Augusta GA Divorce Attorney - Couple marries, wants divorce on same day
Pair had a huge argument right after civil ceremony, wanted annulment
BERLIN - A Polish couple living in Germany fell out after tying the knot and decided to end their marriage on the same day.
"He said he never wanted to see her again and wanted an immediate annulment, and she said the same thing," a spokesman for police in the northern city of Hanover said Thursday.
Right after the civil ceremony Wednesday, the 50-year-old man began rowing with his bride and tried to cut her hair with a kitchen knife, police said.
The 34-year-old woman called police, who issued the man with a restraining order, which he readily accepted, police said.
Two attempts at a rapprochement later that evening by telephone ended in more shouted exchanges before the man went to spend his wedding night in a local shelter for homeless people.
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 - Woman hopes to find hubby then divorce him
Augusta GA Divorce Lawyer - Woman hopes to find hubby then divorce him
A woman in Chongqing municipality decided to search for her husband on the Internet after he walked out a week after they tied the knot.
The woman, 29, of Chongqing, was a migrant worker in Tianjin when she met the man, 22, online in June, 2008. They played an online computer game and then decided to date.
After a two-month Internet romance, they got married but she became worried after he lived in front of the computer.
Seven days after they got married, Liu left home. Now Li wants to find Liu on the Internet. When she finds him, she plans to divorce 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.
A woman in Chongqing municipality decided to search for her husband on the Internet after he walked out a week after they tied the knot.
The woman, 29, of Chongqing, was a migrant worker in Tianjin when she met the man, 22, online in June, 2008. They played an online computer game and then decided to date.
After a two-month Internet romance, they got married but she became worried after he lived in front of the computer.
Seven days after they got married, Liu left home. Now Li wants to find Liu on the Internet. When she finds him, she plans to divorce 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 Divorce Attorney - Peter’s divorce dossier
Augusta GA Divorce Attorney - Peter’s divorce dossier
By ALEX WEST and RICHARD WHITE
Published: Today
FURIOUS Peter Andre is compiling a divorce dossier of Jordan’s wild antics to try to get full custody of the kids.
The Mysterious Girl singer is likely to cite unreasonable behaviour in the family courts against his glamour model wife following her week of wild living on the party island of Ibiza.
He was reluctantly forced to return their children Junior, four, Princess Tiaamii, one, and her disabled son Harvey, seven, to his out-of-control estranged missus.
Jordan’s driver collected the kids from the airport after they arrived back from Cyprus with Pete — whisking them to their mum at her £2million mansion in Woldingham, Surrey.
A source said: “Pete’s seething that he had to give the children back. After everything he’s seen her get up to in the last week, he feels they should stay with him.
“It’s even harder for him not to be able to talk to Jordan and tell her what the kids have been doing, and what their needs are.
Brazen
“But Jordan is too unreasonable to have a sensible chat with him.”
Pete, 36, spent yesterday at his home in Brighton — where he’s living with his brother Michael, 39 — and also made a trip to London.
He is keeping quiet over his divorce proceedings.
Pals said he was he was appalled by his wife’s brazen behaviour in Ibiza — but is secretly pleased she’s making herself appear a poor role model to the kids.
His lawyers are compiling a ‘dossier of disgrace’ detailing all her alleged terrible behaviour.
It is unlikely he will claim adultery, but he may use her Ibiza behaviour — such as snogging strangers — to sully her character in front of the judge.
The source added: “Peter’s lawyers have told him not to discuss the kids in any way — even to friends — as he’s going for full custody.
“He’s been cementing his reputation and would like to have the children all the time, of course. No sane person wouldn’t.
Pete’s spokesman said last night: “The whole nation is questioning whether Jordan’s behaviour could have a serious effect on the outcome of the custody arrangements. But I can’t comment on that.”
She drove her white Range Rover to riding stables in Bolney, West Sussex, where she practised dressage for half an hour.
Her relationship with her dressage coach, Andrew Gould, is said to be partly responsible for her break-up from Pete.
She also went shopping at her local Sainsbury’s.
A spokeswoman for Jordan — real name Katie Price — said last night: “Things are getting back to normal now and Katie is concentrating on looking after the kids.
“She was letting her hair down in Ibiza. She had a good week and is back now.”
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 ALEX WEST and RICHARD WHITE
Published: Today
FURIOUS Peter Andre is compiling a divorce dossier of Jordan’s wild antics to try to get full custody of the kids.
The Mysterious Girl singer is likely to cite unreasonable behaviour in the family courts against his glamour model wife following her week of wild living on the party island of Ibiza.
He was reluctantly forced to return their children Junior, four, Princess Tiaamii, one, and her disabled son Harvey, seven, to his out-of-control estranged missus.
Jordan’s driver collected the kids from the airport after they arrived back from Cyprus with Pete — whisking them to their mum at her £2million mansion in Woldingham, Surrey.
A source said: “Pete’s seething that he had to give the children back. After everything he’s seen her get up to in the last week, he feels they should stay with him.
“It’s even harder for him not to be able to talk to Jordan and tell her what the kids have been doing, and what their needs are.
Brazen
“But Jordan is too unreasonable to have a sensible chat with him.”
Pete, 36, spent yesterday at his home in Brighton — where he’s living with his brother Michael, 39 — and also made a trip to London.
He is keeping quiet over his divorce proceedings.
Pals said he was he was appalled by his wife’s brazen behaviour in Ibiza — but is secretly pleased she’s making herself appear a poor role model to the kids.
His lawyers are compiling a ‘dossier of disgrace’ detailing all her alleged terrible behaviour.
It is unlikely he will claim adultery, but he may use her Ibiza behaviour — such as snogging strangers — to sully her character in front of the judge.
The source added: “Peter’s lawyers have told him not to discuss the kids in any way — even to friends — as he’s going for full custody.
“He’s been cementing his reputation and would like to have the children all the time, of course. No sane person wouldn’t.
Pete’s spokesman said last night: “The whole nation is questioning whether Jordan’s behaviour could have a serious effect on the outcome of the custody arrangements. But I can’t comment on that.”
She drove her white Range Rover to riding stables in Bolney, West Sussex, where she practised dressage for half an hour.
Her relationship with her dressage coach, Andrew Gould, is said to be partly responsible for her break-up from Pete.
She also went shopping at her local Sainsbury’s.
A spokeswoman for Jordan — real name Katie Price — said last night: “Things are getting back to normal now and Katie is concentrating on looking after the kids.
“She was letting her hair down in Ibiza. She had a good week and is back now.”
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 - Parenting together - even after divorce
Augusta GA Divorce Attorney - Parenting together - even after divorce
Updated: 6/25/2009 10:26:53 AM
Even under the best of family conditions, parents often disagree about how to parent - how to discipline, how to handle money, how much freedom a child should have. But in the aftermath of a family break-up, these disagreements can be magnified, taking on the emotional baggage of the animosity that led to the divorce in the first place.
Child development expert, Marti Erickson appeared on KARE 11 Sunrise Thursday morning.
Children often become the unwitting pawns in parents' ongoing conflicts - and they may pay a high price for it. What special issues should parents watch out for? And how can they set aside their own pain and anger and work together in the best interests of their child?
Underlying Issues
The one thing a divorced couple may agree on is that they want their child to grow up well. And research shows that the one thing that will allow a child to grow up well is an ongoing, positive relationship with both parents even after divorce.
Because child-rearing may be the only area in which divorced parents continue to interact, it can become the dumping ground for the anger and pain parents feel. Disagreements get blown out of proportion and take on greater meaning, obscuring ways in which the parents agree.
The entry of step-parents into the equation can further complicate the situation. Step-parents bring their own personal history and ideas and expectations about child-rearing. Also they often are working hard to gain the trust and affection of the child, which can complicate their role as disciplinarian. (And, of course, there can be an underlying competitiveness between the biological mom and step-mom or the dad and step-dad.)
