Georgia Military Divorce Attorney -
Divorce In Spain
Whatever you call it, the recession, credit crunch or credit crisis et al, the current financial downturn has had some unusual spin-off effects.
Divorce has almost always been an expensive exercise and, recognising this, it would appear that many warring couples are deciding to ‘grin and bear it’. Figures released by the General Council (Consejo General del Poder Judicial) this week show that there were 644 fewer divorces in the Province during the last 12 months.
There were, however, a total of 5,608 who must have decided that money was no object and succeeded in going their separate ways. These are the lowest rates for the last five years.
Data from the Council shows the highest number of divorces took place in 2006, with 6,782 cases compared to 6,517 of 2005 and 5,828 of 2004. The rising numbers were attributed to changes in the law and the introduction of ‘Quickie Divorces’ that had previously not been an option.
For many more though, divorce is the ONLY option. In cases where domestic violence is prevalent, distance is obviously the only real practical answer.
Traditionally, women tend to earn less here than men, and therefore it appears that it is the women who stand to suffer financially most especially as, according to the School of Lawyers in Alicante, most men do not honour ‘child payment orders’.
There is no ‘Child Support Agency’ as such in Spain and the men know they will rarely if ever have to answer in court. The School of Lawyers argue that the current economic situation and subsequent unemployment has increased the number of non-payment orders. An order cannot be less than 180 euros per month per child! Do the sums and see why in a Catholic State where large families are still common: the divorce lawyers could also be looking for a new job!
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Big Smilers Are Less Likely To Divorce
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Big Smilers Are Less Likely To Divorce
by Melissa Noble
A recent study published in the journal of Motivation and Emotion [1] dares to say those who smiled more in school yearbook photos (of all things) stand a better chance of marrying and never divorcing.
Scientists rounded up a random group of adults, thumbed through their yearbooks and rated the intensity of their grin on a scale from 1-10. Once finished, they quizzed each on their marital status and found those in the top 10% (the 10's) were most likely to be still married [2], where those in the bottom 10% (the scowlers or Blue Steele Zoolanders) were often divorced. [3] They then asked a group of adults who were all over 65 to submit photos of themselves at around the age 10. Again, 11% of the big cheesers were divorced, in contrast to 31% of the stoic posers or frowners.
We have the sudden urge to stalk our yearbook and photo albums for smile width. Who knew our dorky, embarrassingly toothy grins from grades K-12 would gift us marital bliss?
While, of course, researchers are hesitant to state this as anything more than a statistic in a pool of endless statistics, but instead want this to serve as further proof that big picture information can come from small slices of data.
So what's the correlation of smiling and marital success, though?
Big smiles=happy spouses. Is it really is that simple?
Of course not, but scientists tend to think those who smile more in photos may be a.) generally happier b.) smile more in real life and therefor attract more friends c.) might be more cooperative, as there was likely someone on the other side of the camera barking at them to "SMILE!"
"I think [our results] go along with a lot of the literature that’s been coming out over the last five to 10 years, which shows that positive emotionality is incredibly important in our lives," study leader Matthew Hertenstein, a psychologist at DePauw University in Indiana said. "There are many, many beneficial outcomes to a positive disposition. It feeds into this idea that what's occurring earlier in our lives in terms of our present situation and our mental state can predict things that occur decades later. Showing the continuity in who we are is really important."
Once a sour puss, always a sour puss. Interesting. We'll store this information for later use.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
by Melissa Noble
A recent study published in the journal of Motivation and Emotion [1] dares to say those who smiled more in school yearbook photos (of all things) stand a better chance of marrying and never divorcing.
Scientists rounded up a random group of adults, thumbed through their yearbooks and rated the intensity of their grin on a scale from 1-10. Once finished, they quizzed each on their marital status and found those in the top 10% (the 10's) were most likely to be still married [2], where those in the bottom 10% (the scowlers or Blue Steele Zoolanders) were often divorced. [3] They then asked a group of adults who were all over 65 to submit photos of themselves at around the age 10. Again, 11% of the big cheesers were divorced, in contrast to 31% of the stoic posers or frowners.
We have the sudden urge to stalk our yearbook and photo albums for smile width. Who knew our dorky, embarrassingly toothy grins from grades K-12 would gift us marital bliss?
While, of course, researchers are hesitant to state this as anything more than a statistic in a pool of endless statistics, but instead want this to serve as further proof that big picture information can come from small slices of data.
So what's the correlation of smiling and marital success, though?
Big smiles=happy spouses. Is it really is that simple?
Of course not, but scientists tend to think those who smile more in photos may be a.) generally happier b.) smile more in real life and therefor attract more friends c.) might be more cooperative, as there was likely someone on the other side of the camera barking at them to "SMILE!"
"I think [our results] go along with a lot of the literature that’s been coming out over the last five to 10 years, which shows that positive emotionality is incredibly important in our lives," study leader Matthew Hertenstein, a psychologist at DePauw University in Indiana said. "There are many, many beneficial outcomes to a positive disposition. It feeds into this idea that what's occurring earlier in our lives in terms of our present situation and our mental state can predict things that occur decades later. Showing the continuity in who we are is really important."
Once a sour puss, always a sour puss. Interesting. We'll store this information for later use.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Divorce rate in Qatar too high’
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Divorce rate in Qatar too high’
The PENINSULA / BY JOYCE C ABAÑO
DOHA: Changes and new developments here have affected the norms of the country, so the government needs new policies to better protect and prepare the families and the society amid a changing world, said the director of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs, Women Department. The director said the country also needs to look at other countries’ experiences to learn from them.
“I think we need to try to develop our family policies and security policies. We have them already but we should look into improving them to better prepare the country amid this changing world. Changes in the country and new developments have affected the values of the families. Forums like this is something we welcome to discuss these issues,” Noor Al Malki, director of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs’ Women Department, said during the Expert Group Meeting organised by the Doha International Institute for Family Studies and Development, Family Policy
Division and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) Division for Social Policy and Development.
Al Malki said the government should look into having more forums and meetings to help Qatar prepare for the future and how the changes it will bring can affect the families in the society.
“We need to prepare our society to better protect us. Already, the divorce rate in the country is very high. Around 30 percent of the marriages here end in divorce and now, we have more and more women who opt not to marry. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing for women not to marry, but these are things that, in the end, will affect our society and the family unit. Other countries have experienced these, as what was shared by the other representatives in this meeting, so I think we should also try to learn from their experiences,” she said.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
The PENINSULA / BY JOYCE C ABAÑO
DOHA: Changes and new developments here have affected the norms of the country, so the government needs new policies to better protect and prepare the families and the society amid a changing world, said the director of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs, Women Department. The director said the country also needs to look at other countries’ experiences to learn from them.
“I think we need to try to develop our family policies and security policies. We have them already but we should look into improving them to better prepare the country amid this changing world. Changes in the country and new developments have affected the values of the families. Forums like this is something we welcome to discuss these issues,” Noor Al Malki, director of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs’ Women Department, said during the Expert Group Meeting organised by the Doha International Institute for Family Studies and Development, Family Policy
Division and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) Division for Social Policy and Development.
Al Malki said the government should look into having more forums and meetings to help Qatar prepare for the future and how the changes it will bring can affect the families in the society.
“We need to prepare our society to better protect us. Already, the divorce rate in the country is very high. Around 30 percent of the marriages here end in divorce and now, we have more and more women who opt not to marry. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing for women not to marry, but these are things that, in the end, will affect our society and the family unit. Other countries have experienced these, as what was shared by the other representatives in this meeting, so I think we should also try to learn from their experiences,” she said.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Augusta Georgia Military Divorce Attorney - Wrong on Gays in the Military
Augusta Georgia Military Divorce Attorney - Wrong on Gays in the Military
Alright, I've had it! Had it with the antiquated arguments against gays serving openly in the military espoused today on The Post’s Op Ed page by James J. Lindsay, Jerome Johnson, E.G. "Buck" Shuler Jr., and Joseph Went. Gay men and lesbians should be allowed to serve. They should be allowed to serve openly. And they should be allowed to serve with the honor and dignity such service entails.
Let's get one thing straight (as it were): The retired military honchos got it wrong in their second paragraph when they wrote, "The administration and some in Congress have pledged to repeal Section 654 of U.S. Code Title 10, which states that homosexuals are not eligible for military service. Often confused with the ‘don't ask, don't tell' regulations issued by President Bill Clinton, this statute establishes several reasons that homosexuality is incompatible with military service."
For all intents and purposes, Section 654 of U.S. Code Title 10 is "don't ask, don't tell."
They also belittle the inclusion of gays in the armed forces of our allies by picking on Denmark, the Netherlands and Canada. All are fine nations, but they don't conjure up the chest-thumping machismo you might get when you hear Israel, Italy or Great Britain. Gays and lesbians serve openly in those countries, too.
Most irksome is the writers’ reliance on worn out rationales for excluding gays in the military. "Team cohesion and concentration on missions would suffer," they wrote, “if our troops had to live in close quarters with others who could be sexually attracted to them." Their argument presumes that every homosexual in the armed forces is on the make. As if!
Sirs, gay men and lesbians are serving in the United States military right now. They wear the uniform because, to paraphrase paragraph 5 of Section 654 of U.S. Code Title 10, they want "to make extraordinary sacrifices, including the ultimate sacrifice, in order to provide for the common defense." They wear the uniform because they want to defend the ideals, laws and values of the United States against all enemies. They wear the uniform because they love their country.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Alright, I've had it! Had it with the antiquated arguments against gays serving openly in the military espoused today on The Post’s Op Ed page by James J. Lindsay, Jerome Johnson, E.G. "Buck" Shuler Jr., and Joseph Went. Gay men and lesbians should be allowed to serve. They should be allowed to serve openly. And they should be allowed to serve with the honor and dignity such service entails.
Let's get one thing straight (as it were): The retired military honchos got it wrong in their second paragraph when they wrote, "The administration and some in Congress have pledged to repeal Section 654 of U.S. Code Title 10, which states that homosexuals are not eligible for military service. Often confused with the ‘don't ask, don't tell' regulations issued by President Bill Clinton, this statute establishes several reasons that homosexuality is incompatible with military service."
