Divorce

When legal separation is better than divorce
(by Charma Pipersky, Attorney)
When you decide it’s time to file for a divorce, tax consequences are probably the last thing on your mind. This makes it too easy for you to miss serving your Petition in time to get a final judgment of divorce entered by December 31. And for many couples, being able to file as “single” or “head of household” might save a bundle in federal and state taxes.
This is especially true since the 1993 tax laws. Before, it was mostly high earners who worried about tax strategies. Now, increases in earned-income credit can make it pay for low earners to be free to choose “head of household” as a filing status. For example, if you and your spouse each earn $10,000 per year and have two children, you could save over $3,000 if you each file as “head of household.”
But, because of the six-month waiting period for divorce, if the Petition isn’t served by June 30, you cannot be divorced by December 31. You won’t be free to choose options that can save you money. What to do? Simple: you can get a judgment of legal separation fairly quickly and that will give you wider tax options when next April rolls around.
Legal separation has no six-month waiting period; you can get a judgment as quickly as you can get your papers through the court (a bit sluggish in some counties). Later, you can file another action for divorce. The downside is that you have to pay a new filing fee and, possibly, the cost of having Divorce Helpline or a paralegal complete your divorce paperwork. But the tax savings may far outweigh these costs.
To find out if a legal separation will improve your bottom line, take a trip to your CPA before you take a trip to the courthouse and find out which filing status will work best for both of you. Then decide if it pays to file for separation or divorce.
More financial reasons to consider legal separation: * If a non-employee spouse has a pre-existing condition or for some other reason will not be able to get medical insurance, some plans allow you to keep a separated spouse on the employee spouse’s health insurance. * To remain legally married until the ten-year deadline for certain Social Security benefits. * To remain legally married until the ten-year deadline for military pension enforcement advantages or a twenty-year deadline for PX and commissary benefits.
There is another strong reason to consider filing for legal separation rather than divorce, and it has nothing to do with money. If you or your spouse are unsure that you want a divorce, but feel that some legal space is required to gain time to think things through, filing for legal separation is a good option. It is a softer action, one that doesn’t close the door so loudly on reconciliation. http://divorcehelp.com/blog/when-legal-separation-is-better-than-divorce/ Divorce? No way, stresses Malacañang
President Benigno Aquino III will not touch the divorce question with a 10-foot pole.
Divorce is not just low on the Aquino administration radar, it is not on its radar screen at all, Palace officials have stressed repeatedly.
Apparently wanting to avoid a potential collision course with the Catholic Church, Malacañang on Saturday dismissed proposals to introduce divorce legislation in the country.
“Divorce is not on the radar of the administration,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte told a radio interview when asked what the President’s position was on the two bills that have been filed in the House of Representatives seeking to either stop or allow divorce legislation.
Valte was categorical in saying that divorce legislation was not a priority of Mr. Aquino, who is a bachelor at 52.
Neither Mr. Aquino nor any Cabinet secretary was willing to discuss this in the Cabinet, she emphasized.
Soon after the House passed the reproductive health (RH) bill on third reading last month, to the great consternation of Church leaders, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte announced that divorce would be next on the House’s agenda.
Right on cue, House members started the spade work, filing divorce-related bills, although seemingly at cross purposes.
One of the House bills wants “any future enactment of any bill related to divorce” to be considered illegal, while the other is for amending the Family Code to accommodate a divorce provision.
The “Anti-Divorce and Unlawful Dissolution of Marriage” bill, authored by Marikina Rep. Marcelino Teodoro, seeks a “guarantee that no legislation encouraging or facilitating the dissolution of marriage and recognizing divorce shall be passed.”
At the opposite pole is the bill coauthored by party-list Representatives Luzviminda Ilagan and Emerenciana de Jesus (Gabriela), which seeks to amend the Family Code to introduce a divorce provision.
The Teodoro bill would ensure that absolute divorce remains unacceptable in the Philippines where, the bill’s author reasons, spouses in troubled marriages can always avail of legal separation.
In the explanatory note to his bill, Teodoro said the attempts to introduce a divorce law in the country “undermine the value of marriage by encouraging couples to put an end to their relationship instead of allowing them to reconcile immediately or fix the same over time.”
Ilagan and De Jesus argued in favor of divorce to give relief to people in so “many failed and unhappy marriages” who have no access to the courts and end up separating “without the benefit of legal processes.”
In this regard, party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares (Bayan Muna) has filed a bill which neither advocates for nor condemns divorce but seeks to make annulment more accessible to and less costly for the poor.
Valte reiterated that neither of the divorce bills was being talked about in the Cabinet, “so it’s not really on the radar.”
Mindful of Church leaders’ reaction after Mr. Aquino signed the RH bill into law on Dec. 21, Malacañang has stressed that the Aquino administration was not about to provoke Church leaders further by supporting divorce legislation.
“That’s not on the radar, that’s not being discussed [in the Palace],” said Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang, following Belmonte’s announcement that divorce would figure next on the House agenda.
“I think this is being discussed mostly by civil society groups and advocates, but we’ve always said that this was not something that we were thinking about at this point. And I can say that it’s really not something that the administration is contemplating” for the remainder of Mr. Aquino’s term, Carandang said.
Enrile: No to divorce
MANILA, Philippines – He may be a “sinner” – not a saint – but Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile will not support a divorce bill now being pushed by some lawmakers.
“I’m not separated from my wife,” Enrile said in an interview on cable TV news program on Wednesday, responding to a question by an audience posted on Twitter and read by the TV host.
“I’m not a saint. I’m a sinner (and) I accept that. But everyday I ask forgiveness from the Lord,” he said.
“I will not impede any senator from voting in favor of a divorce law. But I will not vote [for it],” Enrile said, responding to another question by the host.
Enrile though said he would keep an open mind on the proposal “not for myself but for others who need it.”
Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago said she was also open to the proposal so long as the grounds for divorce would be very strict.
Santiago said divorce should only be allowed on two grounds—if there is an attempt on the life of the spouse by the other, and when one spouse is already living with another person.
“Iyon lang two grounds (Those are the only two grounds). On other grounds, I don’t advise it; I will not support it because it might trivialize the institution of marriage,” she said.
“Young people might rush into marriage, particularly when they are young, and then change their minds and get a divorce. They will not have the maturity or enough patience to work on their marriage. In effect, it makes divorce accessible in substantial grounds, we are telling young people : ‘If you cannot get along, divorce.’ Right now, the message of our society is that you cannot get along, try and get used to each other,” she added.
But with the Church expected to fight “tooth and nail,” against the divorce bill, Santiago said the “best compromise” is just adopt the grounds for annulment now being done by the Catholic church.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/326927/enrile-no-to-divor