, some couples determine that it's best for them and their family to go their separate ways even if they have a new baby.

In the past, it was often assumed that it was best for mothers to have sole custody of an infant. Studies have shown, however, that this isn't necessarily what's best for the baby, and that infants can, in fact, benefit when both their mother and father are involved in their lives.

When couples of different religious faiths divorce, the decision about in which faith to raise the children may become a point of contention. Even parents who attend services only on major religious holidays and who haven't spent much time passing their faith and its traditions down to their children can suddenly become extremely concerned about their children's religion in divorce. Often, parents who aren't getting primary custody of their kids begin to fear that their kids will grow up solely in their custodial parent's faith.

Regardless of how physical custody is shared, decisions regarding a child's religious upbringing are not affected. Each parent has the absolute right (protected by the U.S. Constitution) to educate their child in the religion of their choice during their times of possession of the child. 

It doesn't matter if you're considering divorce or already moving forward with the process in Austin, your financial situation is likely to take up a lot of space in your head. Regardless of your assets and liabilities, it's critical to have a plan in place for dealing with everything that comes your way.

There are many potential financial implications of divorce, including the following:

• Children: If you have children with your soon-to-be ex-spouse, consider how this will impact your finances. For example, one parent may be required to pay child support to the other. Just the same, there may be questions about who pays for future educational expenses. And that's just the start.
• Tax consequences: There is more to property division than what initially meets the eye. For example, the division of retirement assets, such as a 401(k) or IRA, is likely to impact your tax situation now and/or in the future.
• Life insurance: Many divorcing couples have to figure out how to best deal with active life insurance policies. As a general rule of thumb, the spouse who owns the policy should receive the policy. If you maintain life insurance after your divorce, double-check your beneficiary (as you probably don't want it to remain your ex-spouse).
• Estate planning: Any major life event, such as divorce or marriage, calls for you to review your estate plan. For example, you may want to remove your ex-spouse as a beneficiary, to ensure that they don't receive anything upon your death. Also, review your health care power of attorney, as giving this power to your ex may not be in your best interest.