Question about splitting assets?
I keep going through the financials and scenarios that would happen should my marriage actually end soon. My AH has said that he wants to keep his 401K and that I can have the house and the savings. Number wise, these things are almost equally valued, unless you count the fact that the 401K is retirement funds and that he can't touch them for another 15 years or so.
We live in a community property state and my understanding of things is that everything gets split 50/50. What I'm wondering is: can the couple arrange to split things amicably outside the court system and have it approved if they both agree to it? Or, does the court system rule and you have to do what they tell you to, even if the spouses wanted something different?
We also live in a no fault divorce state, so his 'issues' wouldn't be taken into account in the case of child support or alimony. Honestly, I would only go for child support because I've heard horror stories from friends about how screwed they got by the judges here when looking for spousal support. One friend of mine was asked, by the judge, to undergo $5000 worth of testing so they could assess her mental state, her physical wellness, her work abilities, etc so that he could make a better recommendation for support. She can't afford to pay for the testing so she dropped the request for spousal support. I will be contacting a local lawyer next week, but I wanted to hear your stories and maybe what questions I should be prepared to ask.