Augusta GA Divorce Attorney - Divorce talks with Katie Price KATIE PRICE & PETER ANDRE: Couple set to divorce
Peter Andre has met with lawyers to discuss a divorce from glamour model Katie Price. The singer’s legal team reportedly advised him to request full custody of the children the couple raise together - son Junior, three, 23-month old daughter Princess Tiaamii and Katie's son Harvey, six, from a previous relationship - to ensure he ends up with at least shared custody. Peter, 36, is set to meet estranged wife Katie today – her 31st birthday – to discuss a possible divorce and custody arrangements. A friend told the Daily Star: “Kate’s in for a real birthday shock when she arrives home and discovers Peter has already been to his lawyers to talk about divorcing her. There’s really no turning back for him. It’s all gone too far.” Katie arrived back in England with Princess and Junior yesterday, after flying to the Maldives shortly after the couple split last week.
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 GA Divorce Lawyer - Sean Penn Calls Off Divorce For Second Time
Augusta GA Divorce Lawyer - Sean Penn Calls Off Divorce For Second Time
3:13pm UK, Friday May 22, 2009
Sean Penn has decided not to divorce his wife Robin Wright Penn for a second time, saying he made a 'mistake'.
The Oscar-wining actor first filed for divorce in December 2007 but dismissed the petition several months later.
In February, it looked like their marriage was back on track as they attended the Academy Awards together.
Penn won the best actor Oscar for his performance in Milk but failed to thank his wife in his acceptance speech.
Two months later on 24th April he filed for divorce for a second time but has now changed his mind.
A representative for the actor confirmed that papers filed by Penn in April citing "irreconcilable differences" have been "dismissed and taken out of the system".
Penn told the New York Daily News that the filing was "an arrogant mistake".
The couple, who have two teenage children, met on the set of State of Grace in 1990.
Two times Oscar winner Penn, who was married to Madonna for four years, recently turned his hand to directing, making his feature film debut with 2007's Into The Wild.
Actress Robin Wright Penn starred in the 1994 hit film Forrest Gump alongside Tom Hanks.
She was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role as Forrest's love interest, Jenny Curran.
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.
3:13pm UK, Friday May 22, 2009
Sean Penn has decided not to divorce his wife Robin Wright Penn for a second time, saying he made a 'mistake'.
The Oscar-wining actor first filed for divorce in December 2007 but dismissed the petition several months later.
In February, it looked like their marriage was back on track as they attended the Academy Awards together.
Penn won the best actor Oscar for his performance in Milk but failed to thank his wife in his acceptance speech.
Two months later on 24th April he filed for divorce for a second time but has now changed his mind.
A representative for the actor confirmed that papers filed by Penn in April citing "irreconcilable differences" have been "dismissed and taken out of the system".
Penn told the New York Daily News that the filing was "an arrogant mistake".
The couple, who have two teenage children, met on the set of State of Grace in 1990.
Two times Oscar winner Penn, who was married to Madonna for four years, recently turned his hand to directing, making his feature film debut with 2007's Into The Wild.
Actress Robin Wright Penn starred in the 1994 hit film Forrest Gump alongside Tom Hanks.
She was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role as Forrest's love interest, Jenny Curran.
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 GA Divorce Attorney - Woman Upset Husband Legally Has 2nd Wife
Augusta GA Divorce Attorney - Woman Upset Husband Legally Has 2nd Wife
Man Says PTSD Caused Him To Forget He Was Still Married
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- An Independence woman said her husband abandoned his family before the war and when he came back, he got a new wife and baby and a new life.
Marcella Rivera found out about her husband William Rivera’s possible bigamy in an unusual way. Her mother saw him on a Valentine's Day television special last year, marrying another woman. Rivera said she was floored, because he was still married to her.
"I don't think he should get away with it," said Marchella Rivera.
But he may have done just that.
Rivera found out Friday that the criminal bigamy charges against her husband were dropped. She said his attorney stated that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition he suffered after his military tour in Iraq. Rivera said he didn't remember still being married to her and thought they were divorced.
"I guess if I truly believe in my heart that he didn't know, then OK, yes, he has PTSD and he didn't know; Iraq totally messed him up. But I know he knew he was married, because we had discussed it," she said.
Rivera said she filed for divorce before his second marriage, but they dismissed the case and were going to reconcile for the sake of the five children they have together.
Then he married another woman.
"There are real soldiers suffering from PTSD and he's using that as a crutch," said Marcella Rivera.
Claude Guidry of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center said there are a number of criteria that soldiers must meet before a doctor can diagnose PTSD, and memory loss is among that criteria.
"The memory issue is very hard to untangle, because it could be involved with other medical issues," said Guidry, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom coordinator at the medical center.
Socially, soldiers who suffer from PTSD experience nightmares, irritability and usually cannot work or interact with people, said Guidry.
"When they get back from the war zone, they will not respond emotionally the way others respond," he said.
Marcella Rivera said it has also affected her and her children emotionally. Currently, her husband is legally married to two women, until one of them gets a divorce.
"That's what gets me, that he got over on the system. And I don't think that's right," she said.
Although the criminal bigamy suit has been dismissed, Marcella Rivera said she is trying to file a civil suit. But with little money, she said it is hard to find an attorney willing to take the case.
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.
Man Says PTSD Caused Him To Forget He Was Still Married
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- An Independence woman said her husband abandoned his family before the war and when he came back, he got a new wife and baby and a new life.
Marcella Rivera found out about her husband William Rivera’s possible bigamy in an unusual way. Her mother saw him on a Valentine's Day television special last year, marrying another woman. Rivera said she was floored, because he was still married to her.
"I don't think he should get away with it," said Marchella Rivera.
But he may have done just that.
Rivera found out Friday that the criminal bigamy charges against her husband were dropped. She said his attorney stated that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition he suffered after his military tour in Iraq. Rivera said he didn't remember still being married to her and thought they were divorced.
"I guess if I truly believe in my heart that he didn't know, then OK, yes, he has PTSD and he didn't know; Iraq totally messed him up. But I know he knew he was married, because we had discussed it," she said.
Rivera said she filed for divorce before his second marriage, but they dismissed the case and were going to reconcile for the sake of the five children they have together.
Then he married another woman.
"There are real soldiers suffering from PTSD and he's using that as a crutch," said Marcella Rivera.
Claude Guidry of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center said there are a number of criteria that soldiers must meet before a doctor can diagnose PTSD, and memory loss is among that criteria.
"The memory issue is very hard to untangle, because it could be involved with other medical issues," said Guidry, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom coordinator at the medical center.
Socially, soldiers who suffer from PTSD experience nightmares, irritability and usually cannot work or interact with people, said Guidry.
"When they get back from the war zone, they will not respond emotionally the way others respond," he said.
Marcella Rivera said it has also affected her and her children emotionally. Currently, her husband is legally married to two women, until one of them gets a divorce.
"That's what gets me, that he got over on the system. And I don't think that's right," she said.
Although the criminal bigamy suit has been dismissed, Marcella Rivera said she is trying to file a civil suit. But with little money, she said it is hard to find an attorney willing to take the case.
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 GA Divorce Attorney - The downside of prosperity
Augusta GA Divorce Attorney - The downside of prosperity
A large number of the divorce cases in the country involve UAE national couples, the target of an ongoing government drive to ensure family stability. (AFP)
By Nadim Kawach
Is wealth, stemming from oil, a key reason for a high divorce rate in the UAE? Anybody looking for the easy co-relation will point to the fact that nearly half a century ago, the country enjoyed one of the most stable societies in terms of family cohesion. Now, it has one of the most unsettled household systems in the region.
The fact is oil wealth is one of a number of socio-economic factors that has led to the UAE having one of the highest divorce rates in the Middle East.
The UAE government has taken numerous initiatives to check the divorce rate among nationals, including financial incentives for couples and their children, lectures about the negative effects, awareness campaigns, and creation of social centres to try and settle family disputes.
But such efforts have had limited impact, as divorce cases have steadily increased over the past 10 years and a large number of them involved local couples or UAE national husbands or wives.
Oil has fetched the country immense wealth, which in turn brought about momentous social changes and precipitated household instability. From less than 100 per year in the early 1960s, divorce cases in the UAE have steadily increased to approach 3,000 in 2008, a daily average of about eight. Between 1994 and 2008, such cases totalled about 35,000, one of the highest divorce rates in the world relative to the adult population.
A large number of the divorce cases involved UAE national couples, the target of an ongoing government drive to ensure family stability in a bid to increase the number of citizens and turn them into a majority in the long term. The high number refutes arguments that mixed marriages are the main reason for divorce in the UAE and other Gulf countries.
In 2007, divorce cases involving UAE national couples totalled about 1,190, nearly 42 per cent of the total divorces, according to the Ministry of Economy. Divorces involving UAE national husbands and expatriate wives stood at 420 while those involving UAE national wives and foreign husbands totalled ne-arly 110.
Abu Dhabi had the highest divorce rate in the country in 2007, totalling 920, including 412 involving UAE national couples. Dubai had 594 divorces, including 248 local couples. There were 541 divorces in Sharjah, 361 in Ajman, 193 in Ras Al Khaimah, 125 in Fujairah, and 49 in Umm Al Quwain.
There was no breakdown for 2008 but the total number of divorce cases was estimated at 3,000, the highest level in nearly 20 years.
"The statistics are alarming," Marwa Kraidieh, a social researcher at the Juma Al Majid Centre, said at a recent social seminar.
"As part of my work and my communication with other people, I found out that there are a number of reasons why couples decide to divorce and they seldom talk about the real reasons to others – the way they were raised during childhood, when they were prevented from expressing themselves freely and clearly – is considered one of the reasons for the increasing divorce rate.
"Some couples prefer to keep quiet rather than come out into the open. Some men intending to divorce their wives say their spouses are reckless and disobedient and prefer not to cite the real reasons, such as being bored with their wives or that they are having affairs. The majority of women intending to get a divorce usually claim that their husbands are misers or are reckless."
Another paper presented at the seminar said: "Socio-economic changes have created a metamorphosis in the landscape of our society, and it has happened so rapidly that some do not grasp the implications or its impact on their lives. Amongst the changes has been the rapid rise of female education. And an educated woman is no longer solely dependent on her husband, she has access to work opportunities, and most importantly, she has a strong mind, which allows her to rationally decide as to what type of life she wants to live."
High divorce rates in the UAE could be among the reasons for a decline in the country's fertility rate over the past 15 years. Figures by the Ministry of Economy showed the fertility rate dropped from 3.4 per cent in 1995 to 2.07 per cent in 2005 and 1.96 per cent in 2006. The rate rose to nearly two per cent in 2007 and remained almost unchanged last year. The decline in the fertility rate was more underscored among UAE nationals, slumping from 5.37 per cent in 1995 to 3.61 per cent in 2005 and 3.53 per cent in 2006. It edged up to 3.57 per cent in 2007 and 2008.
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 large number of the divorce cases in the country involve UAE national couples, the target of an ongoing government drive to ensure family stability. (AFP)
By Nadim Kawach
Is wealth, stemming from oil, a key reason for a high divorce rate in the UAE? Anybody looking for the easy co-relation will point to the fact that nearly half a century ago, the country enjoyed one of the most stable societies in terms of family cohesion. Now, it has one of the most unsettled household systems in the region.
The fact is oil wealth is one of a number of socio-economic factors that has led to the UAE having one of the highest divorce rates in the Middle East.
The UAE government has taken numerous initiatives to check the divorce rate among nationals, including financial incentives for couples and their children, lectures about the negative effects, awareness campaigns, and creation of social centres to try and settle family disputes.
But such efforts have had limited impact, as divorce cases have steadily increased over the past 10 years and a large number of them involved local couples or UAE national husbands or wives.