For all intents and purposes, Section 654 of U.S. Code Title 10 is "don't ask, don't tell."
They also belittle the inclusion of gays in the armed forces of our allies by picking on Denmark, the Netherlands and Canada. All are fine nations, but they don't conjure up the chest-thumping machismo you might get when you hear Israel, Italy or Great Britain. Gays and lesbians serve openly in those countries, too.
Most irksome is the writers’ reliance on worn out rationales for excluding gays in the military. "Team cohesion and concentration on missions would suffer," they wrote, “if our troops had to live in close quarters with others who could be sexually attracted to them." Their argument presumes that every homosexual in the armed forces is on the make. As if!
Sirs, gay men and lesbians are serving in the United States military right now. They wear the uniform because, to paraphrase paragraph 5 of Section 654 of U.S. Code Title 10, they want "to make extraordinary sacrifices, including the ultimate sacrifice, in order to provide for the common defense." They wear the uniform because they want to defend the ideals, laws and values of the United States against all enemies. They wear the uniform because they love their country.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Smiles in youth photos may predict divorce
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Smiles in youth photos may predict divorce
GREENCASTLE, Ind., April 15 (UPI) -- If a future in-law offers to show the old family photo album take them up on it, because it may predict divorce, a U.S. researcher advises.
In a study of yearbook pictures, an e-mail invitation sent to approximately 18,000 alumni resulted in 428 people completing an online questionnaire, with 79 individuals removed due to no yearbook photos.
The remaining sample of 225 females and 124 males who graduated between 1948-2005
ranged in age from 21 to 81, 96 percent Caucasian. All photos for an individual were evaluated using a smile intensity score.
In a similar study, the researchers asked adults age 65 and older to provide photos from their youth and these photos were evaluated for smile intensity. The study subjects were asked if they had ever been in a committed relationship and divorced.
The findings, published in the journal Motivation and Emotion, indicates 11 percent of those with the biggest smiles divorced and 31 percent of the frowners had divorced.
Study leader Matthew Hertenstein, a psychologist at DePauw University in Indiana, says the current investigation demonstrates that from extremely thin slices of behavior, the divorce status of individuals may be ascertained.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
GREENCASTLE, Ind., April 15 (UPI) -- If a future in-law offers to show the old family photo album take them up on it, because it may predict divorce, a U.S. researcher advises.
In a study of yearbook pictures, an e-mail invitation sent to approximately 18,000 alumni resulted in 428 people completing an online questionnaire, with 79 individuals removed due to no yearbook photos.
The remaining sample of 225 females and 124 males who graduated between 1948-2005
ranged in age from 21 to 81, 96 percent Caucasian. All photos for an individual were evaluated using a smile intensity score.
In a similar study, the researchers asked adults age 65 and older to provide photos from their youth and these photos were evaluated for smile intensity. The study subjects were asked if they had ever been in a committed relationship and divorced.
The findings, published in the journal Motivation and Emotion, indicates 11 percent of those with the biggest smiles divorced and 31 percent of the frowners had divorced.
Study leader Matthew Hertenstein, a psychologist at DePauw University in Indiana, says the current investigation demonstrates that from extremely thin slices of behavior, the divorce status of individuals may be ascertained.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Georgia Military Divorce Attorney - Layoffs force many families to resume life under same roof
Georgia Military Divorce Attorney - Layoffs force many families to resume life under same roof
By Kim Lamb Gregory
You grow up and move out of the house — maybe get married and have a child.
Then comes a global recession and layoffs, with no new jobs in sight. And suddenly, in your 30s, 40s or 50s, you find yourself having to move back home.
That’s what happened to Kevin Wyzorowski, 35. He moved out of his parents’ Ventura home in 1998, joined the U.S. Army, got married and had a child.
Then came the recession. He was laid off from his job as a janitor and, to add to his stress, went through a divorce. About two years ago, he moved in with his parents, Doug and Linda Wyzorowski, both 59.
“It’s a big struggle,” said Linda Wyzorowski, who works full time. “The economy is horrible, even for us.”
Linda Wyzorowski believes she is at the top of her earning capacity and her husband is a disabled veteran, so the family is essentially living on a fixed income.
The family constellation and economic circumstances are varied, but the same theme is echoing throughout America, according to Donna Butts, executive director of Generations United, an intergenerational advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. Butts said her office is getting a lot of calls lately about people who have had to move in with family because of a layoff or some other consequence of the current economy.
A recent AARP survey of about 1,000 Americans showed 33 percent of adults ages 18 to 49 were living with their parents or in-laws. Of those ages 35 to 44, 11 percent lived with family.
Moving in with a family member— especially in America— is a tough pill to swallow. For some local residents, moving home after years of independent living is an embarrassment.
But Butts said she believes we should think of ourselves as “interdependent.”
“We’ve created this whole myth that we’re independent and we so highly prize independence,” Butts said. “Other cultures realize there is a social fabric. I think we’re being humbled.”
Angel Huerta, 50, feels humbled. He never dreamed he would wind up having to move into his mother’s Ventura home. He was laid off from his job as an orthopedic technician seven months ago. He is divorced with four children — paying child support with his savings, which are running low. So he moved in with his mom in March.
His mother, who is in her 70s, declined to be interviewed, but Huerta said she likes everything neat as a pin. That’s a strain on Huerta, who is a bit more casual in his approach to housekeeping. But he accepts it.
“It’s her area, her domain,” Huerta said. “I’ve learned not to make waves. I bite my tongue so I have a bed and a shower.”
Huerta used to live on his own, and his kids lived with him, but now they stay with their mother in El Rio. He gets to visit, but hates he no longer lives with them.
“I can’t believe how quiet it’s gotten,” Huerta said.
A change in his situation is dependent on his finding a job, so he visits the Ventura County Job and Career Center regularly and goes on interviews. But so far, he’s had no luck.
Dreams deferred
When it comes to moving back home, the challenges are different for younger adults compared to older ones.
For young adults in their 20s or 30s, moving back in with parents can create a power struggle around the young adult’s emerging identity, according to Dr. Debra Sheets, a CSU, Northridge health sciences professor who counts intergenerational issues among her specialties.
“This is the time for the younger adult to separate from the parents,” Sheets said. “It’s a real developmental crisis.”
Older adults face their own set of challenges when they find themselves at a family member’s doorstep.
Younger adults are still marking their territory, Butts said, but when you’re older, you’re supposed to be established. Moving back in with the parents holds a more negative social stigma.
At 52, Cherie Stout of Ventura hopes she will not have to move herself and her two teenage daughters in with her mother in Lake Elsinore.
“It hasn’t gotten to that point yet, but if something doesn’t turn up soon, I may have to,” Stout said.
Stout was laid off a few months ago from a title and escrow company. The divorced mother hoped she would be able to leave her retirement savings for her golden years, but drawing on them has been the only thing that has kept her afloat.
“Unfortunately, I had to pull a bunch of money out of my IRA,” she said. “It cost me four grand in penalty. Thank God I had that. Otherwise I would not have been able to make it.”
Stout hopes everything works out because, she said, she would hate having to pull her daughters out of Ventura High School in their sophomore and junior years to relocate them.
Her mother, Louise Hildebrandt, doesn’t mind if her daughter and granddaughters move in.
“I’m very blessed by God to have an abundance,” Hildebrandt said. “If it’s a hardship, that’s a different thing.”
Hildebrandt, who is in her 70s, is realistic. She knows there would be adjustments involved with moving her daughter’s family into her three-bedroom home.
“I think we might be crowded,” Hildebrandt said. “The utility expense goes up. The noise level goes up and the stress level goes up. Not only for me, but it’s a transition for them. They would be displaced people.”
Making it work
Communication and clear rules are two pillars of a successful intergenerational living arrangement, Butts said.
“We really encourage people, when at all possible, to communicate about what the expectations are in terms of how long they will be there, who’s paying the bills, and is there alone time or family time,” she said.
Parents who have to take in family members may not be happy about it.
“It’s sort of like dreams deferred,” Butts said. “People who had a very different vision of their life at this stage. Maybe they were going to be empty-nesters and be able to travel.”
If a laid-off family member moves in with young kids in tow, it’s especially important to be clear about who is in charge.
“ Tension can occur if grandparents try to set different rules than the parents set,” Sheets said.
She recommended setting down the rules before the family member moves in.
Kevin Wyzorowski has that rule established in his parents’ home. He said it is understood that his parents don’t discipline his child, Emily, 4, without his permission.
His duties for the household have also been established, including cleaning the kitchen, emptying the trash and cooking.
His parents also have set down rules for him beyond household duties.
“The laws of the land in this house,” said his father, Doug. “You either have a job or you go to school full time. He has to be in by midnight. He needs to sit down with me once a week and talk about what’s going on with his life.”
Asked if the rules trouble him, Kevin said sometimes, but he doesn’t let it get to him.
“It’s because of the military,” Kevin said. “I’m used to people telling me what do to.”
The one rule that does bother him is the curfew. “I’m not a kid,” he said.
The circumstances may not be ideal, but there can be advantages to generations living under one roof.
One tremendous perk for Kevin is the regular visits between his parents and their grandchild. The custody arrangement allows Emily to stay with Kevin every other weekend.
Linda Wyzorowski said they are making their situation work by viewing this crisis as an opportunity. While living with his parents, Kevin is attending Ventura College with plans to go into child development, something he might never have considered had the economic crisis not forced him to re-evaluate his life.
“My husband and I look at this as a second chance to help Kevin start his life over again,” she said.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
By Kim Lamb Gregory
You grow up and move out of the house — maybe get married and have a child.
Then comes a global recession and layoffs, with no new jobs in sight. And suddenly, in your 30s, 40s or 50s, you find yourself having to move back home.
That’s what happened to Kevin Wyzorowski, 35. He moved out of his parents’ Ventura home in 1998, joined the U.S. Army, got married and had a child.
Then came the recession. He was laid off from his job as a janitor and, to add to his stress, went through a divorce. About two years ago, he moved in with his parents, Doug and Linda Wyzorowski, both 59.
