Your Divorce and Your Illness
If you have a chronic or long-term illness, going through divorce in Bucks County, PA, might complicate how you navigate healthcare. Considering the impacts the divorce might have on your illness in advance can help you determine alternative solutions and support a smoother transition.
Financial Considerations for Divorce and Illness
You may have relied on your spouse for certain financial or healthcare benefits that will no longer be available to you after the divorce. For example, perhaps you used your spouse’s employer-sponsored healthcare plan or relied on their income to help fund your medical treatments.
Before starting the divorce process, make a list of all of the financial benefits you currently depend on your spouse for. Then, you can begin looking for alternatives to address these new financial challenges. You might qualify for health insurance through the marketplace or disability benefits that you never thought to apply for previously.
You may be eligible for temporary spousal support after the divorce, under the terms of which your spouse would be required to give you either a lump sum or installment payments to help make up for the financial gap the divorce created. Depending on your employment situation, you can also look into medical leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act to avoid losing your job if you need to take time off work due to your health condition.
Lifestyle Adjustments After the Divorce
Perhaps you also relied on your spouse as a caregiver or to provide emotional or lifestyle support. The caregiving burden is sometimes a primary factor in the decision to divorce, as playing a caregiving role can place emotional strain on married couples. Alternatively, maybe your spouse was primarily responsible for childcare, which can impact child custody decisions.
Your attorney can advise you about resources that may be available to you to adapt to life after the divorce. For example, perhaps hiring an in-home health aide will be necessary to fill the position your spouse previously filled.
Your attorney can also help you understand how custody of your children might be impacted by your illness.
Estate Planning and Legal Considerations
Adjusting one’s estate plan after divorce is generally a good idea, but especially so if chronic illness is present. In light of your divorce and your illness, now may be a good time to create or change advance care directives, which are documents that provide legal instructions about your medical care if you cannot communicate them yourself.
You might also create power of attorney documents to give trusted family members control over your medical decisions and finances if you can no longer oversee these decisions yourself. Enlist an attorney to help you create legal documents to ensure that they meet applicable legal requirements.
Seek Legal Guidance for Divorce and Your Illness
Moving forward after a divorce can be challenging for anyone, but chronic illness can add a layer of complexity to this situation. Karen Ann Ulmer, P.C., provides legal guidance for those navigating divorce and illness.
Contact us today at (866) 349-4461 to request a confidential consultation with our team.
