Marriage is good for your health
Here’s an interesting article in the Charlatan. According to a recent study by Statistics Canada, married people live longer than unmarried, common-law or divorced people. Now the relationship between stable relationships and longer-life has been known for several decades. But where this study gets particularly interesting is in the suggestion that it is not just stable relationships but matrimonial ones which carry the day. Increased social acceptance of common-law status and divorce has apparently not eliminated the advantage marriage enjoys over other forms of relationships.
It gets better. In a University of California study of over 1,000 middle aged men, 23% of those who were unmarried but who lived with other family members or with a common-law partner died within 10 years. However, only 10% of those who lived with their wife died. That is far too large to be a statistical fluke.
Despite its healthy advantages, marriage is still in decline. The number of marriages recorded in 2000 was only 83% of what it was just 11 years earlier. In fact, 2006 became the first year that the number of unmarried Canadian adults exceeded the number who were married.
Some missing blog posts
Hmmmm. Unfortunately all our posts since July 15 seem to have gone missing We are working on it and hope to have them back here soon. If not, lots of rewriting to do eh?
UPDATE (1 Dec 08): Good news, we have recovered the missing posts which are back where they belong (see below)
We know children can be hurt by divorce, but they can also cause it
Well, “cause” might be a little strong. In fact, it is definitely too strong to say that a child can cause a divorce. However, this study showed that having a child with ADHD can be a factor, along with a long list of other stressors, that can make the chance a couple will divorce more likely.
This suggests just how important it is for couples to seek some help if they find that any stressful circumstances are impacting their relationship. They don’t do their child or themselves any good by waiting until everything boils over.
Health Matters: Divorce Rates and Your Child
“Couples with children who have A.D.H.D. may be more likely to divorce than parents with children who do not have the condition. A study done at the University at Buffalo found parents of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are nearly twice as likely to divorce by the time the child is eight years old.
Researchers say the study is not implying that having a child with A.D.H.D. is the sole reason for divorce. Rather, it could be a factor increasing stress in a household. This is because when parents interact with an A.D.H.D. child, they tend to be more distressed and more likely to argue. Results appear in the October issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.”
Actually murder is an alternative to divorce, just a very poor one.
You have to believe that you can see this kind of thing coming and take steps to prevent it. Obviously not everyone does, either see it coming or take preventative steps, but it just has to be possible. You cannot divorce a deceased spouse. However, the deceased spouse’s estate is entitled to apply for a division of matrimonial property and to sue the person responsible for his or her death. Therefore, as a strategy for keeping the kids and property from your ex, murder is not very effective.
Killing your spouse is no alternative to divorce
“What most of those convicted had in common was the fact that their relationships were in trouble (if not already over). Rowing was common. And they were the parents of young children. In some cases divorce was a very real prospect, with the possibility of losing custody of these children while having to pay out large sums to maintain their ex-partner in the family home.”
Divorced woman falls back on investing skills
This is an interesting account of a woman who was able to fall back on her self-taught investing know-how to make ends meet following her divorce.
Me and my money: Lessons from a divorce
“The divorce taught me all kinds of things,” says Kaegh, a former high school administrator. Though the couple had signed a pre-nuptial agreement, he stalled on the settlement.
“I don’t need a lot of money,” she says, “but because I had to live so cheaply for those years, it taught me even more financial care. The only investments I did not get rid of during that time was some bullion I had.
Divorce and child maintenance in Canada
In Canada parents who are getting a divorce, or parents who are already divorced, need to comply with the federal government’s child support guidelines when deciding upon their respective responsibilities for financially supporting their children. This is a relatively new development. Before the guidelines became law it was more difficult to determine what a judge would think was a fair child support arrangement. This resulted in more disputes and more cases going before a judge. Now, in most cases all you need to do is consult the guidelines to see what the suitable amount of child maintenance should be.
The core component to the guidelines is the child support tables. There is an individual table for each province, and the province used is the one where the parent who pays support resides. For parents who live outside the country, the residence for the custodial parent is used to decide on the table. To determine the amount of child support, all you need to do is to refer to the appropriate table.
In order to figure out the appropriate amount of monthly child support you should pay, you should first choose the correct provincial table. After you have done this all you have to do is cross index the number of children you have with your individual gross annual income. This total is what the court will expect you to pay, unless you can prove that another amount is suitable. Just having both parents agree to another amount will not be enough, you have the burden of proving this is acceptable using the rest of the guidelines. If the court does not agree with you, you will be required to pay whatever the court thinks is suitable.
Some of the recurring justifications for deviating from the guideline table amount include instances with an unusually more complex child care arrangement. For the most part, one parent is the primary caretaker, while the other one gets to visit the children based on a fixed schedule or based on an arrangement which fluctuates from time to time. In cases like these, it is appropriate to use the guideline table amount.
The exception is made when there is shared parenting, the children spend approximately the same amount of time with each parent, or when the kids are split between the two parents. In these situations the most common thing to do is to figure out what each parent should pay the other according to the tables and then subtract the two figures with the parent owing the most paying the difference to the other.
Other situations which warrant exceptions to the tables include situations where the access parent has high access costs (extensive travel costs for example) and has a lower standard of living than the other parent.
As a general rule of thumb, child support must be paid for any child that has not reached the age of majority, as well as for any child who is attending college full time, particularly if the parents have agreed to pay for the schooling.
The result is that the guidelines have made things easier. But there are still some situations which warrant exceptions to the table amounts.