Although June is often a good month for weddings, there really is no good time for divorce. And it always comes at a cost -- emotionally and financially.
There are several apps to help you prepare and manage the business of divorce. However, no app will take the place of a skilled attorney.
Each state has its own specific laws and equations for financial support and custody, and many law firms from California to Illinois to New York have free or low-fee apps to walk you through the process before you set foot in a meeting with a lawyer both for the iPhone and Android devices.
In California, you can get a sense of what a divorce will cost you in monthly support with a free iPhone calculator from Dishon & Block that's based on the formulas used by the California Family Code and other rules of the court. That's all is does -- give you a ballpark figure for monthly spousal and child support.
Though most of the calculators in Apple's (AAPL) App Store appear to be state-specific, a free one in the Google (GOOG) Play market covers all states. The Child Support Calculator is based on the various statutory guidelines, though there are
other factors that play into the final number. And the court has the final authority over the amount awarded.One app actually in the iTunes and Android markets that really focuses on divorce in New Jersey does have broader applications for those beyond Hoboken. The app from Stark & Stark can help you do an inventory of the marital assets -- that's mine, this was his -- in preparation for formalizing the process.
It has a Divorce Journal to store personal notes about your divorce and, for physically abusive relationships, it helps you to collect audio and photographic evidence of the abuse -- and contact the authorities for New Jerseyites.
Once your marital ties are dissolved, keeping track of things from email exchanges to child exchanges is often imperative to keep the peace -- or at least legal balance. Divorce Log for Android and iPhone lets you track child support, alimony, time with your children, expenses and correspondence. Entries can be emailed as HTML or text to your attorney or child support office.
The $4.99 app will calculate your expenses and you can paste copies of text messages and emails in the correspondence part of the application.
It's much more fun, obviously, to plan a wedding than it is to plan a divorce. But the apps at least help inform and organize you.
I'm not sure you can say that Windows Phone owners stay married longer, but only the Microsoft Marketplace has no apps on how to divorce -- just how to stay married.
Source: www.contracostatimes.com
Goldsmith and Rothschild dynasties head for divorce - Daily Telegraph
Rothschild’s family is reported to be ''worried sick’’ about her new relationship. ''Her mother and all her family are very concerned that Kate is going off the rails,’’ another source said. ''Kate and Alice are talking, but most of the family are not on speaking terms with her at the moment. The whole situation is very sad.’’
So just how did this union descend into a debacle worthy of the Jeremy Kyle show?
Rothschild, who began her relationship with Goldsmith when she was 17, has been enjoying rather different interests of late to the family’s usual society pursuits. Her fledgling music career with Roundtable Records led to an ''increasingly nocturnal’’ lifestyle. Her husband’s fears were realised when, a friend says, he “found texts and email messages” between Rothschild and Jay Electronica, who is one of her clients. Worse still, “they were very intense messages planning sexual liaisons”. The “passionate” affair had reportedly been going on for a year. In the confrontation that followed, 31-year-old Goldsmith was arrested at the couple’s £20 million home in Kensington, on suspicion of actual bodily harm. He was said to have slapped his wife and kicked a toy at her, at which point she called the police. He was released without charge after accepting a caution, before taking their three children on holiday with his mother, Lady Annabel.
That, aside from the lawyers’ fees, could have been that, but for the couple taking to Twitter – an extraordinary act for a family that values privacy as much as the Goldsmiths do. Rothschild, 29, claimed she had been cheated on ''several times’’ and even posted a picture of the children, Iris, eight, Frankie, seven, and Isaac, four, being returned to her on a private jet, alongside a series of bitter and increasingly hysterical posts.
Goldsmith branded her behaviour ''appalling’’ and lapped up commiserating messages from the Twitterati. After reports that she had hired a PR firm to manage the crisis, he posted: ''A bit late surely? How about focusing on her devastated children?’’
Ten years ago, Goldsmith was named Britain’s most eligible bachelor by Tatler. Known as Ben-Ben by his family and born when his mother was 46, Goldsmith provided solace for Lady Annabel when her first-born son, Rupert [by first husband Mark Birley], disappeared off the coast of West Africa while swimming in 1986.
