Amber Serwat Releases Valuable eBook Discussing Mediation and Respectful Divorce

Amber Serwat, one of Minnesota's most trusted and qualified neutrals in the area of family law and divorce,  is offering her valuable expertise to all in the form of a free eBook. Her recently released eBook, "7 Benefits to Using Divorce Mediation: A Parent's Guide to a Respectful Divorce" is available now and may be downloaded now at no cost at http://www.mediation.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/AmberSerwat_ebook_final.pdf.

"I'm not only highly trained and professionally experienced, I've been there," said Serwat. "I'm a divorced parent of two as well as a step-parent. The fact that I've walked a similar path as my clients enhances my training and makes me uniquely qualified to assist divorcing parents. I'm interested in giving back to the community and I hope this eBook will be valuable to any parent facing or contemplating divorce and wondering if it's possible to go through this process with civility and a mutual focus on the children's needs and long-term well-being."

Take a Break from Divorce Litigation

I’ve had clients come to me in the middle of traditional, litigious divorces wondering if there might be a better alternative to battling their case through the court system.

If this is your situation and you yearn for a more civilized, less expense, and less time consuming method of settling your divorce, know that you can consider mediation at any time in the divorce process.  For example:

• In cases where attorneys are never involved;
• In cases where attorneys are consulted prior to the mediation, but are not involved in the mediation process;
• When attorney services are used only for review of the draft Memorandum of Understanding; and
• When clients are deeply involved in litigation, but want to try to settle their case in a more orderly, less contentious fashion. 

Certain situations merit consideration of “taking a break” from litigation. You may wish to consider divorce mediation if:

• Your children are being stressed or harmed by your litigation. 
• You are in emotional turmoil as a result of your litigation. 
• You have a need to feel that you have tried all “friendly” alternatives before going court (and, possibly, unleashing a torrent of bad feelings that may last a lifetime)
• You believe it might be wise to treat asset and liability issues separately from parenting issues. 
• You and your attorney no longer see eye to eye; 
• There is a single issue that is holding up the entire settlement; 
• Your attorney fees feel like the National Debt. 

If you or someone you know could benefit from structured assistance in decision making around your divorce, contact Falmouth Mediation at 508-566-4159 for a free, no-obligation, private, confidential consultation. We will be happy to discuss the key details of your situation, address any concerns and help you decide if divorce me­diation would be beneficial.

Will I Have Health Insurance After A Divorce?

This is a common question and concern for many people going through a divorce. Often, spouses have group health insurance coverage through one spouse’s employer. But what about stay-at-home moms that do not have access to an employer group plan because they do not work? Can their spouses, out of spite, say ‘no’ to allowing them to remain on his/her plan?

In this excellent blog posting Diane C. Pappas explains the intricacies of the Massachusetts laws that protect spouses in certain circumstances and allow for continuance of coverage in the event the marriage is terminated by divorce.


Diane also offers 4 tips when considering health insurance after divorce:

• Know the health plan currently available to the family – Obtain the Summary Plan Description from the insured spouse’s HR department. This is the only document that will tell you if the plan is self-funded. The Summary of Benefits does not provide this information;
• Know the costs – Premium, out-of-pocket limits, deductibles, co-insurance costs, co-pays;
• Know your options – Government, military and church plans have their own rules. Find out the cost of COBRA before you agree to anything, research private plans;
• Plan for contingencies – Your Separation Agreement should address all health insurance concerns. If you do need to find your own insurance, negotiate for your spouse to help pay for it. Know that alimony cannot be reduced as a result of the obligor’s cost for health insurance for the spouse. Some employers may add the cost of the spouse’s premium as W2 income to the employee – know this ahead of time so there are no surprises.

Some Tips When Divorcing With A Special Needs Child.

In a recent post I linked to a blog posting by Susan Ingram writing about the range of conditions the term "special needs" covers and the many questions to ask and factors to consider when divorcing parents have a special needs child:

There are many benefits of a mediated divorce as opposed to a litigated divorce.  One of the great benefits of divorce mediation is that you can create an agreement that is tailor made to your own situation. This is especially useful if you are divorcing with a special needs child. In this blog posting Joy Rosenthal offers some tips to keep in mind for the many decisions about parenting plans and financial considerations you will need to make.

If you or someone you know could benefit from structured assistance in decision making around your divorce, contact Falmouth Mediation at 508-566-4159 for a free, no-obligation, private, confidential consultation. We will be happy to discuss the key details of your situation, address any concerns and help you decide if divorce me­diation would be beneficial.

Are You Paying or Receiving Alimony? Careful, You May Get Audited

In this excellent article, Chris Chen talks about how the IRS has increased resources devoted to scrutinizing alimony.

As is well known amongst divorcing individuals and financial professionals, the tax code allows the payor of alimony to deduct it from taxable income, while the recipient must include it in taxable income.

Unsurprisingly, divorced couples don't agree about alimony any more than they do about anything else. In March 2014, TIGTA, an IRS watchdog, issued a report identifying a large tax gap between alimony deductions by payers and the corresponding income claimed on ex-spouses' returns. As a result alimony is now a target that the IRS has identified and quantified.  In fact, the IRS reported adjusting its audit filters to catch more high risk returns.so divorcing individuals, at least those paying and receiving alimony, will be at a higher risk for an audit.

Chris suggests people paying or receiving alimony:

• Fully understand what is alimony and what is not.
• Agree with your ex on what alimony amount you are putting on your respective tax returns.
• Ensure your separation agreement correctly specifies alimony.
• Get proper professional post-divorce support
• Avoid pushing the envelope on this issue.