Boise Family Law Lawyers - Divorce Attorneys - Criminal Lawyers - Idaho

Boise Family Law Lawyers, Criminal Attorneys - call for your free consultation now, (208) 472-2383 - Divorce, Custody, Family Law, Criminal Defense, Probate and Bankruptcy

Divorce has become a way of American Life.  More than half of all first time marriages end in divorce.  Perhaps because of this unsettling statistic, couples are now choosing to cohabitate instead of getting married.  According a report published on Tuesday by the National marriage Project, in conjunction with the University of Virginia, the number of Americans with children who live together, unmarried, has increased twelve fold since 1970.  It also reported that children are now more likely to live with unmarried parents than divorced parents.

So what does this mean for you or for divorce attorneys or family law lawyers?  Let's start with the attorneys.  As a Boise Divorce Attorney I am seeing an increase in relationships like these.  Idaho used to have a common law marriage law that, in effect, made a cohabitation a marriage.  That law was abolished and unless you have cohabitated before January 1, 1996, you are not considered married.  The difficulty for both attorneys and individuals in this situation is that you loose community property law protection and upon separation you need to figure out how to split the assets you have acquired while you were together.  Community property provides an equal share of ownership for both parties when the property is purchased with community funds or is given to the community from separate funds.  For example, if you are married and you purchase a car with a loan taken out in your name only, that car is community property if it is paid for with your income.  If, however, you aren't married and you have the same situation, the car belongs solely to the individual who purchased it.  You don't have to be a divorce lawyer to see how this can quickly become convoluted when you are buying things together.

As a Boise Family Law Lawyer, I regularly handle custody cases pursuant to these types of situations.  Unlike separation after cohabitation, the custody of children born to parents who chose to cohabitate instead of marry, follows regular custody law.  So regardless of your marital status, if you have kids and split up, custody will be determined by a fairly uniform set of guidelines and custody will be placed accordingly.  Likewise, child support is determined by the Idaho Child Support Guidelines whether the parents are married, have cohabitated or simply had a child out of wedlock.

If you need to speak to a Boise Family Law Lawyer or Boise Divorce Attorney, please call (208) 472-2383 today.