How to Be Intentional and Strategic with Your Legal Plan

When you’re a successful business owner or an executive at a thriving corporation, your divorce will be more complex than the average separation. While a typical marital estate includes a home, a motor vehicle or two, a modest savings account, and possibly an employer-sponsored pension plan, you need to be concerned about high-value real estate portfolios, closely-held businesses, stock incentive plans, and other assets that reflect your professional success.

This is why you need to hire a Tennessee divorce attorney who not understands your concerns and will customize the legal strategy based on your specific case and needs.

Finding the Right Attorney

Executive divorces have specific challenges because you have substantial income and assets. Your family will typically want to maintain the stand of living to which they have become accustomed, so property division, child support, and spousal support can be more contentious.

Yes, it can be challenging, but your ability to take control of challenging situations has brought you to where you are today. You don’t just let things happen – you make them happen. To do that, you need to work with a divorce attorney who will educate you on your options and treat you as a partner in strategy development. Below are some criteria for hiring the right legal professional for your case.

They Help You Prioritize Goals

An effective legal strategy is like a sound business plan in that you start by knowing what you want to achieve. Your divorce attorney should go over your goals with you and help you rank them in order of importance. Divorce objectives could include:

Maximizing the amount of time you spend with your children
Keeping any child or spousal support awards reasonable and fair
Reducing the impact of the divorce on your business
Getting the divorce over with as quickly as possible
Keeping costs as low as possible

They Educate You

As you discuss your goals, your attorney should help you understand your ability to accomplish them under the legal system. For example, you may be angry with your wife and not inclined to share much of your hard-earned wealth, but if she left the workforce early to raise the children and support your career, the law may impose a temporary support obligation on you.

Your attorney will also explain how your choices can affect your life after divorce. You may dislike the idea of ongoing spousal support so much that you want to “front load” the payments, meaning that you pay a large amount of support for a year or two to get it over with. The right attorney will explain that support payments that trickle off or stop during the first three years after divorce may be treated as a property settlement by the IRS and trigger the “alimony recapture” rule, which is intended to prevent payers from making deductible property settlements at the beginning of the year when their divorces occur near the end of the year.

They Explain Your Realistic Options

Your attorney should present you with options that are legally sustainable and allow you to choose which ones guide your legal strategy. By providing you with a clear understanding of your choices, they give you control over your own divorce.

Contact a Tennessee Divorce Attorney

At Piper Law PLLC, we treat you as a partner in your Tennessee divorce plan. We have the experience, legal and financial knowledge, and track record to get you the results you need in your divorce. Once you make informed choices about your goals, we will handle all complicated details and minimize your time commitment as much as possible so that you can focus on your future. To schedule a confidential consultation with one of our divorce attorneys, contact us today.