Deciding to leave the workforce to be a stay-at-home parent or homemaker is a significant life choice, often driven by a desire to provide direct care and nurture for one’s family. However, if the path leads to divorce, this decision can leave you with serious concerns. How will you support yourself and your family? After so much time away from the workforce, can you find a job?
Your contributions to the household matter during property division.
While stay-at-home parents may not contribute financially to the household in terms of salary, their role in managing the home and caring for children provides substantial non-financial contributions. These contributions include:
- Childcare: Hiring someone to care for your child is costly. Caring for your children in the home avoids these costs but is a significant time commitment for a stay-at-home parent. Parents may also have taken on the task of homeschooling their child.
- Transportation: Whether driving children to activities or running errands during the day, homemakers often take on much of the transportation for their family.
- Household management: A homemaker performs many different tasks during their day. Cleaning, cooking and general maintenance can all contribute significantly to the household.
- Supporting the working spouse: By choosing to stay at home, your spouse was able to pursue their career without worrying about managing the household.
Courts often consider these contributions as equally valuable to financial earnings when it comes to dividing assets.
Alimony can provide additional support.
Alimony – also called spousal support – is often a key component in divorce settlements involving a spouse that took time away from the workforce. The aim is to balance the income disparities between the spouses caused by one partner forgoing their career for domestic responsibilities.
The duration and amount of alimony can vary greatly depending on the length of the marriage, the age and health of the spouse and other details. For example, the court may grant rehabilitative alimony to provide financial support as the non-working spouse gets the education they need to enter the workforce. For people whose age prevents them from getting a job after a long time as a homemaker, alimony may last for years after the marriage ends.
Non-working spouses like stay-at-home parents or homemakers face unique challenges during a divorce. Understanding the value of your non-financial contributions to the household and the potential for alimony can help you navigate this difficult transition and ensure a fair outcome for all involved.
Deciding to leave the workforce to be a stay-at-home parent or homemaker is a significant life choice, often driven by a desire to provide direct care and nurture for one’s family. However, if the path leads to divorce, this decision can leave you with serious concerns. How will you support yourself and your family? After so much time away from the workforce, can you find a job?
Your contributions to the household matter during property division.
While stay-at-home parents may not contribute financially to the household in terms of salary, their role in managing the home and caring for children provides substantial non-financial contributions. These contributions include:
- Childcare: Hiring someone to care for your child is costly. Caring for your children in the home avoids these costs but is a significant time commitment for a stay-at-home parent. Parents may also have taken on the task of homeschooling their child.
- Transportation: Whether driving children to activities or running errands during the day, homemakers often take on much of the transportation for their family.
- Household management: A homemaker performs many different tasks during their day. Cleaning, cooking and general maintenance can all contribute significantly to the household.
- Supporting the working spouse: By choosing to stay at home, your spouse was able to pursue their career without worrying about managing the household.
Courts often consider these contributions as equally valuable to financial earnings when it comes to dividing assets.
Alimony can provide additional support.
Alimony – also called spousal support – is often a key component in divorce settlements involving a spouse that took time away from the workforce. The aim is to balance the income disparities between the spouses caused by one partner forgoing their career for domestic responsibilities.
The duration and amount of alimony can vary greatly depending on the length of the marriage, the age and health of the spouse and other details. For example, the court may grant rehabilitative alimony to provide financial support as the non-working spouse gets the education they need to enter the workforce. For people whose age prevents them from getting a job after a long time as a homemaker, alimony may last for years after the marriage ends.
Non-working spouses like stay-at-home parents or homemakers face unique challenges during a divorce. Understanding the value of your non-financial contributions to the household and the potential for alimony can help you navigate this difficult transition and ensure a fair outcome for all involved.