When a married couple divorces and cannot decide how their property should be divided, the courts must step in to determine the fairest division arrangement. Courts use each spouse’s self-reported financial information like income and debts to make decisions about, child support, spousal maintenance, property division, and more.

Sharing parental responsibilities can be quite complicated for divorced, separated, or unmarried parents. Each parent may have an idea of how he or she thinks the child should be raised, and such ideas often differ—even between reasonable, well-meaning parents. Conflicting ideas about parenting can create confusion for the child, which is why it is so important for parents to work together to develop a parenting plan that clearly determines what role each parent will play in making significant decisions about the child’s life.