Who Are the People Who Assist with My Divorce?

When you hire a law firm to handle your divorce, you likely believe that your attorneys will handle everything going forward, and that your job has been reduced to providing periodic information to them and showing up for court. In some cases this may be true, especially if you and your spouse are splitting amicably and have figured out how you wish to divide your assets and parent your children.

Sometimes, however, you may be referred to several other professionals. These men and women will work with you and your attorney, gathering information to get you to the finish line in the best shape possible. Your legal team will assess and advise you on the resources to use based on the strategic plan they feel is most effective for your particular divorce.

Private investigators can be invaluable tools when going through a divorce. They can obtain evidence of child abuse or neglect, which can serve as proof in determining what is in the best interests of the child in custody and visitation claims. Private investigators can also secure confirmation that adultery has occurred, which can lead to a bar to alimony if you are the dependent spouse under North Carolina law. If you believe your spouse may have a substance abuse or alcohol problem, following proper surveillance procedures under the law can also provide you with alternate grounds for divorce.

Forensic accountants can be one of the most invaluable resources you are referred to when you make the decision to divorce. One of the primary topics parties fight over during a divorce is the division of assets. Typically there may be real estate, vehicles, bank accounts, retirement accounts, investments, business partnerships, and personal valuables to divide. (The more you have, the more contentious things can become.) Parties who see the impending end to their marriage early on may begin hiding assets in an effort to hold on to property and cash they feel entitled to retain. Forensic accountants are skilled at tracing back through financial records to determine exactly what assets originally existed and what their current value should be. This can be a significant help when trying to determine an equitable financial settlement.

Appraisers can also help determine a reasonable market value for real estate holdings, vehicles, heirlooms, and other assets that will need to be divided for a marital settlement agreement.

• Real estate appraisals can work to the advantage of either party. If the home has lost value since the date of marriage, you may owe your spouse less in a buyout scenario. The inverse would be that if your home gained in value, and you’re on the receiving end of a buyout, you could walk away with an unexpected chunk of change.
• Independent vehicle appraisals come into play when you own classic cars or hard to value vehicles that will need to be divided for settlement purposes. An experienced appraiser uses a formula to place a current value on the vehicles in question, and may even be able to provide expert witness testimony at trial, if it comes to that.
• There are also personal property appraisers who can assign dollar values to items purchased during the marriage that may have appreciated including:
  • Jewelry
  • Fine art
  • Collections of coins, stamps, baseball cards
  • Antique furniture
  • 20th century figurines and collectibles (Hummels, Lladros, etc.)
  • Textiles
  • Musical instruments
  • Rare books

You not only have the sentimental value to consider but the actual value a judge will need to weigh in determining who walks away with the property versus cash when you can’t come to a mutual agreement.

Parenting coordinators are still a relatively new concept in the family court arena, but they are gaining in popularity around the country. Parenting coordinators offer dispute resolution tools for divorcing, or already divorced parents in high conflict disputes over co-parenting their children. The Parenting coordinator assists in:

• Helping parents comply with court orders or parenting plans
• Making decisions consistent with a child’s best interests
• Reducing conflict between care taking adults to whom children are exposed
• Decreasing the necessity for re-litigating child­-related issues

While some states have not codified the duties and requirements of parenting coordinators, under North Carolina law, they must “hold a masters or doctorate degree in psychology, law, social work, counseling, medicine, or a related subject area.” Parenting coordinators must also be licensed in their area of practice, if licensure is applicable, have five or more years of practice experience, and complete 24 hours of training to be eligible for appointment by the court.

Divorce is hard, but dividing time with your children and sorting out property values makes it all the more difficult to reach a point of closure. The attorneys at Epperson Law Group, PLLC are well versed in handling these delicate subjects in a caring and professional manner for clients in the Charlotte, Boone and Weddington areas. If you are facing divorce, you don’t have to do it alone. Schedule a consultation with one of our divorce attorneys by calling 704-321-0031 or reach out to us through our contact form.