Divorce Laws in Idaho- Dissolution of Marriage

Idaho Child Support

State divorce laws determine Idaho child support payments, and family courts may order either or both parents owing a duty of child support to pay a reasonable amount to the custodian of the child. For the most part, marital misconduct does not play a part in the award of Idaho child support, as Idaho's child support guidelines determine those amounts. The Family Court judge will consider the following in determining who makes the child support payment, how much they pay, and by what means they pay (the order can exceed the guidelines with adequate reason):

• The financial resources of the child
• The financial details of both
• the custodial and non-custodial parents
• The standard of living the child enjoyed during the marriage
• The physical and emotional condition and needs of the child and his or her educational needs
• The availability of medical coverage for the child at reasonable cost
• The actual tax benefit recognized by the party claiming the federal child dependency exemption.

State divorce laws mandate that child support payments will continue until the child is 18, or if the child is still completing High School, until age 19.

Idaho child support payments are paid to the Department of Health and Welfare and distributed to the obligee (usually the custodial parent).

Child support payments determined by the court must be paid to the department of health and welfare in the form of an income withholding order (garnish wages). The department keeps records, and is charged with forwarding payments received to the intended recipient within two days of receiving them.

Should child support payments become delinquent, the person due the funds must notify the department of health and welfare.

Idaho child support guidelines mandate the following percentages of income:
1 child      20%;
2 children 28%;
3 children 32%;
4 children 40%;
5 children 45% and
6 or more children 50%

Idaho Child Support Recovery - For those needing assistance in collecting child support that is overdue, or need a local child support enforcement office, visit the web site.

Idaho Child Custody

Idaho's child custody is based on the best interests of the child. You will be afforded an opportunity to put together a Parenting Plan with you spouse. Should that effort fail, the Family Court will intervene. The court can give direction, and put orders in place, in any divorce action that involves a child at any time. The intent is to provide direction as to the custody, care and education of the children of the marriage. The court may consider some or all of the following when determining ID Child Custody:

The wishes of the child's parent or parents as to his or her custody,
The wishes of the child as to his or her custodian,
The relationships of the child with his or her parent or parents, and his or her siblings,
The child's adjustment to his or her home, school, and community,
The character and circumstances of all individuals involved,
The need to promote continuity and stability in the life of the child and   
Domestic violence

Idaho child custody statute §32-717A

Access to records and information pertaining to a minor child including, but not limited to, medical, dental, health, and school or educational records, will not be denied to a parent because the parent is not the child's custodial parent. However, information concerning the minor child's address shall be deleted from such records to a parent, if the custodial parent has advised the records custodian in writing to do so. 

Child Visitation
Co Parenting

Co-parenting time is the new visitation. The court will allow you and your divorcing spouse the opportunity to agree on your own Parenting Schedule or Visitation Schedule. If no agreement is reached, the court will step in, and will typically award primary custody to the Mother, and provides for two weekends per month and an evening each week to the Father. School recesses are also included, typically. Holidays and other days like Mother's and Father's days will be shared by alternating years.

Should the court be called on to impose a solution, it will assign alternate weekend visitation (3-day weekends included), mid-week visitation, sharing of the children during periods of school recess -winter, spring and summer, New Year's Eve, Easter, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Thanksgiving, and Christmas with one parent or the other in alternate years, Father's Day with Father, Mother's Day with Mother, alternate years on the children's birthdays, and open communication by phone and computer.

If you are concerned that your ex-partner may not live up to his or her end of the child visitation bargain, and you want to keep close track of all parenting times, activities and missed visits, Custody XChange© is the ideal tool for you. This on-line parenting and child visitation platform offers, among other things, an on-line calendar for tracking and journaling parenting time. You can point to or share the calendars for upcoming months to prompt him or her to take good parenting as serious as you do, and at the same time demonstrate that you are keeping close track of all parenting time interactions. If he or she knows there is documentation, the game playing and threats of custody battles tend to go away. You now have control. Trust us on this. This time management system is worth it's weight in gold.

Be aware that you have to guide your side of the divorce. Don't rely that your attorney will think of everything. You set the course; your lawyer navigates. If you anticipate any problems with custody or visitation, we suggest you own Child Custody Strategies.   

Spousal Support
Idaho Alimony
Maintenance

Idaho divorce laws allow the court to grant alimony if it finds that the spouse seeking alimony/maintenance lacks sufficient property to provide for his or her reasonable needs and is unable to support him or herself through employment.

The alimony award should be in such amounts and for such periods of time that the court deems just, after considering all relevant factors, which may include:

	The financial resources of the spouse seeking maintenance, including the marital property awarded to the spouse, and that spouse's ability to meet his or her needs independently;
	The time necessary to acquire sufficient education and training to enable the spouse seeking maintenance to find employment;
	The duration of the marriage;
	The age and the physical and emotional condition of the spouse seeking maintenance;
	The ability of the spouse from whom maintenance is sought to meet his or her needs while meeting those of the spouse  seeking maintenance;
	The tax consequences to each spouse;
	The fault of either party.

