Divorce & Marital Agreements – Ryan Kalamaya – MensGroup Podcast

In this episode, Ryan Kalamaya and Sean Galla from MensGroup get into how to deal with a divorce from an emotional and a legal side. We also get into when to reach out to a divorce attorney and the differences between a pre-marital and a marital agreement. 

Today’s https://mensgroup.com/podcast guest Ryan Kalamaya is a divorce lawyer and co-host of Divorce at Altitude: A Podcast on Colorado Family Law, and he’s here to talk about divorce, prenup, and marital agreements.

CHAPTERS:

00:01:53 CHAPTER I – The Emotional Side of Divorce

00:02:06 Avoiding Divorce 

• Whilst there’s no recipe that can guarantee you’ll not be going through such a tough thing as a divorce, there are some valuable things that you can put into practice that will definitely enrich your loving relationship and minimize the odds of navigating through a difficult break-up.

00:05:07 Coping With Divorce

• Taking up physical challenges can be a very helpful tool when facing a difficult divorce. 

00:07:33 Bitterness

• Many guys that go through a divorce experience usually share a deep feeling of bitterness. The fact is that divorce is a complex process that involves several stages, being grief one of them. So actually, being bitter at this point is not an issue itself but a normal feeling to experience. 

00:13:29 Common Mistakes Around Divorce 

• Some common mistakes that guys make when facing a divorce are financially related. One can be draining their bank account and trying to empower themselves by controlling their wives from a financial side. 

00:18:16 When to Seek a Divorce Attorney 

• Whilst this may vary from case to case, there’s actually no downside to reaching out to a professional counselor that can help you figure out where are you standing from a legal point of view. It’s also worth adding that this is better to be done sooner than later, given that divorces can be tough to process from both a legal and an emotional perspective.  

00:24:58 Child Custody

• When fighting over custody of your kids, it’s crucial that you’re present. Failing to show up or coming drunk to legal disputes will surely lean the scale towards the opposite side. 

00:26:56 CHAPTER II – The Legal Side of Divorce

00:29:22 Prenup and Marital Agreements

• A prenup is essentially a written agreement in which you and your spouse agree ahead of time on specific things such as property division, the amount of spousal support in potential attorney’s fees, etc. However, kid-related issues including child support and custody are not a part of these legal contracts. 

00:35:30 Attacking a Pre-Marital Agreement

• Occasionally when going through a divorce, one of the spouses will file a dispute against the pre-marital agreement, mostly due to the fact that, from their point of view, the terms agreed on in that legal contract may leave them on the weaker side of the equation when facing a potential break-up. Most of the time, this action is taken by the downward spouse, who will be more financially affected by the separation. 

00:46:17 History of Prenup Agreements

• Even though prenup may appear to be a pretty modern concept, the first pre-marital agreements documented are from Ancient Egypt around 3,000 years ago! 
• Current stats show that millennials are more open to prenup than older generations were. This is mainly because they see this legal agreement as a way to prevent potential conflicts in the event of a potential break-up. Also, younger generations tend to get married later in life, so they usually have more patrimony to protect.