Monday, 28 November 2011

Divorce Software Helps Increase Clientele and Profitability

The way divorce and family law are framed, it can be quite a time consuming exercise for a divorce lawyer in the US to calculate various divorce settlements manually or using a worksheet. It takes up a lot of time and detracts from his all important cases. With so many divorce settlement software packages now available, jumping at the first one without considering its features could soon lead to frustration and disappointment. Choosing the right divorce software, especially one that has all the features necessary with modifications to conform to specific State laws will help a divorce lawyer increase clientele and profitability.

A divorce settlement software package under consideration must have a basic set of features. For starters it should have an easy to use interface and a single point data entry. It helps to have divorce financial settlement include automatic federal tax increases and all federal and state tax calculations. At the very least a divorce lawyer should look for tax optimized settlements, alimony and alimony plus child support, alimony analysis, alimony buyout, pension valuation, distribution of assets and liabilities and lifestyle analysis in a divorce software. The right software will show the after tax impact of alimony payments, calculate spousal support payments considering the custodial parent's budget after tax and compute the payments based on credit card or bank statement transactions by doing a lifestyle analysis. Look for software that has the ability to come up with various what if scenarios and generates divorce settlement statements considering monthly alimony against a lump sum option. Lawyers will expect the software to do all this and generate reports, charts and documents for clients, opponents and the court. Naturally, it should be able to compile and save all reports in Word, Excel or PDF formats.

Divorce settlement calculations are complicated and time consuming. A divorce settlement software that can immediately show various implications and generate reports with a single point entry of key data is one that will improve productivity, impress a potential client and convert him or her and leave lots of time for the lawyer to take on new cases and improve cash flow.

Divorce law and family laws are interlinked and states within the US have their guidelines in respect of child custody, support and other factors involved in a separation. Lawyers in Arizona should consider Arizona divorce software that integrates new guidelines effective June 2011 in respect of child support calculations. Similarly lawyers in New York would look for New York divorce software that automates New York divorce forms, generates a New York statement of net worth, temporary maintenance worksheet and child support worksheet form UD-8. Lawyers in Pennsylvania need Pennsylvania divorce software to include tax, spousal support and child support statements in accordance with the state's guidelines. NJ divorce lawyers find NJ divorce law software to generate case information statements, child support, custodial and non-custodial and related worksheet calculation statements automatically in conformance with the state's laws.
By choosing comprehensive, well thought-out and implemented divorce software with an easy to use interface plus the ability to generate reports and documents helps divorce lawyers save time, handle more clients and improve cash flows. The cost of the software is repaid within a few months.

Thursday, 10 November 2011

Divorce Software for Precision Calculations

Marriage is purportedly forever but in today's circumstances where even the slightest issues can become grounds for divorce. Divorce settlements then become bitter issues in a tightly contested legal battle. If lawyers do not use the right divorce software to calculate precise divorce financial settlement statements and file suits accordingly, their client could be put to a loss.
A divorce is not as simple as marriage. There is the child support to consider, division of assets, both cash and non-moveable and the spouse support payments with tax implications considered. Influencing this are state laws and federal laws that have to be factored in while preparing the divorce settlement . A lawyer can do it the hard way manually or he can have a divorce settlement software carry out all calculations, with emphasis on the local state laws factored in. This divorce financial settlement statement can be prepared very precisely and accurately with the help of the divorce settlement software that can, among other things:
Calculate spousal support payment on the basis of the custodial parent's requirement after tax;
  • Generate a lifestyle analysis statement establishing the party's payment capabilities on the basis of credit card or bank transactions;
  • Compile and assemble list of assets and liabilities and prepare various distribution scenarios;
  • Factor in cash adjustments;
  • Create customized reports and charts in respect of client, opponent and judge and save them all in PDF, excel or word format;
  • Prepare a defined benefit plan that acts for the purpose of valuation in a proposed buy out option;
  • Tax calculations for all states in the US
  • Combine payor and recipient amounts for alimony and child support with various scenarios.
These are all complex calculations involved in divorce settlements made precise and easy by the divorce settlement software. A lawyer simply opens up the window, selects the options from the drop down menus, inputs figures that clients provide and output the divorce settlement statements. It cuts time, botheration and labor involved in calculations through computerization that offers instant figures with variations reflected across the divorce statement by changing parameters. The learning curve is short; it has an intuitive and easy to use interface.
While it has undoubtedly helped divorce lawyers compute and prepare various divorce financial settlements, one great use is in attracting new clients. A new prospective client considering divorce can simply supply the figures and the divorce lawyer can give him all possible implications from the financial angle, in a matter of minutes. This impresses the client to be and most probably, he hires the lawyer on the spot.
he greatest benefit, besides freeing a lawyer from all the cumbersome tasks, is that lawyers have more time and can expand and increase their business. The small amount they spend on the divorce settlement software is easily recouped through future earnings.