When an Indiana couple gets a divorce, it can save them time, money and stress if they can come to a negotiated settlement of the lingering issues. That includes property division, child custody, child support, relocation, and spousal maintenance.
The law allows and even encourages people to come to an amicable divorce agreement. However, simply because a couple has negotiated and presented an agreement to the court, it will not necessarily be approved. It is important that the court scrutinize the proposed settlement before letting it go into effect.
What can be negotiated?
Property is a common topic for dispute in a divorce. Because people accrue items of value during their marriage, they might want to retain as much as possible from a marital home, savings, investments, retirement accounts, collectables, and more. There can be disagreements to how much it is worth and who has the right to it. This can take extensive time to navigate, so an agreement is preferable to doing battle in court.
Maintenance may be necessary for the lower-earning spouse to make ends meet until they have the skills, education and training to self-support. With children, they obviously need to be cared for with a safe place to live, medical care, nutrition, education, and extracurricular activities.
Custody can be a complex matter that is directly linked to parenting time. When a custodial parent wants to move away, the non-custodial parent could object because it can limit their time with the child or make it harder for them to see the child.
The judge will assess the agreement to decide if it is fair. Legally, an unfair agreement would be called “unconscionable.” When the agreement benefits one party too extensively over the other, the judge could tell them to renegotiate so it is fairer or reject it entirely.
Other reasons why the judge could deny the agreement is if the person who is set to receive what appears to be less than they would if the court decided would be fraud, coercion, if the person lacked the capacity to understand what they were doing, or not providing all the necessary information.
Guidance can be essential
Couples who are on reasonably good terms despite their pending divorce will often want to negotiate an agreement instead of going to court. Even those who are contentious could consider a negotiation to save time and money. This can be beneficial if it is a fair agreement. To make sure the agreement can withstand the court’s scrutiny, it is wise to have assistance from those who are experienced in family law.