Tips for parents
? Keep your eye on the goal: your child growing up well
? Identify what you and your ex-spouse agree on (the big values, goals and expectations for your child)
? Agree to disagree on small matters (children can adapt to small differences in rules and expectations in different households)
? Be supportive of your child's relationship with the other parent (never badmouth the other parent in front of the child or try to sabotage their time together)
? In case of serious disagreements that could harm the child, seek mediation or counseling
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.
Updated: 6/25/2009 10:26:53 AM
Even under the best of family conditions, parents often disagree about how to parent - how to discipline, how to handle money, how much freedom a child should have. But in the aftermath of a family break-up, these disagreements can be magnified, taking on the emotional baggage of the animosity that led to the divorce in the first place.
Child development expert, Marti Erickson appeared on KARE 11 Sunrise Thursday morning.
Children often become the unwitting pawns in parents' ongoing conflicts - and they may pay a high price for it. What special issues should parents watch out for? And how can they set aside their own pain and anger and work together in the best interests of their child?
Underlying Issues
The one thing a divorced couple may agree on is that they want their child to grow up well. And research shows that the one thing that will allow a child to grow up well is an ongoing, positive relationship with both parents even after divorce.
Because child-rearing may be the only area in which divorced parents continue to interact, it can become the dumping ground for the anger and pain parents feel. Disagreements get blown out of proportion and take on greater meaning, obscuring ways in which the parents agree.
The entry of step-parents into the equation can further complicate the situation. Step-parents bring their own personal history and ideas and expectations about child-rearing. Also they often are working hard to gain the trust and affection of the child, which can complicate their role as disciplinarian. (And, of course, there can be an underlying competitiveness between the biological mom and step-mom or the dad and step-dad.)
Tips for parents
? Keep your eye on the goal: your child growing up well
? Identify what you and your ex-spouse agree on (the big values, goals and expectations for your child)
? Agree to disagree on small matters (children can adapt to small differences in rules and expectations in different households)
? Be supportive of your child's relationship with the other parent (never badmouth the other parent in front of the child or try to sabotage their time together)
? In case of serious disagreements that could harm the child, seek mediation or counseling
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 - Bob Rohrman sues doc for stealing wife
Augusta GA Divorce Lawyer - Bob Rohrman sues doc for stealing wife
Chicago Sun Times
BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Staff Reporter
Auto magnate Bob Rohrman is suing a plastic surgeon who Rohrman says stole away his wife's affections.
"We were very happily married for at least 4, 4½ years until I found out about this," Rohrman said of his 2002 marriage to his third wife, Ronda.
Rohrman -- who advertises for his 26 Honda, Toyota and Lexus dealerships in Illinois and Indiana with a distinctive "Bob ROOOHHHRRR-man" signoff -- met his wife when she worked at his Oakbrook Toyota store in Westmont, he said.
"She's got a really nice personality, and she's a beautiful woman," Rohrman said.
Reading e-mails between his wife and the plastic surgeon who worked on his wife's daughter, he learned of the affair, he said. He filed for divorce but then got back together with her for several months -- until he spotted new e-mails.
"He had kind of stolen her again. I don't know how he did it," Rohrman said.
This time she filed for divorce against him. Rohrman responded with his "alienation of affection" suit last week in DuPage County Circuit Court.
These kinds of lawsuits are rare -- and rarely succeed. Critics say they serve as a tool to harass estranged spouses' new loves. But Rohrman's attorney, Enrico J. Mirabelli, said they have a place.
They allow an aggrieved spouse to seek financial compensation, such as the money Rohrman had to spend on a private investigator to look into his wife's alleged relationship with the doctor.
The plastic surgeon declined comment Wednesday. Ronda Rohrman could not be reached for comment.
Rohrman started in Lafayette, Ind., with a sign for his dealership that had a lion on it. That's what started his trademark "roar" to sell cars.
"If you play in a lion's den, you're gonna get mauled," Mirabelli said of the lawsuit.
Rohrman, who lives in Lafayette, said he would still like to reconcile with his wife. He declined to reveal his age or his wife's.
The Bob Rohrman Auto Group is the 22nd largest in the United States.
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.
Chicago Sun Times
BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Staff Reporter
Auto magnate Bob Rohrman is suing a plastic surgeon who Rohrman says stole away his wife's affections.
"We were very happily married for at least 4, 4½ years until I found out about this," Rohrman said of his 2002 marriage to his third wife, Ronda.
Rohrman -- who advertises for his 26 Honda, Toyota and Lexus dealerships in Illinois and Indiana with a distinctive "Bob ROOOHHHRRR-man" signoff -- met his wife when she worked at his Oakbrook Toyota store in Westmont, he said.
"She's got a really nice personality, and she's a beautiful woman," Rohrman said.
Reading e-mails between his wife and the plastic surgeon who worked on his wife's daughter, he learned of the affair, he said. He filed for divorce but then got back together with her for several months -- until he spotted new e-mails.
"He had kind of stolen her again. I don't know how he did it," Rohrman said.
This time she filed for divorce against him. Rohrman responded with his "alienation of affection" suit last week in DuPage County Circuit Court.
These kinds of lawsuits are rare -- and rarely succeed. Critics say they serve as a tool to harass estranged spouses' new loves. But Rohrman's attorney, Enrico J. Mirabelli, said they have a place.
They allow an aggrieved spouse to seek financial compensation, such as the money Rohrman had to spend on a private investigator to look into his wife's alleged relationship with the doctor.
The plastic surgeon declined comment Wednesday. Ronda Rohrman could not be reached for comment.
Rohrman started in Lafayette, Ind., with a sign for his dealership that had a lion on it. That's what started his trademark "roar" to sell cars.
"If you play in a lion's den, you're gonna get mauled," Mirabelli said of the lawsuit.
Rohrman, who lives in Lafayette, said he would still like to reconcile with his wife. He declined to reveal his age or his wife's.
The Bob Rohrman Auto Group is the 22nd largest in the United States.
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 Attorney - Troops' kids feel war toll
Augusta GA Military Divorce Attorney - Troops' kids feel war toll
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — After seven years of war, most children of combat troops are showing more fear, anxiety and behavioral problems, according to the Pentagon's most sweeping survey of the effects of war on military children.
Six out of 10 U.S. military parents told researchers their children have increased levels of fear and anxiety when a parent is sent to war, according to a survey of more than 13,000 military spouses of active-duty servicemembers. The results, tabulated early this year, were released to USA TODAY.
More than half of those surveyed say generally their children have coped well or very well with a parent who has gone to war. But one in four say the child has coped poorly or very poorly, and a third say the child's grades and behavior in school have suffered.
Nearly 900,000 troops with children have deployed to war since 2001, and the Pentagon estimates that currently 234,000 children have a mother or father at war. The survey last year had a margin of error of +/-4 percentage points says Barbara Thompson, head of the Pentagon office of Family Policy/Children and Youth.
The Pentagon is "very concerned" about the effects of multiple deployments, she says. Children have classmates who have lost a parent, she says, "it's in their face that it could happen to me."
Army documents show that nearly 600,000 active-duty soldiers have deployed once since 2001, 110,000 have gone twice, 38,000 have gone three times and 8,000 have done four tours. Deployments last from a year to 15 months in most cases. Despite plans to draw down forces in Iraq, Army leaders say lengthy deployments followed by short periods at home may continue for at least the next year or more.
The Pentagon declined to break out its child survey results by branch of service.
Troubled children add to a growing list of war strain issues that the military, and particularly the Army, struggle with, including increases in suicide, mental health problems, alcohol abuse and divorce.
A more recent study this year by the University of California-Los Angeles of nearly 200 families of active duty Army and Marine Corps personnel shows problems for children may not go away. A year after parents returned from combat, 30% of the children exhibited clinical levels of anxiety — levels requiring possible treatment. The children's average age was 8.
Children kept worrying that their parents might return to war, says the study's author, Patricia Lester, a UCLA psychiatry professor who released the results to USA TODAY. "When the parent puts on the uniform," she says, "The child becomes distressed that they're not going to be coming back."
The Pentagon survey of 13,000 shows that the children most affected by deployments were between 6 and 13, followed by those ages 2-5.