“It’s a big struggle,” said Linda Wyzorowski, who works full time. “The economy is horrible, even for us.”
Linda Wyzorowski believes she is at the top of her earning capacity and her husband is a disabled veteran, so the family is essentially living on a fixed income.
The family constellation and economic circumstances are varied, but the same theme is echoing throughout America, according to Donna Butts, executive director of Generations United, an intergenerational advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. Butts said her office is getting a lot of calls lately about people who have had to move in with family because of a layoff or some other consequence of the current economy.
A recent AARP survey of about 1,000 Americans showed 33 percent of adults ages 18 to 49 were living with their parents or in-laws. Of those ages 35 to 44, 11 percent lived with family.
Moving in with a family member— especially in America— is a tough pill to swallow. For some local residents, moving home after years of independent living is an embarrassment.
But Butts said she believes we should think of ourselves as “interdependent.”
“We’ve created this whole myth that we’re independent and we so highly prize independence,” Butts said. “Other cultures realize there is a social fabric. I think we’re being humbled.”
Angel Huerta, 50, feels humbled. He never dreamed he would wind up having to move into his mother’s Ventura home. He was laid off from his job as an orthopedic technician seven months ago. He is divorced with four children — paying child support with his savings, which are running low. So he moved in with his mom in March.
His mother, who is in her 70s, declined to be interviewed, but Huerta said she likes everything neat as a pin. That’s a strain on Huerta, who is a bit more casual in his approach to housekeeping. But he accepts it.
“It’s her area, her domain,” Huerta said. “I’ve learned not to make waves. I bite my tongue so I have a bed and a shower.”
Huerta used to live on his own, and his kids lived with him, but now they stay with their mother in El Rio. He gets to visit, but hates he no longer lives with them.
“I can’t believe how quiet it’s gotten,” Huerta said.
A change in his situation is dependent on his finding a job, so he visits the Ventura County Job and Career Center regularly and goes on interviews. But so far, he’s had no luck.
Dreams deferred
When it comes to moving back home, the challenges are different for younger adults compared to older ones.
For young adults in their 20s or 30s, moving back in with parents can create a power struggle around the young adult’s emerging identity, according to Dr. Debra Sheets, a CSU, Northridge health sciences professor who counts intergenerational issues among her specialties.
“This is the time for the younger adult to separate from the parents,” Sheets said. “It’s a real developmental crisis.”
Older adults face their own set of challenges when they find themselves at a family member’s doorstep.
Younger adults are still marking their territory, Butts said, but when you’re older, you’re supposed to be established. Moving back in with the parents holds a more negative social stigma.
At 52, Cherie Stout of Ventura hopes she will not have to move herself and her two teenage daughters in with her mother in Lake Elsinore.
“It hasn’t gotten to that point yet, but if something doesn’t turn up soon, I may have to,” Stout said.
Stout was laid off a few months ago from a title and escrow company. The divorced mother hoped she would be able to leave her retirement savings for her golden years, but drawing on them has been the only thing that has kept her afloat.
“Unfortunately, I had to pull a bunch of money out of my IRA,” she said. “It cost me four grand in penalty. Thank God I had that. Otherwise I would not have been able to make it.”
Stout hopes everything works out because, she said, she would hate having to pull her daughters out of Ventura High School in their sophomore and junior years to relocate them.
Her mother, Louise Hildebrandt, doesn’t mind if her daughter and granddaughters move in.
“I’m very blessed by God to have an abundance,” Hildebrandt said. “If it’s a hardship, that’s a different thing.”
Hildebrandt, who is in her 70s, is realistic. She knows there would be adjustments involved with moving her daughter’s family into her three-bedroom home.
“I think we might be crowded,” Hildebrandt said. “The utility expense goes up. The noise level goes up and the stress level goes up. Not only for me, but it’s a transition for them. They would be displaced people.”
Making it work
Communication and clear rules are two pillars of a successful intergenerational living arrangement, Butts said.
“We really encourage people, when at all possible, to communicate about what the expectations are in terms of how long they will be there, who’s paying the bills, and is there alone time or family time,” she said.
Parents who have to take in family members may not be happy about it.
“It’s sort of like dreams deferred,” Butts said. “People who had a very different vision of their life at this stage. Maybe they were going to be empty-nesters and be able to travel.”
If a laid-off family member moves in with young kids in tow, it’s especially important to be clear about who is in charge.
“ Tension can occur if grandparents try to set different rules than the parents set,” Sheets said.
She recommended setting down the rules before the family member moves in.
Kevin Wyzorowski has that rule established in his parents’ home. He said it is understood that his parents don’t discipline his child, Emily, 4, without his permission.
His duties for the household have also been established, including cleaning the kitchen, emptying the trash and cooking.
His parents also have set down rules for him beyond household duties.
“The laws of the land in this house,” said his father, Doug. “You either have a job or you go to school full time. He has to be in by midnight. He needs to sit down with me once a week and talk about what’s going on with his life.”
Asked if the rules trouble him, Kevin said sometimes, but he doesn’t let it get to him.
“It’s because of the military,” Kevin said. “I’m used to people telling me what do to.”
The one rule that does bother him is the curfew. “I’m not a kid,” he said.
The circumstances may not be ideal, but there can be advantages to generations living under one roof.
One tremendous perk for Kevin is the regular visits between his parents and their grandchild. The custody arrangement allows Emily to stay with Kevin every other weekend.
Linda Wyzorowski said they are making their situation work by viewing this crisis as an opportunity. While living with his parents, Kevin is attending Ventura College with plans to go into child development, something he might never have considered had the economic crisis not forced him to re-evaluate his life.
“My husband and I look at this as a second chance to help Kevin start his life over again,” she said.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Georgia Military Divorce Attorney - Divorce guide informs Jewish women of rights
Georgia Military Divorce Attorney - Divorce guide informs Jewish women of rights
By CAROLYN BLACKMAN
TORONTO — Jewish Women International Canada (JWIC), along with a committee of experts, has published a brochure about divorce for Jewish women.
The free brochure was made possible by Family Law Education for Women (FLEW), a public legal information project funded by the Ontario government whose goal is to inform Ontario women about their family law rights.
FLEW has produced materials on such topics as custody and access, child protection, domestic contracts, family law issues for immigrant, refugee and non-status women, and family law arbitration.
It’s made up of representatives from a number of local groups, including YWCA Toronto, Metropolitan Toronto Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children (METRAC), Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO), the Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW), Springtide Resources and the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL),
Penny Krowitz, executive director of JWIC, said her organization got involved in the project about a year ago. “I was invited to a meeting, because FLEW decided to broaden its committee to include reference groups such as ours – the only Jewish group – who represent the demographics and experience of Ontario women.”
Their idea was to publish materials on a wide variety of subjects pertinent to women.
“Our [mandate] was to outline a woman’s legal and religious obligations when dissolving a marriage in a format that is simple to understand, relevant, accurate, and easily accessible.”
Since February 2008, Krowitz has been meeting with her committee, which includes Evelyn Brook, a JWIC national executive board member and president of the Canadian Coalition of Jewish Women for the Get; Dr. Rachael Turkienicz of the Learning Centre; John Syrtash, family law lawyer; Judith Holzman, family law lawyer; Norma Joseph, a professor of religion at Concordia University and an expert on the get, the Jewish divorce document; Corinne Rusch-Drutz of YWCA Canada; Joanna Morrison, co-ordinator of community development services at JIAS Toronto, and Avraham Friedman, a former outreach worker at Jewish Family &Child.
As well as holding a number of planning meetings, the committee also met with local rabbis in the Orthodox community, including Rabbi Mordechai Ochs of Toronto’s Orthodox Jewish divorce court, to get their input.
The committee researched what languages the brochure should be translated into – it’s currently being translated into French, Hebrew and Russian – and held focus groups to get an objective and grassroots response to the material.
“The actual look of the material changed when we identified the need for a more reader-friendly style of presentation,” Krowitz said.
In writing the brochure, she said, committee members had to keep in mind that they were writing for women from every background, “from secular to frum.”
Information covered in the brochure includes the definition of a Jewish divorce, who needs one, and where to get it, as well as a list of community resources.
It also talks about the differences between Jewish and Canadian divorce law; who deals with custody, support and property division, and what happens when a husband refuses to give a get.
“This has been one of the most enriching experiences I have ever had. As we worked through the process, we realized the responsibility we had undertaken. Each word has an impact of women’s lives. It is an important project, and I’m proud to have been asked to do it,” Krowitz said.
JWIC and FLEW plan to distribute the brochure to every centre across the province that has a connection to the Jewish community. “We want it to get into people’s hands,” she said.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
By CAROLYN BLACKMAN
TORONTO — Jewish Women International Canada (JWIC), along with a committee of experts, has published a brochure about divorce for Jewish women.
The free brochure was made possible by Family Law Education for Women (FLEW), a public legal information project funded by the Ontario government whose goal is to inform Ontario women about their family law rights.
FLEW has produced materials on such topics as custody and access, child protection, domestic contracts, family law issues for immigrant, refugee and non-status women, and family law arbitration.
It’s made up of representatives from a number of local groups, including YWCA Toronto, Metropolitan Toronto Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children (METRAC), Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO), the Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW), Springtide Resources and the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL),
Penny Krowitz, executive director of JWIC, said her organization got involved in the project about a year ago. “I was invited to a meeting, because FLEW decided to broaden its committee to include reference groups such as ours – the only Jewish group – who represent the demographics and experience of Ontario women.”
Their idea was to publish materials on a wide variety of subjects pertinent to women.
“Our [mandate] was to outline a woman’s legal and religious obligations when dissolving a marriage in a format that is simple to understand, relevant, accurate, and easily accessible.”
Since February 2008, Krowitz has been meeting with her committee, which includes Evelyn Brook, a JWIC national executive board member and president of the Canadian Coalition of Jewish Women for the Get; Dr. Rachael Turkienicz of the Learning Centre; John Syrtash, family law lawyer; Judith Holzman, family law lawyer; Norma Joseph, a professor of religion at Concordia University and an expert on the get, the Jewish divorce document; Corinne Rusch-Drutz of YWCA Canada; Joanna Morrison, co-ordinator of community development services at JIAS Toronto, and Avraham Friedman, a former outreach worker at Jewish Family &Child.