Oil has fetched the country immense wealth, which in turn brought about momentous social changes and precipitated household instability. From less than 100 per year in the early 1960s, divorce cases in the UAE have steadily increased to approach 3,000 in 2008, a daily average of about eight. Between 1994 and 2008, such cases totalled about 35,000, one of the highest divorce rates in the world relative to the adult population.
A large number of the divorce cases involved UAE national couples, the target of an ongoing government drive to ensure family stability in a bid to increase the number of citizens and turn them into a majority in the long term. The high number refutes arguments that mixed marriages are the main reason for divorce in the UAE and other Gulf countries.
In 2007, divorce cases involving UAE national couples totalled about 1,190, nearly 42 per cent of the total divorces, according to the Ministry of Economy. Divorces involving UAE national husbands and expatriate wives stood at 420 while those involving UAE national wives and foreign husbands totalled ne-arly 110.
Abu Dhabi had the highest divorce rate in the country in 2007, totalling 920, including 412 involving UAE national couples. Dubai had 594 divorces, including 248 local couples. There were 541 divorces in Sharjah, 361 in Ajman, 193 in Ras Al Khaimah, 125 in Fujairah, and 49 in Umm Al Quwain.
There was no breakdown for 2008 but the total number of divorce cases was estimated at 3,000, the highest level in nearly 20 years.
"The statistics are alarming," Marwa Kraidieh, a social researcher at the Juma Al Majid Centre, said at a recent social seminar.
"As part of my work and my communication with other people, I found out that there are a number of reasons why couples decide to divorce and they seldom talk about the real reasons to others – the way they were raised during childhood, when they were prevented from expressing themselves freely and clearly – is considered one of the reasons for the increasing divorce rate.
"Some couples prefer to keep quiet rather than come out into the open. Some men intending to divorce their wives say their spouses are reckless and disobedient and prefer not to cite the real reasons, such as being bored with their wives or that they are having affairs. The majority of women intending to get a divorce usually claim that their husbands are misers or are reckless."
Another paper presented at the seminar said: "Socio-economic changes have created a metamorphosis in the landscape of our society, and it has happened so rapidly that some do not grasp the implications or its impact on their lives. Amongst the changes has been the rapid rise of female education. And an educated woman is no longer solely dependent on her husband, she has access to work opportunities, and most importantly, she has a strong mind, which allows her to rationally decide as to what type of life she wants to live."
High divorce rates in the UAE could be among the reasons for a decline in the country's fertility rate over the past 15 years. Figures by the Ministry of Economy showed the fertility rate dropped from 3.4 per cent in 1995 to 2.07 per cent in 2005 and 1.96 per cent in 2006. The rate rose to nearly two per cent in 2007 and remained almost unchanged last year. The decline in the fertility rate was more underscored among UAE nationals, slumping from 5.37 per cent in 1995 to 3.61 per cent in 2005 and 3.53 per cent in 2006. It edged up to 3.57 per cent in 2007 and 2008.
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 GA Divorce Lawyer - Partners grow apart, want a divorce
Augusta GA Divorce Lawyer - Partners grow apart, want a divorce
18 May 2009, 0254 hrs IST, Girish Kuber, ET Bureau
MUMBAI: The political upheaval the Lok Sabha election outcome has caused in Maharashtra may result in a realignment of forces. Both combinations,
the Congress-NCP and BJP-Shiv Sena, are exploring the possibility of divorce from their respective partners.
Dissenting voices, of course, are being heard in the saffron camp that took a drubbing at the hands of the Congress-NCP. With the election outcome further dividing the Shiv Sena-BJP and the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) emerging in between, forces demanding separation can be seen gaining momentum.
BJP state president Nitin Gadkari, while admitting the existence of such a demand, refused to discuss the party strategy. “The party will discuss various reasons of defeats in detail,” he said. He, however, pointed a finger at the MNS for playing the spoiler. Party spokesperson Madhu Chavan appeared candid. “There is a demand to severe ties with the Sena,” he said, but did not elaborate.
The party is also having compatibility issues with Uddhav Thackeray. At the peak of the campaign, the BJP was angry with Uddhav’s last-minute refusal to share the dais with Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. “He didn’t show up because he thinks it was below dignity to be with Mr Modi since as the Sena executive president he is in league with Rajnath Singh and LK Advani,” the BJP leader said.
Another young BJP leader, who requested anonymity, however, said the party missed a golden opportunity to win over the MNS. “We have had a series of discussions about getting into a new relationship with Raj Thackeray. The deal was almost struck. But our Delhi-based leaders developed cold feet,” he said. “We failed to take note of the MNS’ growing influence,” he said.
Asked about the possibility of bringing the MNS on board now, he said: “Now the MNS will act pricey. Having proved his mettle, Raj will ask for his pound of flesh.”
On the other side of the political spectrum, a storm appears to be gathering in the Congress-NCP camp. Vilasrao Deshmukh, former chief minister and a member of the Congress’ highest decision making body, has openly called for severing of ties with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP. “We would have fared much better had we contested elections on our own,” he said.
According to him, there is no reason why the Congress should carry the NCP burden any more. “They have been proved ineffective. Moreover, in many Congress constituencies, NCP tried to play spoiler for us,” he said. His argument has been that once freed, the Congress and NCP would get an opportunity to prove their strength. “This will help in the long run,” he said and added: “And an option of a post-poll alliance is always available.”
On his part, NCP state president RR Patil sounded bitter about the alliance dynamics. “If they (Congress) want to contest on their own, it’s fine with us. If they are so sure of their strength, then the NCP will not come in the way,” he said.
The discussion apart, leaders from both combinations admit off the record that henceforth it will be difficult for both partners to carry on.
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.
18 May 2009, 0254 hrs IST, Girish Kuber, ET Bureau
MUMBAI: The political upheaval the Lok Sabha election outcome has caused in Maharashtra may result in a realignment of forces. Both combinations,
the Congress-NCP and BJP-Shiv Sena, are exploring the possibility of divorce from their respective partners.
Dissenting voices, of course, are being heard in the saffron camp that took a drubbing at the hands of the Congress-NCP. With the election outcome further dividing the Shiv Sena-BJP and the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) emerging in between, forces demanding separation can be seen gaining momentum.
BJP state president Nitin Gadkari, while admitting the existence of such a demand, refused to discuss the party strategy. “The party will discuss various reasons of defeats in detail,” he said. He, however, pointed a finger at the MNS for playing the spoiler. Party spokesperson Madhu Chavan appeared candid. “There is a demand to severe ties with the Sena,” he said, but did not elaborate.
The party is also having compatibility issues with Uddhav Thackeray. At the peak of the campaign, the BJP was angry with Uddhav’s last-minute refusal to share the dais with Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. “He didn’t show up because he thinks it was below dignity to be with Mr Modi since as the Sena executive president he is in league with Rajnath Singh and LK Advani,” the BJP leader said.
Another young BJP leader, who requested anonymity, however, said the party missed a golden opportunity to win over the MNS. “We have had a series of discussions about getting into a new relationship with Raj Thackeray. The deal was almost struck. But our Delhi-based leaders developed cold feet,” he said. “We failed to take note of the MNS’ growing influence,” he said.
Asked about the possibility of bringing the MNS on board now, he said: “Now the MNS will act pricey. Having proved his mettle, Raj will ask for his pound of flesh.”
On the other side of the political spectrum, a storm appears to be gathering in the Congress-NCP camp. Vilasrao Deshmukh, former chief minister and a member of the Congress’ highest decision making body, has openly called for severing of ties with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP. “We would have fared much better had we contested elections on our own,” he said.
According to him, there is no reason why the Congress should carry the NCP burden any more. “They have been proved ineffective. Moreover, in many Congress constituencies, NCP tried to play spoiler for us,” he said. His argument has been that once freed, the Congress and NCP would get an opportunity to prove their strength. “This will help in the long run,” he said and added: “And an option of a post-poll alliance is always available.”
On his part, NCP state president RR Patil sounded bitter about the alliance dynamics. “If they (Congress) want to contest on their own, it’s fine with us. If they are so sure of their strength, then the NCP will not come in the way,” he said.
The discussion apart, leaders from both combinations admit off the record that henceforth it will be difficult for both partners to carry on.
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 GA Divorce Attorney - Breaking up is hard to do in this economy
Augusta GA Divorce Attorney - Breaking up is hard to do in this economy
Divorces stall as economy cuts ability to split
By CHARITY BONNER
No one ever said it would be easy.
When Cynthia and her estranged husband decided to continue living together in their upscale St. Charles home while going through the divorce, she knew there would be plenty of uncomfortable moments.
But all that escalated recently when her husband came home drunk one night for dinner and the couple got into an ugly spat in front of the two children that ended with a call to police.
"It's not a good situation," admitted Cynthia (not her real name). "But we can't afford to live in two places while we try to sell our home. And we've not even had a showing in over three months."
The economy, it turns out, is making the rules in love and war a whole lot harder to follow.
According to statistics from the Kane County Clerk's Office, 164 marriage certificates were issued in January 2009, the lowest number in seven years.
Divorces are down slightly as well: 160 decrees were issued in January 2008. A year later, there were 130.
Sixteenth Circuit Associate Judge Marmarie Kostelny, who serves in family law court in Kane County, says that although she has not seen a significant decrease in couples getting divorced, she has seen a drastic change in the way cases are being handled. It used to be rare to see couples choose to live in the same home after a divorce. Now, it's increasingly common.
"I think everyone here feels sad about the way things are. It is hard on the litigants, divorce attorneys and judges because you are not able to employ some of the solutions you would normally," she said. "Normally, people would sell their home and get some equity to make a new start. But now that the values of homes have depreciated, they lose equity in the home. And start-up is real difficult."
The recession also has made it more difficult for parties to come to agreements on terms. "Many of these families had trouble making ends meet when husband and wife were combining incomes," Kostelny said. "And now with a divorce, it is that much harder."
The judge has seen an increase in post-decree cases, in which parties that already are divorced return to court seeking modifications in child support or other divorce agreements. She estimates that post-decree cases have increased by five to 10 daily -- her overall caseload is between 30 and 40 per day. Usually, the cases arise because one parent has lost his or her job, or has had to lower hours, and cannot afford the same child support.
The judge also recently has noticed situations in which couples begin divorce proceedings but stop the case because of economic concerns.
Ilene Beth Goldstein, a divorce attorney with Katz Goldstein & Warren in Bannockburn, said she sees fewer couples filing for divorce, because of economic concerns such as falling property values, difficulty in refinancing and the expense associated with two people living on their own.
"There are fewer new cases of divorce in the counties that are being filed," she said. "It doesn't mean we are not busy, but we are busy dealing with old cases."
The trend will not continue, Goldstein predicts.
"People are trying to hold out until property values rise and credit becomes more available," she said. "Divorce used to be known as a recession-proof field, but that is not the case anymore."
Keeping it together
Brent Atkinson, a licensed marriage and family therapist at the Couples Clinic in Geneva, said he's seen an increase of up to 35 percent in couples coming in for marriage counseling in the last six months. Business is so good, in fact, he had to hire another therapist to help with the increased workload. He also has seen an increase in couples who want to schedule therapy sessions several times a week instead of just weekly.
"When there is basically enough money to go around, push doesn't come to shove so much," he said. "When stresses go up, it brings out problems in relationships. Right now, economic problems are at the top of a lot of couples' lists."
Despite the difficulties, many couples are choosing to stick it out. In the past two weeks, Atkinson has had three couples tell him that they can't afford to get divorced.
"They tell us, 'We are sort of stuck, even if we don't want to be,' " he said. "This is good for us as therapists because it buys time for us to figure out a way to make the situation tolerable. And eventually, it works out fine."
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.
Divorces stall as economy cuts ability to split
By CHARITY BONNER
No one ever said it would be easy.
