If you were injured on the job and receive workers’ compensation benefits, this money could potentially impact the division of your assets and your child support arrangements during a divorce. The way in which that award would affect your divorce can vary based on how your state treats workers’ compensation.
For example, workers’ compensation may be treated as if you had won a personal injury claim against an employer. Or, it could instead be treated as disability pay or a replacement for lost wages.
If a court treats workers’ compensation like a personal injury award, the parts of the award that compensate you for lost wages and medical expenses while you are married would be classified as marital property, while the parts that compensated you for lost wages and medical expenses before or after the marriage would be non-marital property.
Therefore, the timing at which you receive the workers’ compensation pay makes a big difference in how you can expect that money to be treated during the divorce process.
Specific effects on child support
Workers’ compensation will be considered income for the purposes of calculating child support, even if it is classified as separate property not subject to the asset distribution process. Judges will take any workers’ compensation money you or your spouse collect into consideration when determining how much the supporting spouse will pay. In addition, workers’ compensation income can be garnished to pay for child support if the supporting parent fails to make mandated payments.
For more information on child support issues, work with a knowledgeable Minneapolis divorce lawyer at Appelhof, Pfeifer & Hart, P.A.