As well as holding a number of planning meetings, the committee also met with local rabbis in the Orthodox community, including Rabbi Mordechai Ochs of Toronto’s Orthodox Jewish divorce court, to get their input.
The committee researched what languages the brochure should be translated into – it’s currently being translated into French, Hebrew and Russian – and held focus groups to get an objective and grassroots response to the material.
“The actual look of the material changed when we identified the need for a more reader-friendly style of presentation,” Krowitz said.
In writing the brochure, she said, committee members had to keep in mind that they were writing for women from every background, “from secular to frum.”
Information covered in the brochure includes the definition of a Jewish divorce, who needs one, and where to get it, as well as a list of community resources.
It also talks about the differences between Jewish and Canadian divorce law; who deals with custody, support and property division, and what happens when a husband refuses to give a get.
“This has been one of the most enriching experiences I have ever had. As we worked through the process, we realized the responsibility we had undertaken. Each word has an impact of women’s lives. It is an important project, and I’m proud to have been asked to do it,” Krowitz said.
JWIC and FLEW plan to distribute the brochure to every centre across the province that has a connection to the Jewish community. “We want it to get into people’s hands,” she said.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Huge Bucks At Stake In Gibson Divorce
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Huge Bucks At Stake In Gibson Divorce
Actor Is Reportedly Worth $900M And Has No Pre-nup; Wife Could Walk Away With Half
Mel Gibson's Costly Divorce
As Michelle Gielan reports, Mel Gibson's wife is filing for divorce after 29 years of marriage. Legal Analyst Lisa Bloom discussed the likely cost of the divorce. |
Breaking up is hard to do, especially when you are in the public eye.
Mel Gibson's Wife Files For Divorce
There's plenty on the table in the newly-announced Mel Gibson divorce case.
Plenty of money, that is.
Gibson and his wife, Robyn, filed for divorce after 28 years of marriage, both citing "irreconcilable differences." And since there's no pre-nup, there's lots of green that could be in dispute.
In his filing, Gibson writes that the couple separated in 2006, less than a month after his infamous DUI arrest. Earlier that night, he was caught partying with young women.
The Oscar-winning actor's net worth has been estimated at upwards of $900 million. In 2004, Gibson topped Forbes magazine's Celebrity Rich List, propelled by the movie "The Passion of the Christ."
His assets are said to include an entire island in Fiji that he bought for $9 million and a 400-acre ranch in Costa Rica purchased for $26 million.
But, according to CBS News legal analyst Lisa Bloom, Gibson's wife could walk away with much more than that. The couple got married before the actor amassed his fortune, she told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith and, because there's no pre-nup, the court is going to take all the assets earned during their marriage, including all of his wealth, and divide it between the two of them.
"She gets roughly half of that," Bloom said. "It's a long marriage. She's raised their seven children. The idea is that partners in a marriage are real partners, and the court's going to recognize that."
The lawyers could get a pretty penny, as well, depending on how long the battle goes on, Bloom adds. But she notes the Gibsons are requesting privacy and may not want a lengthy public court battle. "They want to do this amicably," she says. "If they do that, the lawyers won't get very much."
Other big recent Hollywood divorce settlements include Paul McCartney's split from Heather Mills and Madonna's breakup with Guy Ritchie. But while the exes in those cases received $40-50 million, Bloom pointed out, that's nothing compared to what Robyn Gibson will get if she is awarded $450 million.
Bloom also explained that any money the actor made after the couple's 2006 separation would stay with Gibson, and the fact that she filed papers first makes no difference in terms of the outcome.
"She filed and four hours later he responded, which is really unheard of," Bloom said. "So they both had to know this was coming."
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Actor Is Reportedly Worth $900M And Has No Pre-nup; Wife Could Walk Away With Half
Mel Gibson's Costly Divorce
As Michelle Gielan reports, Mel Gibson's wife is filing for divorce after 29 years of marriage. Legal Analyst Lisa Bloom discussed the likely cost of the divorce. |
Breaking up is hard to do, especially when you are in the public eye.
Mel Gibson's Wife Files For Divorce
There's plenty on the table in the newly-announced Mel Gibson divorce case.
Plenty of money, that is.
Gibson and his wife, Robyn, filed for divorce after 28 years of marriage, both citing "irreconcilable differences." And since there's no pre-nup, there's lots of green that could be in dispute.
In his filing, Gibson writes that the couple separated in 2006, less than a month after his infamous DUI arrest. Earlier that night, he was caught partying with young women.
The Oscar-winning actor's net worth has been estimated at upwards of $900 million. In 2004, Gibson topped Forbes magazine's Celebrity Rich List, propelled by the movie "The Passion of the Christ."
His assets are said to include an entire island in Fiji that he bought for $9 million and a 400-acre ranch in Costa Rica purchased for $26 million.
But, according to CBS News legal analyst Lisa Bloom, Gibson's wife could walk away with much more than that. The couple got married before the actor amassed his fortune, she told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith and, because there's no pre-nup, the court is going to take all the assets earned during their marriage, including all of his wealth, and divide it between the two of them.
"She gets roughly half of that," Bloom said. "It's a long marriage. She's raised their seven children. The idea is that partners in a marriage are real partners, and the court's going to recognize that."
The lawyers could get a pretty penny, as well, depending on how long the battle goes on, Bloom adds. But she notes the Gibsons are requesting privacy and may not want a lengthy public court battle. "They want to do this amicably," she says. "If they do that, the lawyers won't get very much."
Other big recent Hollywood divorce settlements include Paul McCartney's split from Heather Mills and Madonna's breakup with Guy Ritchie. But while the exes in those cases received $40-50 million, Bloom pointed out, that's nothing compared to what Robyn Gibson will get if she is awarded $450 million.
Bloom also explained that any money the actor made after the couple's 2006 separation would stay with Gibson, and the fact that she filed papers first makes no difference in terms of the outcome.
"She filed and four hours later he responded, which is really unheard of," Bloom said. "So they both had to know this was coming."
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Military retirement bill draws fire in Oklahoma Legislature
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Military retirement bill draws fire in Oklahoma Legislature
BY JULIE BISBEE
National family law experts say a bill in the Oklahoma Legislature that seeks to change how courts view military retirement pay is flawed and could have serious fallout.
House Bill 1053 would change how military retirement pay is viewed in divorces. Currently, the retirement is divided as if it were marital property. Under HB 1053, the portion of military retirement pay an ex-spouse would be entitled to would end if that person remarried, making it similar to alimony. The bill has passed the House and the Senate judiciary committee.
"It’s going to pretty much be a disaster for military spouses,” said Robert Spector, a professor of family law at University of Oklahoma College of Law. "This will increase the rate of military divorces in Oklahoma.”
If the bill becomes law, Spector said, the cost of a military divorce will likely increase and spouses who are denied a portion of a service member’s retirement pay may look for public assistance.
The bill is being eyed carefully by veterans’ groups and family law attorneys alike.
Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, the bill’s Senate sponsor , said the bill is expected to be heard in the full Senate next week. But first, members of the Republican caucus want to discuss the ramifications, he said.
"It is a significant change in the law,” Anderson said. "People on both sides of the issue have legitimate concerns about the bill. It seems to be a lightning-rod issue. It’s great that we’re having this discussion and hopefully we can come up with a solution where all parties will be satisfied.”
Veterans’ groups who support the bill say the legislation is a way to recognize the difference between military retirement pay and traditional pensions. To keep a military retirement benefits package, a retired service member must continue to adhere to conduct rules and the service member could be asked to return to active duty or give up their retirement benefits.
Opponents of the bill say the retirement package is often the most valuable marital asset the family of a career military member has and it should be treated as marital property.
"The real effect of this legislation is to create a permanent underclass,” said Marshal Willick, a Las Vegas attorney who has written a book for lawyers on how to divide military property. "Sometimes the military pension is the only asset people have accrued after years of being deployed and moving. With this bill, you will be creating a new class of welfare recipient for no valid public policy reason.”
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
BY JULIE BISBEE
National family law experts say a bill in the Oklahoma Legislature that seeks to change how courts view military retirement pay is flawed and could have serious fallout.
House Bill 1053 would change how military retirement pay is viewed in divorces. Currently, the retirement is divided as if it were marital property. Under HB 1053, the portion of military retirement pay an ex-spouse would be entitled to would end if that person remarried, making it similar to alimony. The bill has passed the House and the Senate judiciary committee.
"It’s going to pretty much be a disaster for military spouses,” said Robert Spector, a professor of family law at University of Oklahoma College of Law. "This will increase the rate of military divorces in Oklahoma.”
If the bill becomes law, Spector said, the cost of a military divorce will likely increase and spouses who are denied a portion of a service member’s retirement pay may look for public assistance.
The bill is being eyed carefully by veterans’ groups and family law attorneys alike.
Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, the bill’s Senate sponsor , said the bill is expected to be heard in the full Senate next week. But first, members of the Republican caucus want to discuss the ramifications, he said.
"It is a significant change in the law,” Anderson said. "People on both sides of the issue have legitimate concerns about the bill. It seems to be a lightning-rod issue. It’s great that we’re having this discussion and hopefully we can come up with a solution where all parties will be satisfied.”
Veterans’ groups who support the bill say the legislation is a way to recognize the difference between military retirement pay and traditional pensions. To keep a military retirement benefits package, a retired service member must continue to adhere to conduct rules and the service member could be asked to return to active duty or give up their retirement benefits.
Opponents of the bill say the retirement package is often the most valuable marital asset the family of a career military member has and it should be treated as marital property.
"The real effect of this legislation is to create a permanent underclass,” said Marshal Willick, a Las Vegas attorney who has written a book for lawyers on how to divide military property. "Sometimes the military pension is the only asset people have accrued after years of being deployed and moving. With this bill, you will be creating a new class of welfare recipient for no valid public policy reason.”
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Georgia Military Divorce Attorney - Mission impossible?