When Cynthia and her estranged husband decided to continue living together in their upscale St. Charles home while going through the divorce, she knew there would be plenty of uncomfortable moments.
But all that escalated recently when her husband came home drunk one night for dinner and the couple got into an ugly spat in front of the two children that ended with a call to police.
"It's not a good situation," admitted Cynthia (not her real name). "But we can't afford to live in two places while we try to sell our home. And we've not even had a showing in over three months."
The economy, it turns out, is making the rules in love and war a whole lot harder to follow.
According to statistics from the Kane County Clerk's Office, 164 marriage certificates were issued in January 2009, the lowest number in seven years.
Divorces are down slightly as well: 160 decrees were issued in January 2008. A year later, there were 130.
Sixteenth Circuit Associate Judge Marmarie Kostelny, who serves in family law court in Kane County, says that although she has not seen a significant decrease in couples getting divorced, she has seen a drastic change in the way cases are being handled. It used to be rare to see couples choose to live in the same home after a divorce. Now, it's increasingly common.
"I think everyone here feels sad about the way things are. It is hard on the litigants, divorce attorneys and judges because you are not able to employ some of the solutions you would normally," she said. "Normally, people would sell their home and get some equity to make a new start. But now that the values of homes have depreciated, they lose equity in the home. And start-up is real difficult."
The recession also has made it more difficult for parties to come to agreements on terms. "Many of these families had trouble making ends meet when husband and wife were combining incomes," Kostelny said. "And now with a divorce, it is that much harder."
The judge has seen an increase in post-decree cases, in which parties that already are divorced return to court seeking modifications in child support or other divorce agreements. She estimates that post-decree cases have increased by five to 10 daily -- her overall caseload is between 30 and 40 per day. Usually, the cases arise because one parent has lost his or her job, or has had to lower hours, and cannot afford the same child support.
The judge also recently has noticed situations in which couples begin divorce proceedings but stop the case because of economic concerns.
Ilene Beth Goldstein, a divorce attorney with Katz Goldstein & Warren in Bannockburn, said she sees fewer couples filing for divorce, because of economic concerns such as falling property values, difficulty in refinancing and the expense associated with two people living on their own.
"There are fewer new cases of divorce in the counties that are being filed," she said. "It doesn't mean we are not busy, but we are busy dealing with old cases."
The trend will not continue, Goldstein predicts.
"People are trying to hold out until property values rise and credit becomes more available," she said. "Divorce used to be known as a recession-proof field, but that is not the case anymore."
Keeping it together
Brent Atkinson, a licensed marriage and family therapist at the Couples Clinic in Geneva, said he's seen an increase of up to 35 percent in couples coming in for marriage counseling in the last six months. Business is so good, in fact, he had to hire another therapist to help with the increased workload. He also has seen an increase in couples who want to schedule therapy sessions several times a week instead of just weekly.
"When there is basically enough money to go around, push doesn't come to shove so much," he said. "When stresses go up, it brings out problems in relationships. Right now, economic problems are at the top of a lot of couples' lists."
Despite the difficulties, many couples are choosing to stick it out. In the past two weeks, Atkinson has had three couples tell him that they can't afford to get divorced.
"They tell us, 'We are sort of stuck, even if we don't want to be,' " he said. "This is good for us as therapists because it buys time for us to figure out a way to make the situation tolerable. And eventually, it works out fine."
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 GA Divorce Lawyer - As Economy Tanks More Couples Forced To Put Off Divorce
Augusta GA Divorce Lawyer - As Economy Tanks More Couples Forced To Put Off Divorce
Olga Vladi
(Taylor, PA)—The recession has put countless families under increased financial strain, one of the leading causes of divorce. But instead of increasing divorce rates, the recession has had the opposite effect because many families can’t afford to maintain two households. So, does this mean happier families? Not likely.
While more couples are choosing to stay together, couples who are divorced are battling over what little money is left, with child support payments delayed and bills going unpaid. It’s a trend that is making effective parenting harder for some as tensions rise. Now, a new book is looking to alleviate some of the problems divorced parents face when trying to raise their kids.
Our Great Kids, written by Tara Amaral and Chris Frie, both divorced parents, includes tools for keeping track of important dates, medications and custody. It also includes a journal in which the children can write about their experiences so the parents don’t miss out.
“Divorce will always ultimately affect the children,” says Mr. Frie. “Even if the parents decide to stay together for financial reasons, there still needs to be a clear understanding that the children’s lives are most important.”
“It’s a shame that the focus has been on the divorce rate instead of the health and well-being of the kids,” says Ms. Amaral. “I encourage any parent who is either divorced or contemplating divorce to ensure that the level of parenting doesn’t decline.”
In their book, Mr. Frie and Ms. Amaral provide parents with tools that address some of the more difficult decisions divorced and separated parents need to make, including:
• Who has the kids and when?
• What are the important dates in a child’s life and who will attend?
• What medications is a child taking and how can we ensure they take the right doses when going between two homes?
• Who are the important contacts for each child including doctors, teachers, etc.?
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.
Olga Vladi
(Taylor, PA)—The recession has put countless families under increased financial strain, one of the leading causes of divorce. But instead of increasing divorce rates, the recession has had the opposite effect because many families can’t afford to maintain two households. So, does this mean happier families? Not likely.
While more couples are choosing to stay together, couples who are divorced are battling over what little money is left, with child support payments delayed and bills going unpaid. It’s a trend that is making effective parenting harder for some as tensions rise. Now, a new book is looking to alleviate some of the problems divorced parents face when trying to raise their kids.
Our Great Kids, written by Tara Amaral and Chris Frie, both divorced parents, includes tools for keeping track of important dates, medications and custody. It also includes a journal in which the children can write about their experiences so the parents don’t miss out.
“Divorce will always ultimately affect the children,” says Mr. Frie. “Even if the parents decide to stay together for financial reasons, there still needs to be a clear understanding that the children’s lives are most important.”
“It’s a shame that the focus has been on the divorce rate instead of the health and well-being of the kids,” says Ms. Amaral. “I encourage any parent who is either divorced or contemplating divorce to ensure that the level of parenting doesn’t decline.”
In their book, Mr. Frie and Ms. Amaral provide parents with tools that address some of the more difficult decisions divorced and separated parents need to make, including:
• Who has the kids and when?
• What are the important dates in a child’s life and who will attend?
• What medications is a child taking and how can we ensure they take the right doses when going between two homes?
• Who are the important contacts for each child including doctors, teachers, etc.?
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 GA Divorce Attorney - Sexless 10 Years Not Enough for Divorce Cause
Augusta GA Divorce Attorney - Sexless 10 Years Not Enough for Divorce Cause
By Park Si-soo - Staff Reporter
A court rejected a divorce filing by a husband who never had sex with his wife during their 10 years of marriage, citing the wife's willingness to have normal sexual relations.
The couple, married in May 1999, attempted to have sex early on in the marriage but failed for a variety of reasons. Since then, they maintained a sexless relationship, according to the filing to the Seoul Family Court.
The unidentified husband, 37, told his parents in 2007 about their situation. After the disclosure, the relationship between his wife and his other family members turned sour.
In August 2007, the husband filed a divorce suit with the court, claiming his wife refused to have sex with him for no justifiable reason, and her lavish spending had worsened the family's financial condition.
However, the court said there was no evidence to prove that the sexless relationship was the wife's fault. ``It's true that the couple maintained a sexless relationship for a long time, but we found no evidence backing the husband's allegation that she refused to have sex without any justifiable reason.''
The court added, ``Despite the sexless life, the husband did not complain until January 2007, and since then, has not provided any physical or periodical opportunity for his wife to normalize their relations. Also, she has shown a strong desire to restore relations.''
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 Park Si-soo - Staff Reporter
A court rejected a divorce filing by a husband who never had sex with his wife during their 10 years of marriage, citing the wife's willingness to have normal sexual relations.
The couple, married in May 1999, attempted to have sex early on in the marriage but failed for a variety of reasons. Since then, they maintained a sexless relationship, according to the filing to the Seoul Family Court.
The unidentified husband, 37, told his parents in 2007 about their situation. After the disclosure, the relationship between his wife and his other family members turned sour.
In August 2007, the husband filed a divorce suit with the court, claiming his wife refused to have sex with him for no justifiable reason, and her lavish spending had worsened the family's financial condition.
However, the court said there was no evidence to prove that the sexless relationship was the wife's fault. ``It's true that the couple maintained a sexless relationship for a long time, but we found no evidence backing the husband's allegation that she refused to have sex without any justifiable reason.''
The court added, ``Despite the sexless life, the husband did not complain until January 2007, and since then, has not provided any physical or periodical opportunity for his wife to normalize their relations. Also, she has shown a strong desire to restore relations.''
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 GA Divorce Attorney - Other states’ gay divorce can affect us
Augusta GA Divorce Attorney - Other states’ gay divorce can affect us
By Randall M. Kessler
States legalizing same-sex marriage are remaking laws governing the union of two people. But as a family law attorney with 20 years of experience, I’m seeing a tangled web of legal problems dealing with a much more difficult issue: same-sex divorce.
Same-sex marriage is now authorized in a handful of states. But what happens in those states when those couples break up? Why should it matter in the states such as Georgia that have not recognized same-sex marriage?
Because we have a system of justice that allows each of our United States to recognize and enforce court orders of sister states, and this, of course, includes court orders of divorce.
Opponents of same-sex marriage sought a constitutional amendment to disallow same-sex marriage throughout the country since once it happens in one state, other states would surely follow. Well, now Iowa’s Supreme Court has allowed it, Vermont’s Legislature has approved it and other states are following suit.
A same-sex marriage that is legal in one state can be dissolved by divorce in that state. But when a gay couple divorces and then moves to a state where same-sex marriage is not legal, new challenges arise.
For instance, if one party was awarded a house that happens to be in Georgia would that divorce order be enforced in Georgia? If so, wouldn’t Georgia then be recognizing, at least by implication, same-sex marriage?
If not, aren’t we sending a message to Vermont or whichever state granted the divorce that we would not enforce their orders? And could this mean that Vermont might retaliate and not enforce orders of our state?
What happens if a gay couple marries, adopts a child and then divorces, all in a state that recognizes same-sex marriage, but then they move to Georgia? If the custodial parent seeks to enforce a child support award against the other parent, what does the court do?
If it enforces it, then hasn’t the court, and thus the state, recognized same-sex marriage, by enforcing the terms of the same-sex divorce? If it does not enforce the order, aren’t we then harming the most innocent victims, the children who need the support?
The same is true with child custody and visitation orders. If Georgia or any other state refuses to enforce a same-sex divorce then parents will have no way to ensure they can visit with the child if the custodial parent moves to Georgia.
There are many other such examples. If a gay divorcee applies for a job or credit in Georgia, do they put on the application that they are divorced, separated or single? Can the alimony or child support they receive from their same-sex divorce be counted as income when applying for a loan or a mortgage?
I am staying out of the political debate, but the idea of allowing citizens to utilize government for things like divorce helps give answers to those who would otherwise have to live with uncertainty.
Gay or not, people who love each other, invest together and have children together can benefit from the ability to have the court resolve their differences.
The purpose of the court system with respect to divorce is to resolve disputes and to guide parties in their future dealings when they cannot otherwise agree. Why should this logic only apply to heterosexuals?
As a family law attorney, I anticipate these issues will be before Georgia courts and perhaps the Georgia Legislature very soon. I look forward to seeing how we choose to resolve them.
Randall M. Kessler is with KSS Family Law and editor of the Family Law Review for the Georgia Bar.
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 Randall M. Kessler
States legalizing same-sex marriage are remaking laws governing the union of two people. But as a family law attorney with 20 years of experience, I’m seeing a tangled web of legal problems dealing with a much more difficult issue: same-sex divorce.