Both studies show that "we're seeing children and families under stress as a result of military parent deployment," says Stephen Cozza, an associate director for the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress at the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine, who specializes in the study of military children.
"I think people are really paying attention to get ahead of it (the effects on children)," Thompson says.
Congress is spending more than $700 million on programs for military families in the current supplemental bill to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, 15% more than the Pentagon requested. Programs targeting the problem include:
• Offering $6,000 to military spouses to pay for education, training and licensing or credentialing for careers that can be easily re-established should the family move to a different military post.
• Dissemination of more than 1 million bilingual Sesame Street kits that include Elmo videos designed to help children ages 3-5 cope with deployment and family changes. Also a video will be released later this year addressing the emotional trauma of losing a parent, Thompson says.
• Distribution of more than 200,000 copies of a graphic novel aimed at military families titled Coming Home, which looks at problems family face when the servicemembers come home.
• The Pentagon's creation of child and youth behavioral health specialists who work with families and educators to identify and help struggling children and families. The program has more than 300 full-time and temporary positions and is expanding.
• Offering free YMCA memberships to primarily families of deployed National Guard members and reservists. The program, which began last October, has provided nearly 26,000 memberships.
• Expanding teams of specially trained family counselors that the Pentagon provides to state military family program directors. "It's been a huge difference-maker for us," says Lt. Col. Robert Bramlish, director of the Ohio family support program for servicemembers.
There is some evidence of success. Army figures show that while incidents of emotional, physical and sexual abuse and child neglect increased during early phases of the war — peaking at nearly five cases per 1,000 children in 2004 — those numbers have since leveled off to between 3.6 to 3.9 per 1,000.
Cozza says the programs are there to help families, but they don't always ask.
"We need to help people understand that it's not that strong people don't have problems, it's that strong people who have problems address their problems," he says.
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 Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — After seven years of war, most children of combat troops are showing more fear, anxiety and behavioral problems, according to the Pentagon's most sweeping survey of the effects of war on military children.
Six out of 10 U.S. military parents told researchers their children have increased levels of fear and anxiety when a parent is sent to war, according to a survey of more than 13,000 military spouses of active-duty servicemembers. The results, tabulated early this year, were released to USA TODAY.
More than half of those surveyed say generally their children have coped well or very well with a parent who has gone to war. But one in four say the child has coped poorly or very poorly, and a third say the child's grades and behavior in school have suffered.
Nearly 900,000 troops with children have deployed to war since 2001, and the Pentagon estimates that currently 234,000 children have a mother or father at war. The survey last year had a margin of error of +/-4 percentage points says Barbara Thompson, head of the Pentagon office of Family Policy/Children and Youth.
The Pentagon is "very concerned" about the effects of multiple deployments, she says. Children have classmates who have lost a parent, she says, "it's in their face that it could happen to me."
Army documents show that nearly 600,000 active-duty soldiers have deployed once since 2001, 110,000 have gone twice, 38,000 have gone three times and 8,000 have done four tours. Deployments last from a year to 15 months in most cases. Despite plans to draw down forces in Iraq, Army leaders say lengthy deployments followed by short periods at home may continue for at least the next year or more.
The Pentagon declined to break out its child survey results by branch of service.
Troubled children add to a growing list of war strain issues that the military, and particularly the Army, struggle with, including increases in suicide, mental health problems, alcohol abuse and divorce.
A more recent study this year by the University of California-Los Angeles of nearly 200 families of active duty Army and Marine Corps personnel shows problems for children may not go away. A year after parents returned from combat, 30% of the children exhibited clinical levels of anxiety — levels requiring possible treatment. The children's average age was 8.
Children kept worrying that their parents might return to war, says the study's author, Patricia Lester, a UCLA psychiatry professor who released the results to USA TODAY. "When the parent puts on the uniform," she says, "The child becomes distressed that they're not going to be coming back."
The Pentagon survey of 13,000 shows that the children most affected by deployments were between 6 and 13, followed by those ages 2-5.
Both studies show that "we're seeing children and families under stress as a result of military parent deployment," says Stephen Cozza, an associate director for the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress at the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine, who specializes in the study of military children.
"I think people are really paying attention to get ahead of it (the effects on children)," Thompson says.
Congress is spending more than $700 million on programs for military families in the current supplemental bill to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, 15% more than the Pentagon requested. Programs targeting the problem include:
• Offering $6,000 to military spouses to pay for education, training and licensing or credentialing for careers that can be easily re-established should the family move to a different military post.
• Dissemination of more than 1 million bilingual Sesame Street kits that include Elmo videos designed to help children ages 3-5 cope with deployment and family changes. Also a video will be released later this year addressing the emotional trauma of losing a parent, Thompson says.
• Distribution of more than 200,000 copies of a graphic novel aimed at military families titled Coming Home, which looks at problems family face when the servicemembers come home.
• The Pentagon's creation of child and youth behavioral health specialists who work with families and educators to identify and help struggling children and families. The program has more than 300 full-time and temporary positions and is expanding.
• Offering free YMCA memberships to primarily families of deployed National Guard members and reservists. The program, which began last October, has provided nearly 26,000 memberships.
• Expanding teams of specially trained family counselors that the Pentagon provides to state military family program directors. "It's been a huge difference-maker for us," says Lt. Col. Robert Bramlish, director of the Ohio family support program for servicemembers.
There is some evidence of success. Army figures show that while incidents of emotional, physical and sexual abuse and child neglect increased during early phases of the war — peaking at nearly five cases per 1,000 children in 2004 — those numbers have since leveled off to between 3.6 to 3.9 per 1,000.
Cozza says the programs are there to help families, but they don't always ask.
"We need to help people understand that it's not that strong people don't have problems, it's that strong people who have problems address their problems," he says.
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 - Your link to saving pain and expense during your divorce
Augusta GA Divorce Lawyer - Your link to saving pain and expense during your divorce
by J. Richard Kulerski
So you’re going through a divorce. Of course you want to talk about your feelings and betrayals.
But what if you knew that spending more time listening, instead of speaking, helps your chances of settlement? It is true. You won’t get your point of view across by talking about it; you do it by listening to our partner’s point of view.
One of the most instrumental steps in persuading your soon-to-be ex to settle out of court is to listen, and hear, what your partner is saying.
People rarely change their minds until they have spoken their piece, so let them speak to their heart’s content. This costs you nothing and is the best investment you can make.
If you want to save yourself from the financial and emotional burdens of a long, drawn out, courtroom ordeal, convince your spouse that you are trying to understand their side of the story.
They aren’t going to hear you out if you haven’t heard them out first.
U.S. Educationist Edward Dale, author of the Cone of Experience, said people remember 20 percent of what they hear, 50 percent of what they see and hear, and 70 percent of what they discuss with others.
With this in mind, it helps to be particularly attentive as your spouse speaks and really hear what he/she is saying. Once you do this, your partner will be more likely to listen to what you are saying.
It is tough listening to what they have to say, especially when you know they are wrong. But this shows respect and respect leads to cooperation, as opposed to confrontation. Take the initiative and good things may happen. If you don’t take the initiative, good things will never happen.
Listening to what your spouse says and validating their right to think as they do is how the settlement process becomes possible. Without this link, you are making your divorce more difficult than it has to be.
Listen, hear, and prosper. Listen to their heart’s content.
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 J. Richard Kulerski
So you’re going through a divorce. Of course you want to talk about your feelings and betrayals.
But what if you knew that spending more time listening, instead of speaking, helps your chances of settlement? It is true. You won’t get your point of view across by talking about it; you do it by listening to our partner’s point of view.
One of the most instrumental steps in persuading your soon-to-be ex to settle out of court is to listen, and hear, what your partner is saying.
People rarely change their minds until they have spoken their piece, so let them speak to their heart’s content. This costs you nothing and is the best investment you can make.
If you want to save yourself from the financial and emotional burdens of a long, drawn out, courtroom ordeal, convince your spouse that you are trying to understand their side of the story.
