401K loan & WI Mac Davis Calculator

[LdiJ]

Simple solution to all this. They sell the house, pay down the marital debt with the equity and she downsizes. Happens all the time.

Well..then she is going to get a very major chunk of his 401k.

 

[Bali Hai]

Well..then she is going to get a very major chunk of his 401k.

A very major chunk of his butt will be missing in any event, it can be the 401k side or the other side.

 

[Bali Hai]

OP- Just my thoughts-

This is a long-term marriage so expect to pay long term spousal maintenance.

Although you believe that you may have some negotiating options, that will be largely dependent upon her attorney. Her attorney knows that you will be paying long term maintenance as a matter of law. They also can approximate the amount. Thus, you are not on an equal playing field - any type of "negotiating" must be in her benefit or they won't play. So it is probably best to decide what you believe will motivate her to negotiate and then work around that. For example, does she love the house and want to keep it? Or is she intimidated by the amount of property upkeep that is currently required? Does she sleep better at night knowing that her bills are paid in full and would prefer to not have debt to deal with? Or is she happy to make the minimum payment until she dies? You need to be strategic in your thinking to determine what will motivate her to negotiate in order to accomplish your goal-and I'm not sure I know what that goal is.

I have found two separate possibilities for potential calculation of the final spousal amount:
1) calculate the joint married standard of living by adding up all costs for a year and then splitting it in half. So say that amount is 65,000. You then deduct her salary ($40k) from that number and the difference (in this example, $25k) is generally speaking what your maintenance payment may be. Child support is then calculated after the maintenance amount has been considered. So - using this example, her salary for child support would be calculated at $65,000 and yours would be calculated at $67,000.

2) the courts may rule that the dependent spouse is entitled to 50% of her earnings and yours. Using that standard would mean that she is "entitled" to $66,000 to maintain her standard of living. Deducting her salary from that number gives you maintenance exposure of $26,000.

I know it's stressful waiting for your attorney appointment to get these details ironed out, but it truly is your best bet. Your attorney knows the "typical" calculations for your area of the state which will also be influenced by the presiding judge. Good luck to you. Come back again if you have more questions or want to bounce some options that your attorney has suggested.

I believe his goal is to keep all of his 401k and pay no alimony. He needs to be way more open minded than that.

 

[621kl]

Income and MacDavis calculator, lifestyle calculations

Confused about the number produced by the calculator. How is the number used? Is this a starting place for maintenance negotiations? Is it an end point for the judge to award? It seems like an important number. If I offer a % of the bonus (paid quarterly) how does this figure in the calculator?

Thank you for the two options listed below. These are a new approaches for me. It's interesting.

In #1, our lifestyle was pretty sedate. No club memberships, no vacations, lots of wasted spending, the rest went into retirement. What goes into calculating the "costs" for a year.

I know it's allot of questions, but I do need to run the numbers as many situations as possible to help make decisions and get past all of this.

Of coarse keeping the most of my 401k and no maintenance would be great. It's the total amount that's important. I would even consider a lump sum buy out. Getting away from her financial threats (blackmail?) would be great, rather than put up with it for the next 10 years.

 

[LdiJ]

Confused about the number produced by the calculator. How is the number used? Is this a starting place for maintenance negotiations? Is it an end point for the judge to award? It seems like an important number. If I offer a % of the bonus (paid quarterly) how does this figure in the calculator?

Thank you for the two options listed below. These are a new approaches for me. It's interesting.

In #1, our lifestyle was pretty sedate. No club memberships, no vacations, lots of wasted spending, the rest went into retirement. What goes into calculating the "costs" for a year.

I know it's allot of questions, but I do need to run the numbers as many situations as possible to help make decisions and get past all of this.

Of coarse keeping the most of my 401k and no maintenance would be great. It's the total amount that's important. I would even consider a lump sum buy out. Getting away from her financial threats (blackmail?) would be great, rather than put up with it for the next 10 years.

Do some googling about the calculator...I did and there are some good explanations out there.

 

[Bali Hai]

Confused about the number produced by the calculator. How is the number used? Is this a starting place for maintenance negotiations? Is it an end point for the judge to award? It seems like an important number. If I offer a % of the bonus (paid quarterly) how does this figure in the calculator?

Thank you for the two options listed below. These are a new approaches for me. It's interesting.

In #1, our lifestyle was pretty sedate. No club memberships, no vacations, lots of wasted spending, the rest went into retirement. What goes into calculating the "costs" for a year.

I know it's allot of questions, but I do need to run the numbers as many situations as possible to help make decisions and get past all of this.

Of coarse keeping the most of my 401k and no maintenance would be great. It's the total amount that's important. I would even consider a lump sum buy out. Getting away from her financial threats (blackmail?) would be great, rather than put up with it for the next 10 years.

Forget that stupid calculator. It was designed by a judge to justify decisions of awarding traditional alimony. Alimony awards are subjective, intuitive and have little to do with "tax consequences". You are exhibiting symptoms of analysis paralysis.

Don't underestimate your opponent. They know exactly what they want and it is meaningless if all the scenarios you come up with don't match that.

Lucky for you she has a solid work history. Sell the house, pay off the debit, split remaining assets 50:50, and throw yourself on the mercy of the court.