Same-sex marriage is now authorized in a handful of states. But what happens in those states when those couples break up? Why should it matter in the states such as Georgia that have not recognized same-sex marriage?
Because we have a system of justice that allows each of our United States to recognize and enforce court orders of sister states, and this, of course, includes court orders of divorce.
Opponents of same-sex marriage sought a constitutional amendment to disallow same-sex marriage throughout the country since once it happens in one state, other states would surely follow. Well, now Iowa’s Supreme Court has allowed it, Vermont’s Legislature has approved it and other states are following suit.
A same-sex marriage that is legal in one state can be dissolved by divorce in that state. But when a gay couple divorces and then moves to a state where same-sex marriage is not legal, new challenges arise.
For instance, if one party was awarded a house that happens to be in Georgia would that divorce order be enforced in Georgia? If so, wouldn’t Georgia then be recognizing, at least by implication, same-sex marriage?
If not, aren’t we sending a message to Vermont or whichever state granted the divorce that we would not enforce their orders? And could this mean that Vermont might retaliate and not enforce orders of our state?
What happens if a gay couple marries, adopts a child and then divorces, all in a state that recognizes same-sex marriage, but then they move to Georgia? If the custodial parent seeks to enforce a child support award against the other parent, what does the court do?
If it enforces it, then hasn’t the court, and thus the state, recognized same-sex marriage, by enforcing the terms of the same-sex divorce? If it does not enforce the order, aren’t we then harming the most innocent victims, the children who need the support?
The same is true with child custody and visitation orders. If Georgia or any other state refuses to enforce a same-sex divorce then parents will have no way to ensure they can visit with the child if the custodial parent moves to Georgia.
There are many other such examples. If a gay divorcee applies for a job or credit in Georgia, do they put on the application that they are divorced, separated or single? Can the alimony or child support they receive from their same-sex divorce be counted as income when applying for a loan or a mortgage?
I am staying out of the political debate, but the idea of allowing citizens to utilize government for things like divorce helps give answers to those who would otherwise have to live with uncertainty.
Gay or not, people who love each other, invest together and have children together can benefit from the ability to have the court resolve their differences.
The purpose of the court system with respect to divorce is to resolve disputes and to guide parties in their future dealings when they cannot otherwise agree. Why should this logic only apply to heterosexuals?
As a family law attorney, I anticipate these issues will be before Georgia courts and perhaps the Georgia Legislature very soon. I look forward to seeing how we choose to resolve them.
Randall M. Kessler is with KSS Family Law and editor of the Family Law Review for the Georgia Bar.
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 GA Divorce Attorney - Basic Divorce Information
Divorce in Georgia
The increase in divorce has its effect, directly or indirectly, on virtually every family in the country. The following information is designed to summarize briefly Georgia's divorce laws.
Marriage is a civil contract which the state has an interest in preserving. Accordingly, the marriage relationship can be dissolved only as provided by law, by either a divorce or an annulment. It also may be altered by a decree of separation granted by our courts. In any case, there must be a proceeding in the Superior Court of the county in which the person seeking the divorce, separation decree or annulment must prove "grounds" or valid reasons prescribed by law.
What are the grounds for divorce in Georgia?
In Georgia there are 13 grounds for divorce. One ground is "irretrievably broken" (sometimes referred to as the "no-fault" ground). The other 12 grounds for divorce in Georgia are "fault" grounds.
What is a "no-fault" divorce?
To obtain a divorce on this basis (irretrievably broken), one party must establish that he or she refuses to live with the other spouse and that there is no hope of reconciliation. It is not necessary to show that there was any fault or wrongdoing by either party.
What are the "fault" grounds?
To obtain a divorce on one of the 12 "fault" grounds, one must prove that there was some wrongdoing by one of the parties to the marriage.
As an example, one fault ground is adultery. Adultery in Georgia includes heterosexual and homosexual relations between one spouse and another individual.
Another "fault" ground for divorce in Georgia is desertion. A divorce may be granted on the grounds that a person has deserted his or her spouse willfully for at least a year. Other "fault" grounds include mental or physical cruel treatment, marriage between persons who are too closely related, mental incapacity at the time of marriage, impotency at the time of marriage, force or fraud in obtaining the marriage, pregnancy of the wife unknown to the husband at the time of the marriage, conviction and imprisonment for certain crimes, habitual intoxication or drug addiction, and mental illness.
Is there a residence requirement for getting a divorce in Georgia?
Yes, one spouse must have lived in the state of Georgia for six months or Georgia must have been the last domicile of the marriage.
Must the husband and wife live apart when a divorce complaint is filed?
No, but the spouses must be considered separated in a legal sense before one can file for a divorce. Spouses may be considered separated even if they are living in the same house if they are not sharing the same room and/or not having a sexual relationship.
How does one "file for a divorce?"
The person seeking the divorce (the plaintiff) will file a document called a "complaint" with the appropriate Superior Court. This complaint includes information on the marriage including present living arrangements, children of the marriage, assets and debts, and the specific reason claimed for seeking a divorce. A copy of the complaint will be served on the other spouse (the defendant) by the sheriff.
Where does one file for a divorce?
A complaint for divorce should be filed in the Superior Court of the defendant's county of residence or, if the defendant has recently moved from the state of Georgia, in the county of the plaintiff's residence. This would be considered the domicile of the marriage. Upon the defendant's consent, the complaint may be filed in the plaintiff's county of residence regardless of whether the defendant has moved from the state of Georgia or not.
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 increase in divorce has its effect, directly or indirectly, on virtually every family in the country. The following information is designed to summarize briefly Georgia's divorce laws.
Marriage is a civil contract which the state has an interest in preserving. Accordingly, the marriage relationship can be dissolved only as provided by law, by either a divorce or an annulment. It also may be altered by a decree of separation granted by our courts. In any case, there must be a proceeding in the Superior Court of the county in which the person seeking the divorce, separation decree or annulment must prove "grounds" or valid reasons prescribed by law.
What are the grounds for divorce in Georgia?
In Georgia there are 13 grounds for divorce. One ground is "irretrievably broken" (sometimes referred to as the "no-fault" ground). The other 12 grounds for divorce in Georgia are "fault" grounds.
What is a "no-fault" divorce?
To obtain a divorce on this basis (irretrievably broken), one party must establish that he or she refuses to live with the other spouse and that there is no hope of reconciliation. It is not necessary to show that there was any fault or wrongdoing by either party.
What are the "fault" grounds?
To obtain a divorce on one of the 12 "fault" grounds, one must prove that there was some wrongdoing by one of the parties to the marriage.
As an example, one fault ground is adultery. Adultery in Georgia includes heterosexual and homosexual relations between one spouse and another individual.
Another "fault" ground for divorce in Georgia is desertion. A divorce may be granted on the grounds that a person has deserted his or her spouse willfully for at least a year. Other "fault" grounds include mental or physical cruel treatment, marriage between persons who are too closely related, mental incapacity at the time of marriage, impotency at the time of marriage, force or fraud in obtaining the marriage, pregnancy of the wife unknown to the husband at the time of the marriage, conviction and imprisonment for certain crimes, habitual intoxication or drug addiction, and mental illness.
Is there a residence requirement for getting a divorce in Georgia?
Yes, one spouse must have lived in the state of Georgia for six months or Georgia must have been the last domicile of the marriage.
Must the husband and wife live apart when a divorce complaint is filed?
No, but the spouses must be considered separated in a legal sense before one can file for a divorce. Spouses may be considered separated even if they are living in the same house if they are not sharing the same room and/or not having a sexual relationship.
How does one "file for a divorce?"
The person seeking the divorce (the plaintiff) will file a document called a "complaint" with the appropriate Superior Court. This complaint includes information on the marriage including present living arrangements, children of the marriage, assets and debts, and the specific reason claimed for seeking a divorce. A copy of the complaint will be served on the other spouse (the defendant) by the sheriff.
Where does one file for a divorce?
A complaint for divorce should be filed in the Superior Court of the defendant's county of residence or, if the defendant has recently moved from the state of Georgia, in the county of the plaintiff's residence. This would be considered the domicile of the marriage. Upon the defendant's consent, the complaint may be filed in the plaintiff's county of residence regardless of whether the defendant has moved from the state of Georgia or not.
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 Divorce Attorney - Georgia Residency Requirements
Residency Requirements For A Georgia Divorce
Experienced Georgia Family Law & Divorce Attorneys
Before an individual or couple can file for a divorce in Georgia, they must be a resident of the state for six months. More specifically, Georgia divorce and family law states that in order to file for a Georgia Divorce one spouse must have lived in Georgia for at least six months, or Georgia must have been the last domicile of the marriage.
Where Does One File For Divorce?
According to the GA divorce and family law residency requirements, a complaint for a divorce must be filed in the Superior Court of the defendant's county of residence or, if the defendant has recently moved out of Georgia, it can be filed in the county of the plaintiff's residence. Under Georgia divorce law, this is referred to as the "domicile" of the marriage. There are, of course, some exceptions to this rule. For instance, If the defendant and their Georgia divorce lawyer consent, the divorce complaint may be filed in the plaintiff's county of residence whether or not the defendant has moved from Georgia.
Getting Started
If you are dealing with a divorce in Georgia, we advise you to speak with one of our divorce lawyers sooner rather than later. The process can be intense and sometimes intimidating, and the help of an experienced and knowledgeable attorney who can guide you through the legal process will be invaluable to help protect your interests.
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.
Experienced Georgia Family Law & Divorce Attorneys
Before an individual or couple can file for a divorce in Georgia, they must be a resident of the state for six months. More specifically, Georgia divorce and family law states that in order to file for a Georgia Divorce one spouse must have lived in Georgia for at least six months, or Georgia must have been the last domicile of the marriage.
Where Does One File For Divorce?
According to the GA divorce and family law residency requirements, a complaint for a divorce must be filed in the Superior Court of the defendant's county of residence or, if the defendant has recently moved out of Georgia, it can be filed in the county of the plaintiff's residence. Under Georgia divorce law, this is referred to as the "domicile" of the marriage. There are, of course, some exceptions to this rule. For instance, If the defendant and their Georgia divorce lawyer consent, the divorce complaint may be filed in the plaintiff's county of residence whether or not the defendant has moved from Georgia.
Getting Started
If you are dealing with a divorce in Georgia, we advise you to speak with one of our divorce lawyers sooner rather than later. The process can be intense and sometimes intimidating, and the help of an experienced and knowledgeable attorney who can guide you through the legal process will be invaluable to help protect your interests.
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 GA Divorce Lawyer - Temporary Hearings
Temporary Hearings Under Georgia Divorce Law
Experienced Augusta Georgia Family Law & Divorce Attorneys
A common question asked of our GA divorce lawyers is what will happen between the time our client file for a Georgia divorce and the time when your judge decides on all issues in the case and issues the final Divorce Decree.
This is provincially known as the "waiting period," and during this time either the husband or wife have the right under Georgia law to request a "temporary hearing." Your temporary hearing will be different than your final GA divorce settlement and judicial decree, and is meant to resolve issues of child custody, child visitation, child support, alimony, debts, and property division on a temporary basis only until the divorce issues are decided by the court. In other words, the purpose of a temporary hearing is to allow you to proceed with your life before the final GA divorce or child custody settlement is completed.
The Process Of a Georgia Temporary Hearing
Under Georgia divorce law, if you and your divorce lawyer request a temporary hearing, the court will issue a temporary order which will apply only until trial, and the order may prohibit either the husband or wife from interfering with the other spouse or children, and also could prevent the sale or transfer of assets.