They aren’t going to hear you out if you haven’t heard them out first.
U.S. Educationist Edward Dale, author of the Cone of Experience, said people remember 20 percent of what they hear, 50 percent of what they see and hear, and 70 percent of what they discuss with others.
With this in mind, it helps to be particularly attentive as your spouse speaks and really hear what he/she is saying. Once you do this, your partner will be more likely to listen to what you are saying.
It is tough listening to what they have to say, especially when you know they are wrong. But this shows respect and respect leads to cooperation, as opposed to confrontation. Take the initiative and good things may happen. If you don’t take the initiative, good things will never happen.
Listening to what your spouse says and validating their right to think as they do is how the settlement process becomes possible. Without this link, you are making your divorce more difficult than it has to be.
Listen, hear, and prosper. Listen to their heart’s content.
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 - Joint Custody Best For Kids After Divorce
Augusta GA Divorce Attorney - Joint Custody Best For Kids After Divorce
WEBWIRE – Contact Information Olga Vladi
(Taylor, PA)—Joint custody is the best arrangement for children of divorce, according to the Journal of Family Psychology.
Children in joint-custody cases have less behavioral and emotional problems, higher self-esteem, better family relations and better school performance than children in sole custody, says the study.
“Children of divorce will do very well as long as both parents are able to cooperate in joint custody and stay involved in their lives,” says Tara Amaral, coauthor of the new book Our Great Kids.
Ultimately, joint custody is all about providing a stable, loving, supportive environment for the children. The parents’ needs are really secondary. The point is to provide children the opportunity to spend more time and establish good relationships with their parents after a separation or divorce.
“Divorce will always affect children,” says Chris Frie, coauthor of Our Great Kids. “Joint custody with positive involvement of both parents can make divorce less stressful for children and help them adjust to parental divorce much easier.”
Ms. Amaral and Mr. Frie, both divorced parents, put together Our Great Kids to help other parents like them. The book alleviates some of the problems divorced parents face when trying to raise their kids and gives practical advice on how be involved in the children’s lives and keep them happy.
Having used their system with great success for several years, Ms. Amaral and Mr. Frie have been encouraging others to develop healthy methods of communication so that the children of divorce aren’t negatively affected.
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.
WEBWIRE – Contact Information Olga Vladi
(Taylor, PA)—Joint custody is the best arrangement for children of divorce, according to the Journal of Family Psychology.
Children in joint-custody cases have less behavioral and emotional problems, higher self-esteem, better family relations and better school performance than children in sole custody, says the study.
“Children of divorce will do very well as long as both parents are able to cooperate in joint custody and stay involved in their lives,” says Tara Amaral, coauthor of the new book Our Great Kids.
Ultimately, joint custody is all about providing a stable, loving, supportive environment for the children. The parents’ needs are really secondary. The point is to provide children the opportunity to spend more time and establish good relationships with their parents after a separation or divorce.
“Divorce will always affect children,” says Chris Frie, coauthor of Our Great Kids. “Joint custody with positive involvement of both parents can make divorce less stressful for children and help them adjust to parental divorce much easier.”
Ms. Amaral and Mr. Frie, both divorced parents, put together Our Great Kids to help other parents like them. The book alleviates some of the problems divorced parents face when trying to raise their kids and gives practical advice on how be involved in the children’s lives and keep them happy.
Having used their system with great success for several years, Ms. Amaral and Mr. Frie have been encouraging others to develop healthy methods of communication so that the children of divorce aren’t negatively affected.
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 - Divorce wrangling over groomless wedding
Augusta GA Divorce Attorney - Divorce wrangling over groomless wedding
United Press International
A Florida couple are wrangling in the courts about a wedding that featured only the bride in attendance but still ended in a legal marriage.
Matthew Ditzel, 30, told an Osceola County court Heather Bowser, 31, had their marriage license notarized despite the fact that he was not in attendance at the May 24, 2008, ceremony, the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel reported Tuesday. Bowser, however, contends Ditzel agreed in advance to the proxy ceremony.
Court notes say her legal team has "witnesses to state that Mr. Ditzel made (the) announcement that they were married, there is a celebratory dinner, announcements made about rings, and they consummated like bunnies."
Veronica Gonzalez, a friend of Bowser's, lost her state notary commission for falsely certifying that she married the couple and she was put on a year's probation after pleading guilty in April to false acknowledgment by a notary public, a misdemeanor.
Circuit Judge Jeffrey Fleming denied Ditzel's request for an annulment and observers say the divorce is likely to go to trial, the Sentinel reported.
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.
United Press International
A Florida couple are wrangling in the courts about a wedding that featured only the bride in attendance but still ended in a legal marriage.
Matthew Ditzel, 30, told an Osceola County court Heather Bowser, 31, had their marriage license notarized despite the fact that he was not in attendance at the May 24, 2008, ceremony, the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel reported Tuesday. Bowser, however, contends Ditzel agreed in advance to the proxy ceremony.
Court notes say her legal team has "witnesses to state that Mr. Ditzel made (the) announcement that they were married, there is a celebratory dinner, announcements made about rings, and they consummated like bunnies."
Veronica Gonzalez, a friend of Bowser's, lost her state notary commission for falsely certifying that she married the couple and she was put on a year's probation after pleading guilty in April to false acknowledgment by a notary public, a misdemeanor.
Circuit Judge Jeffrey Fleming denied Ditzel's request for an annulment and observers say the divorce is likely to go to trial, the Sentinel reported.
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 - 'Caring circles' make divorce a little gentler
Augusta GA Divorce Lawyer - 'Caring circles' make divorce a little gentler
by Mark Hare
Sometimes, after she has helped a couple mediate a divorce agreement, BJ Mann says, they ask, "Is this it? Do we see you again?"
Bobbie Dillon, also a divorce mediator, has had the same experience. "They're asking, 'Isn't there just a little bit more we can do?'" That obvious hunger for a gentler parting led Mann, Dillon and two other experienced mediators — Gail Ferraioli and Beth Danehy — to a new venture they call Circles of Caring.
The circle is an ancient tool, common in many civilizations, for building community and strengthening relationships, the women say. A three-hour session opens and closes with a few words — a poem, for example. It may involve some exercises designed to stimulate thought and communication and everyone is allowed to speak without interruption. The circle's power, Ferraioli says, comes from an emphasis on respect, "and a deference to the wisdom of the group." It's not for everyone.
"We do not see the hard-core War of the Rose couples," Mann says. "And it is not therapy, or a support group. It is not ongoing. It is one defined experience."
There are three types of caring circles — for individuals, for couples and for families — each intended to help the participants deal honestly and productively with the end of a relationship.
The circle for individuals brings together 10 to 20 people who probably do not know each other, but each of them is looking for a way to share the experience of letting go.
In a couples circle, five to 10 couples (who also do not know each other) come together to help each other move on.
In a family circle, an individual or a couple invite family and close friends to join them in honoring their past relationship and planning for a new future.
Even when the parties to a divorce or break-up are amicable, a legal divorce in New York is an adversarial proceeding. And for a lot of people, that's not the way they want to move on.
"We've all worked with partners who are near the end of relationships," Dillon says, "people who want to normalize the experience of divorce." Most of us tend to see divorce as failure or as something to be ashamed of. But there are better ways to approach it, the mediators say.
It's important, they all agree, to honor and remember what was good in the relationship, and it helps to talk about that in a safe setting. Sometimes, the "circle keepers" (the facilitators) will bring in an object that was important in the marriage or relationship and ask people to recount a story about it — as a way to begin the process of honoring the relationship.
Sometimes the comments are more practical, says Danehy. In-laws may be uncertain about dealing with each other after their children have divorced, she says, but the caring circle can help them give voice to that concern. They will continue to be grandparents to the same children and the caring circle may help them build a new relationship that feels right.
In a caring circle, only one person speaks at a time. "Saying something out loud is different from saying, 'you know what I mean,'" Mann says. Caring circles are another tool to help people connect in a meaningful way and in a new way — when their relationships change.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
by Mark Hare
Sometimes, after she has helped a couple mediate a divorce agreement, BJ Mann says, they ask, "Is this it? Do we see you again?"