Georgia Military Divorce Attorney - Mission impossible?
A senior officer recently told me that the MoD has to find savings of over £500m between now and April. Those who admire and respect our armed forces cannot understand why the loyal and courageous men and women who have never failed the nation are being treated so disgracefully by a Prime Minister who has no problem conjuring up literally billions to hand over to bankers whose grossly irresponsible behaviour has contributed to the greatest financial crisis since the 1930s.
The failure of the government in its duty of care to those who have been sent to protect the nation's interests in Afghanistan and Iraq is having a deeply damaging effect. Recently, the Chief of the General Staff (CGS), General Sir Richard Dannatt, warned again about the strain being imposed upon our armed forces. He said: "We have seriously stretched our soldiers to the very limit. Many families and marriages have unfortunately fallen victim to the relentless pace of operation."
Little wonder, then, that the armed forces are nearly 6,000 short, with increasing dependence on commonwealth personnel to backfill. The most recent figures show that they account for over 7,000 of the current strength of our forces, as against 360 when Labour took office in 1997.
As the MoD's latest Performance Report for 2008-09 records, there are serious shortages across the board. Here are just a few to emphasise the gravity of the situation. There are:
• Three Royal Navy Harrier instructors against a requirement of seven;
• A 38% shortage of Merlin helicopter pilots;
• Just 95 army bomb disposal Cpls/Sgts against a requirement of 222 – a 57% shortfall;
• A 14% shortage of junior RAF pilots; and
• The RAF is short of 88 Loadmasters (16%), a trade critical to operations in the field.
These shortages place yet greater burdens on those who remain in the services. I was made acutely aware of the problem when in Kandahar; I was told that the Royal Navy did not have enough technicians to service their helicopters, so mechanics had to take that particular strain. The harmony guidelines (which determine the interval between operational tours) are being breached in certain key areas. The average tour interval for the RLC was 15 months against a target of 24 months. 10.3% of army personnel are exceeding the guidelines that no-one should spend more than 415 days – that's nearly 14 months – away from home in any 30 month rolling period. The pressure gets to the families who are hugely supportive and deserve the heartfelt thanks of the nation for the tolerance they show.
But who can blame the wife of the C-130 pilot who tells her husband – after repeated, dangerous tours in Afghanistan – that he either gets another job or it's divorce? CGS was unable to place a figure on the divorce trends in the services, but I think ministers would be well advised to compile those figures. What we do know is that for the year ending 1st September 2008, the voluntary outflow rate of RAF officers was 3% against a long-term sustainable rate of 2.5%. The figure for RAF other ranks is 5.8%, nearly 50% above the sustainable rate of 4%. If this trend continues, there will be serious consequences for the maintenance of capability. Overall, in the first six months of last year, there was a net outflow of some 1,250 people – overwhelmingly, 12,210 experienced people replaced by 10,960 rookies.
With the Prime Minister falling over to ingratiate himself with the new US President, who can doubt that he will press the service chiefs to accede to any request from the United States for more British troops in Afghanistan?
Then there is the issue of equipment. It is imperative to recognise that the equipment operated by the armed forces and their personal protection is a key component in terms of morale. Inadequate equipment, poor personal protection, and a shortage of spares has a profound effect on morale and hence on retention.
It is entirely true that the government has, in the last couple of years, sought to address this issue by the introduction of improved armoured vehicles, like the heavily armoured Mastiff, and more agile equipment like the Jackal, which those Members of Parliament who visited Afghanistan in November found to be extremely popular. However, the need to replace light tanks and reconnaissance vehicles that have been in service for nearly 50 years is becoming acute. The government has spent £132m on procuring a new utility variant of the battlefield taxi, the Future Rapid Effects System (FRES), but have now abandoned it.
At the same time as announcing the scrapping of the FRES utility vehicle in December, the Secretary of State also told the House of Commons in a written answer (which could not therefore be debated) that the number of Future Lynx helicopters was to be cut by 10 at a time when everyone knows the acute shortage of helicopters in Afghanistan is inhibiting operations there. The scheduled delivery of the two new 65,000-ton aircraft carriers was postponed by 'a year or two', ostensibly to dovetail in with the arrival of the Joint Strike Fighter. The problem with that excuse was that the US lead company, Lockheed Martin, said that they were not holding up delivery of the aircraft, which could be available sooner if the MoD wanted them sooner. In an endeavour to secure the carriers, successive First Sea Lords have had to sacrifice frigates and destroyers, so from a requirement of 32 set out in the 1998 Strategic Defence Review, the RN is now down to 23. As Admiral West (now Lord West of Spithead and a Government Minister) said as First Sea Lord, "you cannot have one ship in two places."
Other programmes were cut or postponed.
Meanwhile, the RAF has to stagger on with aged Tristar transport aircraft to provide the airbridge between RAF Brize Norton and theatre. In 2007-08, nearly 30% of flights to Afghanistan were delayed, with 11% being over six hours late. That feeds into anger and frustration on the part of soldiers whose valuable leave is clocked from the moment they leave theatre.
The relentless tempo of operations – with no end in sight for the Afghan campaign – the skill fade resulting from a reduction in training, the battle to obtain the right equipment to do the job (a constant fight with the Treasury), and the pressure from family at home: it's not difficult to see why the CGS' warning needs to be heeded, and heeded fast.
And it's not that the warning is new. As long ago as 2003, in his Defence White Paper, the then Secretary of State, Geoff Hoon, said: "Since SDR, our armed forces have conducted operations that have been more complex and greater in number than we had envisaged. We have effectively been conducting continual concurrent operations, deploying further afield, to more places, more frequently and with a greater variety of missions than set out in the SDR planning assumptions." He continued: "We expect to see a similar pattern of operations in the future."
There is thus no excuse for what has happened since, and it is not enough to say that the equipment shortfall has been made good by recourse to UORs funded from the Treasury's contingency reserve because there is a clawback arrangement under which the MoD will have to repay the Treasury around £200m in 2010/11 and potentially up to £365m in 2011/12. Furthermore, there is no plan for the incorporation of those UORs into the core programme.
Critical defence research has also been cut. If we are to maintain our technology lead in key areas and have an intelligent customer base, that research must continue. Furthermore, failure to have something to offer the US will rapidly turn us from partner into supplicant, with disastrous consequences for our sovereign capabilities.
The next Conservative Government will immediately initiate a new Defence Review. First, we shall establish what role we believe Britain should play in the world, what national interests need to be protected. Secondly, we shall determine what military capabilities we require to deliver that mission, and thirdly, we shall cost it. If we find in the then prevailing economic climate that it is unaffordable, we must then be prepared to change the mission, not squeeze the equipment and manpower to deliver a 'mission impossible'. At that point, the nation will have to decide what it wants to do in an increasingly unstable world.
As we calculate the correct balance of forces, we need to repudiate the concept of 'It's THE war, not A war'. Of course we have to win in Afghanistan, but that unstable world requires a longer-term view. That is why we are committed to renewing Britain's independent nuclear deterrent, and to building the aircraft carriers that will provide a powerful and flexible response.
In a significant move, the Leader of the Opposition, David Cameron, has now placed defence alongside health and education as key spending priorities as an acknowledgement of its importance.
The Help For Heroes campaign, the turnout at homecoming parades and the hugely renewed public observance of Remembrance Day all point to a new pride by the British people in the extraordinary exploits of the soldiers, sailors and airmen of Her Majesty's armed forces.
Whatever happens over the next 12 months, those entrusted with government have an absolute and unequivocal duty to protect those in their charge. For too long have we patched over the cracks created by the rotten foundation that the 1998 SDR has become, and our armed forces are paying the price in blood on the front line every day. For their sake, and the sake of the nation in the future, things must change.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
A senior officer recently told me that the MoD has to find savings of over £500m between now and April. Those who admire and respect our armed forces cannot understand why the loyal and courageous men and women who have never failed the nation are being treated so disgracefully by a Prime Minister who has no problem conjuring up literally billions to hand over to bankers whose grossly irresponsible behaviour has contributed to the greatest financial crisis since the 1930s.
The failure of the government in its duty of care to those who have been sent to protect the nation's interests in Afghanistan and Iraq is having a deeply damaging effect. Recently, the Chief of the General Staff (CGS), General Sir Richard Dannatt, warned again about the strain being imposed upon our armed forces. He said: "We have seriously stretched our soldiers to the very limit. Many families and marriages have unfortunately fallen victim to the relentless pace of operation."
Little wonder, then, that the armed forces are nearly 6,000 short, with increasing dependence on commonwealth personnel to backfill. The most recent figures show that they account for over 7,000 of the current strength of our forces, as against 360 when Labour took office in 1997.
As the MoD's latest Performance Report for 2008-09 records, there are serious shortages across the board. Here are just a few to emphasise the gravity of the situation. There are:
• Three Royal Navy Harrier instructors against a requirement of seven;
• A 38% shortage of Merlin helicopter pilots;
• Just 95 army bomb disposal Cpls/Sgts against a requirement of 222 – a 57% shortfall;
• A 14% shortage of junior RAF pilots; and
• The RAF is short of 88 Loadmasters (16%), a trade critical to operations in the field.
These shortages place yet greater burdens on those who remain in the services. I was made acutely aware of the problem when in Kandahar; I was told that the Royal Navy did not have enough technicians to service their helicopters, so mechanics had to take that particular strain. The harmony guidelines (which determine the interval between operational tours) are being breached in certain key areas. The average tour interval for the RLC was 15 months against a target of 24 months. 10.3% of army personnel are exceeding the guidelines that no-one should spend more than 415 days – that's nearly 14 months – away from home in any 30 month rolling period. The pressure gets to the families who are hugely supportive and deserve the heartfelt thanks of the nation for the tolerance they show.
