Dividing Marital Property in a Washington Divorce

Every married couple accumulates assets and debts during the course of their life together. When a marriage ends, the divorce court is tasked with dividing that property between the two spouses.

Washington follows “community property” rules, meaning that courts consider nearly all assets and debts acquired during the marriage to be owned equally by both spouses. There are some exceptions to this general rule. For instance, inheritances received during the marriage are not included in this calculation. In addition, most assets and debts that were acquired before the marriage are considered nonmarital property and belong exclusively to the spouse who brought them into the marriage.

In property division cases, Washington courts will strive to divide the marital property equitably between both spouses. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the property division will be exactly equal. Instead, the court will consider the nature of the property, the length of the marriage and each spouse’s respective financial standing to determine a fair model for distribution.

Methods of property division

The division of marital property is nearly always a complicated process when the spouses are on unequal financial footing. However, it becomes even more contentious when the couple owns property that is difficult to divide, or difficult to characterize as either community or separate property. Further complicating the division of assets from a marriage are disputes as to the appropriate value to be assigned to such assets.

Some property is very easy to divide. For example, bank accounts, investment portfolios and debts can simply be distributed or reassigned according to the court order. Property division becomes more complicated, though, when the couple owns valuable non-financial assets. For example, what happens when both spouses want a particular valuable heirloom? What if they own a collection of “priceless” art? Or a large business enterprise? There can be other complicating valuation and characterization issues with respect to pension and retirement plans.

People in this situation would be wise to consult with an experienced Washington divorce attorney early on in their divorce case. The attorney will be able to assemble a team who can work with the other spouse’s attorney to reach an equitable property division solution. In some cases, the court will award the sought-after property to one spouse and give the other spouse different property of equal value. In other cases, spouses might “buy” their partner’s half. Another common solution is for the judge to order the couple to sell the property and split the proceeds.

However the property is divided, it is important for both spouses to understand the short- and long-term implications of the division. For example, if the property is expected to substantially increase in value, that should be accounted for in the division. In addition, the spouses should anticipate potential tax liabilities and factor those costs into the division as well.

If you are in the beginning stages of a divorce, thinking carefully about your property division goals now can help you be in a better position when your case is resolved. Decide what you want and what you are willing to give up. Then, be sure to communicate those goals to your divorce attorney.

Article provided by Cogdill Nichols Rein Wartelle Andrews
Visit us at www.cnrlaw.com

Salesforce.org Einstein AI Empowers Nonprofits and Higher Education Institutions

Salesforce.org, the social arm of Salesforce, has empowered nonprofits and higher education institutions with the power of Salesforce Einstein Artificial Intelligence (Einstein AI) thereby allowing them to deepen their engagement with students and constituents, make better and smarter decisions and improve overall operational efficiency.

Nonprofit Cloud and Education Cloud, built on the core Salesforce Platform, are industry-specific solutions that are fortified with Einstein AI. Using this power of Einstein AI, nonprofits can tap into the powerful machine learning and predictive intelligence of Salesforce to boost program management, automate workflows and tasks, and allocate resources more efficiently to push forward social impact. For higher education institutions, Einstein AI enables them to identify student issues early and recommended intelligent actions, so that staff can intervene at the right time to ensure students stay on the path to success.

A faster path to success with Nonprofit Cloud

More often than not, nonprofits have resource constraints and use outdated, legacy technology which makes the task of achieving their missions a daunting one. With Einstein for Nonprofit Cloud, nonprofits can smartly measure outcomes in real-time, allocate and engage in a more proactive way, and manage their programs efficiently.

3 Ways In Which Nonprofits Can Improve Efficiency with Einstein

Salesforce Einstein comes with pre-built Artificial Intelligence features and capabilities which allows users to make intelligent, data-driven decisions, saving significant amounts of time and money. Einstein AI is constantly learning and adapting to your business model based on how your nonprofit uses Salesforce, so that you can focus on what’s really important which is your goal.

Einstein Analytics, which is an AI powered reporting and analytics tool, gives nonprofits the ability to go further into their data to discover trends, predict outcomes, and get a 360-degree understanding of their impact. Here’s a look at 3 key benefits for nonprofits with Einstein AI.

Measuring Your Impact

For nonprofits, who are anyway constrained with resources, understanding which programs are delivering results and which are not, is absolutely critical to them. Einstein Analytics allows nonprofit users to objectively measure the impact of each initiative based on real-time insights, so that they can take corrective action quickly and optimise their programs.

