IN Bar Family Law 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In Indiana, what is the statutory waiting period between filing a petition for dissolution of marriage and the earliest date the court may enter a final decree?
- 60 days (Correct answer)
- 30 days
- 90 days
- 120 days
Correct answer: 60 days
Indiana Code 31-15-2-10 requires a minimum 60-day waiting period after filing before a final dissolution hearing may be held.
Question 2: Indiana courts divide marital property upon dissolution using which approach?
- A one-pot theory presuming an equal division of all property is just and reasonable (Correct answer)
- Community property split 50/50 by rule
- Only property acquired during the marriage is divisible
- Title-based division where each spouse keeps titled assets
Correct answer: A one-pot theory presuming an equal division of all property is just and reasonable
Indiana uses the one-pot theory, placing all property owned by either spouse into the marital estate with a rebuttable presumption that an equal division is just and reasonable.
Question 3: A husband seeks to rebut Indiana's presumption of equal property division because he inherited a farm before the marriage. Which factor may the court consider under IC 31-15-7-5?
- The extent property was acquired before marriage or through inheritance or gift (Correct answer)
- Marital fault such as adultery
- Which spouse filed the dissolution petition first
- The relative attractiveness of each spouse's post-divorce living arrangements
Correct answer: The extent property was acquired before marriage or through inheritance or gift
The statute allows deviation based on factors including acquisition of property before marriage or through inheritance or gift, but not marital fault.
Question 4: Under Indiana law, a court may award spousal maintenance after dissolution in which of the following circumstances?
- The spouse is physically or mentally incapacitated to the extent that self-support is materially affected (Correct answer)
- The marriage lasted more than 20 years
- One spouse committed adultery during the marriage
- The spouses had a significant disparity in income at the time of filing
Correct answer: The spouse is physically or mentally incapacitated to the extent that self-support is materially affected
Indiana permits maintenance only in limited circumstances: incapacity of a spouse, a caregiver for an incapacitated child lacking sufficient property, or short-term rehabilitative maintenance up to three years.
Question 5: What is the maximum duration of rehabilitative maintenance an Indiana court may order following dissolution?
- Three years from the date of the final decree (Correct answer)
- One year from the date of filing
- Five years from the date of separation
- Until the recipient remarries
Correct answer: Three years from the date of the final decree
Indiana Code 31-15-7-2 caps rehabilitative maintenance at three years from the date of the final decree.
Question 6: In an Indiana custody dispute, at what age does a child's wishes receive greater statutory weight in the best-interests analysis?
- At least 14 years old (Correct answer)
- At least 12 years old
- At least 16 years old
- At least 10 years old
Correct answer: At least 14 years old
IC 31-17-2-8 directs courts to give more consideration to the wishes of a child who is at least 14 years of age.
Question 7: A grandmother in Indiana petitions for visitation with her grandchild over the objection of the child's fit married parents whose marriage is intact. What is the likely result?
- Denial, because Indiana's Grandparent Visitation Act does not authorize petitions when the child's parents are married and the family is intact (Correct answer)
- Granted, if visitation is in the child's best interests
- Granted automatically because grandparents have constitutional visitation rights
- Denial only if the grandmother previously abused the child
Correct answer: Denial, because Indiana's Grandparent Visitation Act does not authorize petitions when the child's parents are married and the family is intact
Indiana's Grandparent Visitation Act permits petitions only when a parent is deceased, the parents' marriage was dissolved in Indiana, or the child was born out of wedlock, and fit parents' decisions receive special deference under Troxel.
IN Bar Family Law 2
In Indiana, what is the statutory waiting period between filing a petition for dissolution of marriage and the earliest date the court may enter a final decree?