Are you or your spouse having issues with spousal support? It seems whenever a lengthy marriage ends and one of the parties stayed home (usually to care for children), disagreements about who deserves what assets become inevitable. The truth is this: If you both agreed that one of you would become a stay-at-home parent while the other worked outside the home, all assets earned or received (apart from inheritances) have to be the equal property of both of you. If only one of you funded a retirement account, the courts will often divide that retirement account as if it were jointly funded and owned.

Don't be tricked into thinking Idaho code won't recognize stay-at-home parent's contributions. They DO.

Spousal support is largely decided by case law; that is, on cases decided previously (few divorce laws are in place). Most judges  grant alimony in cases where marriages lasted a decade or more, and with shorter marriages, tend to be less favorable to alimony requests. The wife may resume a maiden name or any previous surname- the husband can prevent the wife from continuing with his name. Just so you know, if you were divorcing in Texas, for example, alimony is generally awarded for three years, to allow a partner to get trained and back into the work force.

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Grounds For Divorce

The standard, basic stuff is found in grounds for divorce in Idaho.

Divorce will occur in the state of Idaho if one of the parties dies, or a judgment of a court decreeing a divorce of the parties. Divorces may be granted for any of the following grounds:

Adultery,
Extreme cruelty,
Willful desertion,
Willful neglect,
Habitual drunkenness or addiction,
Conviction of felony and
Permanently insane.     

Marriage Annulment
Marital Annulment

The court's approval of an marriage annulment petition is a declaration that the marriage never took place. A nullity is then declared. One must prove grounds for an marriage annulment (also referred to as marital annulment or legal annulment) to be approved. This often takes the form of witnesses testifying, exhibits presented and in general, a more difficult process than a divorce. Grounds for annulment include:

	Marriage of a person under the age of 18 without the consent of his or her parents,
	If your spouse was already married when s/he married you,
	If your spouse is mentally ill, either completely or partially, and this is adversely affecting your married life,
	the marriage was obtained by fraud or misrepresentation,
	proof that your partner is unable to consummate the marriage or
	if you have been forced or threatened into a marriage.

An annulment is considered more difficult to get because the burden of proof is greater than in a dissolution (divorce) process.   

Meditation
Marriage Counseling

Idaho statutes specify that there is a mandatory waiting period of twenty days before a court may grant a divorce (from filing date). Should one of the parties request mediation or counseling, the court will decide on the merits of that request. No marriage counseling is mandatory. Consider counseling if you are struggling with issues. If you go with an open mind, and are searching for answers, then this effort can be a rewarding exercise. Remember: no one is perfect so go explore the person that drifted away from you (that's you).      

Legal Separation
Marital Separation

Legal separation is most often pursued when one of the parties wants to stay married. Reasons can include for religious purposes, when one wants the advantage of deductibility of spousal support payments for income tax reasons, wants to maintain various  insurance coverage, or that one does not want to wait the state statutory waiting period for termination of marital status. Idaho is similar to other states, in that the legal separation (sometimes referred to as a marital separation) process is similar to the divorce process. All issues relating to the relationship must be resolved before the judgment can be rendered. In each case the custody of the children, the amount of child support and alimony, the division of property and the responsibility for the payment of debts must be resolved in the separation agreement, filed before the court and approved before ant decree of separation can be given.    

Waiting Period

There is a mandatory waiting period of twenty (20) days from the date of commencement of the action and service of process to the granting of the divorce.   

Grandparents Rights

In any case where the child is actually residing with a grandparent in a stable relationship, that grandparent will have standing for evaluating the custody arrangements of the child. They may petition the court during or after the divorce process. In any other case, grandparents may petition the court and be awarded visitation rights in accordance with the best interests of the child.     

Divorce Settlement
Distribution of Assets

The parties will be afforded the opportunity to fashion and agree to a divorce settlement of their marital assets and debts. If they are unable to agree, the court will step in and divide the assets judiciously. Idaho is known as a Community Property state, which is defined as both the husband and wife equally owning all money earned by either one of them from the beginning of the marriage until the date of separation. All property acquired with 'community money' is also community property, without regard to who purchased it. Assets owned prior to the marriage, inherited during the marriage, or assets the couple agreed would not be community property get excluded from the decision. In cases where divorce decrees and property are concerned, the community property and the homestead must be assigned as follows.

	Duration of the marriage,
	Any post-nuptial agreement of the parties,
	The age, health, occupation, amount and source of income, vocational skills, employability, and liabilities of each spouse,
	The needs of each spouse,
	Whether the apportionment is in lieu of or in addition to maintenance,
	The present and potential earning capability of each party or
	Retirement benefits e.g. social security, civil service, military and railroad retirement benefits

If a homestead has been selected from the community property, it may be assigned to either party, either absolutely, provided such assignment is considered in distribution of the community property, or for a limited period, subject in the latter case to the future disposition of the court; or it may be divided or be sold and the proceeds divided.   

If a homestead has been selected from the separate property of either, it must be assigned to the former owner of such property, subject to the power of the court to assign it for a limited period to the other spouse.

Residency Requirements

Idaho divorce statutes dictate that the person who files a petition for a divorce (dissolution) must have established residency before filing.

Residency is defined as having lived continuously in Idaho for at least six weeks prior to filing. One should file either in the county they reside or in the defendant's county.