Pittsburgh Better Times

A Lifestyle Publication for the Pittsburgh Community

Life After Divorce? Start With Your New Home

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Divorce signifies a new beginning. It is a great opportunity to rediscover yourself, rekindle your sparkle and do all that your heart desires. While Pennsylvania has the fifth lowest divorce rate in the nation, the most difficult thing about divorce is moving out of the home that you spent years in. In fact, some divorcees slip into depression due to this. A new home doesn’t have to be a constant reminder of the ended marriage.

With an expert’s guidance, your home can be a source of motivation for the new and exciting life that awaits. A home should be a haven that invokes peace, serenity, relaxation, and tranquility. According to some of the best interior designers in Orange County, this begins with sprucing up your indoors as well as the outdoors. You only need to customize it in a way that reaches deep into your happy place.

Color

Nothing will uplift your spirits better than a well thought-out combination of colors all around your living space. Imagine waking up to the bright rays of the sun piercing through your curtains, bouncing off your lavender painted walls and lilac throw pillows on your sun seat under your window. This is all while your yellow sunflowers remind you of how beautiful life is. Isn’t this motivation enough to get out of bed and make the day count? [Read more…]

Dealing With Homeowners Insurance in a Divorce

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Splitting assets in a divorce can be difficult but dealing with insurance policies is often next to impossible. Even though about half of all marriages end in divorce these days, insurance companies have been slow to account for this fact in their policies. In a divorce, it’s more than likely that you’re going to have to make adjustments to your home insurance policy to protect yourself. If you plan ahead and play your cards right during divorce proceedings, you can ensure that your property remains insured and give yourself peace of mind.

Plan Ahead

While many couples don’t want to think about the worst on their wedding day, it’s important to plan for any eventuality. In the event that you and your spouse end up separating you’ll be happy that you took the time to craft an insurance policy that holds up after divorce proceedings are through. It’s a good idea to write all homeowners insurance policies in the name of both spouses. This way, either spouse can make changes to the policy during separation, but only so long as both parties agree. This helps to prevent foul play during divorce proceedings and keeps things amicable. [Read more…]

Divorce – Your New Financial Dawn

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Divorce can be an extremely stressful and demanding process, but there is a silver lining – studies have shown reclaiming control of finances post-divorce is liberating for many divorcees, both husband and wife. The disentanglement of finances has been shown, despite sometimes losing money to alimony, to provide a level of agency to divorcees that has been sought after throughout a tumultuous marriage.

Of course, properly assessing your financial situation is essential prior to divorce. With the facts on the table and the right planning, Pittsburgh divorcees can make big strides towards total financial independence and being able to confidently take control of your finances.

Your credit situation

Between mortgages, low interest purchase cards for home furnishings and other credit products, a married life can quickly become entangled in credit and your records muddled. Indeed, Pittsburgh residents make a large contribution to the national $3.83tn consumer debt pile. With the breakdown of marriage attributed 70% of the time to financials, this can also lead to collections and errors on your report. With divorce, you have the opportunity to correct this, and this includes where collections were made against your previous partner. For someone reclaiming control of their financial history, strides can be made by pursuing the removal of credit collections from your report, giving you a rosier outlook for the future. [Read more…]

How to Sell Your House Fast After a Divorce

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Going through a divorce is tough; it is also a costly process, which is why many divorcing homeowners choose to sell their home. And, they want to do it fast. The good news is that Pittsburg residents will enjoy a booming housing market, as recent statistics show that the Pittsburgh housing market trends increased 8% or $12,215 in median home sales in 2017. Also, the average price per square foot increased from $115 to $122. So if you’re in a financial bind because of the divorce, you must do what you can to increase the curb appeal of your home and put it on the market at a much higher value.

In the United States alone, there were 813,862 divorce cases in 2014. And according to the American Psychology Association, about 40% to 50% of married couples divorce. Divorce is an option many couples choose, but it is an expensive option at that. Not only is divorce emotionally draining, it is financially draining too. Whether the marriage ended happily or badly, the process will still greatly impact an individual who goes through it. One of the easy ways to finance a divorce is to sell the couple’s home. And if you can sell it for a much higher price, then you should do that. Increasing your home’s curb appeal will help you earn more from the sale, and at the same time, make your home more attractive and lucrative to buyers, especially if you want it sold as quickly as possible. [Read more…]

Marriage–Is it Worth It?

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By L. B. Thornton, Esq.
Author of Divorce: An Essential Guide to the Inevitable Questions

Love, lust, cohabitation, marriage, divorce…relationships, like people can be complicated.  Most of us want to be in a good relationship, but it is often hard to know when we are in one. Oftentimes, we can’t even decide if we are in love or in lust. Many of us question ourselves, our mates, and what we want. We compare what we experience with what we know of the relationships of our parents, friends and others we have seen, perhaps in movies or on television.  Many of us have never observed or personally experienced a good relationship. This can foster a belief that they may not exist at all. This is reflected in the marriage statistics. In the United States today, the marriage rate is the lowest it has been in many years and about 46% of the adult population is single. Yet, most people want to be in committed relationships.

