St. Louis Divorce Law Blog

In our previous post, we began discussing the rules regarding Social Security benefits for divorced spouses. As we noted, divorced spouses can receive 50 percent of a former spouse's benefit if it greater than their own and 100 percent if the former partner is deceased.

To collect a former partner's benefit, one must have been married to them for at least 10 years prior to the divorce and must currently be unmarried or have married after 60 years of age. What this means for many divorced individuals already collecting Social Security is that they may be entitled to a larger monthly benefit.

Divorce can bring a lot of changes in different areas of one's life. Some of those changes happen immediately, and some take some time to be felt. That certainly can be the case with Social Security benefits.

The bottom line with divorce and social security is that a person can collect Social Security benefits based on their own earnings history, or 50 percent of a spouse or former's spouse's benefit, if it is greater than her own, and 100 percent if the partner is deceased.

Our St. Louis readers are no doubt aware of the recent divorce between Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries after a whopping 72 days of marriage. In the last week, news broke that comedian Russell Brand, singer Katy Perry's husband of 14 months, filed for divorce. He apparently cited "irreconcilable differences" in his filing.

One of the interesting things to see about celebrity divorce is how much money and financial wrangling is often involved. When there are millions of dollars in assets, there can be a lot at stake in a marriage. Even with short marriages, there can be a lot of money at stake. And the longer the marriage, the better the chance the financial ties run deep.

In our previous post, we began looking at a custody battle between two women who had spent 11 years together and began raising a little girl together. As we noted, the child's birth mother is currently fighting to regain custody of her daughter, who has been living with her birth mother since two women separated.

The case highlights the current state of laws concerning same-sex partners, especially in states like Florida that don't recognize gay marriage. Sources did say, though, that Florida legalized second-parent adoption last year.

In an interesting case out of Nashville, an appeals court recently ruled that the state of Tennessee is not required to reimburse a soldier whose wages were garnished for child support payments sent to a child who was discovered not to be his.

The man was reportedly sued for child support after he was deployed to Iraq in November 2007. In the process, the state of Tennessee filed a motion for default judgment declaring him the father, and the Tennessee Department of Human Services garnished money for child support from his military earnings. But according to the soldier, a DNA test was never performed to confirm the judgment.

An interesting custody case involving a former same-sex couple from Florida is drawing the attention of gay rights advocacy groups. The case involves a biological mother who has not seen her biological daughter since December of 2008 because her name was never on the birth certificate and she has been denied parenting rights under Florida law.

Prior to their separation, the couple reportedly enjoyed 11 years together, sharing finances and eventually beginning to raise the child together. At the time the women decided to have a child together, the birth mother was 39 years old and infertile. She had her egg fertilized by sperm from an anonymous donor who waived his rights to the child. When the child was born in 2004, the women hyphenated their names as the child's last name.

Our Saint Louis readers may be interested in an article we found concerning a man who owes child support in Hillsborough County, Florida. As our readers know, struggling with and failing to pay child support is nothing out of the ordinary, especially in the present economy.

What is interesting about this case is that the "dead beat dad" in question is a millionaire who owes a total of $10M in child support and spousal support payments.

In our last post, we began speaking about annulments as an alternative or additional step to take beyond divorce, and potential grounds for obtaining an annulment in Missouri. Here we'll take a look at the financial implications of annulments.

In terms of finances, courts generally attempt to restore both parties to their original financial state. Money and property, as well as debt, brought into the marriage will go back to those who brought it. Courts will attempt to equitably divide joint assets and debt accumulated during the marriage.