Kate comes from an equally illustrious line, her father from the Rothschild banking clan, and her mother from the reputedly cursed Guinness brewing heirs. She grew up at the family pile, Rushbrooke Hall, Bury St Edmunds and went to school at Bryanston, Dorset, where she had a reputation as a “party animal”.
It would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than to deem whether Goldsmith or Rothschild is richer. Goldsmith’s money is tied up in family trusts, which are so convoluted that his father boasted they could never be unravelled. When Sir James died, he left assets worth about £1.2 billion and each of his children was estimated to have received £10 million in spending money. The founder of a green investment business, Goldsmith is said to be now worth £300 million. He has invested in the concierge business quintessentially.com, set up by Ben Elliot, nephew of the Duchess of Cornwall. He also backed Marco Pierre White’s private dining club, Drones.
For her part, Rothschild shared an £18 million inheritance when her father, Amschel, killed himself in a Paris hotel room in 1996 at the age of 41. He had joined the family firm only nine years before, taking his place in what has been described as ''the closest thing to a Jewish Royal Family in exile’’. The half brother of Lord (Jacob) Rothschild, he was being groomed to take over the family bank, NM Rothschild, from his second cousin Sir Evelyn de Rothschild. He was found hanged after a business meeting, and his death, when Kate was 14, remains unexplained.
Rothschild is expected to gain custody of the couple’s children, unless her husband can prove that she is an unfit mother. The pair will divide the proceeds of the family home, bought for £5 million in June 2002, through a company registered in the British Virgin Islands.
Two days ago, Rothschild posted emotional late-night tweets: ''To all the vultures harassing and taunting me, the people calling me a whore and a bad mother, the threatening emailers and callers: I have been with my husband since I was 17, my whole life from then until now has been dedicated to him and our children. Ben in a rational mood would be the first to say that my devotion to my children is unshakeable. I am with them now, as I always am.
''Our marriage went bad a few years ago and none of you have any idea what I went through along with my husband. Then we separated for a while… anger and bitterness following that time led to a very one-sided story being released in order to shame and hurt me.
''I am not here to tell tales, I am not here for sympathy, or even to put my side across – this is a personal matter and none of your business. I am simply here to say that there is of course another side that would stop you all in your tracks, as with every break-up.’’
She added: ''I love my husband. He he is a brilliant and incredible man. We grew up together and I miss him painfully, but relationships go wrong.
''As for Jay Electronica... he saved my life in many ways and I am eternally grateful to him and hope that I can repay him by helping him, as his manager and friend.’’
In response to a flurry of criticism on the internet, she posted: ''This is the darkest time of my life; a weaker woman would be broken by your cruel, ignorant condemnations.’’
Jay Electronica, born Timothy Elpadaro Thedford and known for his sexually explicit lyrics, weighed in to post ''#LoveIsOnTheWay’’ as he returned to Britain from America, where he had been at his grandmother’s funeral.
Yesterday, in a belated attempt at dignity, Goldsmith and Rothschild issued a joint statement: “We are both deeply saddened that our marriage has ended after nine years. It is a matter of regret to us that, at a time when our emotions and those of our friends have run high, things have been said in public which should have been kept private. We accept our full share of responsibility for this. Contrary to what has been publicly stated, neither of us anticipates any major issues of contention to arise in the divorce, in which the interests of our children will come first. There will be no further comment, directly or indirectly, from us on any aspect of our family’s private life.”
Goldsmith and Rothschild have deleted many of their Twitter messages and both families appear to be battening down the hatches. Contacted yesterday, Lady Annabel said: ''I don’t want to be rude, but I don’t want to make any comment whatsoever.”
Jemima Khan responded via her BlackBerry: ''Sorry – I can’t discuss this. Hope you understand.’’
But with such public airing of dirty linen, the damage has already been done.
Additional Reporting: Martin Beckford
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Joint credit cards don't dissolve with divorce - CreditCards.com
Joint credit cards don't dissolve with divorce
Removing one person from a jointly held card typically isn't done
By Sally Herigstad
Dear To Her Credit,
How can I remove my husband from my Bank of America Visa
credit card that we have jointly? The bank says to close it and re-apply. We
have been married 17 years. We are getting divorced.
