When you engage a family law attorney, you’re placing your family relationships, financial security, and future in their hands. We understand the weight of that responsibility and never take it lightly. Our experience plays a key role in navigating complex disputes, protecting your interests, and working toward the best possible outcome for you and your family.
Divorce is one of the hardest transitions a family can face. It can upend your life emotionally, financially, and sometimes even physically. That is why choosing your attorney matters so much. You need an advocate with deep experience in family law, one who is prepared for the courtroom and who also understands the emotional and economic impact the legal process has on you and your family.
At Becker Bouwkamp Walker, we take pride in practicing this kind of law. We pair compassion with competence to pursue the best possible results for you. Our attorneys routinely advise clients on such matters as:
Legal or physical custody is modifiable any time the court finds a substantial and continuing change of circumstances exists such that the modification of custody is in the child(ren)’s best interest. In determining whether such a change exists the court considers only facts subsequent to the most recent court order on legal and physical custody.
When reviewing physical custody, a court considers the following factors:
In addition to the factors referenced above, when reviewing legal custody, a court considers the following factors:
Parenting time is modifiable any time the court finds that the modification of parenting time is in the child(ren)’s best interest. The burden of proof to modify parenting time is less than that required to modify custody. In determining whether such a change exists the court considers only facts subsequent to the most recent court order on parenting time.
When reviewing parenting time, a court considers the following factors:
Indiana follows the income shares model for computation of child support such that the weekly obligation is a product of the parent’s incomes and other child-related expense credits (insurance premiums and work-related childcare, etc.). If one or more of these factors change, a child support modification may be warranted. Indiana law provides that a child support order is modifiable as follows:
(1) a substantial and continuing change of circumstances has occurred since the date of the most recent support order or
(2) if a modification of child support to reflect the current circumstances of the parties would result in a 20% increase or decrease of the weekly child support obligation and it has been 1 year or more since the most recent child support order. The most common bases for child support modifications include, but are not limited to: loss of employment, change of employment or position, change to insurance or childcare costs, emancipation of a child, or a modification of parenting time overnights.
Child support modifications can have greater complexity when they involve self-employed individuals, multiple sources of income from one party, high income earners with higher tax obligations, or situations which may call for inquiries into imputation of income.
The most common alternative form of dispute resolution is mediation. In mediation, the mediator, a trained 3rd party neutral, assists the parties in the resolution of their case in a civil manner in hopes of resolving all issues by agreement without the need to proceed to hearing. Unlike a judicial officer, a mediator cannot impose a decision on the parties if none is reached.
The primary benefits of reaching a mediated settlement agreement are maintaining control and structure over the final terms of your settlement. The same cannot be true when issues are litigated and a judicial officer is the ultimate arbiter. Research has shown that parties are more inclined to abide by the terms of their mediated agreements as compared to court imposed orders which results in fewer modifications or contempt proceedings.
The Mediation process is often required by local trial rules or a court order prior to any final hearing. Marion County requires the same in all divorce proceedings and Hamilton County presumes the same will occur absent good cause.
Indiana does not generally have “alimony” in divorce cases. Ongoing payments from one spouse to another after the divorce are not awarded due to the length of the marriage or a disparity in income. However, certain situations occur in which a court may order spousal maintenance for a set timeframe, including:
Indiana law provides certain protections, rights, duties, and obligations to individuals who are married, but the law is much murkier when it comes to the rights, duties, and obligations of people that live together but who are not married. Persons that cohabitate might have certain assumptions or informal agreements, but be without any kind of legal mechanism to enforce them if the relationship comes to an end.
This ambiguity and lack of enforceability can be corrected by a “cohabitation agreement.” They are also sometimes referred to as “domestic partnership agreements“. A cohabitation agreement is similar to a prenuptial agreement, but can be entered into when the parties agree that they are not married and don’t have an expectation that they will be.
A cohabitation agreement is essentially a contract between the parties that establishes the rights, duties, and obligations that the law would not otherwise extend to them. It sets out in advance if and how the couple will divide property, how they will handle payments of obligations and debts, and can help them to have clarity with respect to the financial relationship between them both during the relationship and if it comes to an end. Even the process of drafting an agreement can help the parties address financial matters that they might never have discussed or that they incorrectly assumed they both understand. These agreements are enforceable just like any other contract if they are properly prepared and entered into the same formalities as any other contract.
Prenuptial agreements, also called antenuptial agreements, are legal contracts entered into prior to marriage which attempt to settle the interest each spouse has in property of the other or in joint property, both during the marriage and upon its termination by death or divorce. These agreements are to be construed according to the general principles of contract law; accordingly, a court must apply the provisions of prenuptial agreements according to their plain and ordinary meaning.
Prenuptial agreements are widely misunderstood to have only one application: to determine various property rights between spouses in the event that a marriage is later dissolved. It is true that this is an important role of most prenuptial agreements, however, prenuptial agreements can apply to other scenarios as well, which may or may not relate to divorce. For example, prenuptial agreements can determine issues of spousal maintenance or payment of legal fees in the event of divorce. A prenuptial agreement can also apply to situations that do not pertain to divorce at all. For example, many people do not know that, under Indiana law, in the event of your death, your spouse is entitled to a certain percentage of your estate, even if your Will directs that all of your property should be given to a third party. However, a prenuptial agreement can include a waiver of each party’s “right to take against the Will,” thereby increasing your estate planning flexibility. (Keep in mind, such a waiver in a prenuptial agreement does not mean that you must disinherit your spouse, it simply broadens your option of leaving your spouse with all of your property, none of your property, or anywhere in between.)
Just as a normal contract, a prenuptial agreement is subject to defenses of fraud, duress, misrepresentation, unconscionability, etc.
A postnuptial agreement, sometimes called a reconciliation agreement, is similar to a prenuptial agreement, but it is entered into during the marriage rather than before it. Like a prenuptial agreement, it addresses how assets and debts will be divided if the marriage ends. It can specify whether either spouse will receive maintenance payments from the other, even where a court could not order them, and how specific assets such as houses, retirement accounts, and inheritances will be handled.
A postnuptial agreement is often entered into to help reconcile a marriage that might otherwise have ended in divorce. Indiana law no longer requires that either spouse file for divorce before a postnuptial agreement can be effective.
