Recent Blog Posts
Who Keeps Family Pet after a Divorce?
People often consider pets to be family members. That deep affection means that cats and dogs can be sore subjects during divorce cases. Who should have custody of the family pet when they family has split? The fact is that legally, pets are often looked at as property when dividing assets during a divorce. There are certain facts that can be influence the decision of where Fido ends up.
The owner of the pet is often given precedence in any pet custody case. It is similar to the determination of separate property or marital property. If the pet was purchased before the marriage, then it may be considered a separate asset not subject to division. But the initial purchase won’t be the only way to pay for a pet; there are also considerations about who pays for the pet&s food and medical expenses.
The other way that custody is decided is based on who provides care for the animal, much like when determining child custody. That could mean that the person who takes the animal to the vet or the person who takes the animal for walks can have an easier time claiming pet custody. Another way to show who the primary caregiver of a pet is who cares for the animal during the split.
Choosing a Guardian for Your Children
The idea of both you and your spouse dying before your young children become adults may seem unfathomable. Every day, however, illness or accidents leave children without a parent. If you have not chosen a guardian, the courts would determine guardianship. The courts may not choose the person you would have chosen. Do not risk this scenario. Using guidelines and proper legal counsel can make the decision easier.
Who Do I Choose?
Choosing a family member may seem like the natural choice but it may not always be the right choice. You should weigh the suitability of your family members as you would any potential guardian. Here are some things to consider when determining a potential guardian:
- Do they share your religious beliefs? If not, would they be willing to support the religious choice you have made for your children?
Are You a Victim of Parental Alienation?
With a large number of divorced parents remaining in conflict, many children are at risk for psychosocial problems. One of these problems is parental alienation. Parental alienation is a situation where a child exhibits an unjustified anger or distain for a parent due to the vilifying of that parent to the child by the other parent. The noncustodial parent is typically the target.
Clearly, the target parent is being harmed. Their relationship with the child is being damaged and the time lost with that child can never be regained. But parental alienation has consequences to the child as well. According to information Our Family Wizard, parental alienation can be a factor in psychological and behavioral issues for the child, including drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, mood disorders, depression, anxiety, and panic attacks.
Coping With Divorce PTSD and Anxiety
Marriage and Family Therapist Virginia Gilbert says that there are many symptoms of PTSD that affect divorcing and divorced individuals. An afflicted person might have health issues, nightmares, obsessive thoughts, and generalized anxiety that presents as hyper vigilance. When there is extra tension or a history of violence in your relationship, it’s not uncommon for the emotional stress to manifest physically.
Gilbert has tips for those in these types of situations. She states that it’s vital to focus on what you can control. If your ex is abusive, struggling with an alcohol or drug addiction, or mentally ill, you can create high levels of anxiety by worrying constantly about what he or she might do. Instead, focus on the fact that your choice to get a divorce is what is best for you, and keep reminding yourself about what’s in your realm of control and what is not.
Post-Divorce Online Dating Tips
These days, digital dating is becoming more popular every day. According to the Pew Research Center, one in ten Americans has made use of an online dating site or mobile application. Especially if you are recently separated or divorced, online dating can reduce some of the anxiety about getting back into the dating world.
Online dating is certainly not new anymore, but as it becomes used more widely across multiple generations, it’s helpful to have a few tips in the back of your mind to make the most out of your experience. Follow this advice to get your feet wet in the world of online dating:
Take Time To Get To Know Someone
Factors that Challenge the Longevity of Marriage
It is often thought if a marriage lasts ten years or longer, the likelihood of divorce is less. However, according to a report in the Huffington Post, a few factors can challenge marriages that have lasted decades.
Nothing in Common
After the children have left home for college, many couples feel that they don’t have much in common anymore. The marriage is now less about parenting and more about being friends and companions. This is where the true connection between the couple is bared and unfortunately, sometimes there is not enough there to keep both spouses in the relationship.
Feelings of Wasted Time
What we hear about midlife crises is true. There may be a traumatic event or just a sudden realization that life is too short to continue in a marriage that is not working. There are times when there has been so much going on inside of the marriage that the spouses have simply grown apart. There doesn’t necessarily have to be fault in this situation. Often, one spouse wants to work things out while the other feels that divorce is the best option.
Prenuptial Agreements Now More Widely Used
Assuming that prenuptial agreements are only being used by those individuals with extreme wealth is a mistake. A survey conducted by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers demonstrates the increasing requests family attorneys are getting to draft these documents.
Of the attorneys surveyed, two-thirds reported seeing an increase in the number of prenuptial agreements completed in the past three years, but nearly half also noted that there are more women requesting the documents these days. The shift in awareness and requesting behavior could be due to a higher level of financial awareness on behalf of both men and women; being shaken by the recent economic collapse might clue people in to what they have to lose as well as make them more conscious about how to protect it.
The same attorneys participating in the survey remarked that the top three issues most often covered in prenuptial agreements were alimony, separate property, and division of property. Other recent research has indicated that more people believe that prenuptial agreements are a crucial component of pre-wedding plans, however unromantic they may seem.
Virginia Couple Illustrates Challenges of Adoption For Same-Sex Couples
Doug and Chris Maulden-Locke, from Virginia, moved from Maryland and then back to Virginia again during the process of adoption. The couple waited to get through the pre-adoption background checks for eight months before finding a baby in just 10 days. The couple had to go before a Maryland judge for the final adoption approval, a process that has been challenging for same-sex couples before. With the unique nature of pursuing adoption as a same-sex couple, hiring an adoption attorney is more important than ever.
In some jurisdictions around the country, it’s rare for judges to approve adoptions where same-sex couples are involved. Slowly, however, judges and jurisdictions are paving the way for these individuals to bring a new child into the homes of loving parents. Although decisions used to be made on a judge-by-judge basis, the greater cultural trend of valuing the potential societal value of qualified same-sex adopted parents is making it easier for these couples to grow their families.
Postnuptial Agreements in Illinois
As prenuptial agreements become more and more popular, many married people may be thinking that they wish they could have a prenup. But it’s not too late; a prenuptial agreement created after a couple is married is called a postnuptial agreement, but is, essentially, the same as a prenup.
People who choose to enter into a postnuptial or postmarital agreement do so for many reasons. One reason is if one spouse creates a business, the business partners may ask the spouse to sign and agree not to make a claim on the business should the other pass away or if they become separated. This will prevent a fight over the company from occurring if the couple divorces, and prevent a fight between the business partners and spouse if the spouse who took part in the business passes away.
Spouses may also choose to sign a postnuptial agreement if they have separate properties, which they use to buy a joint property. The agreement will ensure that the spouse with the separate property will still get the same benefits that he or she would have if the properties had stayed separate rather than purchasing joint property.
Common Paternity Testing Concerns
When a person is in a situation in which he or she does not know the father of a child, many questions and concerns arise. Although the mother is more likely to know who the father is, she may not always know, and a father may not believe that he is or is not the father.
A simple fix to the solution is to get a paternity test. Some parents choose to do this before the child is born and others choose to wait until after the birth. Sometimes, parents just choose to believe that someone is the father even though they are not completely sure. Once a test is complete, though, many people still have questions.
The American Pregnancy Association took the time to answer a few questions about paternity tests:
How much will establishing paternity cost, including the test and any other expenses?
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