Author: Austin McIntosh

To file for divorce in North Carolina, spouses must be living separately and apart for a year. This doesn’t just mean two bedrooms, but two different residences. Also, there is a residency requirement – either of the spouses must be living in the state for at least six months prior to the divorce. Among other things that a couple may have to discuss and agree upon, child custody is the most serious and emotionally-charged one. If you are unsure of how to deal with the circumstances, your best bet is to talk to a Charlotte child custody lawyer. Find an attorney, who can be personally involved with the divorce and custody battle. Here are some tips for sorting child custody with your spouse. 

1. Read up on state laws

If you have hired an attorney, they will advise on basic aspects of divorce in North Carolina and how you should be handling child custody in your case. Every divorce is unique and has its own problems, and the advice is never generic. 

In North Carolina, the court usually encourages the parents to come to a parenting agreement that’s acceptable to both. You will be requested to discuss and sort things with your spouse, so that unnecessary litigation can be avoided. Also, courts in NC encourage equitable sharing, where both parents have a share in upbringing and wellbeing of the minor child. If the court has to decide on child custody, it will always consider the ‘best interests of the child’. 

2. Consider your child’s wellbeing and preferences

The court may not ask a minor child to come to the courtroom, because it puts the child through unwanted stress and trauma. If you are deciding on child custody with your spouse, you have to think of child’s wellbeing and preferences. Age of the child, specific needs, and other family-related aspects have to be considered in depth. The reason why you need a child custody lawyer by your side is to avoid taking haste decisions. When a lawyer is advising a parent, it always comes from a point of experience and concern. 

3. Open up to communication

Even the courts want you to resolve child custody with your spouse amicably. Negotiation and mediation are must for minimizing friction. If you don’t want to talk to your spouse directly, allow your attorney to take things ahead. You are more likely to resolve concerns when your child custody lawyer is talking. 

Check online for best child custody lawyers in Charlotte now!

ULIPs are popularly known amongst investors as a way to create wealth for the future. But what if you could increase your investment returns to earn more? The top-up premium facility enables you to do so with a hassle-free process. Apart from the perks of an increased fund investment, you can avail more benefits with this feature. Here’s everything you need to know about additional premium in ULIP policies known as the top-up facility.

What Is Top-up Facility in ULIP?

The top-up premium facility is a feature available under Unit-Linked Insurance Plans where the policyholder can pay an additional amount over and above the annual premium. Now, you might wonder how does this facility benefit you? On paying a surplus amount to your insurance plan, you can increase your coverage amount or invest it into your ULIP fund.

Many a time our insurance requirements change due to increased responsibilities at home. Thus, if you need higher life cover, the top-up premium facility is the way to go. But in case you want to earn greater returns, you can easily dedicate the extra sum towards your investment fund without a worry. Therefore, you decide the end goal of the top-up premium and plan it to suit your long-term goals.

How Does Additional Premium in ULIP Work?

As the top-up premium is paid over the basic premium amount, this surplus is treated as a single premium that gives you additional coverage. Thus, the minimum sum assured you can gain is 125% of the top-up premium for policyholders up to 45 years of age. For individuals above the age of 45 years, the sum assured is 110% of the single premium. This is how your coverage amount can be increased with the top-up facility.

But in the event where you do not want the sum assured to increase but your fund value, then you can pay 25% of your regular premium. This is the capped limit that you can dedicate to your investment to gain lucrative ULIP returns in 10 years.

Things to Remember About Top-Up Facility

Here are some things you should know about the top-up premium facility before opting for it:

• You can make a surplus payment only up to a certain limit of the total premium that can be paid every year. Your insurer shall have a minimum top-up premium margin mentioned in the ULIP policy documents.
• This facility is only available to policyholders who make regular premium payments and don’t miss the due date
• The top-up premium can be made any time during the policy term with zero restrictions
• Some insurance providers may not allow top-up premium payment in the last five years of the ULIP tenure. But this may vary from one insurer to another.
• There are some charges associated with ULIP investment that you must pay such as mortality fees and fund management charges. It is recommended to check such charges beforehand as they may differ from insurer to insurer.

Advantages of Top-Up Facility

1. Increased returns

By pumping an additional amount into your ULIP investment, you can enable your fund to grow to give better returns. A total of 25% of your base premium can be added to your policy fund. To understand how much you can earn with the plan, check out the ULIP returns calculator now!

2. Higher coverage

In case you have welcomed a newborn into your family, you would prefer increasing your life cover for more security. With the help of ULIP, you can! The top-up facility enables you to get higher coverage to safeguard your loved ones.

3. Tax perks

The top-up premium paid can be claimed as a deduction under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961 just like your regular premium. Thus, you can save on taxes with such a facility as well.

You must have understood ULIP additional premium meaning with the above-mentioned pointers. Therefore, now you can reap the benefits of adding an extra sum to your ULIP policy. Ensure to check the terms and charges of availing such a facility in advance. Plan your insurance returns today to earn a lucrative payout in the future with the ULIP return calculator!

Buildings, bridges, roads, canals, railways, and runways are all structures in civil engineering that require construction in part or wholesomely. Depending on the nature of the work to be done to raise these structures, there is the involvement of different construction procedures.

The procedures followed, and activities involved help classify the various construction projects that a business can undertake. This article defines the most common construction projects in civil engineering.

Water Engineering Projects

Water engineering requires the comprehension of the nature of water, water bodies, and its transport channels such as rivers and artificial waterways. This knowledge is then used to engineer structures and projects that help put the water into good use or manage the water to accommodate other constructions.

Simply put, a water engineering project manages the interaction between water and its surroundings. These projects range from the dam building, canals construction, sewerage structures laying, and drainage systems development.

Geotechnical Engineering Projects

Geotechnical engineering projects involve the exploration of soil and rocks to understand their interaction with other fields of civil engineering. Geotechnical engineers interact with different grounds, and their knowledge helps define a productive interaction between the earth and a project.

So, as long as a project interacts with the ground at some point (which is typically any construction project), geotechnics and heavy construction equipment will likely be required. Engineers here technically analyse the behaviour of rocks or soils, survey project sites, review construction proposals, and assess ground safety.

Structural Engineering Projects

As the name suggests, structural engineering involves creating the skeleton of structures as an early step of the construction process. Design is the first and essential step during the construction as it creates a blueprint of what to expect when coming up with the infrastructure piece.

Structural engineering projects are based on creating and maintaining high levels of sustainability, reliability, safety while observing a practical economic sense. Aesthetics is also a critical area of focus for structural engineering projects. Typical machinery used in this industry includes excavator hire, crane leasing and various ground equipment such as skid-steer loaders.

Environmental Engineering Projects

These projects revolve around the environment, especially where the environment is already at high risk and requires care to protect its resources. Environmental protection is done by identifying the problems and then coming up with constructive solutions to the issues. Environmental engineering is essential as it streamlines construction projects to ensure they preserve the environment.

Transport Engineering Projects

Transport engineering projects are concerned with the planning, designing, and monitoring the operation of transports systems. They are mostly aimed at creating fast, reliable, economically viable, and safe transport systems. The various transportation modes, including road, air, water, avail opportunities for such projects.

Civil engineers usually structure their creations around the client’s requirements and preferences while implementing a project. Some of the tasks performed in transport engineering projects include analysis of transport system designs and giving recommendations to other engineers.

Construction makes up a big part of civil engineering. It is a critical activity in the majority of the projects in and around civil engineering. This explains why most of the listed projects above require heavy machinery like excavator hire machinery so as to be accomplished.