Country Club Memberships And Alabama Divorce

Perhaps up north, country clubs are stuffy and stodgy places where men in tweed suits drink whiskey in dimly lit dining rooms with taxidermied deer heads mounted on the walls, but in Alabama, country clubs are much more fun.  The weather is sunny enough for golf and tennis year-round.  You can sip cocktails poolside and compare notes with your sorority sisters about the med spas that keep you looking ageless in your sundress.  When you go to the country club to see and be seen, you are living the dream, and nothing can shatter your dreams like divorce.  While it is certainly no fun to argue in divorce mediation about how to divide the credit card bills you and your spouse racked up while you were surviving on the gig economy, trying to persuade a judge to order your estranged spouse to pay up on the country club dues is its own kind of agony.  A Birmingham divorce lawyer can help you reach a fair agreement with your ex about dividing the financial responsibility for the expenses associated with your affluent lifestyle.

Divorcing Your Doubles Tennis Partner

No two divorce cases are exactly the same; likewise, every country club has a unique set of bylaws.  Therefore, things may play out differently for you than they did for a divorced friend of yours who belongs to a different country club.  At an early stage in the divorce process, both spouses must submit financial disclosures to the court about their expenses.  Entertainment expenses, including country club memberships, as well as swimming or tennis lessons that your children may take at the club, must be listed.  Remember that the goal of divorce is to divide the property and financial obligations of a particular couple, not to theorize about how families in general should spend their money.  Even if the judge thinks that belonging to a country club is a waste of money, the judge must accept that the membership dues are part of your household expenses and divide them accordingly.  During mediation, you and your spouse may realize that you can no longer afford the club membership after divorce, so you may decide to withdraw from the club.

Sometimes country club memberships are a homeowners’ association requirement when you buy a house located near a country club.  In this case, withdrawing from the club is not an option.  The bylaws may indicate how your divorce affects responsibility for paying dues.  In many cases, the spouse who remains in the marital home after divorce must remain a member of the club.  Therefore, your equitable distribution scheme will account for the fact that the spouse that keeps the house must not only pay the mortgage on it but must also pay club dues.

Contact Peeples Law About Keeping Your Social Life After Divorce

A Birmingham family law attorney can help you reach a property division agreement if your marital lifestyle includes country club membership.  Contact Peeples Law today to schedule a consultation.

Source:

lawyers.com/legal-info/consumer-protection/consumer-protection-law/responsibilities-when-belonging-to-a-club.html