But who can blame the wife of the C-130 pilot who tells her husband – after repeated, dangerous tours in Afghanistan – that he either gets another job or it's divorce? CGS was unable to place a figure on the divorce trends in the services, but I think ministers would be well advised to compile those figures. What we do know is that for the year ending 1st September 2008, the voluntary outflow rate of RAF officers was 3% against a long-term sustainable rate of 2.5%. The figure for RAF other ranks is 5.8%, nearly 50% above the sustainable rate of 4%. If this trend continues, there will be serious consequences for the maintenance of capability. Overall, in the first six months of last year, there was a net outflow of some 1,250 people – overwhelmingly, 12,210 experienced people replaced by 10,960 rookies.
With the Prime Minister falling over to ingratiate himself with the new US President, who can doubt that he will press the service chiefs to accede to any request from the United States for more British troops in Afghanistan?
Then there is the issue of equipment. It is imperative to recognise that the equipment operated by the armed forces and their personal protection is a key component in terms of morale. Inadequate equipment, poor personal protection, and a shortage of spares has a profound effect on morale and hence on retention.
It is entirely true that the government has, in the last couple of years, sought to address this issue by the introduction of improved armoured vehicles, like the heavily armoured Mastiff, and more agile equipment like the Jackal, which those Members of Parliament who visited Afghanistan in November found to be extremely popular. However, the need to replace light tanks and reconnaissance vehicles that have been in service for nearly 50 years is becoming acute. The government has spent £132m on procuring a new utility variant of the battlefield taxi, the Future Rapid Effects System (FRES), but have now abandoned it.
At the same time as announcing the scrapping of the FRES utility vehicle in December, the Secretary of State also told the House of Commons in a written answer (which could not therefore be debated) that the number of Future Lynx helicopters was to be cut by 10 at a time when everyone knows the acute shortage of helicopters in Afghanistan is inhibiting operations there. The scheduled delivery of the two new 65,000-ton aircraft carriers was postponed by 'a year or two', ostensibly to dovetail in with the arrival of the Joint Strike Fighter. The problem with that excuse was that the US lead company, Lockheed Martin, said that they were not holding up delivery of the aircraft, which could be available sooner if the MoD wanted them sooner. In an endeavour to secure the carriers, successive First Sea Lords have had to sacrifice frigates and destroyers, so from a requirement of 32 set out in the 1998 Strategic Defence Review, the RN is now down to 23. As Admiral West (now Lord West of Spithead and a Government Minister) said as First Sea Lord, "you cannot have one ship in two places."
Other programmes were cut or postponed.
Meanwhile, the RAF has to stagger on with aged Tristar transport aircraft to provide the airbridge between RAF Brize Norton and theatre. In 2007-08, nearly 30% of flights to Afghanistan were delayed, with 11% being over six hours late. That feeds into anger and frustration on the part of soldiers whose valuable leave is clocked from the moment they leave theatre.
The relentless tempo of operations – with no end in sight for the Afghan campaign – the skill fade resulting from a reduction in training, the battle to obtain the right equipment to do the job (a constant fight with the Treasury), and the pressure from family at home: it's not difficult to see why the CGS' warning needs to be heeded, and heeded fast.
And it's not that the warning is new. As long ago as 2003, in his Defence White Paper, the then Secretary of State, Geoff Hoon, said: "Since SDR, our armed forces have conducted operations that have been more complex and greater in number than we had envisaged. We have effectively been conducting continual concurrent operations, deploying further afield, to more places, more frequently and with a greater variety of missions than set out in the SDR planning assumptions." He continued: "We expect to see a similar pattern of operations in the future."
There is thus no excuse for what has happened since, and it is not enough to say that the equipment shortfall has been made good by recourse to UORs funded from the Treasury's contingency reserve because there is a clawback arrangement under which the MoD will have to repay the Treasury around £200m in 2010/11 and potentially up to £365m in 2011/12. Furthermore, there is no plan for the incorporation of those UORs into the core programme.
Critical defence research has also been cut. If we are to maintain our technology lead in key areas and have an intelligent customer base, that research must continue. Furthermore, failure to have something to offer the US will rapidly turn us from partner into supplicant, with disastrous consequences for our sovereign capabilities.
The next Conservative Government will immediately initiate a new Defence Review. First, we shall establish what role we believe Britain should play in the world, what national interests need to be protected. Secondly, we shall determine what military capabilities we require to deliver that mission, and thirdly, we shall cost it. If we find in the then prevailing economic climate that it is unaffordable, we must then be prepared to change the mission, not squeeze the equipment and manpower to deliver a 'mission impossible'. At that point, the nation will have to decide what it wants to do in an increasingly unstable world.
As we calculate the correct balance of forces, we need to repudiate the concept of 'It's THE war, not A war'. Of course we have to win in Afghanistan, but that unstable world requires a longer-term view. That is why we are committed to renewing Britain's independent nuclear deterrent, and to building the aircraft carriers that will provide a powerful and flexible response.
In a significant move, the Leader of the Opposition, David Cameron, has now placed defence alongside health and education as key spending priorities as an acknowledgement of its importance.
The Help For Heroes campaign, the turnout at homecoming parades and the hugely renewed public observance of Remembrance Day all point to a new pride by the British people in the extraordinary exploits of the soldiers, sailors and airmen of Her Majesty's armed forces.
Whatever happens over the next 12 months, those entrusted with government have an absolute and unequivocal duty to protect those in their charge. For too long have we patched over the cracks created by the rotten foundation that the 1998 SDR has become, and our armed forces are paying the price in blood on the front line every day. For their sake, and the sake of the nation in the future, things must change.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - 8-year-old girl's marriage ruled legal
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - 8-year-old girl's marriage ruled legal
ONAIZA, Saudi Arabia, April 12 (UPI) -- A Saudi Arabian judge has refused to overturn a ruling that declared the arranged marriage of an 8-year-old girl to a 47-year-old man legal, a relative says.
The judge, Sheikh Habib Habib, ruled for the second time Saturday in Onaiza that the girl's marriage to a friend of her father's was legal and binding. He said the child wife could file for divorce once she reached puberty, CNN reported.
An unnamed relative of the girl told the broadcaster that Habib, who first refused to annul the marriage last year, reconsidered the case upon the girl's mother's appeal. The mother's attorney, Abdullah Jutaili, said the girl's father arranged the marriage with his "close friend" to pay off a monetary debt.
The relative said the girl's mother, who is divorced from the father, will continue to seek to overturn the marriage. An appeals court in Riyadh will reportedly consider the case again in a hearing set for next month.
Zuhair Harithi of the Saudi Human Rights Commission told CNN child marriages in the country must be fought, saying they "violate international agreements that have been signed by Saudi Arabia and should not be allowed."
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
ONAIZA, Saudi Arabia, April 12 (UPI) -- A Saudi Arabian judge has refused to overturn a ruling that declared the arranged marriage of an 8-year-old girl to a 47-year-old man legal, a relative says.
The judge, Sheikh Habib Habib, ruled for the second time Saturday in Onaiza that the girl's marriage to a friend of her father's was legal and binding. He said the child wife could file for divorce once she reached puberty, CNN reported.
An unnamed relative of the girl told the broadcaster that Habib, who first refused to annul the marriage last year, reconsidered the case upon the girl's mother's appeal. The mother's attorney, Abdullah Jutaili, said the girl's father arranged the marriage with his "close friend" to pay off a monetary debt.
The relative said the girl's mother, who is divorced from the father, will continue to seek to overturn the marriage. An appeals court in Riyadh will reportedly consider the case again in a hearing set for next month.
Zuhair Harithi of the Saudi Human Rights Commission told CNN child marriages in the country must be fought, saying they "violate international agreements that have been signed by Saudi Arabia and should not be allowed."
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Georgia Military Divorce Attorney - Military retirement bill draws fire in Oklahoma Legislature
Georgia Military Divorce Attorney - Military retirement bill draws fire in Oklahoma Legislature
BY JULIE BISBEE
National family law experts say a bill in the Oklahoma Legislature that seeks to change how courts view military retirement pay is flawed and could have serious fallout.
House Bill 1053 would change how military retirement pay is viewed in divorces. Currently, the retirement is divided as if it were marital property. Under HB 1053, the portion of military retirement pay an ex-spouse would be entitled to would end if that person remarried, making it similar to alimony. The bill has passed the House and the Senate judiciary committee.
"It’s going to pretty much be a disaster for military spouses,” said Robert Spector, a professor of family law at University of Oklahoma College of Law. "This will increase the rate of military divorces in Oklahoma.”
If the bill becomes law, Spector said, the cost of a military divorce will likely increase and spouses who are denied a portion of a service member’s retirement pay may look for public assistance.
The bill is being eyed carefully by veterans’ groups and family law attorneys alike.
Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, the bill’s Senate sponsor , said the bill is expected to be heard in the full Senate next week. But first, members of the Republican caucus want to discuss the ramifications, he said.
"It is a significant change in the law,” Anderson said. "People on both sides of the issue have legitimate concerns about the bill. It seems to be a lightning-rod issue. It’s great that we’re having this discussion and hopefully we can come up with a solution where all parties will be satisfied.”
Veterans’ groups who support the bill say the legislation is a way to recognize the difference between military retirement pay and traditional pensions. To keep a military retirement benefits package, a retired service member must continue to adhere to conduct rules and the service member could be asked to return to active duty or give up their retirement benefits.
Opponents of the bill say the retirement package is often the most valuable marital asset the family of a career military member has and it should be treated as marital property.
"The real effect of this legislation is to create a permanent underclass,” said Marshal Willick, a Las Vegas attorney who has written a book for lawyers on how to divide military property. "Sometimes the military pension is the only asset people have accrued after years of being deployed and moving. With this bill, you will be creating a new class of welfare recipient for no valid public policy reason.”
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
BY JULIE BISBEE
National family law experts say a bill in the Oklahoma Legislature that seeks to change how courts view military retirement pay is flawed and could have serious fallout.
House Bill 1053 would change how military retirement pay is viewed in divorces. Currently, the retirement is divided as if it were marital property. Under HB 1053, the portion of military retirement pay an ex-spouse would be entitled to would end if that person remarried, making it similar to alimony. The bill has passed the House and the Senate judiciary committee.
"It’s going to pretty much be a disaster for military spouses,” said Robert Spector, a professor of family law at University of Oklahoma College of Law. "This will increase the rate of military divorces in Oklahoma.”