Bobbie Dillon, also a divorce mediator, has had the same experience. "They're asking, 'Isn't there just a little bit more we can do?'" That obvious hunger for a gentler parting led Mann, Dillon and two other experienced mediators — Gail Ferraioli and Beth Danehy — to a new venture they call Circles of Caring.
The circle is an ancient tool, common in many civilizations, for building community and strengthening relationships, the women say. A three-hour session opens and closes with a few words — a poem, for example. It may involve some exercises designed to stimulate thought and communication and everyone is allowed to speak without interruption. The circle's power, Ferraioli says, comes from an emphasis on respect, "and a deference to the wisdom of the group." It's not for everyone.
"We do not see the hard-core War of the Rose couples," Mann says. "And it is not therapy, or a support group. It is not ongoing. It is one defined experience."
There are three types of caring circles — for individuals, for couples and for families — each intended to help the participants deal honestly and productively with the end of a relationship.
The circle for individuals brings together 10 to 20 people who probably do not know each other, but each of them is looking for a way to share the experience of letting go.
In a couples circle, five to 10 couples (who also do not know each other) come together to help each other move on.
In a family circle, an individual or a couple invite family and close friends to join them in honoring their past relationship and planning for a new future.
Even when the parties to a divorce or break-up are amicable, a legal divorce in New York is an adversarial proceeding. And for a lot of people, that's not the way they want to move on.
"We've all worked with partners who are near the end of relationships," Dillon says, "people who want to normalize the experience of divorce." Most of us tend to see divorce as failure or as something to be ashamed of. But there are better ways to approach it, the mediators say.
It's important, they all agree, to honor and remember what was good in the relationship, and it helps to talk about that in a safe setting. Sometimes, the "circle keepers" (the facilitators) will bring in an object that was important in the marriage or relationship and ask people to recount a story about it — as a way to begin the process of honoring the relationship.
Sometimes the comments are more practical, says Danehy. In-laws may be uncertain about dealing with each other after their children have divorced, she says, but the caring circle can help them give voice to that concern. They will continue to be grandparents to the same children and the caring circle may help them build a new relationship that feels right.
In a caring circle, only one person speaks at a time. "Saying something out loud is different from saying, 'you know what I mean,'" Mann says. Caring circles are another tool to help people connect in a meaningful way and in a new way — when their relationships change.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Augusta GA Military Divorce Lawyer - Saintly Hope: A Soldier's Story
Augusta GA Military Divorce Lawyer - Saintly Hope: A Soldier's Story
by Ryan Reed
I’m certain everyone by now has heard the stories of how the New Orleans Saints stood tall for a community beaten down and were the one beacon of light during the darkest times of our fair city’s history. However, not much has been said of the impact of that magical season on those outside of the city proper.
This is my story.
As a soldier in the United States Army, I was stationed far away from my hometown when Katrina ravaged and destroyed the home I grew up in, permanently displacing my parents and the majority of my extended family to Baton Rouge, LA.
While my family was rebuilding and reuniting, I was preparing to deploy to Iraq, unable to help at one of the most difficult times of all of our lives. I took my leave immediately before my deployment into theater and visited my family and the devastation of the city I loved my entire life.
I have often told individuals who have asked about the destruction post-Katrina that the best way to describe it would be for them to take everything that was important to them, pile it up in the dirt, pour muddy water on it, allow it to sit and mold for a month, snap a picture, and then lay out thousands of copies of that picture all around them.
Then they would have a small taste of what our communities have endured.
Soon after, I left for Iraq to help a country in need, while at the same time leaving behind my family and home in need. There really isn’t a word to describe those kinds of feelings, but when you think things cannot possibly get worse, they do just that.
Shortly after starting my deployment, I found myself facing a divorce, financial hardships, and knowing that I would be seeing my two children sparingly for the rest of my life. I dealt with all of this while, at the same time, conducting my combat missions in Iraq, taking cover from enemy fire, and performing my military duties in situations that tested the limits of my stress as well as patience.
There are words that describe this: utterly, hopelessly dejected.
It was when things were at their lowest, and I was on the verge of a true breakdown, that I found hope. Hope did not come in the form of a vacation, or in my wife of the time coming back to me, or even in the support of my family.
No.
Hope came on a Monday night football game that saw the Saints come home to a city they stood behind and who loved them like no other fan loves their team.
When Steve Gleason knifed through the Falcons' offensive line, hammering their punt to the turf, I immediately forgot where I was or everything that I had been through up to that point.
I screamed louder than I had ever thought possible—loud enough that anyone but those in the Dome that night would’ve thought I was dying.
I spent every week the remainder of the season dreaming of Sunday. No matter how bad things got, how many missions I went on, or how miserable things were at home, Sunday was always just right. The Saints carried me on their backs through my tour.
I was just as upset for them to fall short in the Championship Game as any of the players could have been, for they truly deserved it—we all did. At the same time, though, I felt an amazing amount of pride.
Here was a team beaten down and written off, representing a community much the same. They took adversity and punched it dead in the mouth.
By the end of that amazing season, there wasn’t a person in the country that didn’t feel the words spoken on every Saint and fan’s lips: “We believe.”
I finished my time in Iraq and came home with a new sense of purpose and (dare I say it?) swagger. I’ve since become very successful in my career, righted the ship so to speak, and I can honestly say it was the Saints that did it for me.
Now here I am once again in Iraq, patiently awaiting our team to kick off the 2010 season. Many have opined that this is their year—that the final pieces are in place, and the Saints will bring the Vince Lombardi Trophy to the Big Easy.
While analysts and armchair quarterbacks alike make their predictions of where they will fall, I sit back and reflect on more difficult times, and all I can say is this: “I believe.”
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 Ryan Reed
I’m certain everyone by now has heard the stories of how the New Orleans Saints stood tall for a community beaten down and were the one beacon of light during the darkest times of our fair city’s history. However, not much has been said of the impact of that magical season on those outside of the city proper.
This is my story.
As a soldier in the United States Army, I was stationed far away from my hometown when Katrina ravaged and destroyed the home I grew up in, permanently displacing my parents and the majority of my extended family to Baton Rouge, LA.
While my family was rebuilding and reuniting, I was preparing to deploy to Iraq, unable to help at one of the most difficult times of all of our lives. I took my leave immediately before my deployment into theater and visited my family and the devastation of the city I loved my entire life.
I have often told individuals who have asked about the destruction post-Katrina that the best way to describe it would be for them to take everything that was important to them, pile it up in the dirt, pour muddy water on it, allow it to sit and mold for a month, snap a picture, and then lay out thousands of copies of that picture all around them.
Then they would have a small taste of what our communities have endured.
Soon after, I left for Iraq to help a country in need, while at the same time leaving behind my family and home in need. There really isn’t a word to describe those kinds of feelings, but when you think things cannot possibly get worse, they do just that.
Shortly after starting my deployment, I found myself facing a divorce, financial hardships, and knowing that I would be seeing my two children sparingly for the rest of my life. I dealt with all of this while, at the same time, conducting my combat missions in Iraq, taking cover from enemy fire, and performing my military duties in situations that tested the limits of my stress as well as patience.
There are words that describe this: utterly, hopelessly dejected.
It was when things were at their lowest, and I was on the verge of a true breakdown, that I found hope. Hope did not come in the form of a vacation, or in my wife of the time coming back to me, or even in the support of my family.
No.
Hope came on a Monday night football game that saw the Saints come home to a city they stood behind and who loved them like no other fan loves their team.
When Steve Gleason knifed through the Falcons' offensive line, hammering their punt to the turf, I immediately forgot where I was or everything that I had been through up to that point.
I screamed louder than I had ever thought possible—loud enough that anyone but those in the Dome that night would’ve thought I was dying.
I spent every week the remainder of the season dreaming of Sunday. No matter how bad things got, how many missions I went on, or how miserable things were at home, Sunday was always just right. The Saints carried me on their backs through my tour.