During your temporary hearing, your divorce attorney will present your arguments to the judge, who will make a decision on the basis of the information received. Importantly, as opposed to the actual trial, a GA jury will not be part of the hearing. While a temporary hearing is not a necessary step in the Georgia divorce process, your divorce lawyer will frequently recommend one if we feel after strategizing with you about your case that it would be to your advantage to hold the hearing. Please keep in mind that if you think your case will go to trial, it is always important to discuss the possibility of a temporary hearing with your Georgia divorce lawyer during your initial consultation.
Sometimes a temporary hearing will be held quickly – shortly after papers have been served. In fact, some Georgia family law courts may even schedule the temporary hearing within hours after the papers are served. Others may take a matter of days or more.
Consequences of a Georgia Temporary Hearing
Many Atlanta divorce attorneys feel that a temporary hearing often sets the tone for the rest of the divorce proceeding. In other words, your temporary divorce hearing needs to be handled with extreme caution and care. We strongly recommend that you do not try to represent yourself during your temporary hearing, but instead consult with one of our divorce lawyers well in advance of filing your divorce papers or requesting a Georgia temporary hearing so that you will understand everything that will take place at your court appearance and and be sure that you are fully protected throughout.
If you and your attorney feel that the decisions made by your Georgia family law court judge at your temporary hearing were not in your favor, you will have a number of options available to you and your GA divorce lawyer will strategize with you as to what those options might be. One option would be to request a jury trial that may give you a better chance of overturning the decisions that were made by the judge during the temporary hearing. Additionally, a temporary hearing may help provide you and your attorney with the opportunity to search for additional evidence in your favor that you will need to win your case. All in all, a temporary hearing is but one stage in the trial process, and our experienced, trial-tested Atlanta divorce lawyers will be able to provide you with the expertise you need to increase your changes of overturning an unfavorable temporary hearing, or continue your momentum if your temporary hearing provided you with favorable results.
Getting Started
Temporary hearings under Georgia family law can be helpful because they allow the parties in a Georgia divorce or Georgia child custody case to come to some preliminary agreements before the finalization of the case. Talk to our Georgia divorce attorneys about whether a temporary hearing is the right choice for you. The process can be intense and sometimes intimidating, and the help of an experienced and knowledgeable attorney who can guide you through the legal process will be invaluable to help protect your interests.
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.
Experienced Augusta Georgia Family Law & Divorce Attorneys
A common question asked of our GA divorce lawyers is what will happen between the time our client file for a Georgia divorce and the time when your judge decides on all issues in the case and issues the final Divorce Decree.
This is provincially known as the "waiting period," and during this time either the husband or wife have the right under Georgia law to request a "temporary hearing." Your temporary hearing will be different than your final GA divorce settlement and judicial decree, and is meant to resolve issues of child custody, child visitation, child support, alimony, debts, and property division on a temporary basis only until the divorce issues are decided by the court. In other words, the purpose of a temporary hearing is to allow you to proceed with your life before the final GA divorce or child custody settlement is completed.
The Process Of a Georgia Temporary Hearing
Under Georgia divorce law, if you and your divorce lawyer request a temporary hearing, the court will issue a temporary order which will apply only until trial, and the order may prohibit either the husband or wife from interfering with the other spouse or children, and also could prevent the sale or transfer of assets.
During your temporary hearing, your divorce attorney will present your arguments to the judge, who will make a decision on the basis of the information received. Importantly, as opposed to the actual trial, a GA jury will not be part of the hearing. While a temporary hearing is not a necessary step in the Georgia divorce process, your divorce lawyer will frequently recommend one if we feel after strategizing with you about your case that it would be to your advantage to hold the hearing. Please keep in mind that if you think your case will go to trial, it is always important to discuss the possibility of a temporary hearing with your Georgia divorce lawyer during your initial consultation.
Sometimes a temporary hearing will be held quickly – shortly after papers have been served. In fact, some Georgia family law courts may even schedule the temporary hearing within hours after the papers are served. Others may take a matter of days or more.
Consequences of a Georgia Temporary Hearing
Many Atlanta divorce attorneys feel that a temporary hearing often sets the tone for the rest of the divorce proceeding. In other words, your temporary divorce hearing needs to be handled with extreme caution and care. We strongly recommend that you do not try to represent yourself during your temporary hearing, but instead consult with one of our divorce lawyers well in advance of filing your divorce papers or requesting a Georgia temporary hearing so that you will understand everything that will take place at your court appearance and and be sure that you are fully protected throughout.
If you and your attorney feel that the decisions made by your Georgia family law court judge at your temporary hearing were not in your favor, you will have a number of options available to you and your GA divorce lawyer will strategize with you as to what those options might be. One option would be to request a jury trial that may give you a better chance of overturning the decisions that were made by the judge during the temporary hearing. Additionally, a temporary hearing may help provide you and your attorney with the opportunity to search for additional evidence in your favor that you will need to win your case. All in all, a temporary hearing is but one stage in the trial process, and our experienced, trial-tested Atlanta divorce lawyers will be able to provide you with the expertise you need to increase your changes of overturning an unfavorable temporary hearing, or continue your momentum if your temporary hearing provided you with favorable results.
Getting Started
Temporary hearings under Georgia family law can be helpful because they allow the parties in a Georgia divorce or Georgia child custody case to come to some preliminary agreements before the finalization of the case. Talk to our Georgia divorce attorneys about whether a temporary hearing is the right choice for you. The process can be intense and sometimes intimidating, and the help of an experienced and knowledgeable attorney who can guide you through the legal process will be invaluable to help protect your interests.
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.
Atlanta GA Divorce Lawyers - Judge or Jury in a Georgia Divorce Trial?
Georgia Divorce Trials: Judge vs. Jury
This information is courtesy of the Law Firm of McKinley Rothenberg
Family Law Attorneys - 3340 Peachtree Road, 100 Tower Place, Suite 1800, Atlanta, GA 30326
Call 404-239-3932 to speak with one of their Atlanta GA Divorce Lawyers.
http://www.persilylaw.com
Experienced Atlanta Georgia Family Law & Divorce Attorneys
If your divorce goes to trial, a major decision our Atlanta divorce lawyers will discuss with you is whether you would prefer a judge or jury trial. While there are strengths and weaknesses to each, it is important to note that under Georgia Law all issues regarding child custody and child visitation must be decided by a judge -- a jury is not permitted under Georgia Law to make those decisions. With respect to all other issues during the divorce trial, including the award of Georgia alimony payments, the division of Georgia marital assets, and the award of child support payments, Georgia Law leaves open the possibility that these can be decided either by a judge or a 12-person jury.
Making The Decision: Judge or Jury
In general, there is no clear right or wrong answer as to whether your case should be decided by a judge or a jury. In some instances, our Atlanta divorce lawyers find that if certain subtle aspects of the law favor our client, we prefer a trial by judge. In other instances, if our attorneys feel that an average individual would likely empathize with our client, we instead opt for a trial by jury.
In all instances, our Atlanta divorce attorneys are intimately familiar with every aspect of the Georgia trial process, and we have tried countless cases in front of both judges and juries. Before your divorce trial, your Georgia family law attorney will sit down with you, discuss your options and strategies, and carefully decide with you on how to proceed with your case.
And of course the final question -- Which spouse gets to make the decision on whether a divorce trial is heard by a jury or a judge? Is it the husband or the wife? Interestingly, according to GA Law if either spouse wants a trial by jury, they have that right. Only in cases where both spouses prefer a judge to decide the issues will a case proceed without the use of a jury.
McKinley Rothenberg Family Lawyers are Atlanta divorce attorneys, Georgia divorce lawyers, Atlanta GA divorce law attorneys that specialize in GA family law cases.
3340 Peachtree Road, 100 Tower Place, Suite 1800, Atlanta, GA 30326
Call 404-239-3932 to speak with one of their Atlanta GA Divorce Lawyers.
http://www.persilylaw.com
This information is courtesy of the Law Firm of McKinley Rothenberg
Family Law Attorneys - 3340 Peachtree Road, 100 Tower Place, Suite 1800, Atlanta, GA 30326
Call 404-239-3932 to speak with one of their Atlanta GA Divorce Lawyers.
http://www.persilylaw.com
Experienced Atlanta Georgia Family Law & Divorce Attorneys
If your divorce goes to trial, a major decision our Atlanta divorce lawyers will discuss with you is whether you would prefer a judge or jury trial. While there are strengths and weaknesses to each, it is important to note that under Georgia Law all issues regarding child custody and child visitation must be decided by a judge -- a jury is not permitted under Georgia Law to make those decisions. With respect to all other issues during the divorce trial, including the award of Georgia alimony payments, the division of Georgia marital assets, and the award of child support payments, Georgia Law leaves open the possibility that these can be decided either by a judge or a 12-person jury.
Making The Decision: Judge or Jury
In general, there is no clear right or wrong answer as to whether your case should be decided by a judge or a jury. In some instances, our Atlanta divorce lawyers find that if certain subtle aspects of the law favor our client, we prefer a trial by judge. In other instances, if our attorneys feel that an average individual would likely empathize with our client, we instead opt for a trial by jury.
In all instances, our Atlanta divorce attorneys are intimately familiar with every aspect of the Georgia trial process, and we have tried countless cases in front of both judges and juries. Before your divorce trial, your Georgia family law attorney will sit down with you, discuss your options and strategies, and carefully decide with you on how to proceed with your case.
And of course the final question -- Which spouse gets to make the decision on whether a divorce trial is heard by a jury or a judge? Is it the husband or the wife? Interestingly, according to GA Law if either spouse wants a trial by jury, they have that right. Only in cases where both spouses prefer a judge to decide the issues will a case proceed without the use of a jury.
McKinley Rothenberg Family Lawyers are Atlanta divorce attorneys, Georgia divorce lawyers, Atlanta GA divorce law attorneys that specialize in GA family law cases.
3340 Peachtree Road, 100 Tower Place, Suite 1800, Atlanta, GA 30326
Call 404-239-3932 to speak with one of their Atlanta GA Divorce Lawyers.
http://www.persilylaw.com
Augusta Military Divorce Lawyer - Service and Sacrifice: A way of life for military families
Augusta Military Divorce Lawyer - Service and Sacrifice: A way of life for military families
By M.K. Moynahan - Contributing Writer
Politicians and pundits enjoy using such phrases such as "the cost of freedom" to hammer home their views on our military and budget issues.
Regardless of whether these orators are Republican or Democrat as this year's Armed Forces Day begins, none can disagree that these costs to preserve our freedoms, rights and way of life are incalculable. With more than 4,500 troops killed at war in recent years, our debt to these brave and selfless men and women has grown much larger than our National Debt.
Since 2001, more than 1.5 million American troops have served at least two tours in the recent war efforts and more than 700,000 children in America have at least one parent deployed.
One in nine soldiers has suffered a traumatic brain injury and one in eight suffers from post traumatic stress disorder. Additionally, more than 23,000 American troops have returned from a combat zone with physical wounds, according to the U.S. Congress.
Because the sacrifices of our troops have been great historically, President Harry S. Truman led the effort to establish a single holiday for citizens to come together and thank our military members for their patriotic service in support of our country, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
On Aug. 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard days. The single-day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces. The event is celebrated annually on the third Saturday of May.
This event is but a small token and the very least that can be done to show appreciation.
Since the War on Terrorism began after the destruction of 9/11, patriotic pride swelled and many young men and women enlisted for duty.
But for some people, military service is the latest chapter in a family history, and it would be inconceivable to these people to not serve in a branch of this country's military regardless of world or national events, or public sentiment.
In Delaware County, there are many examples of families who have generational histories of military service: the father's father served, the father served and his children served.
One such family can be found in the hills of Hobart: Steve and Lisa Coster. In particular, Lisa Coster, whose life began in Vermont as one of two children born to an Army father.
The Costers' story is an example of the sacrifices endured by military families and it is one filled with twists and turns that can only be attributed to the hardships endured to protect our collective freedoms.