Understanding this information is vital for nonprofits to know which program to invest funds in next and which ones need more attention. Additionally, it’s also a very effective way to convey the impact of the organization to its constituents. Research by Connected Nonprofit Report suggests that 90% of donors want to know the impact of their donations on the causes they support. Giving more insights back to the supporters of your mission is vital to securing funding in the future.

Reporting is also essential if your organization receives funds from government agencies who often have strict audit requirements and require detailed reports on fund allocation, impact and results. With Einstein, all this becomes very easy. You can present real-time insights with conviction and can answer complicated queries with just a few clicks.

Fundraising Performance and Probability

Grants and donations are the lifeblood of a nonprofit. Consequently, it becomes very important to understand your fundraising targets better so that you can identify the areas of improvement.

Typically, fundraising is difficult to forecast. But with Einstein, fundraising teams can review targets against goals for specified periods. Gaps and challenges can be discovered and addressed early, and users can identify where the challenge is and what is the cause by comparing current performance to previous year’s one across multiple parameters. Teams can get smarter by addressing the identified gaps once they have the right information.

For the management, understanding the performance of fundraising programs is important. This helps them to determine which programs will get investment and if any new ones can be initiated.

Measuring Marketing ROI

Marketing resources are limited at a nonprofit. It therefore becomes imperative that you ensure that every effort is being measured and fetching a return.

Nonprofit marketing teams don’t just need to report, they also need to constantly improve. With Einstein Analytics, nonprofit marketers can examine data easily and get real-time insights on program performance, and implement changes on the fly if something’s not working the way it should. Nonprofit fundraisers and marketers can collaborate seamlessly with the help of these insights, share charts and graphs easily to take team collaboration to the next level.

With Einstein insights, the entire organisation can benefit without the usual complexities of traditional business intelligence systems. And there is no need for separate data analysts. Your teams can be entirely self-sufficient and work freely towards a common goal. You can also easily import data from multiple sources, into Salesforce to get a 360-degree view of your organization’s performance, in a centralised place from any device.

Unlock Intelligent Insights with Education Cloud

Education Cloud empowers institutions of all sizes with the intelligence they need for success. With Einstein for Education Cloud, higher educational institutions can predict student outcomes, get intelligent recommendations, and automate across campus to drive student success.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being increasingly adopted by educational institutions as a tool to automate many of their processes throughout the student life cycle from admissions to alumni. With Einstein AI, higher education institutions can identify potential students with the best chance of success and identify the ones that need additional support. Einstein AI can also help institutions to personalize learning pathways that can be tailored for each student and create smarter IT processes.

Einstein AI helps colleges and universities in teaching and assessment, enabling them to re-evaluate their teaching approaches. Now with Einstein AI, institutions can provide personalized learning experiences for students and improve student engagement to deliver better outcomes overall.

However, it is important not to get carried away with the power of AI. Colleges and universities must take steps to ensure that their AI based approach to learning is within an ethical perimeter. As this disruptive technology continues to evolve, higher education institutions are presented with new opportunities to utilize its benefits to prepare students for the future.

Overall, AI presents a great opportunity for higher education institutions to improve the way they work and deliver better learning experiences for students. By educating students on its ethical use, colleges and universities can ensure that they are leveraging the promise of AI without undermining the ethics or quality of education.

Like any AI tool, the more you use Einstein, the smarter it gets. At Girikon, a Gold Salesforce Consulting Partner, and having worked with educational institutions globally, we understand your constraints and your needs. To know more about how Einstein AI can get the best o

Why Should Businesses Prefer Salesforce Over Other CRMs?

Salesforce has become a widely adopted tool for businesses across different industries. Today, businesses of all sizes are leveraging Salesforce to increase sales, manage customer relationships, automate tasks, and increase retention rates. Because of its wide range of features, functionalities, and components, Salesforce continues to reign the CRM space. To address their specific business challenges and enhance their operations, Organizations should associate with a certified Salesforce Consultant to avail of these solutions.

Research conducted reveals that Salesforce occupied a CRM market share of 22.9% in the first quarter of 2022.

