Tucson Family Law Blog

A large number of young people in Arizona and across the country face a large debt burden in the form of student loans. On average, the outstanding balance of a student loan borrower is $34,144, and that number is higher for members of the class of 2017, whose average debt burden is $39,400. Over the past 10 years, the number of people who owe $50,000 or more in student loans has tripled. While a number of researchers have looked into the social effects of rising tuition and escalating student loan burdens, these can also have a significant impact on borrowers' personal lives.

Many millennials have postponed marriage and other significant milestones due to concerns about their debt burden and how to manage it. For those who have married, the stress and pressure caused by student loan debt can put them on the road to divorce. One survey of student loan borrowers found that 43 percent regularly argue with romantic partners about money. Another survey found that one-third of divorced borrowers said that financial issues, including student loan debt, was an issue in their divorces, while 13 percent said that student loans were specifically responsible for the end of their marriages.

Determining child support can be one of the most difficult and complicated aspects of getting divorced. Child support is typically determined by the Child Support Standards Act, but that statute doesn't address joint custody. In order to determine joint custody obligations, parents and their legal representatives must sift through quite a bit of information. Here is a closer look at some of the factors that are used to determine child support in Arizona and other states throughout the country.

Every state has a slightly different formula when determining joint custody obligations, but most take a few key variables into consideration. That includes the amount of time spent with each parent, the number of children in the family and the total income of each household. In some states, joint child support is determined by nothing more than the income of each parent and the total number of days spent with them every month. If the child spends an equal amount of time in both households, then the court might decide that no one should pay child support.

When Arizona parents of minor children get a divorce, one may be required to pay child support to the other. If a cause was money issues, this could carry over into how the child support payments are handled.

This was the case with one couple who broke up over issues around career dissatisfaction and money. A few years after the divorce, the father informed the mother that the child support payment would be late. At the time, he was trying to put together a repayment plan for bankruptcy that would allow him to keep the home. The mother gave him a month in which to catch up on payments. When he was unable to do so, she turned to the legal system for help.

When people in Arizona get a divorce, it could lead to a reduction in their financial stability and that stretches into retirement. This may be particularly true for older adults who are already near retirement and who are getting divorced at much higher rates than in the past. A study by the Center for Retirement Research found that people who were divorced were 5 percent more likely to run out of assets. However, this did not appear to be true for divorced single women.

It is common for financial professionals to advise against a woman keeping a home in divorce. However, this study found that as women enter retirement, if they still have the home, it may be a source of financial security and of equity.