If the bill becomes law, Spector said, the cost of a military divorce will likely increase and spouses who are denied a portion of a service member’s retirement pay may look for public assistance.
The bill is being eyed carefully by veterans’ groups and family law attorneys alike.
Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, the bill’s Senate sponsor , said the bill is expected to be heard in the full Senate next week. But first, members of the Republican caucus want to discuss the ramifications, he said.
"It is a significant change in the law,” Anderson said. "People on both sides of the issue have legitimate concerns about the bill. It seems to be a lightning-rod issue. It’s great that we’re having this discussion and hopefully we can come up with a solution where all parties will be satisfied.”
Veterans’ groups who support the bill say the legislation is a way to recognize the difference between military retirement pay and traditional pensions. To keep a military retirement benefits package, a retired service member must continue to adhere to conduct rules and the service member could be asked to return to active duty or give up their retirement benefits.
Opponents of the bill say the retirement package is often the most valuable marital asset the family of a career military member has and it should be treated as marital property.
"The real effect of this legislation is to create a permanent underclass,” said Marshal Willick, a Las Vegas attorney who has written a book for lawyers on how to divide military property. "Sometimes the military pension is the only asset people have accrued after years of being deployed and moving. With this bill, you will be creating a new class of welfare recipient for no valid public policy reason.”
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Georgia Military Divorce Attorney - Economy plays role in today’s divorces
Georgia Military Divorce Attorney - Economy plays role in today’s divorces
Hard times split up some, but keep some together
By Gracie Bonds Staples -The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As joblessness soars and Wall Street struggles, personal relationships are crumbling under the weight of personal finance problems.
According to area divorce attorneys and counselors, an increasing number of estranged couples are being forced to either stay together or move on. Either way, they say, it’s all due to the sour economy.
Ellen Kelly of Marietta is a case in point.
Kelly said she and her husband tried staying together until they found a buyer for their east Cobb home.
“He was in mortgage banking and I was in real estate and neither of us were making as much as we’d been making,” she said.
As is the case with many couples, their ailing finances eventually exposed weaknesses in their marriage, particularly their inability to communicate. For months, Kelly said, they hung in there together, hoping to sell their home.
“It got to a point were it didn’t matter,” she said. “You either starve together or starve alone. I decided to starve alone.”
Attorney Jeff Cleghorn, of the Atlanta practice Kitchens New, sees both sides of the bad economy.
“On the one hand, we are getting a steady stream of new clients that share that economic distress is causing additional problems,” he said. “On the other hand, we’ve had couples come in who want to divorce but are delaying because they owe more than the house is worth.”
Cleghorn will be among several local attorneys, therapists and child specialists who will participate Saturday in a “divorce boot camp” sponsored by the nonprofit Visions Anew Institute.
Visions founder Margot Swann said that when people lose jobs and there’s less money, fear and anger are heightened and they often do and say things that cause harm to each other.
Still, she said, there are more people considering divorce than those who actually are going through with it. “That could be a good thing,” said Swann. “Maybe if they learn to coexist, the marriage could improve.”
That didn’t work for Mary Reynolds of Roswell, who says the weak economy was a major factor in the failure of her 22-year marriage.
“This economy destroyed everything I had,” said Reynolds, who recently moved here from Texas to be near her daughter and grandchildren.
Reynolds said she and her husband enjoyed the good life until the building industry started deteriorating. She said her husband was forced to file for bankruptcy and shut down his manufacturing company.
Although no one can say for sure how the current financial crisis has affected divorce rates, some estimates say that one of two U.S. marriages ends in divorce.
According to a 2008 poll of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, 37 percent of the group’s 1,600 members said they’d seen a decrease in divorce cases, compared with 44 percent who saw no change and 19 percent who saw an increase.
Al Levine, president of the local chapter, said the latter is true among the six attorneys in his family law practice.
Cleghorn said calls and e-mails to his firm have increased “significantly” over the past six months. Those callers come primarily from couples in Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett and DeKalb counties.
About half those couples, he said, take the next step and file for divorce. In addition, he said he’s seeing an increase in same-sex couples who share assets and want advice.
Mitch Newman is a Beverly Hills, Calif., relationship coach who has been working with couples for six years.
“Financial crisis often exposes gaping holes in our relationships,” said Newman. “Money is a hot topic for most people, and when financial uncertainly bumps up against a couple’s conflicting belief systems around the almighty dollar, smoldering issues rise to the surface and catch fire.”
He said that couples need to understand that fights about money are really about larger issues.
Said Newman: “Successful couples, when [stuff] hits the fan, join forces to find a solution. Couples who go to neutral corners and start attacking each other, that’s the bulk of the people who are now coming to see me.”
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Hard times split up some, but keep some together
By Gracie Bonds Staples -The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As joblessness soars and Wall Street struggles, personal relationships are crumbling under the weight of personal finance problems.
According to area divorce attorneys and counselors, an increasing number of estranged couples are being forced to either stay together or move on. Either way, they say, it’s all due to the sour economy.
Ellen Kelly of Marietta is a case in point.
Kelly said she and her husband tried staying together until they found a buyer for their east Cobb home.
“He was in mortgage banking and I was in real estate and neither of us were making as much as we’d been making,” she said.
As is the case with many couples, their ailing finances eventually exposed weaknesses in their marriage, particularly their inability to communicate. For months, Kelly said, they hung in there together, hoping to sell their home.
“It got to a point were it didn’t matter,” she said. “You either starve together or starve alone. I decided to starve alone.”
Attorney Jeff Cleghorn, of the Atlanta practice Kitchens New, sees both sides of the bad economy.
“On the one hand, we are getting a steady stream of new clients that share that economic distress is causing additional problems,” he said. “On the other hand, we’ve had couples come in who want to divorce but are delaying because they owe more than the house is worth.”
Cleghorn will be among several local attorneys, therapists and child specialists who will participate Saturday in a “divorce boot camp” sponsored by the nonprofit Visions Anew Institute.
Visions founder Margot Swann said that when people lose jobs and there’s less money, fear and anger are heightened and they often do and say things that cause harm to each other.
Still, she said, there are more people considering divorce than those who actually are going through with it. “That could be a good thing,” said Swann. “Maybe if they learn to coexist, the marriage could improve.”
That didn’t work for Mary Reynolds of Roswell, who says the weak economy was a major factor in the failure of her 22-year marriage.
“This economy destroyed everything I had,” said Reynolds, who recently moved here from Texas to be near her daughter and grandchildren.
Reynolds said she and her husband enjoyed the good life until the building industry started deteriorating. She said her husband was forced to file for bankruptcy and shut down his manufacturing company.
Although no one can say for sure how the current financial crisis has affected divorce rates, some estimates say that one of two U.S. marriages ends in divorce.
According to a 2008 poll of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, 37 percent of the group’s 1,600 members said they’d seen a decrease in divorce cases, compared with 44 percent who saw no change and 19 percent who saw an increase.
Al Levine, president of the local chapter, said the latter is true among the six attorneys in his family law practice.
Cleghorn said calls and e-mails to his firm have increased “significantly” over the past six months. Those callers come primarily from couples in Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett and DeKalb counties.
About half those couples, he said, take the next step and file for divorce. In addition, he said he’s seeing an increase in same-sex couples who share assets and want advice.
Mitch Newman is a Beverly Hills, Calif., relationship coach who has been working with couples for six years.
“Financial crisis often exposes gaping holes in our relationships,” said Newman. “Money is a hot topic for most people, and when financial uncertainly bumps up against a couple’s conflicting belief systems around the almighty dollar, smoldering issues rise to the surface and catch fire.”
He said that couples need to understand that fights about money are really about larger issues.
Said Newman: “Successful couples, when [stuff] hits the fan, join forces to find a solution. Couples who go to neutral corners and start attacking each other, that’s the bulk of the people who are now coming to see me.”
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Augusta Military Divorce - Anger, despair and guns
Augusta Military Divorce - Anger, despair and guns
By Robert "Frank" Jakubowicz
Updated: 04/09/2009 09:37:08 AM EDT
PITTSFIELD - There are no simple and quick fixes for the recent spree of mass murder shootings in the nation. Professor James A. Fox, an authority on gun violence, recently said that understanding such mass murder, reducing gun availability, and changing gun laws will not necessarily solve the problem. But he said that even though these events are unpredictable and will continue to occur, the good news, according to Fox, is that these violent episodes are rare.
I think that is a fair assessment when one considers all of the daily human activity that goes on in the nation and the world without any mass killings by shooters. Otherwise people would be barricading themselves in their homes and the police would be reluctant to respond to calls for assistance. But the multiple victims involved in such horrific acts overshadow the predominantly safe human conduct in the world. The sensationalism over the mass shootings is the rarity of such events. The public reaction is analogous to that of the multiple victims of an airplane crash, which tends to make the public overlook the overwhelming safe, daily airplane flights.
This is not to say that steps should not be taken to minimize mass shootings. An attempt to totally ban guns is not an option because the Supreme Court recently interpreted the Second Amendment as granting a constitutional right to Americans to "keep and bear arms." But the justices appear to have left some legal wiggle room for reasonable regulation.
One such measure that is just plain common sense to minimize multiple victims in a shooting spree is the restriction of military-type assault weapons to the military and to law enforcement. The shooter in Pittsburgh without his reported "assault rifle" probably would not have been able to quickly gun down the three police officers who approached his house. Not only do these weapons pose a danger for the police in the hands of shooters bent on killing them, but they are dangerous even when used for sport in the hands of trained firearm personnel.
A former Pelham, Ma. police chief, who the Boston Globe reported was "well known" as a gun safety advocate who regularly visited schools to teach the National Rifle Association's "Eddie Eagle Gun Safety Program" to children, was recently charged with involuntary manslaughter in the gun death of an 8-year-old boy. This individual ran a gun fair at a gun club for the public to shoot weapons under the guidance of certified instructors. The boy was allowed to fire a micro Uzi, an automatic weapon used by Israeli special forces, and he shot and killed himself.