I was just as upset for them to fall short in the Championship Game as any of the players could have been, for they truly deserved it—we all did. At the same time, though, I felt an amazing amount of pride.
Here was a team beaten down and written off, representing a community much the same. They took adversity and punched it dead in the mouth.
By the end of that amazing season, there wasn’t a person in the country that didn’t feel the words spoken on every Saint and fan’s lips: “We believe.”
I finished my time in Iraq and came home with a new sense of purpose and (dare I say it?) swagger. I’ve since become very successful in my career, righted the ship so to speak, and I can honestly say it was the Saints that did it for me.
Now here I am once again in Iraq, patiently awaiting our team to kick off the 2010 season. Many have opined that this is their year—that the final pieces are in place, and the Saints will bring the Vince Lombardi Trophy to the Big Easy.
While analysts and armchair quarterbacks alike make their predictions of where they will fall, I sit back and reflect on more difficult times, and all I can say is this: “I believe.”
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 - U.S. divorce dip excludes Utah
Augusta GA Divorce Attorney - U.S. divorce dip excludes Utah
By Michael R. McFall - Deseret News
Troubled Utah families are still separating while the rest of the country on average is postponing divorce in a tough recession.
The number of divorce filings in the state kept steady at about 13,000 from 2006 to 2008, even as the economy tanked and the average number of divorces dropped around the country. As of May 31, there have been about 6,000 filed divorces this year. If the numbers remain steady until the end of the year, 2009 will be more of the same — despite what's going on across the country.
Layoffs and a suffering housing market apparently have kept a rising number of America's feuding couples together. The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers reports that nationally, 37 percent of attorneys said they saw a notable decline in their divorce cases in 2008.
But Utah saw a 1 percent increase the same year. Attorney Paul Mortenson said his firm of Hanks and Mortenson, which serves most of Utah, hasn't seen any decrease in divorce cases so far this year.
Mortenson isn't alone. Other Utah divorce attorneys, including David Dolowitz of Cohne Rappaport and Segal, haven't seen any change in their clientele this year either.
"I've been wondering out loud (to my colleagues) why people who have financial issues aren't more likely to stay together," said Ellen Maycock of Kruse Landa Maycock and Ricks.
The answer might be in Utah's relative financial success as a state. According to the results of the Associated Press' Economic Stress Index, released last week, Utah is faring better than most of America, which may be why the state's divorce rates remain closer to pre-recession years.
Holowitz theorized that if a couple isn't as concerned about their finances and local economy, they may be more likely to go through with their divorce.
A divorce involving at least one child usually costs anywhere from $53,000 to $188,000 in attorney's fees, financial advice and real estate costs for buying or renting separate homes, according to census data from the Web site Divorce360. Apparently, most Utahns can still afford to cut the knot.
But there are still a few hit by the recession who are looking for alternatives to ending their troubled marriage.
Shirley Pappin, owner of the Divorce Mediation Institute of Utah, said she's seen a marked increase in her business. In 2005, the Utah Legislature passed a bill making one visit to a mediator a requirement for any couple seeking an official divorce.
Still, more people are turning to divorce mediation as an alternative to going through the courts because of the exorbitant costs of divorce and a desire for private control over their family's separation, she said. The average mediation process costs $3,000 to $4,000.
Pappin suggests that mediation, because it puts a separated family's future in their hands and not the court's, is usually a better option for anyone considering divorce.
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 Michael R. McFall - Deseret News
Troubled Utah families are still separating while the rest of the country on average is postponing divorce in a tough recession.
The number of divorce filings in the state kept steady at about 13,000 from 2006 to 2008, even as the economy tanked and the average number of divorces dropped around the country. As of May 31, there have been about 6,000 filed divorces this year. If the numbers remain steady until the end of the year, 2009 will be more of the same — despite what's going on across the country.
Layoffs and a suffering housing market apparently have kept a rising number of America's feuding couples together. The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers reports that nationally, 37 percent of attorneys said they saw a notable decline in their divorce cases in 2008.
But Utah saw a 1 percent increase the same year. Attorney Paul Mortenson said his firm of Hanks and Mortenson, which serves most of Utah, hasn't seen any decrease in divorce cases so far this year.
Mortenson isn't alone. Other Utah divorce attorneys, including David Dolowitz of Cohne Rappaport and Segal, haven't seen any change in their clientele this year either.
"I've been wondering out loud (to my colleagues) why people who have financial issues aren't more likely to stay together," said Ellen Maycock of Kruse Landa Maycock and Ricks.
The answer might be in Utah's relative financial success as a state. According to the results of the Associated Press' Economic Stress Index, released last week, Utah is faring better than most of America, which may be why the state's divorce rates remain closer to pre-recession years.
Holowitz theorized that if a couple isn't as concerned about their finances and local economy, they may be more likely to go through with their divorce.
A divorce involving at least one child usually costs anywhere from $53,000 to $188,000 in attorney's fees, financial advice and real estate costs for buying or renting separate homes, according to census data from the Web site Divorce360. Apparently, most Utahns can still afford to cut the knot.
But there are still a few hit by the recession who are looking for alternatives to ending their troubled marriage.
Shirley Pappin, owner of the Divorce Mediation Institute of Utah, said she's seen a marked increase in her business. In 2005, the Utah Legislature passed a bill making one visit to a mediator a requirement for any couple seeking an official divorce.
Still, more people are turning to divorce mediation as an alternative to going through the courts because of the exorbitant costs of divorce and a desire for private control over their family's separation, she said. The average mediation process costs $3,000 to $4,000.
Pappin suggests that mediation, because it puts a separated family's future in their hands and not the court's, is usually a better option for anyone considering divorce.
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 Attorney - Military Marriages Off the Rocks
Augusta GA Military Divorce Attorney - Military Marriages Off the Rocks
by Rowan Scarborough
Military marriages are weathering five years of stressful war deployments, as judged by the Pentagon's statistics on divorce.
When two simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan required a flood of repeated overseas duty for the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, the active duty divorce rate stood at about 3.5 percent. Today, five years later, the figure is 3.4 percent.
While divorces in the Army and Marines, who provide the bulk of troops for Iraq and Afghanistan, ticked up slightly, the steady overall rate shows that military husbands and wives are coping with the war on terror. In fact, the divorce percentage for National Guard and Reserves, who have deployed at a rapid pace, is even lower, at 2.7 percent. It was 2.6 percent in 2004.
The consistent divorce trend is attributed to the dedication and quality of today's all-volunteer force. Men and women are joining knowing they will likely spend months away from home.
"The military gets volunteers from Tennessee, not Cambridge, Mass.," said Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Media Institute at the Media Research Center. "It’s probably largely due to the makeup of the armed forces of more tradition-minded Americans. The blue states send their share, too, but it’s their traditionalists who go."
The military branches help, too, with counseling events. "There has been an increasing emphasis on these kinds of programs as the stress of repeat deployments has become evident," said Lt. Col. Les Melnyk, a Pentagon spokesman.
The Army, for example, operates "Strong Bonds" a series of chaplain-led retreats where soldiers learn the best ways to communicate with a spouse and handle a crisis. It began in 2001 in a single combat brigade.
It just happened to be packaged well enough at the brigade level that it got a lot of publicity all the way up to the Pentagon level and received money in 2001 for a pilot program," Lt. Col. Carleton Birch, of the office of Army chief of chaplains, told Human Events. "Since then it's expanded every year to the point now we believe there are going to be about 2,600 Strong Bonds events this year for about 160,000 service members and their families."
Events are ordered up by commanders and are often scheduled right before, or after, an overseas deployment.
"Couples learn listening skills, efficacy skills, taking ownership of their feelings, how to talk in a non-destructive way," said Birch, a protestant chaplain. "I don't know why Strong Bonds has been so successful. I think it's meeting a need that's out there."
Birch said the National Institute of Health has begun of five-year study of Strong Bonds and will issue an initial report soon. "I think it will be pretty positive," he said. "Commanders are saying by doing these Strong Bonds programs that relationship training is just as important a part of training our force and keeping our force together to prepare for the missions we need to do as the other training we are doing."