This was my card, and I added him to it years ago. I don't want to start over because I need the credit and credit rating. It also has a lot of mileage rewards on it. Besides, I don't make much money now, so I may not even qualify. Both my husband and I have very good credit scores with no outstanding debts. -- Teresa
Dear Teresa,
The bank has the last word on this one, I'm afraid.
If your soon-to-be ex were only an authorized user on this card, it would be easy to drop him. As a joint account holder, however, the bank is counting on both of you to pay off any debts on this card. Despite the fact that it was your card originally, they have been extending credit with two people responsible for paying it and can choose not to let one of them off the hook.
Divorce court can't help much, either. Divorce settlements commonly specify which spouse gets a credit card and the accompanying debt. But the bank is not party to the divorce, and the divorce court cannot change terms of the credit card contract. Between divorce law, contract law and a couple of ex-spouses still stinging from a recent divorce, you can see how leftover joint accounts can turn into nothing but trouble. Closing the account down and starting over starts to sound like a good idea!
You shouldn't have to lose your mileage points, however. One option, of course, is to use them before you close the account. That's what you've been saving them for, right? If you can't do that, you may be able to transfer them to your new account or gift them to family or friends. You can even donate your miles to charity, either directly to organizations like the Red Cross, or through MileDonor.com, an online connection point between charities that need mileage points and donors. Be sure to transfer or donate your miles before you close your account.
If the account has a balance, try to get it paid off with assets from the divorce. The credit card company can and will try to collect from both of you, regardless of who ran up the bill or who the divorce court said should pay it. This is true even if the account is "closed," but still has a balance.
With your good credit, you should be able to get a credit card on your own even with a reduced income level. The amount you can borrow will probably be much less than your previous limit, but that can work to your advantage. Credit cards are great payment tools. They make lousy long-term loans. A card with a low limit gives you all the advantages of plastic without the temptation to let the balance build up -- as almost everyone who has had a credit card has experienced at one time or another.
You won't lose your credit history from this card by closing it. Just as you cannot erase bad credit by closing an account, you don't lose your history of being a good customer, either. You may have less available credit, which can adversely affect your credit score, but if you keep your debt balances close to zero, this shouldn't be a huge issue.
Another thing to remember about your credit score is that it only matters when you use it; for example, when you apply for a loan or credit card, try to get into an apartment or sometimes when you apply for a job. It's not affected by your income level, and it's not a judgment of you as a person. Take your time building it up as a single person. The best way to improve a credit score is slowly and steadily over the years. Good luck, and take care of your credit!
See related: Where you live impacts debt liability in divorce
Sally Herigstad answers questions about credit every week for CreditCards.com. Herigstad is a certified public accountant, author and speaker. She also writes regularly for MSN Money, Interest.com, Bankrate.com and RedPlum.com, and has been a guest on Martha Stewart radio and other programs. You can read more about personal finance and download free budgeting worksheets at her website: www.sallyherigstad.com
To Her Credit answers a question about a debt or credit issue from a CreditCards.com reader each week. Send your question to Sally.
Published: January 27, 2012
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Source: www.creditcards.com
London 2012 Olympics: Three British triathletes have their secret appeals over selection dismissed - Daily Telegraph
However Hall, 20, is an extremely fast swimmer and is believed to be the only UK triathlete capable of setting a fast first-leg pace to help break up the pack early on and drag Jenkins to the cycle leg in an even more prominent lead.
The second woman, Vicky Holland, appears to have been selected on form.
The selection of the third male in the Olympic team has also created a storm among triathletes. Hayes is a strong cyclist and he will be expected to push the front of any bicycle pack to save the legs of the Brownlees, both of whom are exceptional runners.
Tim Don appears not to have appealed against his non-selection, although he would have been forefront of many of the selector’s minds.
But Clarke, who has Beijing Olympic experience and who finished eighth at the Sydney world series race and 20th at the recent San Diego event was not happy with the selection policy, telling the BBC recently: “I think [the selection policy] is really harsh, I can’t see a reason why athletes finishing eighth, 10th or higher can’t be right up there on the day.Everyone knows anything can happen, people do big things on the day.”
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
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