Listed below are some of the convincing reasons why Salesforce is considered to be the best CRM:

User-friendly Environment: With a cloud-based architecture, Salesforce empowers organizations to access Salesforce from anywhere and on any device while doing away with the need for complex installation and other hardware requirements. Salesforce is highly scalable and can be scaled up and down as per the changing needs of a business. Its intuitive interface makes it a preferred choice among businesses. Since it’s highly customizable the user interface can be tailored to suit the specific needs and preferences of customers. Moreover, users would be able to create personalized dashboards using drag-and-functionality with the Lightning Experience.

Multitenant Architecture: The multi-tenant architecture enables it to share the same version of the platform among multiple organizations. Businesses can avail of multiple benefits due to the multi-tenant architecture of Salesforce including the following:

Data Isolation: The data of every business is stored in a distinct database schema. This ensures increased business security and privacy protection by denying access to unauthorized entities.
Meta-data: Metadata includes the structure, behavior, and configuration of the applications. Every user can customize the application and user interface using the metadata to fulfill the specific needs of their businesses.
Cost-effective: Since all the resources are shared among teams, organizations tend to enjoy cost-efficiency.
Generative AI for CRM: The generative AI introduced by Salesforce helps in creating texts, images, codes, and more with the help of data generated from Salesforce and text commands. Repetitive tasks can be automated by using Einstein GPT, which in turn helps in boosting business productivity. Salesforce also introduced AI Cloud which brings forth the power of generative AI to enterprises. Listed below are a few AI Cloud applications:

Sales GPT: It empowers sales teams with the abilities of generative AI to create tailored and engaging content for various prospects. Additionally, it can suggest optimal strategies to boost the rate of conversion thereby increasing sales effectiveness.
Service GPT: By leveraging generative AI, Service GPT empowers customer support teams to enhance their customer service. It has the ability to generate responses automatically to customer inquiries while generating knowledge base articles based on customer interactions and empowering support representatives to assist customers proactively and provide relevant information.
Marketing GPT: Marketing professionals utilize generative AI to craft tailored marketing campaigns, content, and audience segments. This tool can optimize advertising campaigns to adapt to customer behaviors and preferences thereby ensuring maximum engagement.
Commerce GPT: It assists businesses in tailoring the e-commerce experience and covers a wide range of tasks such as crafting product descriptions, permitting conversational commerce, and providing extensive support for various aspects of online retail. Apart from the aforementioned applications, AI Cloud offers some other applications such as Tableau GPT, Slack GPT, Flow, and Apex GPT.
Hyper-Personalization: Hyper-personalization helps businesses stand out from the crowd in today’s digital era. It involves delivering custom-made and relevant content that fits the needs of every customer. Hyper-personalization helps businesses lift their revenue and improve their business results. Salesforce provides a range of tools designed to assist businesses in understanding customer requirements and tailoring their offerings in a personalized manner.

Help Businesses Make Data-Informed Decisions: Salesforce offers advanced analytics and reporting capabilities to help organizations make data-driven decisions. These capabilities include:

Custom Reports: Salesforce empowers businesses to generate custom reports by defining the custom field and object they wish to assess. Additionally, companies can manage the associations between these objects to ensure the presentation of only essential data is presented.
Report builder: Salesforce has an intuitive interface that allows businesses to craft reports using point-and-click action rather than coding. It also provides a range of tools such as charts, filters, summaries, formulas, and more to facilitate the customization of their notifications.
Dashboard builder: Organizations have the ability to construct an interactive dashboard with important metrics and trends derived from reports for data visualization. Dashboard Builder also offers various options for data visualization such as tables, charts, gauges, and more.
Einstein Analytics: This analytics platform harnesses AI to enable businesses to explore and derive insights from data.
Versatility: The Salesforce CRM offers functionalities that are highly sophisticated and dependable. The Salesforce CRM software has always been globally renowned for its invulnerable support. It is important to acquire Salesforce CRM for your company because of its versatility. Salesforce CRM keeps you covered irrespective of whether you are running a campaign or generating new opportunities based on the data you wish to derive. Moreover, Salesforce is a cost-effective solution that will help you gain a higher rate of success.

Final Words:

These are some of the compelling reasons why Salesforce has become the most preferred CRM over others. Salesforce keeps adding new products, features, and services to support business growth, which adds to its popularity and widespread adoption. You must get in touch with a reputed, certified, and experienced Salesforce Consulting Company to understand the tremendous potential that this robust platform has in store.