Courts primarily base their decision on what is in the child’s best interest, using the Child’s Best Interest Standard. Factors vary from state to state, but the overall goal is to make a decision that promotes the health and wellbeing of the child. IN Rhode Island, the Court considers about 9 different factors in accordance…
Divorce is often both a financial and emotional struggle. Alimony and child support frequently take a large, even unreasonable, amounts out of your monthly paycheck. Conversely, if your income is much smaller than your soon-to-be-ex-spouse’s, or if you stayed at home to look after the family, you might find yourself in dire financial straits and…
In Rhode Island, we do not have a formal process to file a Divorce on the grounds of no-fault. Upon filing you claim irreconcilable differences and ask the Court to assign the matter to the Uncontested track, but this does not mean that one party was not a fault for the breakdown of the marriage,…
While marriage laws are based on where the parties are at the time of marriage, divorce is based on where the parties live at the time of divorce. The answer to this question depends on whether your spouse still lives in Rhode Island. So long as your Spouse has lived in Rhode Island, continuously for…
Grandparents may have legal rights in Rhode Island, regarding visitation, however, this is far from certain. In the event the grandparents and parents can come to an agreement regarding visitation, court intervention is generally not required. When no such agreement can be made, there are certain situations grandparents may be granted a court order allowing…
Bifurcation of divorce allows spouses to become legally divorced before the divorce details have been finalized. The option to remarry is the most common use of bifurcation; however, some couples seek a bifurcation to distinguish between marriage or pre-marriage property. Rhode Island does not permit bifurcation. The court will not handle the end of the…
In the state of Rhode Island, there is no such thing as a court granted annulment. It simply does not exist. As such in Rhode Island, you cannot get your marriage annulled. However, you can ask the Court to make a legal determination that the marriage was Void ab initio. This means that the marriage…
Rather than divide marital property equally, the State of Rhode Island General Laws require a Judge to divide it equitably. This means fairly and taking into account the good and bad behavior of both parties. Rhode Island generally considers “marital property” as any property—be it income, assets, real estate, or everyday items—that comes into possession…
My client owned several investment properties and more than one business. Each of his properties was highly leveraged and contained questionable amounts of equity, but still threw off considerable income. The value of the businesses was in also dispute but again provided my client with significant cash flow. The wife was a W-2 employee, so…
My client initially presented to me as a severe alcoholic, who had been abusive to his wife and had furthermore diminished the value of the Marital Estate due to his bad behavior and spotty work history. Obviously, at first glance I was quite concerned about my clients credibility and uncertain how I could make certain…
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