Alimony Calculator Software
Family law attorneys, accountants, and other divorce professionals nationwide rely on divorce financial software to analyze financial data and tax ramifications in divorce cases. Tax-optimized divorce settlements often produce higher disposal incomes for both parties. Helping clients find a divorce settlement that minimizes tax obligations is not only a matter of professional responsibility but also an economic reality. Divorce software for attorneys calculates settlements more quickly and accurately than generic financial tools can. On the tangible side of your case, you have property division, alimony, and child support—with valuation issues and tax implications. The intangible aspects of parenting time can be equally troubling. The technology that has been produced has become invaluable for court personnel, litigators, mediators, collaborative law professionals (dealing with law, finances, or mental health), and even the parties themselves.
Michigan Alimony Calculator Software
The financial programs allow you to enter all the financial information, including assets, liabilities, and income information for both parties. A wide variety of reports can be generated, including “what if” scenarios to assist in negotiating settlements. Tax issues are taken into consideration, including but not limited to income tax, capital gains, dependency exemptions, child tax credits, and self-employment tax. Some programs are provided on CD, and you may get periodic updates throughout the year. Other programs are downloaded and are updated frequently throughout the year. Some of the programs allow your clients to enter the data directly through a portal, which saves you time and them money.
This is a great way to get the ball rolling and to get your client on board with how much information needs to be addressed. The software provides a detailed visual of what is really happening to a family’s finances. This is helpful to the client in that it provides a clear way to understand what is happening in the case, both in the short term and over time.
In the short term, working with your client and the program you can fine-tune how the assets and debt can be divided to meet everybody’s interests. In the long term, clients can see how the division and the payment or receipt of support will affect their respective financial pictures. The program’s data can be used by a financial specialist for both testimony purposes and to help a client with financial planning. And the data can provide the court with a very clear understanding of the client’s position on the issues. No two software programs are exactly the same, and not all programs are available in all states, so let’s take a look at some of your options. Technology for Financial Issues Family Law Software automatically calculates child support in 21 states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. It also calculates child support in Canada.
In all these places, if there is a statute relating to alimony/spousal support/maintenance, the software does that as well. The software also prepares the state financial forms in California, Connecticut, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. This program is a download that is updated frequently for state law and tax law changes. As an example, Family Law Software released its update for the 2013 tax act within two weeks after President Obama signed the bill.
You have the ability to prepare cash flow analysis, child support guidelines, alimony buy-out calculations, pension valuation, separate property carve outs, projection reports, tax answer reports, and a variety of “what if” reports for equalization payments, child support, and spousal support. Financial affidavits and child support guideline work sheets appropriate for court filing are at your fingertips. The software developer is very responsive. One day I was getting strange results with the separate property portion of an asset. Tech support found a glitch and had it fixed in a couple hours.
With different tabs for lawyers, mediators, and financial professionals, you can get the level of detail you need without getting bogged down with a level of detail that you don’t need. Puritas Springs Software has a host of products specific to federal and Ohio law. Specific to family law are document preparation and child support guideline work sheets.
Family Law Practitioner’s Apprentice (FLPA2) automates the preparation of your family law documents and pleadings. Mistakes are eliminated by the use of work sheets for basic information. This information is automatically transferred to various family law documents you create, such as the petition for dissolution, separation agreement, and judgment entry. Enter it once, and you don’t have to worry about such easily overlooked errors as “child” versus “children.” You also have global defaults available to populate more than 30 different documents. For example, if you always include certain provisions in your separation agreements, you can create a default file that includes your custom language.
In addition to FLPA2 for document preparation, Puritas Springs also offers the Ohio Spousal Support Calculator (MA) and Revised Ohio Child Support Guidelines (WROCSG). FLPA2 extracts the information from the other two programs, so you only need to enter data one time and all three programs can use it. The Spousal Support Calculator not only analyzes tax consequences, but lifestyle expenses and ability to pay are considered as well, providing a range of options because one size does not fit all. And the Child Support Guidelines do a very good job incorporating the cash medical support obligation. This is a downloaded product with periodic updates. Floridom was designed to be a complete family law case management system.
Originally released in Florida, it has since expanded to include Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New York, and South Carolina.