Finances, as well as time away from home, can put pressure on a marriage. The Pentagon told Human Events that in the past seven years basic military pay has increased 37 percent, compared with 27 percent in private sector.
Today, a junior enlisted person with a high school diploma earns about $43,000 a figure that does not include free medical care, retirement, bonuses and special pay.
"Targeted pay raises have now fully closed the pay gap between military and those of the private sector holding equal education and work experience," the Pentagon said.
The Pentagon is now drawing down troops from Iraq. Some brigades are shifting assignments to Afghanistan, where the Obama administration is adding about 24,000 forces. But overall, the Army should be able to extend what is called "dwell time" back home before soldiers gear up for another war deployment. Marines typically serve seven months in the war theater and an equal about of time at home. Soldiers now get only 12 months at home after 12 to 14 months in Iraq or Afghanistan. The Army's goal is 24 months dwell time by 2011.
The Pentagon calculates its divorce rate by tracking the number of divorces among married personnel each year. Of the 754,255 married active duty personnel in 2008, 25,750 had divorced by fiscal year's end on Sept. 30.
Civilian rates are derived by various agencies and research firms in different ways. For example, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports a 3.6 percent divorce rate per 1,000 population.
"If trying to compare these rates to the civilian world, remember that the military population skews young, and that most marriages that end in divorce do so early on in the marriage," Melnyk said.
He said the average age of the active force in 2008 was 28, compared with 32 years in the Guard and reserves.
"That age difference in and of itself must account for at least part of difference between active component and reserve component divorce rates," he told Human Events.
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 Rowan Scarborough
Military marriages are weathering five years of stressful war deployments, as judged by the Pentagon's statistics on divorce.
When two simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan required a flood of repeated overseas duty for the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, the active duty divorce rate stood at about 3.5 percent. Today, five years later, the figure is 3.4 percent.
While divorces in the Army and Marines, who provide the bulk of troops for Iraq and Afghanistan, ticked up slightly, the steady overall rate shows that military husbands and wives are coping with the war on terror. In fact, the divorce percentage for National Guard and Reserves, who have deployed at a rapid pace, is even lower, at 2.7 percent. It was 2.6 percent in 2004.
The consistent divorce trend is attributed to the dedication and quality of today's all-volunteer force. Men and women are joining knowing they will likely spend months away from home.
"The military gets volunteers from Tennessee, not Cambridge, Mass.," said Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Media Institute at the Media Research Center. "It’s probably largely due to the makeup of the armed forces of more tradition-minded Americans. The blue states send their share, too, but it’s their traditionalists who go."
The military branches help, too, with counseling events. "There has been an increasing emphasis on these kinds of programs as the stress of repeat deployments has become evident," said Lt. Col. Les Melnyk, a Pentagon spokesman.
The Army, for example, operates "Strong Bonds" a series of chaplain-led retreats where soldiers learn the best ways to communicate with a spouse and handle a crisis. It began in 2001 in a single combat brigade.
It just happened to be packaged well enough at the brigade level that it got a lot of publicity all the way up to the Pentagon level and received money in 2001 for a pilot program," Lt. Col. Carleton Birch, of the office of Army chief of chaplains, told Human Events. "Since then it's expanded every year to the point now we believe there are going to be about 2,600 Strong Bonds events this year for about 160,000 service members and their families."
Events are ordered up by commanders and are often scheduled right before, or after, an overseas deployment.
"Couples learn listening skills, efficacy skills, taking ownership of their feelings, how to talk in a non-destructive way," said Birch, a protestant chaplain. "I don't know why Strong Bonds has been so successful. I think it's meeting a need that's out there."
Birch said the National Institute of Health has begun of five-year study of Strong Bonds and will issue an initial report soon. "I think it will be pretty positive," he said. "Commanders are saying by doing these Strong Bonds programs that relationship training is just as important a part of training our force and keeping our force together to prepare for the missions we need to do as the other training we are doing."
Finances, as well as time away from home, can put pressure on a marriage. The Pentagon told Human Events that in the past seven years basic military pay has increased 37 percent, compared with 27 percent in private sector.
Today, a junior enlisted person with a high school diploma earns about $43,000 a figure that does not include free medical care, retirement, bonuses and special pay.
"Targeted pay raises have now fully closed the pay gap between military and those of the private sector holding equal education and work experience," the Pentagon said.
The Pentagon is now drawing down troops from Iraq. Some brigades are shifting assignments to Afghanistan, where the Obama administration is adding about 24,000 forces. But overall, the Army should be able to extend what is called "dwell time" back home before soldiers gear up for another war deployment. Marines typically serve seven months in the war theater and an equal about of time at home. Soldiers now get only 12 months at home after 12 to 14 months in Iraq or Afghanistan. The Army's goal is 24 months dwell time by 2011.
The Pentagon calculates its divorce rate by tracking the number of divorces among married personnel each year. Of the 754,255 married active duty personnel in 2008, 25,750 had divorced by fiscal year's end on Sept. 30.
Civilian rates are derived by various agencies and research firms in different ways. For example, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports a 3.6 percent divorce rate per 1,000 population.
"If trying to compare these rates to the civilian world, remember that the military population skews young, and that most marriages that end in divorce do so early on in the marriage," Melnyk said.
He said the average age of the active force in 2008 was 28, compared with 32 years in the Guard and reserves.
"That age difference in and of itself must account for at least part of difference between active component and reserve component divorce rates," he told Human Events.
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 - Superstar Usher Files for Divorce in Georgia
Augusta GA Divorce Lawyer - Superstar Usher Files for Divorce in Georgia
By JACQUELINE J. HOLNESS
ATLANTA (CN) - R&B superstar singer Usher Raymond IV known as "Usher" is divorcing Tameka Foster Raymond, his wife of less than two years. According to the petition, filed in Fulton County Superior Court, the couple who married in August 2007, have been separated since July 2008. Raymond wants the parties to have joint legal and physical custody of their two minor children and states the marriage is "irretrievably broken," with "no reasonable hope of reconciliation."
The petition is accompanied by a request for the production of documents from Foster Raymond. Documents requested include tax returns filed from the date of the marriage, paycheck stubs, records of checking and savings accounts, automobile tag registration certificates, copies of bills from doctors, psychologists and hospitals, detective reports and other reports "arising from any surveillance or investigation of the activities of any alleged affairs of your spouse, which surveillance or investigation was performed on your behalf in connection with this action."
Raymond is represented by Ivory T. Brown
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 JACQUELINE J. HOLNESS
ATLANTA (CN) - R&B superstar singer Usher Raymond IV known as "Usher" is divorcing Tameka Foster Raymond, his wife of less than two years. According to the petition, filed in Fulton County Superior Court, the couple who married in August 2007, have been separated since July 2008. Raymond wants the parties to have joint legal and physical custody of their two minor children and states the marriage is "irretrievably broken," with "no reasonable hope of reconciliation."
The petition is accompanied by a request for the production of documents from Foster Raymond. Documents requested include tax returns filed from the date of the marriage, paycheck stubs, records of checking and savings accounts, automobile tag registration certificates, copies of bills from doctors, psychologists and hospitals, detective reports and other reports "arising from any surveillance or investigation of the activities of any alleged affairs of your spouse, which surveillance or investigation was performed on your behalf in connection with this action."
Raymond is represented by Ivory T. Brown
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 - Single dads on Father’s Day
Augusta GA Divorce Lawyer - Single dads on Father’s Day
By MIKE GERRITY - Chronicle Staff Writer
As they sit around the leveled ruins of a flamboyantly colored Lego house, Chris Netzell and his 4-year-old son debate what they should do next with their Friday together.
“Miles, you feel up for a hike today?”
“Yeah,” Miles says, smiling.
“You think you can make it the whole way up without me carrying you?”
“No ... uh, yeah!”
About an hour later, three-quarters of the way up the “M” trail in Bozeman, Netzell trudges the last few switchbacks with Miles on his shoulders, seemingly oblivious to how big he’s getting.
