Virginia Family Law Blog

Each school year brings its own set of challenges to Virginia children and their parents. However, kids with divorced parents sometimes face extra stresses. In order to ensure the new school year goes as smoothly as possible, parents may want to create a plan for their child's success.

For example, divorced parents should consider what they would like their kids to learn academically and socially this year. Parents could consult with each other and their children to develop mutually agreed upon goals. This could help prevent conflicts and confusion later on. Divorced parents may also need to discuss how extra expenses will be handled throughout the school year. While a divorce settlement typically addresses large child support expenses, smaller expenses like homecoming costs and missing work to care for a sick child need to be addressed. Some parents agree to handle these costs 50/50 while others choose to pay a percentage based on their income. Meanwhile, kids can also contribute through their allowance or income from jobs.

Getting divorced in Virginia can have a very negative impact on retirement plans. When spouses get divorced, they will have to divide all of their marital assets, including the money that they have saved in their retirement accounts. However, there are several ways that people can recover after their divorces so that they can still retire comfortably.

Part of the challenge of rebuilding retirement savings after divorcing is the limits on the accounts. People may lose a couple of hundred thousand dollars from their retirement account balances in divorces but be limited to maximum annual compensation limits. The most that people under age 50 can contribute to their 401(k) accounts each year is $18,500. If they are older than 50, they can contribute $24,500. People are also limited to making annual contributions of $5,500 to their IRAs or Roth IRAs. If they have pensions, they cannot contribute additional amounts each year.