What Are The Financial Implications Of Divorce And Separation?

The concept of family, in addition to its legal aspects, also has social, economic, and moral aspects. Because family is one of the most important and effective elements in the formation of the consciousness of being a nation.

The concept of family has also undergone and still undergoes some structural changes over time, in parallel with the legal, political, economic, scientific, and technological developments that occur in social life. 

Although these changes are essentially the subject of the sciences of sociology and anthropology, it is unthinkable that the legislator would not take into account the findings made by science when making laws. The family, which is accepted as the basis of society by the legislator, is, as a rule, established by a marriage contract, which is a legal transaction.

With the establishment of a marriage contract, spouses gain a new legal status different from their legal status before marriage. While this new legal status grants spouses some new rights, it also brings with it several new obligations.

The main desired goal in daily life and legal order is for every marriage to continue throughout the lives of the spouses. However, it is a fact of life that some marriages do not last a lifetime due to various reasons. The financial consequences and effects of separations and divorces are great.

How Does Divorce Affect Assets, Alimony, And Child Support Obligations?

The financial consequences of divorce constitute the most important part of the legal consequences of divorce, which is a higher concept. However, in this study, we will not discuss all the legal consequences of divorce, but only the financial consequences of divorce for the divorced parties, which are secondary consequences of divorce.

Our main purpose in choosing this topic is the impact of divorce on the economic lives of the divorcing parties. The parties who end their joint life with divorce will start a new life for themselves from now on, and they will naturally face some economic needs while establishing this life.

As a rule, spouses who unite their lives with a marriage contract also combine their economic powers. However, through divorce, the divorced parties are forced to reorganize, ending not only their common life but also the economic power they combined with marriage.

Likewise, it is also possible that the party who caused the divorce through fault will generally harm the current or expected interests or personal rights of the other party. Therefore, redressing these damages within the legal order, or in other words, compensating them, naturally constitutes one of the most important issues of divorce law.

In addition, as a result of marriage, spouses become legal heirs of each other, without the need for any legal proceedings, due to the law. Likewise, it is always possible for spouses to make death-related dispositions in favor of each other, under the influence of certain emotions and thoughts created by the marriage union.

However, as a result of the finalization of the divorce decision, the divorced parties, as a rule, lose both their legal inheritance rights to each other and their rights provided by death-related disposition, unless otherwise understood, without the need for any legal proceedings.

What Legal And Financial Steps Should You Take When Going Through A Divorce?

Divorce cases, due to their content and the background of the case, are undoubtedly a type of case that the parties want to end as soon as possible and aim to end the marriage union. One of the most frequently asked questions is how long the divorce case will take.

Although it is not possible to give a single and simple answer to this question, it would be correct to evaluate the case separately depending on the nature of the case.

There may be significant differences in terms of duration between consensual and contested divorce cases. Trying to determine exact periods can be difficult and unhealthy. As in everything else, what is important here is the concrete event.

In this context, it may be possible to make general predictions based on experience, taking into account that exceptions do not violate the rule.

In consensual divorce, since the reason for the divorce, the claims of the parties, and the demands of the parties are stated with a common will, the burden on the decision-maker is considerably reduced. This contributes to the trial process and can end this process very quickly.

Here, the decision-maker examines whether there is a problem in terms of public interest and approves the agreement if it detects no contradiction.

Once the agreement is submitted to the judge for approval, the litigation process ends within approximately 1 week to 3 months, and if the parties give up their appeal requests, the decision becomes final. The parties must attend the hearing accompanied by their lawyers.

Can You Share Insights On Mediation And Collaborative Divorce For Financial Resolution?

It is obvious that today, there is a great increase in people’s willingness to end their marriage, within their educational level and financial means, compared to the past. It is understood from the numerical data that there has been a great increase in the statistics of divorce cases filed in the last 10 years, whether it is a consensual divorce case or a contested divorce case.

Since multiple issues need to be addressed in divorce cases, we think it would be useful to make separate evaluations. For this reason, we believe that it will be necessary to make a summary evaluation in terms of the financial consequences of divorce.

In consensual divorce cases, if it is understood that the conditions of the case are met by the parties, the judge will most likely decide that the parties will divorce by consensual. The parties must agree on the rights over which they have the authority to dispose.

In terms of the financial consequences of divorce, the parties must agree on issues such as property and money sharing in consensual divorce cases and bind this issue to a protocol by the procedure, and the court can only decide after hearing the parties.

How Can You Rebuild Financial Stability After A Divorce Or Separation?

To ensure strong financial stability after divorce, it will be useful to privatize and change budget programs, re-evaluate opportunities regarding assets and investments, and seek financial consultancy. According to international divorce law, the statute of limitations for material and moral compensation will expire 1 year after the divorce case is finalized.

If, as a result of the divorce case, the divorced woman wants to use the surname of her husband, which she carried during the marriage, after the divorce, we believe that the relevant article will be applied by analogy.

In terms of material compensation and alimony, the court may decide to pay it in a lump sum or the form of income due to the nature of the case, but it cannot decide to pay non-pecuniary compensation in the form of income. Non-pecuniary compensation receivables are considered as indivisible receivables.

While the financial compensation decided to be paid in the form of annuity is automatically terminated upon the marriage of the creditor party or the death of one of the parties, it can be removed by a court decision if the creditor party lives as if they were married without marriage, if poverty is eliminated, or if the creditor party lives a dishonorable life.

What Are The Emotional And Psychological Aspects Of Navigating Financial Matters Post-Divorce?

According to the rule of global law, it is stipulated that the party who suffers material and moral damage as a result of divorce can demand compensation from the other party under certain conditions. In divorce cases, for the court to award pecuniary and non-pecuniary compensation, the existence of material and non-pecuniary compensation conditions alone is not sufficient, and the parties must request compensation.

The spouse who is at fault or less at fault may demand financial compensation from the at-fault party. The fact that the events that lead to divorce are an attack on personal rights is a reason for non-pecuniary damages.

While determining the compensation amounts by the court, the fault of the parties is evaluated according to the general provisions and the relevant articles of the relevant laws. We must also emphasize that issues such as fault, material, and moral compensation are important in contentious divorce cases.

See you in the next post,

Anil UZUN