With such strong desires for committed relationships why is the American divorce rate nearly 50% of all first marriages, 60% for those who try for a second marriage, and 75% for those who go for three times around? The number of couples co-habiting has increased dramatically in the last 30 years. Couples use the “try it out” method of relationship to see if they are compatible, and with an 85% failure rate, it has the worst odds of all. Cohabitation actually increases the chance of failure if the couple does marry. What’s going on?

No one enters into a relationship with a plan for failure.  Many do enter into it for wrong reasons, no reasons or with a naïve idea of what it means to be in a relationship. First marriages are usually between young people who have no idea who they are much less what they want from a relationship. Let’s face it.  A good relationship is not easy to come by.  It takes work on the part of both partners.  What if you are trying and your partner is not or vice versa?  What if today you try and get nowhere and give up, and then tomorrow your partner tries and you have none of it? This scenario is very common and will lead directly to the divorce courts.

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Don’t Let Divorce Stress You Out—Proper Nutrition Can Help

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By Dr. Carolyn Dean

Divorce and/or separation can be an extremely stressful time in your life. Feelings of nervousness, irritability and being unable to relax affect one’s ability to sleep and add to your stress levels. These feelings which are generally stress related have a biological effect which involves the influx of calcium into your cells, resulting in a temporary, drastic change in the cells’ internal magnesium-to-calcium ratio. Normal cells at rest contain 10,000 times more magnesium than calcium. If the amount of cellular magnesium falls however, calcium flows into the cell when NOT required. Such an imbalance, puts the cell into a hyperactive state leading to nervousness, inability to relax and a hard time falling asleep.

Magnesium is the anti-stress mineral and is known as a sleep aid which has proven to alleviate stress, anxiety, insomnia and even depression. One of the most absorbable forms of nutritional magnesium is magnesium citrate powder which can be taken with hot or cold water just before bedtime and can be found in most health food or vitamin stores.

In a recent study entitled: “Changes in brain protein expression are linked to magnesium restriction-induced depression-like behavior” published in Amino Acids magazine, 2011 Apr edition, the findings provide evidence of low magnesium-induced alteration in brain protein levels and biochemical pathways, contributing to depression like behavior.

In another study published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society, Jan 201 edition entitled “The effect of melatonin, magnesium, and zinc on primary insomnia in long-term care facility residents in Italy”: a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial found that the administration of nightly melatonin, magnesium, and zinc appears to improve the quality of sleep and the quality of life in long-term care facility residents with primary insomnia.

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Can’t Afford to Divorce?

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Donna M. Cheswick

Divorce may be difficult, even under the best of circumstances.  And according to the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, historically, the number of filed divorces decreases during times of economic decline.  Their study shows that among married Americans who were considering divorce or separation prior to the recession, 38% said the recession caused them to put aside or postpone their plans.

Deteriorating home prices, unemployment, increasing health care costs, declining values in investment and retirement accounts, the inability to pay off debt, and  a need to band together in tough times may all add to the challenges of breaking up and splitting assets.

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Publisher’s Notes: Making a Plan and Establishing a Routine

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Kristen Kart

It’s been nearly a year since I started my “new normal.” Looking back on this time in my life, it’s amazing to me how far I have come in just a short period of time. Certainly the beginning of the divorce process was challenging, devastating, and stressful, but I’ve found light at the end of the tunnel.

Once I got past the initial shock, I took time to reflect on how I wanted to move forward and began making a plan. In my mind there were two paths to take—I could sit around and feel sorry for myself day after day or I could wake up each morning excited about the endless possibilities in my future.

One of the things that helped me most during this transitional period was establishing a routine early on for me and my two kids. It’s refreshing to set a schedule according to what you want to do and when you want to do it, and not having to answer to anyone else. For the first time in a long time, I felt complete control over my life and the decisions I made. I also felt a true sense of accomplishment once certain goals were achieved. Something as easy as successfully doing the before and after school routine with two kids all by myself made me feel fantastic. At times, it’s all about the baby steps and making lists. You can only do one thing at a time and although occasionally there is an intense feeling of being overwhelmed, once you start to tackle the list, the feeling you have at the end of each day is unlike any other. You know that everything that was accomplished, was completely done by you.

Some people may think that my planning has gotten out of control. But to me, it is the only way that I feel like I can manage my busy life with my children. I have never really been the type of person who just lays around and waits for something to happen, but I think I have taken planning to a whole new level. I tend to make plans way in advance and, although at times I admit to being a little neurotic about it, planning helps give me a sense of control. I feel more prepared to deal with the everyday life, anticipate certain challenges and get excited about what the future may hold.

Kristen Kart is the publisher of Pittsburgh Better Times. For more information, you can contact her directly at kristenkart@pittsburghbettertimes.com.