North Carolina Divorce Lawyers Blog

Articles Posted in CPAVille

Published on:

By

Which filing status is the best option for you on your federal income tax return this year? More than one may apply, such as deciding with your spouse whether to file jointly or separately, but if you plan on filing as head of household, you must be sure you meet the requirements. Continue reading →

Published on:

By

Members of some religious groups can submit a request to be exempt from the Social Security tax, but this choice may limit the tax credits you can claim on your federal return. For example, in order to claim a child tax credit, your child must have a Social Security number. A child who has an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) will not qualify. Continue reading →

Published on:

By

When spouses in North Carolina divorce, retirement funds and pension benefits are among the many assets that may be divided between the parties. If you were awarded a portion of your ex-spouse’s pension benefits, the question of when you can receive your payments often has a complicated answer. Often a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) will be required to divide retirement benefits, and the standards for QDROs are set by a federal law known as ERISA, or the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Continue reading →

Published on:

By

Equitable distribution in North Carolina can involve numerous types of marital property and hybrid property, including real estate, bank accounts, investments, vehicles, and personal property like jewelry. Retirement accounts are also a common asset that courts are asked to divide in divorces, but distributing certain retirement plans comes with complex legal requirements. Continue reading →

Published on:

By

Bankruptcy can complicate family law proceedings, especially when trying to determine what assets will be distributed. Normally, bankruptcy can be used to shield certain properties from being included in divorce proceedings. However, certain types of assets will not be excluded because of one spouse declaring bankruptcy.

If your former partner declares bankruptcy during divorce proceedings, will that preclude you from being able to recover an interest in their pension benefits? Continue reading →

Published on:

By

The financial impact of a divorce is often one of the longest-lasting challenges that families will face. Divorces can be expensive, even without the changes in household income and bills. This is especially true for divorced couples with children. The way divorced parents approach filing their taxes each year is another financial consideration they must keep in mind. Continue reading →

Published on:

By

MCMURRAY V. MCMURRAY, 2023-NCCOA-______ (2023) (unpublished)

As a new generation of divorcees begin to reach retirement age since the enactment of ERISA in 1974, we will begin to see cases were a party needs a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) to receive a retirement benefit, but somewhere in the divorce process the QDRO was never entered. Below is one such case. Continue reading →

Published on:

By

WELCH V. WELCH, 2023-NCCOA-______ (2023) 

  1. Facts: Plaintiff and Defendant married in 1981. In 2007, the parties initiated divorce proceedings, including filing for equitable distribution (ED). In 2008, the parties entered into a consent judgment wherein marital property was distributed. One such item was an IRA at Charles Schwab. Pursuant to the parties’ consent judgment, each party was supposed to receive half of this IRA. This never happened, and eleven years had passed by the time Defendant realized it. After exhausting remedies under contempt and the rules of civil procedure due to being time-barred by the statute of limitations, Defendant moved for the entry of a domestic relations order (DRO) under the ED statute. This too was denied by the trial court, citing the ten-year statute of limitations. Defendant appealed. 

Continue reading →

Published on:

By

Last post, we wrote about some cursory copyright issues regarding non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Today, we are going to dive into what happens when NFTs are part of a divorce. While divorce itself is nothing uncommon or new, the NFT craze and how they will be split up is surely uncharted territory for the courts. Continue reading →

Published on:

By

In our last post, we wrote and talked about the basics of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. They have some value on the market, and when things have value there will be a fight. When I first heard that a Nyan cat NFT sold for hundreds of thousands, and then when a simple picture of a Shiba Inu dog (the image at the heart of the the memecoin dogecoin and, predating that, just the general doge meme) also sold for a bunch of money, I began to wonder how copyright worked in this new NFT realm. Clearly, there was an artist that created the Nyan cat gif/meme/video, just like there would be a dog owner and photographer for the Shiba. Who should be getting paid from the sale of the associated NFTs? Continue reading →