Lisa, born Lisa Cloutman, the daughter of an Army veteran, Philip Cloutman, followed in her father's footsteps in 1980 by enlisting in the U.S. Coast Guard.
Her father had volunteered for duty during World War II, and was subsequently called back to duty during the Korean War, where his skills as an aircraft mechanic and staff sergeant were in demand.
At the time she enlisted, Coster was enrolled in her second year of college in Chester, Vt., where she was pursuing a degree in physical education.
"My brother was interested in the Coast Guard and that's how I got sucked in," she said, jokingly. "I was home on vacation and my brother was on a trip to see the recruiter. So I went along and the recruiter talked to me too. A week later, I was on a bus headed for (the) Cape May, New Jersey, Coast Guard Station."
She received training in search and rescue and taught swimming classes at several locations across the country including Michigan, Baltimore and Virginia. She performed duties for the medical centers and eventually became a nurse. During her tour with the Coast Guard in the 1980s she met her current husband Steve. Both were stationed in Michigan. According to Steve, the 1980s saw a new type of soldier enlisting _ women. "In 1980, the military was quite different than what it is today. Women enlisted and wore short hair and uniforms. They were regarded as odd creatures," he said. "In those days the ships needed to be reconfigured to accommodate female recruits. There were a lot of resentments."
According to Lisa, this resentment forced female recruits to attempt to "constantly be better."
The stress of military life ultimately proved too much for the young couple's relationship, and they went their separate ways. Steve was assigned to drug patrols and raids. Lisa returned to her hometown in Vermont, where she finished her tour with the Coast Guard and joined the Army Reserves in 1989.
At this time, she met Rick Rogers, a career Army man, whom she married. Rogers, originally from Missouri, is the son of a career Army man James Rogers. And so began Lisa's military life as a wife and her family's journey. As part of a military family, she discovered there would be "a lot of moves."
Her first base as a newlywed Army wife was El Paso, Texas, which she describes her experiences there as "culture shock."
"Unless you speak Spanish, you are out of luck, even on post. I couldn't get a job," she said. "It was such a different environment and drastic change. It was a total cultural and environmental shock to me."
During this time the couple began having children. First a daughter, Sarah, now 15, and son Alex, now 14; both children were born at Fort Bliss William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso. Her husband was assigned to duty in Korea and she found herself alone, a virtual single mother, in El Paso for the next 18 months. "He didn't want us to go, so we stayed alone on post for 18 months. It put a hurt on the family. It was hard on all of us," she said.
For the next 11 years, the family's life was filled with moves and upheavals, separation with friends and schools. "The moving was so sad for the kids. They left schools and teachers and friends," Lisa said. "Leaving friends behind every time was hard."
The stresses of this life ultimately tore the family apart and left the marriage in shambles, ending in the divorce courts after 11 years.
Ex-husband Rick retired after 22 years with the Army and is now a civilian contractor in Iraq.
Destiny played a hand in this family's future. Lisa, upon receiving her divorce papers, reconnected with her first flame, Steve, while in Baltimore. Steve, who was no longer in the Coast Guard, himself married and divorced, found he had never forgotten his first love, and now the couple are looking forward to celebrating their third wedding anniversary this summer.
Despite the hardship, Lisa said she believes in this country's Armed Forces, and that hardships are part of the package. "Because of terrorism, it's a whole different world. People don't understand what it takes to keep our country safe and strong," she said. "There are a lot of sacrifices made by military families that happen every day."
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 M.K. Moynahan - Contributing Writer
Politicians and pundits enjoy using such phrases such as "the cost of freedom" to hammer home their views on our military and budget issues.
Regardless of whether these orators are Republican or Democrat as this year's Armed Forces Day begins, none can disagree that these costs to preserve our freedoms, rights and way of life are incalculable. With more than 4,500 troops killed at war in recent years, our debt to these brave and selfless men and women has grown much larger than our National Debt.
Since 2001, more than 1.5 million American troops have served at least two tours in the recent war efforts and more than 700,000 children in America have at least one parent deployed.
One in nine soldiers has suffered a traumatic brain injury and one in eight suffers from post traumatic stress disorder. Additionally, more than 23,000 American troops have returned from a combat zone with physical wounds, according to the U.S. Congress.
Because the sacrifices of our troops have been great historically, President Harry S. Truman led the effort to establish a single holiday for citizens to come together and thank our military members for their patriotic service in support of our country, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
On Aug. 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard days. The single-day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces. The event is celebrated annually on the third Saturday of May.
This event is but a small token and the very least that can be done to show appreciation.
Since the War on Terrorism began after the destruction of 9/11, patriotic pride swelled and many young men and women enlisted for duty.
But for some people, military service is the latest chapter in a family history, and it would be inconceivable to these people to not serve in a branch of this country's military regardless of world or national events, or public sentiment.
In Delaware County, there are many examples of families who have generational histories of military service: the father's father served, the father served and his children served.
One such family can be found in the hills of Hobart: Steve and Lisa Coster. In particular, Lisa Coster, whose life began in Vermont as one of two children born to an Army father.
The Costers' story is an example of the sacrifices endured by military families and it is one filled with twists and turns that can only be attributed to the hardships endured to protect our collective freedoms.
Lisa, born Lisa Cloutman, the daughter of an Army veteran, Philip Cloutman, followed in her father's footsteps in 1980 by enlisting in the U.S. Coast Guard.
Her father had volunteered for duty during World War II, and was subsequently called back to duty during the Korean War, where his skills as an aircraft mechanic and staff sergeant were in demand.
At the time she enlisted, Coster was enrolled in her second year of college in Chester, Vt., where she was pursuing a degree in physical education.
"My brother was interested in the Coast Guard and that's how I got sucked in," she said, jokingly. "I was home on vacation and my brother was on a trip to see the recruiter. So I went along and the recruiter talked to me too. A week later, I was on a bus headed for (the) Cape May, New Jersey, Coast Guard Station."
She received training in search and rescue and taught swimming classes at several locations across the country including Michigan, Baltimore and Virginia. She performed duties for the medical centers and eventually became a nurse. During her tour with the Coast Guard in the 1980s she met her current husband Steve. Both were stationed in Michigan. According to Steve, the 1980s saw a new type of soldier enlisting _ women. "In 1980, the military was quite different than what it is today. Women enlisted and wore short hair and uniforms. They were regarded as odd creatures," he said. "In those days the ships needed to be reconfigured to accommodate female recruits. There were a lot of resentments."
According to Lisa, this resentment forced female recruits to attempt to "constantly be better."
The stress of military life ultimately proved too much for the young couple's relationship, and they went their separate ways. Steve was assigned to drug patrols and raids. Lisa returned to her hometown in Vermont, where she finished her tour with the Coast Guard and joined the Army Reserves in 1989.
At this time, she met Rick Rogers, a career Army man, whom she married. Rogers, originally from Missouri, is the son of a career Army man James Rogers. And so began Lisa's military life as a wife and her family's journey. As part of a military family, she discovered there would be "a lot of moves."
Her first base as a newlywed Army wife was El Paso, Texas, which she describes her experiences there as "culture shock."
"Unless you speak Spanish, you are out of luck, even on post. I couldn't get a job," she said. "It was such a different environment and drastic change. It was a total cultural and environmental shock to me."
During this time the couple began having children. First a daughter, Sarah, now 15, and son Alex, now 14; both children were born at Fort Bliss William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso. Her husband was assigned to duty in Korea and she found herself alone, a virtual single mother, in El Paso for the next 18 months. "He didn't want us to go, so we stayed alone on post for 18 months. It put a hurt on the family. It was hard on all of us," she said.
For the next 11 years, the family's life was filled with moves and upheavals, separation with friends and schools. "The moving was so sad for the kids. They left schools and teachers and friends," Lisa said. "Leaving friends behind every time was hard."
The stresses of this life ultimately tore the family apart and left the marriage in shambles, ending in the divorce courts after 11 years.
Ex-husband Rick retired after 22 years with the Army and is now a civilian contractor in Iraq.
Destiny played a hand in this family's future. Lisa, upon receiving her divorce papers, reconnected with her first flame, Steve, while in Baltimore. Steve, who was no longer in the Coast Guard, himself married and divorced, found he had never forgotten his first love, and now the couple are looking forward to celebrating their third wedding anniversary this summer.
Despite the hardship, Lisa said she believes in this country's Armed Forces, and that hardships are part of the package. "Because of terrorism, it's a whole different world. People don't understand what it takes to keep our country safe and strong," she said. "There are a lot of sacrifices made by military families that happen every day."
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 - Army enlisting services of older priests
Georgia Military Divorce Attorney - Army enlisting services of older priests
By Abe Levy - Express-News
Trying to offset the shortage of Catholic chaplains in the Army, recruiters passed out free pens and scholarship offers at a recent national conference for priests in San Antonio.
The Army has targeted seminarians and young priests for the job in years past, realizing that only about 90 active-duty Catholic chaplains minister to an estimated 600,000 Catholic soldiers and their immediate families.
But in recent months, Army recruiters have wielded a new weapon: a trial program letting priests as old as 60 sign up for the job and serve for as little as two years.
Approved in January by the secretary of the Army as part of a pilot program, it relaxes the previous age limit of 50 and the time commitment of eight years. While the Army has issued age waivers for older chaplains before, there hasn't been an official program such as this with such short assignments.
The program hinges on the support of bishops and religious superiors, whose approval is needed for priests to serve in the military but who also face the same priest shortage.
The military's shortage has worsened since the U.S. became engaged on two battlefronts, in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Army has brought back retired chaplains and tapped the Reserve and National Guard. And some priests have been hired on a contract basis. The Army has a recruiting goal of 250 priests, recruiters said.
“Through attrition and just the challenging process to come into the Army, we've not been able to fully close the gap,” said Sgt. 1st Class Daniel S. Cantu, an Army chaplain recruiter who staffed a booth at the National Federation of Priests' Councils conference in San Antonio last month.
In addition to providing worship services, chaplains are charged with improving morale, especially in sensitive, personal issues such as suicide and divorce, which military leaders have increasingly tried to address.
Priests in the pilot program must meet the same requirements as soldiers, such as passing medical and physical exams, a security clearance and orientation. And they must stand ready for deployment at any time.
But it's conceivable that older priests could give the Army an option of deploying younger Catholic chaplains with units assigned abroad. That could mean that the older priests would serve as domestic “garrison chaplains” whose duties are equivalent to running a civilian parish.
So far, the pilot program has only a few takers, but it's too early to gauge its success, which will be done at year's end, said Chaplain Carleton Birch, spokesman for the Army's chief of chaplains office.
“In the long run, enabling and supporting (priests) to serve in the Army won't hurt any shortage of clergy members,” he said. “It will help it. Both the quality and quantity of clergy will improve.”
San Antonio Archbishop José Gomez said he'll review the program but that with his priests averaging 62 years old, he expects to need more priests for the wave of retirements in the next 10 years.
“We are open to it and see how important it is for Catholics to have a priest in the armed forces,” he said. “But I doubt there are too many priests in their 50s applying for the military.”
Adding to the competition is that an estimated 10 percent of seminarians have prior military experience, according to the Archdiocese for the Military Services.
At Fort Sam Houston, two priests on contract support the Catholic community, estimated to be 25 percent of the post's 24,700 population. The lone active-duty priest is preparing to transfer and will be replaced in July.
One of the contract chaplains, Father Chuck Gunti, used to recruit priests for the Army and often found older priests willing to be chaplains, but he hit roadblocks with their bishops.
“After 20 to 30 years in a parish, a priest might say he's been there and done that,” said Gunti, 68, a retired Army chaplain, “and the (Army chaplaincy) might reinvigorate him.”
