Not every divorce is a tangled mess of assets, debts, shared property, custody battles, and all the other complicated horror stories we hear. In some cases, when there are no children and no significant property to split up, things can be relatively simple. That begs the question, do you even need to divorce? Can you two just call it a day and go on about your business separately?
The quick answer is that if your marriage is truly over, you should probably divorce. As usual with legal matters, the reasons are much more complicated. Our founding partner, Rick Jones, recently stopped by the Danny Bonaduce and Sarah Morning Show to give a much more detailed answer to a listener’s question on this very topic.
Check out the call below:
John [Caller]: “I got a wife, [but] no kids, no property. Now, do I need to get a divorce or can we just live separately?”
Rick: “Well what’s your plan? Do you ever plan on getting married again?”
John: “I don’t know. I don’t know this time around.”
Rick: “Especially if this one isn’t working, right? The answer is still yes. For a couple of reasons, some ‘real life’ reasons. When the two of you are married, you still have formed a community, so there are some concerns later in time if you’re accumulating any sort of wealth, like a 401k that you don’t even think of as in your pocket now. Danny’s got a story about that.”
“But another big one is potential liability. You both go your separate ways, god forbid she makes a poor decision, gets in an accident, her fault, someone else is injured significantly, guess who’s pocket they get to come after? Just one reason to cut ties. If you ever decide to get back together then get back together.”
Danny: “But the thing I always say is, and Ricks’ a very nice and polite gentleman, but there’s no such animal as a non-contentious divorce. ‘Ah, we’re all best friends.’ If you split from this lady, you don’t have property together and you don’t care, if you find something, and you get something, she can come back into your life and want her half of it. And not to be sexist, but the same for her and you know it, John! If she gets all rich and plays Powerball, and she’s still your wife, you’re coming after your share of that, so get a divorce! Call a lawyer and get that done.”
If you have questions about your divorce, feel free to contact Goldberg Jones at our San Diego office.
Related Reading: Do I Need a Parenting Plan if I was Never Married?