After 20 years of marriage can a settlement ever be equitable?

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Lawrence and Sarah have been married 20 years, and have one son, Carl (age 12). Lawrence is 42, makes $92,000 per year, will retire at age 66, has living expenses of $30,120 per year and will receive social security benefits of $24,520 per year when he retires.

Sarah is 40, makes $20,800 per year, will retire at age 67, has living expenses of $35,800 per year until Carl is age 19.  Then her expenses will go down to $30,000 per year.  She will receive social security benefits of $12,260 per year (one half of Lawrence's) when she retires.

They have the following assets:

House value                  $112,000 with $18,000 remaining on the mortgage

401(K)                             $75,000

Savings Bonds               $11,000

Note Receivable             $4,000 (from Sarah's brother)

Cash                               $5,500

Lawrence proposes that Sarah can keep the house and custody of Carl, the note receivable, half the cash.  He will pay her $700 spousal support and $300 child support per month for four years.  Lawrence will take his 401(k), the savings bonds, the mutual funds and half the cash.  This is a 50/50 split of the assets.

Here is what Lawrence's proposal looks like in report and graph format:

Budget Report for 2009 (PDF)

Division of Marital Property (PDF)

Projected After-Tax Cash Flow (PDF)

Projected Net Worth (PDF)

If we change the scenario to increase spousal support to $2167 per month for ten years and child support to $600 per month for four years and give Sarah $25,000 of the 401(K), the reports and graphs would look like this:

Budget Report for 2009 (PDF)

Division of Marital Property (PDF)

Projected After-Tax Cash Flow (PDF)

Projected Net Worth (PDF)