| bethaniekaye |
| (recently joined) |
| 10/31/09 09:26 AM |
When the woman is the breadwinner
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I have a very lengthy story to tell for advice so bare with me. Divorce final in Feb. 05. Marriage lasted 12 years. I was always the breadwinner. Our separation followed a physical altercation where he pulled a knife on me while intoxicated. Due to the stress of the impending divorce I missed a lot of work and was notified of being terminated without cause one week prior to the divorce. I was given until 1 week after the divorce to sign the general release agreement. In Arkansas, severance pay is taxed at 25% so my income was going to be less than what I reported on my affidavit of income. My severance pay was going to be paid to me bi-weekly for a period of 8 months. Now here we are 5 years later and my husband has sued me for half of my severance package and two days ago the judge awarded him 40,000 dollars. I lived off of my severance until I located a job in another state 9 months later. On my affidavit of income that I completed for the courts I listed my salary as it was when I divorced. I think it is important to understand he also did not pay me any child support which I agreed to if I did not have to pay him alimony. Can someone point me in the right direction? My attorney says he thinks what the judge has done is illegal and is researching as we speak.
| TexasDad2002 |
| (recently joined) |
| 11/28/11 12:38 PM |
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Re: When the woman is the breadwinner
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It sounds like the judge decided the severance package was a marital asset. I think the logic is that you were guaranteed a series of future cash flows for services that were completed during the marriage. Kind of like if you had owned an annuity with a guaranteed future stream of payments.
Hopefully your lawyer can find a way around this.
Good luck