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 Abe Levy - Express-News
Trying to offset the shortage of Catholic chaplains in the Army, recruiters passed out free pens and scholarship offers at a recent national conference for priests in San Antonio.
The Army has targeted seminarians and young priests for the job in years past, realizing that only about 90 active-duty Catholic chaplains minister to an estimated 600,000 Catholic soldiers and their immediate families.
But in recent months, Army recruiters have wielded a new weapon: a trial program letting priests as old as 60 sign up for the job and serve for as little as two years.
Approved in January by the secretary of the Army as part of a pilot program, it relaxes the previous age limit of 50 and the time commitment of eight years. While the Army has issued age waivers for older chaplains before, there hasn't been an official program such as this with such short assignments.
The program hinges on the support of bishops and religious superiors, whose approval is needed for priests to serve in the military but who also face the same priest shortage.
The military's shortage has worsened since the U.S. became engaged on two battlefronts, in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Army has brought back retired chaplains and tapped the Reserve and National Guard. And some priests have been hired on a contract basis. The Army has a recruiting goal of 250 priests, recruiters said.
“Through attrition and just the challenging process to come into the Army, we've not been able to fully close the gap,” said Sgt. 1st Class Daniel S. Cantu, an Army chaplain recruiter who staffed a booth at the National Federation of Priests' Councils conference in San Antonio last month.
In addition to providing worship services, chaplains are charged with improving morale, especially in sensitive, personal issues such as suicide and divorce, which military leaders have increasingly tried to address.
Priests in the pilot program must meet the same requirements as soldiers, such as passing medical and physical exams, a security clearance and orientation. And they must stand ready for deployment at any time.
But it's conceivable that older priests could give the Army an option of deploying younger Catholic chaplains with units assigned abroad. That could mean that the older priests would serve as domestic “garrison chaplains” whose duties are equivalent to running a civilian parish.
So far, the pilot program has only a few takers, but it's too early to gauge its success, which will be done at year's end, said Chaplain Carleton Birch, spokesman for the Army's chief of chaplains office.
“In the long run, enabling and supporting (priests) to serve in the Army won't hurt any shortage of clergy members,” he said. “It will help it. Both the quality and quantity of clergy will improve.”
San Antonio Archbishop José Gomez said he'll review the program but that with his priests averaging 62 years old, he expects to need more priests for the wave of retirements in the next 10 years.
“We are open to it and see how important it is for Catholics to have a priest in the armed forces,” he said. “But I doubt there are too many priests in their 50s applying for the military.”
Adding to the competition is that an estimated 10 percent of seminarians have prior military experience, according to the Archdiocese for the Military Services.
At Fort Sam Houston, two priests on contract support the Catholic community, estimated to be 25 percent of the post's 24,700 population. The lone active-duty priest is preparing to transfer and will be replaced in July.
One of the contract chaplains, Father Chuck Gunti, used to recruit priests for the Army and often found older priests willing to be chaplains, but he hit roadblocks with their bishops.
“After 20 to 30 years in a parish, a priest might say he's been there and done that,” said Gunti, 68, a retired Army chaplain, “and the (Army chaplaincy) might reinvigorate him.”
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 GA Military Divorce Lawyer - Military is battling alarming suicide rate
Augusta GA Military Divorce Lawyer - Military is battling alarming suicide rate
Failed relationships, tangled finances and legal problems add to stress of war
By SIG CHRISTENSON - SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
Annual number of suicides of active-duty soldiers since 2000 The Army's rising suicide rate Marine Maj. John Ruocco was an AH-1W Super Cobra gunship pilot who seemed to have it all when he learned to fly Air Force jets in San Antonio, but behind the dark brown eyes of a charismatic Elvis impersonator and playful dad was a troubled soul.
That man returned home after 75 Iraq combat missions in 2004.
He struggled with a failed bid to land a civilian job, a desire to do right by his family and memories of fallen comrades before hitting rock bottom in January 2005.
“He couldn’t eat. He couldn’t sleep. He felt very down and that’s when I asked him if he felt like killing himself,” his wife Kim recalled.
“He said, ‘I would never do that to you and the boys.’”
A group of Marines came to his hotel room the next day and found Ruocco, 40, hanging by a belt.
He was one 225 U.S. troops, including 28 Marines, to kill himself in 2005.
Suicide numbers soar
At least 109 GIs, including two in the Coast Guard, killed themselves in the first four months of 2009. That’s almost as many members of the military who died during the same period in Iraq and Afghanistan, 128.
Sixty-four of those who committed suicide were in the Army, which is on track to break last year’s record, 143.
Since 2001, 988 soldiers in the Army, Army Reserve and Army National Guard have killed themselves.
The majority were on active duty. Suicides of four recruiters at the Houston Recruiting Battalion prompted the Army to announce in March several steps to improve support networks and access to mental health care for soldiers assigned to high-pressure recruiting duty.
At least another 997 in the Navy, Navy Reserve, Air Force, Air Force Reserve, Marines and Coast Guard killed themselves in the same period. The total, 1,985, is nearly three times the number of all U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001, now at 683, and is approaching half of the entire military death toll of 4,296 in the Iraq war.
Failed relationships, tangled finances and legal problems, combined with a long war, play roles in suicides. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Saturday that there are no easy answers.
“While factors contributing to this alarming rate are many, I cannot but believe that the pace and frequency of multiple deployments figure in somehow,” he said, adding that he and other military leaders were “alarmed with the increase in suicides, particularly in the Army.”
The concern comes as Army Sgt. John M. Russell, 44, of Sherman, was arrested in last Monday’s shooting deaths of five GIs at a combat stress clinic in Baghdad. Russell’s problems mirrored those of some suicide victims — financial woes, the humiliation of surrendering his rifle and fear of losing his career.
In late April, at Fort Sam Houston, Pfc. Jaynie May Askew, 43, of Scottsdale, Ariz., raised a .45-caliber handgun to her head and fired. She had failed the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians test, flunking out of school.
Askew wasn’t the typical Army victim — a 25- to 26-year-old white NCO — but her apparent use of a handgun was common, as was a fractured relationship. Her parents said she had endured a divorce and recurring child custody disputes. At 41, Askew joined the Army in hopes of finding a new purpose.
Rejection for a job
Ruocco brought his family to Randolph AFB’s T-37 instructor pilot program before the 9/11 attacks. Later, at Vance AFB, Okla., he re-qualified in attack helicopters and also applied to fly for Southwest Airlines. The rejection letter arrived while he fought in Iraq.
“He felt that would solve all of our problems,” Kim Ruocco said of the Southwest job. “He would be able to go to the reserves and take care of his Marines and fly Cobras and have his family in Boston where everybody wanted to be. He would take care of everybody, and that was the big thing.”
But, she added: “He couldn’t figure out how to do that without that job.”
Saving troops like Ruocco remains a vexing problem.
“I don’t want to sound like I know the answers, because we don’t know the answers,” said Army Secretary Pete Geren.
The armed services’ high operational tempo for the past decade definitely is part of the problem, said former VA psychiatrist Dr. Jonathon Shay. The military’s rapid training and deployment cycles short-change troops on the one critical ingredient to good physical and mental health: sleep, he said.
“I’ve been agitating for years the importance of getting truly realistic policy on sleep,” Shay said. “This is a slow slog because it is so contrary to the macho culture and so contrary to the self-sacrificial culture, which sees self-care like sleep as self-indulgence.”
Sleeping in the war zone can be difficult because of mortar and rocket attacks, coalition counterfire and simple nervousness. GIs returning home often complain of troubled sleep.
Every service branch has wrestled with suicides since 2001, but 2007 saw a sharp jump as President George W. Bush sent 28,000 more troops to Iraq to break an insurgency that had mushroomed into civil war. “We are not making any projections about what we think the total number of suicides for 2009 might be, but certainly we are concerned about the number of suicides we have seen in the first quarter of this year,” Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli said.
The Army’s heavy burden of fighting two wars often requires sending its troops to Iraq and Afghanistan every other year for as long as 15 months.
While GIs say the deployment cycle strain marriages and spark substance abuse, officials said it doesn’t seem to contribute to suicide rates.
Looking for a pattern
“There is no statistical evidence of a greater risk with multiple deployments,” Chiarelli said. “In fact, there were fewer suicides by soldiers with multiple deployments than compared to soldiers with just one deployment.”
Two in every three Army cases were linked to relationship problems; about the same percentage of victims had also deployed to the war zone. Financial problems often were in play.
Army efforts to prevent suicides start with Chiarelli, a one-time Iraq war commander. Training programs have been crafted to help soldiers and their families cope with deployments, post traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, substance abuse and anxiety issues.
But last week’s shooting incident at Camp Liberty in Baghdad underscores the fear that soldiers in a career-oriented, all-volunteer force have of psychological counseling. Ruocco, too, grappled with that problem, probably before leaving for Iraq in 2004.
He slept poorly, turned inward and wouldn’t talk about the war. “He said, ‘I can’t see any beauty or happiness in anything,’ ” his widow 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.
Failed relationships, tangled finances and legal problems add to stress of war
By SIG CHRISTENSON - SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
Annual number of suicides of active-duty soldiers since 2000 The Army's rising suicide rate Marine Maj. John Ruocco was an AH-1W Super Cobra gunship pilot who seemed to have it all when he learned to fly Air Force jets in San Antonio, but behind the dark brown eyes of a charismatic Elvis impersonator and playful dad was a troubled soul.
That man returned home after 75 Iraq combat missions in 2004.
He struggled with a failed bid to land a civilian job, a desire to do right by his family and memories of fallen comrades before hitting rock bottom in January 2005.
“He couldn’t eat. He couldn’t sleep. He felt very down and that’s when I asked him if he felt like killing himself,” his wife Kim recalled.
“He said, ‘I would never do that to you and the boys.’”
A group of Marines came to his hotel room the next day and found Ruocco, 40, hanging by a belt.
He was one 225 U.S. troops, including 28 Marines, to kill himself in 2005.
Suicide numbers soar
At least 109 GIs, including two in the Coast Guard, killed themselves in the first four months of 2009. That’s almost as many members of the military who died during the same period in Iraq and Afghanistan, 128.
Sixty-four of those who committed suicide were in the Army, which is on track to break last year’s record, 143.
Since 2001, 988 soldiers in the Army, Army Reserve and Army National Guard have killed themselves.
The majority were on active duty. Suicides of four recruiters at the Houston Recruiting Battalion prompted the Army to announce in March several steps to improve support networks and access to mental health care for soldiers assigned to high-pressure recruiting duty.
At least another 997 in the Navy, Navy Reserve, Air Force, Air Force Reserve, Marines and Coast Guard killed themselves in the same period. The total, 1,985, is nearly three times the number of all U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001, now at 683, and is approaching half of the entire military death toll of 4,296 in the Iraq war.
Failed relationships, tangled finances and legal problems, combined with a long war, play roles in suicides. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Saturday that there are no easy answers.
“While factors contributing to this alarming rate are many, I cannot but believe that the pace and frequency of multiple deployments figure in somehow,” he said, adding that he and other military leaders were “alarmed with the increase in suicides, particularly in the Army.”
The concern comes as Army Sgt. John M. Russell, 44, of Sherman, was arrested in last Monday’s shooting deaths of five GIs at a combat stress clinic in Baghdad. Russell’s problems mirrored those of some suicide victims — financial woes, the humiliation of surrendering his rifle and fear of losing his career.
In late April, at Fort Sam Houston, Pfc. Jaynie May Askew, 43, of Scottsdale, Ariz., raised a .45-caliber handgun to her head and fired. She had failed the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians test, flunking out of school.
Askew wasn’t the typical Army victim — a 25- to 26-year-old white NCO — but her apparent use of a handgun was common, as was a fractured relationship. Her parents said she had endured a divorce and recurring child custody disputes. At 41, Askew joined the Army in hopes of finding a new purpose.