“I’m really good at this!” Miles says.
“Yeah,” his dad reassures him through an exhausted gasp. “You’re REALLY good at this.”
‘Legos are awesome’
Netzell, 27, usually has his son from Thursday night through Sunday. The other half of the week he shares custody with the boy’s mother, Kim. He and Kim were divorced two years ago.
Single parenthood is not easy for anyone, and in most cases it falls on the mothers, whether due to court-ordered child custody arrangements or other circumstances that take fathers out of the picture. The most recent U.S. Census figures available estimate that, as of 2006, four out of five single-parent households were headed by mothers.
As a result, fathers who have as much time every week with their children as Netzell are a rare breed in Montana, much like the rest of America.
Becoming a father at 23 was decision Netzell made after getting married, and by the looks of it, is not something he thinks twice about.
After their long hike, he and Miles kicked back over lunch and an episode of “SpongeBob SquarePants.” Miles had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and apple sauce. Netzell had a bowl of ramen noodles and a grape Otter Pop.
Getting reacquainted to the simple pleasures of cartoons, toys and popsicles has been a refreshing aspect of fatherhood for Netzell.
“You spend your adult life doing mundane and meaningful things and then you get back to enjoying genuinely simple things like playing with Legos or watching ridiculous cartoons.” Netzell said. “Legos are awesome.”
‘Not an easy transition’
Charlie Soah, 79, knows the hardships that come from raising children alone. He’s done it four times.
“Except for marriage, I’ve been very lucky and successful,” Soha said.
He said he became the single parent of his first two sons, Charlie and Daniel, in the mid-1960s after divorcing his first wife while working in Fairfax, Va.
“It was very rough,” he said.
Back then, Soha relied on a neighbor to watch the kids after school before he got home from work.
For a little while, when cash was tight, he made an agreement with a Safeway grocer to buy vegetables due to be thrown out for 50 cents a bag.
“There weren’t any food stamps in those days,” Soha said.
Then in 1980, his military career took him to Istanbul, Turkey, where he met his second wife and fathered his youngest two boys, Gregory and Benjamin.
But after moving back to the United States, that marriage broke up, too.
When Gregory and Benjamin were 13 and 12, he retired and moved with the boys to Bozeman.
He said raising two boys the second time around was easier because they were older.
But Benjamin, now 24, recalled trying to adjust to his mother’s absence after she moved back to Turkey.
“It’s not an easy transition,” Benjamin said. “I just took the situation as best I could.”
‘Little dude’
Netzell believes that since Miles was only 2 when his mother and father split up he adapted more easily than an older child might to growing up in two homes.
But that change doesn’t come as naturally to a father, he said.
When they were still married, Netzell and Kim worked opposite nights and days while taking care of Miles in between. Since the divorce, the support that came with a co-parenting home has diminished and money has gotten tighter.
“You don’t have that partner to pick up the slack where you’re lacking,” he said.
When Miles is with his mother in Livingston, Netzell stays involved with a core group of friends that share his long-standing fascination with hardcore rock. One can bet on spotting him at the Filling Station whenever a decent band comes through town, though he said he’s cutting back on drinking lately.
Getting over the divorce took a personal toll, he said, and at the worst points alcohol became a way to escape the nagging thoughts of self-doubt and guilt.
“I’m only just getting to the point now where I’m not blaming myself for everything,” Netzell said. “I’m happy enough to move on and not hate myself for it.”
In the meantime, Netzell credits his friends for their involvement in his life and in his relationship with his son.
“They help me out a lot,” he said. “(Miles) loves it when people come over for a barbeque or whatever. He’s definitely got his mother’s social skills.”
Having his “little dude,” around, he says, is enough to keep the wind at his back.
“He’s my little god. I worship that kid.”
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 MIKE GERRITY - Chronicle Staff Writer
As they sit around the leveled ruins of a flamboyantly colored Lego house, Chris Netzell and his 4-year-old son debate what they should do next with their Friday together.
“Miles, you feel up for a hike today?”
“Yeah,” Miles says, smiling.
“You think you can make it the whole way up without me carrying you?”
“No ... uh, yeah!”
About an hour later, three-quarters of the way up the “M” trail in Bozeman, Netzell trudges the last few switchbacks with Miles on his shoulders, seemingly oblivious to how big he’s getting.
“I’m really good at this!” Miles says.
“Yeah,” his dad reassures him through an exhausted gasp. “You’re REALLY good at this.”
‘Legos are awesome’
Netzell, 27, usually has his son from Thursday night through Sunday. The other half of the week he shares custody with the boy’s mother, Kim. He and Kim were divorced two years ago.
Single parenthood is not easy for anyone, and in most cases it falls on the mothers, whether due to court-ordered child custody arrangements or other circumstances that take fathers out of the picture. The most recent U.S. Census figures available estimate that, as of 2006, four out of five single-parent households were headed by mothers.
As a result, fathers who have as much time every week with their children as Netzell are a rare breed in Montana, much like the rest of America.
Becoming a father at 23 was decision Netzell made after getting married, and by the looks of it, is not something he thinks twice about.
After their long hike, he and Miles kicked back over lunch and an episode of “SpongeBob SquarePants.” Miles had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and apple sauce. Netzell had a bowl of ramen noodles and a grape Otter Pop.
Getting reacquainted to the simple pleasures of cartoons, toys and popsicles has been a refreshing aspect of fatherhood for Netzell.
“You spend your adult life doing mundane and meaningful things and then you get back to enjoying genuinely simple things like playing with Legos or watching ridiculous cartoons.” Netzell said. “Legos are awesome.”
‘Not an easy transition’
Charlie Soah, 79, knows the hardships that come from raising children alone. He’s done it four times.
“Except for marriage, I’ve been very lucky and successful,” Soha said.
He said he became the single parent of his first two sons, Charlie and Daniel, in the mid-1960s after divorcing his first wife while working in Fairfax, Va.
“It was very rough,” he said.
Back then, Soha relied on a neighbor to watch the kids after school before he got home from work.
For a little while, when cash was tight, he made an agreement with a Safeway grocer to buy vegetables due to be thrown out for 50 cents a bag.
“There weren’t any food stamps in those days,” Soha said.
Then in 1980, his military career took him to Istanbul, Turkey, where he met his second wife and fathered his youngest two boys, Gregory and Benjamin.
But after moving back to the United States, that marriage broke up, too.
When Gregory and Benjamin were 13 and 12, he retired and moved with the boys to Bozeman.
He said raising two boys the second time around was easier because they were older.
But Benjamin, now 24, recalled trying to adjust to his mother’s absence after she moved back to Turkey.
“It’s not an easy transition,” Benjamin said. “I just took the situation as best I could.”
‘Little dude’
Netzell believes that since Miles was only 2 when his mother and father split up he adapted more easily than an older child might to growing up in two homes.
But that change doesn’t come as naturally to a father, he said.
When they were still married, Netzell and Kim worked opposite nights and days while taking care of Miles in between. Since the divorce, the support that came with a co-parenting home has diminished and money has gotten tighter.
“You don’t have that partner to pick up the slack where you’re lacking,” he said.
When Miles is with his mother in Livingston, Netzell stays involved with a core group of friends that share his long-standing fascination with hardcore rock. One can bet on spotting him at the Filling Station whenever a decent band comes through town, though he said he’s cutting back on drinking lately.
Getting over the divorce took a personal toll, he said, and at the worst points alcohol became a way to escape the nagging thoughts of self-doubt and guilt.
“I’m only just getting to the point now where I’m not blaming myself for everything,” Netzell said. “I’m happy enough to move on and not hate myself for it.”
In the meantime, Netzell credits his friends for their involvement in his life and in his relationship with his son.
“They help me out a lot,” he said. “(Miles) loves it when people come over for a barbeque or whatever. He’s definitely got his mother’s social skills.”
Having his “little dude,” around, he says, is enough to keep the wind at his back.
“He’s my little god. I worship that kid.”
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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