Idaho is a “no fault” divorce state. If your marriage is going to be resolved, you may be faced with resolving the custody and support of your minor children; and, regardless, you will probably be faced with resolving the identification, valuation and division of your community property and debt incurred during the marriage and remaining owing. If you have minor children, you are left with the resolution of custody and child support issues. Idaho favors joint legal custody i.e. it is presumed that both parents will continue to share in making parenting decisions on behalf of their minor children. Idaho also favors joint physical custody, but in Idaho that simply means that the objective is to maximize the amount of time a minor child should and can spend with both parents. If you feel that there should not be joint decision making or if you feel one parent should be restricted in physically caring for or supervising a child, I need to know why and how I can help you prove what is in the best interest of your child. A truly “shared” arrangement will have your child residing essentially an equal amount of time with each parent. A more “standard” approach would have your child residing primarily with one parent and then specifically defining the periods of physical custody for the other parent. Once the custody arrangement is determined, that will be one of the major factors in determining child support under Idaho’s Child Support Guidelines – the other factor is the expected gross annual income of each parent. My job is to help you resolve these issues. That may mean assisting you in settlement discussions, mediation or in presenting your case to the Court at the time of a trial.
Resolution of property and debt issues means first determining whether there was property acquired before marriage or by gift or inheritance during marriage that should be confirmed as your separate property; or, debt incurred prior to marriage which remains owing and for which you should be separately responsible. Second, together we have to identify, value and then resolve the division of community property acquired during the term of the marriage or debt incurred during the marriage and which remains owing. Sometimes and in the more complicated cases, that means hiring experts to discover property or to value property. My job is to help you in identifying what is separate versus community property and debt; putting values on what is community property and debt; and, then assisting you in determining how that community property and debt can be both equitable and practically divided between you and your spouse.