The gun lobby's position is that the gun problem in America is not with guns, but with the criminals and others who seemingly for a variety of bad reasons use guns to kill people. The gun lobby contends that such criminals need to be prosecuted and incarcerated while those other individuals should be prevented from obtaining guns. But the flaw in such an argument is that unless such criminals receive a life sentence or capital punishment, they eventually are back on the street with relative easy access to an illegal trade in guns. It is also difficult to identify and predict whether such individuals as the shooters in Binghamton, New York and Pittsburgh who had gun permits would seek revenge by mass shooting for reportedly losing their jobs.
It is not realistic to think that a significant dent can be made by the government in sorting out and confiscating the guns in the illegal trade from the estimated 250 million guns in circulation in this country. But there are steps that can be taken to limit more guns in circulation. Some of them are to require background checks for all gun purchases and to regulate gun shows. But such measures by themselves do not address the problem presented by the Binghamton and Pittsburgh shooters who apparently had recently lost their jobs and felt threatened by society, or the husband who shot and killed eight in a North Carolina nursing home and the husband in the state of Washington who shot and killed himself and his five children because in each case their wives decided to leave them.
Fox has concluded that such factors as being unable to cope with disappointment, blaming others, lack of emotional support from friends and family, a precipitating event (a job loss, a marriage breakup) are all causes for individuals to resort to a weapon powerful enough to satisfy their need for revenge. This goes to the root causes of many of these mass shooting sprees. The current bad economy is causing too many traumatic job losses. Rising divorce rates are breaking up families with a lot of trauma. But these are often overlooked societal effects by the general public in why it is important to fix our economy and have programs in place to deal with spouses and their children with marital problems.
One by-product of these societal problems has been felt in Pittsfield by the emergence of street shootings by jobless young men, many from broken families, who have apparently come here to live off a drug trade in this area at the junction between New York and Massachusetts.
Robert "Frank" Jakubowicz, a Pittsfield lawyer, is a former FBI agent and a regular Eagle contributor.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
By Robert "Frank" Jakubowicz
Updated: 04/09/2009 09:37:08 AM EDT
PITTSFIELD - There are no simple and quick fixes for the recent spree of mass murder shootings in the nation. Professor James A. Fox, an authority on gun violence, recently said that understanding such mass murder, reducing gun availability, and changing gun laws will not necessarily solve the problem. But he said that even though these events are unpredictable and will continue to occur, the good news, according to Fox, is that these violent episodes are rare.
I think that is a fair assessment when one considers all of the daily human activity that goes on in the nation and the world without any mass killings by shooters. Otherwise people would be barricading themselves in their homes and the police would be reluctant to respond to calls for assistance. But the multiple victims involved in such horrific acts overshadow the predominantly safe human conduct in the world. The sensationalism over the mass shootings is the rarity of such events. The public reaction is analogous to that of the multiple victims of an airplane crash, which tends to make the public overlook the overwhelming safe, daily airplane flights.
This is not to say that steps should not be taken to minimize mass shootings. An attempt to totally ban guns is not an option because the Supreme Court recently interpreted the Second Amendment as granting a constitutional right to Americans to "keep and bear arms." But the justices appear to have left some legal wiggle room for reasonable regulation.
One such measure that is just plain common sense to minimize multiple victims in a shooting spree is the restriction of military-type assault weapons to the military and to law enforcement. The shooter in Pittsburgh without his reported "assault rifle" probably would not have been able to quickly gun down the three police officers who approached his house. Not only do these weapons pose a danger for the police in the hands of shooters bent on killing them, but they are dangerous even when used for sport in the hands of trained firearm personnel.
A former Pelham, Ma. police chief, who the Boston Globe reported was "well known" as a gun safety advocate who regularly visited schools to teach the National Rifle Association's "Eddie Eagle Gun Safety Program" to children, was recently charged with involuntary manslaughter in the gun death of an 8-year-old boy. This individual ran a gun fair at a gun club for the public to shoot weapons under the guidance of certified instructors. The boy was allowed to fire a micro Uzi, an automatic weapon used by Israeli special forces, and he shot and killed himself.
The gun lobby's position is that the gun problem in America is not with guns, but with the criminals and others who seemingly for a variety of bad reasons use guns to kill people. The gun lobby contends that such criminals need to be prosecuted and incarcerated while those other individuals should be prevented from obtaining guns. But the flaw in such an argument is that unless such criminals receive a life sentence or capital punishment, they eventually are back on the street with relative easy access to an illegal trade in guns. It is also difficult to identify and predict whether such individuals as the shooters in Binghamton, New York and Pittsburgh who had gun permits would seek revenge by mass shooting for reportedly losing their jobs.
It is not realistic to think that a significant dent can be made by the government in sorting out and confiscating the guns in the illegal trade from the estimated 250 million guns in circulation in this country. But there are steps that can be taken to limit more guns in circulation. Some of them are to require background checks for all gun purchases and to regulate gun shows. But such measures by themselves do not address the problem presented by the Binghamton and Pittsburgh shooters who apparently had recently lost their jobs and felt threatened by society, or the husband who shot and killed eight in a North Carolina nursing home and the husband in the state of Washington who shot and killed himself and his five children because in each case their wives decided to leave them.
Fox has concluded that such factors as being unable to cope with disappointment, blaming others, lack of emotional support from friends and family, a precipitating event (a job loss, a marriage breakup) are all causes for individuals to resort to a weapon powerful enough to satisfy their need for revenge. This goes to the root causes of many of these mass shooting sprees. The current bad economy is causing too many traumatic job losses. Rising divorce rates are breaking up families with a lot of trauma. But these are often overlooked societal effects by the general public in why it is important to fix our economy and have programs in place to deal with spouses and their children with marital problems.
One by-product of these societal problems has been felt in Pittsfield by the emergence of street shootings by jobless young men, many from broken families, who have apparently come here to live off a drug trade in this area at the junction between New York and Massachusetts.
Robert "Frank" Jakubowicz, a Pittsfield lawyer, is a former FBI agent and a regular Eagle contributor.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Wars put character to the test
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Wars put character to the test
We have to learn to channel our emotions into helping others
By Judith Tackett
Tennessee Voices
My husband just left with the Tennessee Army National Guard Air Cavalry to serve the United States in Iraq. Local media have covered the deployment, and every time soldiers are deployed, reporters try to capture the grief of families left behind.
While I am sad to see my husband leave, none of the photographers took my picture on Tuesday (March 31). The reason is that I did not cry and wave a flag. I stood there with an angry face and kept myself busy snapping the last pictures as my husband walked to the aircraft he is to pilot over the next year.
Anger was also the emotion that I mostly had to deal with in the past few weeks, when we went through the stressful time of preparing for the deployment.
I'm not angry at him. I'm not angry at the Army. After all, I knew what he had signed up for, and that a deployment could eventually be a possibility. Nonetheless, anger has become my coping mechanism. I now am more outspoken, especially when I believe a person is becoming too power-hungry and tries to limit other people's rights and options.
The problem for spouses left behind is not so much to let their partners go — we don't have a choice — but to channel our feelings properly, regardless of whether we're dealing with anger, sadness, fear or anguish.
My main fear is to deal with the transitions of my husband's return. It is clear to all of us who stay at home that the person who has left us will not be the same person who is coming back to us. A war, regardless of where it takes place, will change a person.
One of the most underreported stories dealing with U.S. soldiers is the fact that divorces of deployed personnel and their spouses are skyrocketing. Reasons for divorce are manifold and vary from financial mismanagement to post-traumatic stress disorder to being unable of dealing with the physical distance.
The military is trying to do its part and supports the formation of support groups such as the Family Readiness Group (FRG).
I am one of the spouses who do not participate in regular meetings, but I have offered my support and hope to work with the group to help FRG members explore all options and ensure that no one is left behind, regardless of distance.
Sometimes simple ideas of how to communicate can help spouses stay emotionally close.
My husband, for example, has prepared a little basket for me, which contains tiny letters — one personal message for every day he is gone. He shared this idea with his colleagues, several of whom have picked up on it and prepared a similar basket for their wives. It's a simple idea, but it will feed our hearts here at home.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
We have to learn to channel our emotions into helping others
By Judith Tackett
Tennessee Voices
My husband just left with the Tennessee Army National Guard Air Cavalry to serve the United States in Iraq. Local media have covered the deployment, and every time soldiers are deployed, reporters try to capture the grief of families left behind.
While I am sad to see my husband leave, none of the photographers took my picture on Tuesday (March 31). The reason is that I did not cry and wave a flag. I stood there with an angry face and kept myself busy snapping the last pictures as my husband walked to the aircraft he is to pilot over the next year.
Anger was also the emotion that I mostly had to deal with in the past few weeks, when we went through the stressful time of preparing for the deployment.
I'm not angry at him. I'm not angry at the Army. After all, I knew what he had signed up for, and that a deployment could eventually be a possibility. Nonetheless, anger has become my coping mechanism. I now am more outspoken, especially when I believe a person is becoming too power-hungry and tries to limit other people's rights and options.
The problem for spouses left behind is not so much to let their partners go — we don't have a choice — but to channel our feelings properly, regardless of whether we're dealing with anger, sadness, fear or anguish.
My main fear is to deal with the transitions of my husband's return. It is clear to all of us who stay at home that the person who has left us will not be the same person who is coming back to us. A war, regardless of where it takes place, will change a person.
One of the most underreported stories dealing with U.S. soldiers is the fact that divorces of deployed personnel and their spouses are skyrocketing. Reasons for divorce are manifold and vary from financial mismanagement to post-traumatic stress disorder to being unable of dealing with the physical distance.
The military is trying to do its part and supports the formation of support groups such as the Family Readiness Group (FRG).
I am one of the spouses who do not participate in regular meetings, but I have offered my support and hope to work with the group to help FRG members explore all options and ensure that no one is left behind, regardless of distance.
Sometimes simple ideas of how to communicate can help spouses stay emotionally close.
My husband, for example, has prepared a little basket for me, which contains tiny letters — one personal message for every day he is gone. He shared this idea with his colleagues, several of whom have picked up on it and prepared a similar basket for their wives. It's a simple idea, but it will feed our hearts here at home.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
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