Disclaimer: This article does not constitute legal advice. If you have any questions about your individual situation, it’s best to seek the advice of an experienced legal professional.
It’s often advised that you should do what you love, but sadly, what you love can sometimes cause conflict with who you love. Analysis of US census data shows some careers can impact marriages more than others. Professions with lower pay, odd hours, high stress, frequent travel, and high uncertainty can threaten marriages. Mingling with people in social contexts at work can also put a strain on marriages.
If these people get divorced, they may find themselves faced with new problems. Divorcing creative people or entrepreneurs poses a particular risk to the chances of a “happy divorce” because of the unreliability of income and the difficulty of determining what’s “mine” and “yours.” A “happy divorce” may seem like an oxymoron, but increasingly, people seek amicable divorces using mediation rather than traditional adversarial litigation.
So what can threaten a happy divorce when you’re divorcing a creative person or entrepreneur (or you’re the one with the creative job)? At Divorce Options San Diego, we make divorce more efficient using math, psychoanalytical tools, and financial expertise to clarify complex or uncertain situations. Using game theory, we can help you understand how your interests converge with your partner’s. We are a full-service divorce firm that can help you navigate the complexities of California law, down to the process of filling out forms if needed. We apply financial analysis to speculative income and other non-standard compensation to determine how you can divide your assets fairly. The following is a look at some of the problems you may face.
Speculative Income
When income is based on fluctuating circumstances, from conditional bonuses and stock options to record sales and entertainment or advertising contracts, many people have to plan based on potential future income that can’t be calculated precisely. Bonuses may be tied to performance, and entertainment or advertising contracts might be conditional or not materialize at all. An album or creative project can end up taking a loss rather than making a profit. Then there’s the modern phenomenon of the social media influencer whose income is based on fluctuating follower counts and social media clout. How do you calculate these kinds of earnings and make sure divorcing partners are provided for in the future? At Divorce Options San Diego, we can help you estimate future income and create contingency plans. We can also help you determine who is entitled to what. Your spouse may not be entitled to future income, such as stocks or conditional compensation that isn’t mature yet. It’s important to be aware of the law and make sure even speculative income is handled correctly in your divorce.
Intellectual Property and Marital Property
For both artists and entrepreneurs, intellectual property is a variable that might span and/or predate the marriage. The contribution of one partner in terms of time, ideas, inspiration, etc. to the creation of intellectual property can be difficult to determine and cause a great deal of conflict. A project may have been started before the marriage but pursued throughout the marriage. One partner may have worked longer hours to support the other’s dream. These interdependencies should be explored with respect and a full consciousness of both partners’ time and energy. At Divorce Options San Diego, we approach these problems with the utmost sensitivity and deep psychological expertise.
Debt
Both partners may have taken on debt to support one partner’s artistic career or business. Both assets and debts can be shared in a marriage and considered community property under California law. These debts will also have to be factored into a plan for the future.
Who We Are and How We Can Help
At Divorce Options San Diego, our mediators are caring, educated professionals who build divorce around conflict resolution, closure, and practical solutions for your future life. We are highly qualified professional San Diego divorce mediators and certified financial planners with psychoanalytical expertise. We reframe divorce as an opportunity to generate creative, optimized solutions for your future and your kids’ future. We don’t do adversarial work, and we never represent one spouse against another. We empower divorcing spouses to own their divorces and craft sustainable, effective mutual agreements that will last long after the divorce is finalized.
We are a one-stop shop providing a bundle of essential divorce services, including paperwork, court documents, and financial analysis. We can help you complete your divorce from beginning to end. If you require help with your divorce transition, we offer divorce transition coaching, divorce coaching, life coaching, business coaching, and even interior design for your new home.
The mediators at Divorce Options San Diego are all certified financial planners who apply thorough financial analysis to your divorce to achieve an optimized result that will cover all aspects of your financial situation, including investments, property, and all other assets or debts. Our San Diego divorce mediation process provides a sophisticated review of your community property, separate property, potential community property allocations and divisions, cash flow, transitional processes, and sustainable financial planning for your divorce process.
All our mediations start with thorough background research and information gathering, which flows through the mediation process whenever necessary. At Divorce Options San Diego, we emphasize an efficient, caring process that leaves out no detail relevant to your emotional, financial, or legal situation, which allows you to get on with your life and care for your kids and yourself, both during and after your divorce. We have offices in Solana Beach, CA, but can work with you remotely at your convenience using telephone, video conferencing apps, and other forms of electronic communication. Please contact us at (858) 281-2628 for a discreet and confidential consultation to see how we can help
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