Question: I have been divorced for a couple years and my ex is now living with another man. There are numerous indicators that they are married (both wear rings, they're renovating their home, they go on trips with my kids, I have proof of joint financial decisions, etc.) but she refuses to admit she is married so that she can continue to get me to pay maintenance.

How often is anyone successful at proving common law marriage these days?

Question: My divorce was final in June of 2009. I was ordered to pay my ex wife $1,500 per month in transitional spousal support and $501 per month in child support. 

Since July of 2009, my ex wife has been cohabitating with her boyfriend. Since she is now cohabitating intimately with her boyfriend, would I have a case for reducing or eliminating the spousal support? 

After paying the monthly spousal and child support, I am only left with about $200-$300 of my net pay. This has left me effectively homeless, barring the good graces of a few friends and family.

Question: I've been divorced for 15 years and am paying alimony to my ex wife of $200 per week with no end in sight. Both of our child are grown and out of the house. 

She now has a boyfriend who has moved in with her. Is there anyway to get this amount reduced or even done away with all together? 

Question: 

I was divorced about a year and a half ago. I was talked into sharing a lawyer because we didn't have much money and she told me that she wanted to work thing out. I was misled. She got the house, 95% of the belongings, and I took the debt (exceeding $30,000). I pay $3,000 a month in combined alimony and child support. All told I’m left with about $1,000 a month to live on.

My ex has not worked since our two kids were born about 6 years ago. The kids tell me that she had her new boyfriend move in, she is now pregnant and they are getting married. I know it’s wrong, but I didn’t pay her alimony the past two months, only the child support, because I was so mad. Now that she’s married, she’s threatened to take me to court to get the unpaid alimony. She also wants to raise the child support amount.

What I want to know is, can she go after me for more child support? If she was cohabiting and they were giving her money (about half the house payment), can I argue for a lesser price in alimony? Is school supposed to be covered under child support? Can she get the child support raised? 

Answer submitted by family law attorney, Brian Craig of Cordell & Cordell, P.C.

Question:

Can anyone tell me if having a girlfriend while going through a divorce would have any negative impact on court proceedings? Custody? Settlement?

Answer:

That is a great question and one that I am asked nearly every day. To answer the question simply, yes, having a girlfriend can negatively impact the outcome of divorce proceedings. There are literally thousands of scenarios of this question and each could individually impact the proceedings very differently. For purposes of this response, I will focus on two generalized possibilities though...