Rejection for a job
Ruocco brought his family to Randolph AFB’s T-37 instructor pilot program before the 9/11 attacks. Later, at Vance AFB, Okla., he re-qualified in attack helicopters and also applied to fly for Southwest Airlines. The rejection letter arrived while he fought in Iraq.
“He felt that would solve all of our problems,” Kim Ruocco said of the Southwest job. “He would be able to go to the reserves and take care of his Marines and fly Cobras and have his family in Boston where everybody wanted to be. He would take care of everybody, and that was the big thing.”
But, she added: “He couldn’t figure out how to do that without that job.”
Saving troops like Ruocco remains a vexing problem.
“I don’t want to sound like I know the answers, because we don’t know the answers,” said Army Secretary Pete Geren.
The armed services’ high operational tempo for the past decade definitely is part of the problem, said former VA psychiatrist Dr. Jonathon Shay. The military’s rapid training and deployment cycles short-change troops on the one critical ingredient to good physical and mental health: sleep, he said.
“I’ve been agitating for years the importance of getting truly realistic policy on sleep,” Shay said. “This is a slow slog because it is so contrary to the macho culture and so contrary to the self-sacrificial culture, which sees self-care like sleep as self-indulgence.”
Sleeping in the war zone can be difficult because of mortar and rocket attacks, coalition counterfire and simple nervousness. GIs returning home often complain of troubled sleep.
Every service branch has wrestled with suicides since 2001, but 2007 saw a sharp jump as President George W. Bush sent 28,000 more troops to Iraq to break an insurgency that had mushroomed into civil war. “We are not making any projections about what we think the total number of suicides for 2009 might be, but certainly we are concerned about the number of suicides we have seen in the first quarter of this year,” Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli said.
The Army’s heavy burden of fighting two wars often requires sending its troops to Iraq and Afghanistan every other year for as long as 15 months.
While GIs say the deployment cycle strain marriages and spark substance abuse, officials said it doesn’t seem to contribute to suicide rates.
Looking for a pattern
“There is no statistical evidence of a greater risk with multiple deployments,” Chiarelli said. “In fact, there were fewer suicides by soldiers with multiple deployments than compared to soldiers with just one deployment.”
Two in every three Army cases were linked to relationship problems; about the same percentage of victims had also deployed to the war zone. Financial problems often were in play.
Army efforts to prevent suicides start with Chiarelli, a one-time Iraq war commander. Training programs have been crafted to help soldiers and their families cope with deployments, post traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, substance abuse and anxiety issues.
But last week’s shooting incident at Camp Liberty in Baghdad underscores the fear that soldiers in a career-oriented, all-volunteer force have of psychological counseling. Ruocco, too, grappled with that problem, probably before leaving for Iraq in 2004.
He slept poorly, turned inward and wouldn’t talk about the war. “He said, ‘I can’t see any beauty or happiness in anything,’ ” his widow 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 Lawyer - Collaborative divorce: A kinder, gentler process
Augusta Military Divorce Lawyer - Collaborative divorce: A kinder, gentler process
by Mark Schlueb - Sentinel Staff Writer
You've heard of happily married, but is it possible to have a happy divorce?
A growing number of lawyers -- including some who've spent careers brawling in divorce court -- say yes. They're disciples of "collaborative divorce," which tries to bring civility and cooperation to the traditionally bitter battle over the kids, family home and Grandma's silver.
Rather than each spouse paying a pit-bull attorney to spar in court, they and both attorneys agree to work out an amicable divorce that both sides can be happy with. Along the way, they receive guidance from a neutral mental-health professional and financial adviser.
Collaborative law's converts say it can be faster, less divisive and cheaper than a traditional divorce. And because the parties may never step into a courtroom until final paperwork is filed, it's more private -- probably the reason celebrities such as Roy Disney and Robin Williams chose it.
"It's so much better for clients and their families. In my experience it reduces the costs significantly, and the results are better," Orlando attorney Richard West said.
'Wave of the future'
In the collaborative process, husbands and wives have their own lawyers, but they're there to provide legal advice, not extract a pound of flesh from the other side. The parties and the lawyers sign an agreement at the outset to share all information.
The divorcing couple is free to back out if talks fail, but then they have to get new lawyers. That's because the attorneys agree to drop out if the collaborative process fails -- a way to make sure they work hard to come up with a fair agreement.
Meetings are run by a neutral mental-health professional, who can steer discussion in a productive direction and minimize sniping. The counselor also helps design a parenting plan with the goal of working out what's best for the children rather than using them as legal bargaining chips. That's better in the long run than traditional divorce, in which a court battle can worsen a relationship so much that it's tough to co-parent once the dust settles, Maitland psychologist Barbara Kelly said
"You're focusing on the children from the start," she said. "And people who have been through it say they came out with communication skills they didn't have before."
The team approach also includes a neutral financial adviser who helps the couple untangle assets.
The idea came from Minnesota attorney Stu Webb, who in 1990 came to the realization that divorce lawyers often were doing irreparable harm to families. Collaborative law has since spread across the country, including Florida, where there are nine regional groups of its adherents.
Maitland attorney Sam Weiss, who brought collaborative law to Central Florida in 2001, said it's a great alternative to lawyers sparring in court.
"It's become the wave of the future of divorce," Weiss said. "Instead of attorneys harping at each other and each party trying to denigrate the other, they're all on the same page."
Numbers are growing
Tom, a 43-year-old Sanford man who asked that his last name not be used, said his collaborative divorce last year was as positive as a divorce can be.
"Being able to sit across the table with all the parties in the room was very different than me telling my attorney something, my attorney telling her attorney, her attorney telling her, and then the whole thing in reverse," he said.
Collaborative divorces represent only a fraction of legal break-ups, but the number of couples choosing a more-civil divorce is growing. There are more than 75 lawyers, mental-health professionals and financial advisers in the regional association Weiss founded, the Collaborative Family Law Group of Central Florida, with regular training sessions adding more to the ranks.
Alice Blackwell, the administrative judge for the Orange-Osceola circuit's family division, helps teach collaborative divorce to law students at Barry University.
"What makes judges so sad is we see people fighting desperately, but if they would refocus on what's best for the family, they could find common ground. They'll spend all their assets on the divorce, and all they know how to do at the end is fight," she said. "I wish we could change the law so people had to consider collaborative law first, before they came to court to fight."
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 Mark Schlueb - Sentinel Staff Writer
You've heard of happily married, but is it possible to have a happy divorce?
A growing number of lawyers -- including some who've spent careers brawling in divorce court -- say yes. They're disciples of "collaborative divorce," which tries to bring civility and cooperation to the traditionally bitter battle over the kids, family home and Grandma's silver.
Rather than each spouse paying a pit-bull attorney to spar in court, they and both attorneys agree to work out an amicable divorce that both sides can be happy with. Along the way, they receive guidance from a neutral mental-health professional and financial adviser.
Collaborative law's converts say it can be faster, less divisive and cheaper than a traditional divorce. And because the parties may never step into a courtroom until final paperwork is filed, it's more private -- probably the reason celebrities such as Roy Disney and Robin Williams chose it.
"It's so much better for clients and their families. In my experience it reduces the costs significantly, and the results are better," Orlando attorney Richard West said.
'Wave of the future'
In the collaborative process, husbands and wives have their own lawyers, but they're there to provide legal advice, not extract a pound of flesh from the other side. The parties and the lawyers sign an agreement at the outset to share all information.
The divorcing couple is free to back out if talks fail, but then they have to get new lawyers. That's because the attorneys agree to drop out if the collaborative process fails -- a way to make sure they work hard to come up with a fair agreement.
Meetings are run by a neutral mental-health professional, who can steer discussion in a productive direction and minimize sniping. The counselor also helps design a parenting plan with the goal of working out what's best for the children rather than using them as legal bargaining chips. That's better in the long run than traditional divorce, in which a court battle can worsen a relationship so much that it's tough to co-parent once the dust settles, Maitland psychologist Barbara Kelly said
"You're focusing on the children from the start," she said. "And people who have been through it say they came out with communication skills they didn't have before."
The team approach also includes a neutral financial adviser who helps the couple untangle assets.
The idea came from Minnesota attorney Stu Webb, who in 1990 came to the realization that divorce lawyers often were doing irreparable harm to families. Collaborative law has since spread across the country, including Florida, where there are nine regional groups of its adherents.
Maitland attorney Sam Weiss, who brought collaborative law to Central Florida in 2001, said it's a great alternative to lawyers sparring in court.
"It's become the wave of the future of divorce," Weiss said. "Instead of attorneys harping at each other and each party trying to denigrate the other, they're all on the same page."
Numbers are growing
Tom, a 43-year-old Sanford man who asked that his last name not be used, said his collaborative divorce last year was as positive as a divorce can be.
"Being able to sit across the table with all the parties in the room was very different than me telling my attorney something, my attorney telling her attorney, her attorney telling her, and then the whole thing in reverse," he said.
Collaborative divorces represent only a fraction of legal break-ups, but the number of couples choosing a more-civil divorce is growing. There are more than 75 lawyers, mental-health professionals and financial advisers in the regional association Weiss founded, the Collaborative Family Law Group of Central Florida, with regular training sessions adding more to the ranks.
Alice Blackwell, the administrative judge for the Orange-Osceola circuit's family division, helps teach collaborative divorce to law students at Barry University.
"What makes judges so sad is we see people fighting desperately, but if they would refocus on what's best for the family, they could find common ground. They'll spend all their assets on the divorce, and all they know how to do at the end is fight," she said. "I wish we could change the law so people had to consider collaborative law first, before they came to court to fight."
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 - 80% of petitions for divorce filed by women
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - 80% of petitions for divorce filed by women
Tehran Times Social Desk
TEHRAN -- A new research conducted by Shahid Beheshti University showed that 80% of petitions for divorce were filed by women in the first five years of marriage.
Head of the research group, Majid Abhari blamed women’s power of attorney in divorce as the main reason behind such a great rate of petitions filed by women.
According to the research, unemployment, poverty, addiction, and consequently lack of mutual understanding are the biggest cause of discords in marriage.
Abhari called divorce the greatest social problems and said that getting married without knowing each other well, sometimes based on puppy loves, disregarding cultural, financial, and religious differences, and seeking to live in the lap of luxury are the major factors in marital breakdown.
Abhari also described lack of spirituality as being highly effective in stretching couples’ patience, and resolving their discords.
According to figures of state Birth Registration Organization, there were a number of 110,510 divorces recorded in 1387 (March 2008-March 2009).
Men aged between 25 and 29 and women 20 to 24 accounts for the highest rate of divorce, the figure showed.
There was a rise of 11% in the country’s divorce rate, compared with the last year
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.
Tehran Times Social Desk
TEHRAN -- A new research conducted by Shahid Beheshti University showed that 80% of petitions for divorce were filed by women in the first five years of marriage.
Head of the research group, Majid Abhari blamed women’s power of attorney in divorce as the main reason behind such a great rate of petitions filed by women.
According to the research, unemployment, poverty, addiction, and consequently lack of mutual understanding are the biggest cause of discords in marriage.
Abhari called divorce the greatest social problems and said that getting married without knowing each other well, sometimes based on puppy loves, disregarding cultural, financial, and religious differences, and seeking to live in the lap of luxury are the major factors in marital breakdown.
Abhari also described lack of spirituality as being highly effective in stretching couples’ patience, and resolving their discords.
According to figures of state Birth Registration Organization, there were a number of 110,510 divorces recorded in 1387 (March 2008-March 2009).
Men aged between 25 and 29 and women 20 to 24 accounts for the highest rate of divorce, the figure showed.
There was a rise of 11% in the country’s divorce rate, compared with the last year
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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