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How To Hire The Worst Lawyer Possible
When I got divorced, my lawyer was a terrible fit, so I consider myself an expert on this subject. Here’s how it’s done: And, of course, we find the seeds for how to create a settlement that will work for you in the long term. Many lawyers understand that families and marriages are complex. Creating a divorce settlement is a significant and final project of a marriage. Divorce professionals who assist spouses to look at the divorce as a joint project leave room for each spouse to articulate what they need post-divorce, to share information about what is important to each, and to generate possibilities to efficiently use resources to meet the needs of the family. It is too common that unfinished business in the divorce is inherited by the children. There are usually tough choices in divorce, and it is possible to make those choices in a way that optimizes the outcome for the family and balances the burdens on the spouses. When parents are confident that they have treated … [Read More...]
Tips For Creating Positive Time With Your Kids During a Divorce
Establishing positive visits with your kids is an essential part of helping them to adjust to the changes of a two-home family. Having positive visits is vital for continuing the connection and relationship and ensuring kids feel reassured, responded to and truly seen by their parents after time away. Here are some suggestions that can help you and your children connect: For more information or to schedule a consultation you can visit my website at www.kristinlittlecounseling.com or call (206) 295-8673. … [Read More...]
Retirement Account Transfers as Part of a Divorce
Many clients come to me with concerns about dividing their retirement accounts because of the potential tax implications as a result of those transfers. The short answer to this question is that there typically are no tax implications for assets transferred as part of a divorce, including retirement accounts. Retirement accounts generally come in two flavors - there are those that are self-funded and those that are employee benefit accounts. The employee retirement benefit accounts can also be broken into two categories. The first of those are defined contribution plans such as a 401(k) or a 403(b) account. These types of accounts are ones in which the employee has a pre-tax deduction from their payroll and typically, the employer also provides some matching amount. The second type of employee retirement benefit accounts are defined benefit plans such as a pension or other annuity which pays out monthly upon retirement. Although defined benefit plans … [Read More...]
Collaborative Process: Fear In Divorce
Fear in divorce may be the number one cause of a poor outcome. Fear can manifest through our clients in many forms: victimized, aggressive, impatient, controlling, disorganized, overly organized, or detailed, cold, and uncaring, non-committal, just a hot mess, several of the above, all of the above. Especially where personality disorders reside, fear certainly can inflame and embolden bad behavior. But like a child’s belief in a monster under the bed, the fear is real, it just may be out of proportion or based on fantasy. When fear takes over, executive functions disengage. Clients in fear stall in decision-making or make decisions based on fabrications. Distrust piles on the fabrications; unreasonable expectations pile on the distrust; entitlement piles on the unreasonable expectations, and reasoned resolution has little chance. When fear becomes the biggest body in the room, other participants may minimize the underlying issues, reject the fear as … [Read More...]
Isn’t Collaborative Process Too Expensive?
When people hear that a Collaborative divorce process involves not only two attorneys but also a mental health professional and a financial professional, they often assume it will be more expensive than a simple two-attorney negotiation. It isn’t. Having just two attorneys does not make the negotiation more simple, and it does not minimize costs. It just means that the attorneys are doing all the work, including the gathering and synthesis of financial information, the proposals about how resources should be allocated, the creation of parenting plans, and the emotional coaching. More significantly, both of them are doing that work, and they’re often working against one another rather than together. That’s a recipe for inefficiency, conflict, and frustration. In a Collaborative divorce, the financial professional creates the property reports, the mental health professional does parenting and family systems coaching, and the attorneys aren’t billing for any of that time. That means … [Read More...]
Divorce Process Options
When meeting with new clients, I typically will include in my conversation a discussion about which process may be the right one for divorcing parties to use to help make the decisions that need to be made. Generally, the process options available to parties are as follows: To schedule a consultation call (425) 822-0283 or visit www.felbecklaw.com. Sakaguchi, Felbeck & Reese, PLLC. is located at 520 Kirkland Way, Suite 400, Kirkland, WA 98033. … [Read More...]
Is There Child Support Between Parents When They Share Care of Their Children Equally?
The answer is unique to each family. Child support is comprised of two general categories. A monthly support transfer payment to help meet the basic needs of the child in the other parent’s home, and direct expense sharing for categories of expenses as they arise, such as health insurance and co-pays, agreed extracurricular activities. The basic support transfer payment is calculated pursuant to a state mandated schedule, based upon the net incomes of the parents. The payment flows to the parent who has the care of the children the majority of the time. The presumption is that this parent bears the larger burden for basics – Clothing, meals, hygiene items, babysitting, school supplies, gifts for birthday parties, allowances, etc. - as these expenses typically occur more frequently where the child spends the majority of their time. As parents share care of their child on a more equal schedule, they are also sharing responsibility for and covering their child’s basic needs more … [Read More...]
What Can I Expect in My Divorce?
Many people want to know "what can I expect in my divorce?" There are many factors that can change the path of divorce, but here's a quick overview of the divorce life cycle in Washington: Each step described above may be more complex or simple. Sakaguchi, Felbeck & Reese, PLLC. Is located at 520 Kirkland Way, Suite 400, Kirkland, WA 98033 and our office phone number is 425-456-1840. … [Read More...]
Why Collaborative Divorce?
The Collaborative Law approach to divorce and separation aligns with our natural instincts as human beings. We want to belong, we need community, we need to feel supported. All of those concepts become threatened when we separate or divorce from our primary relationship. In our traditional dispute resolution models for divorce, “shuttle” mediations or, at worst, trials, capitalize on that sense of threat by encouraging the parties to take positions and look out for their own interests. The idea is that parties have attorneys who are champions for their cause, to fight for their clients in a system built around the concept of retribution rather than repair. But retribution is really about living in our lizard brains, the fight or flight part of our brains. It is not the part of our brain that works toward inclusion, builds community, and creates a system of support. It is not the part of our brain that makes good, well-reasoned decisions. It is not the … [Read More...]
How Do I Start My Divorce?
Divorce is a big decision and once you decide to divorce, what do you do next? Here in Washington, we have a “no fault” divorce law. This means that if just one of you wants a divorce, even if this isn’t a mutual decision, eventually the court will grant the divorce. If you want to streamline the process and you have the means to do so, hiring a lawyer, whether full representation or to work with you in a supporting role, will definitely help. How to choose an attorney can feel daunting. Often, the best place to start is ask a trusted friend or look online at https://collaborativeprofessionalsofwashington.org, https://collaborativedivorcewashington.com/, https://whatcomcollaborativelaw.com or https://kingcountycollab.org A Collaboratively trained lawyer will do their best to keep you out of court, which should be a last resort. To start the legal process for your divorce, you and your spouse file a Petition for Divorce. You can file as … [Read More...]
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