Whether you are in Los Angeles, Long Beach, or some other city in the California, when you go for the first time to a Court of Conciliation to discuss custody of your children, it can be a very intimidating experience because you don’t know what to really expect. The Court of Conciliation, which uses Court appointed Mediators, is all about collecting information and coming to a voluntary agreement, and the experience does not have to be intimidating. Before you go to Court, following these five simple suggestions can save you a lot of stress and worry in the long run:

1.Be prepared to go to court. Read all Court instructions about what you are suppose to bring to Court and follow their suggestions to a tee. Courts are institutions that try to operate on factual information, so, they will ask you for proof of any information they request. Proof of income will be a big priority. Take copies of proof of income such as an IRS tax statement or a pay roll stub. Also, make sure you take a copy of any health insurance premiums you pay on you children.

2.Appearance in any Court is very important, especially first time appearances. The Mediator may not know you, and he or she has only your appearance to start sizing your parental abilities, so, appear to be worthy of what you will ask of the Court. Lean toward being clean and professional rather than flashy and uncouth. If you do not appear to take an interest in your own hygiene, the Mediator may get the impression you won’t take interest in the hygiene of your children either.

3.Be on time to your court appearance. Leave your home in plenty of time to reach the Court destination and remember to allow for the screening process at the front door. Your case will most likely not be the only case appointed that day, so, being late will make everyone else late. Your being late will make a lasting impression on the Mediator, but it will most likely not be a good one.

4.Unless the Mediator requests it, do not take your children to Court. Although the Court proceedings are about them, small children do not need to hear what goes on in the proceedings, it is not their business. If the experience can be intimidating for adults, think of how scary it might be for the children. The process is sometime long, and children demand time from you that you will not have during the interview process. So, make arrangements for your children to be cared for in some other place than the Court proceedings.

5.Go to Court with a positive attitude. In most all Custody Courts across the United States, the courts have a vested interest in helping you solve a most difficult situation. They want to do what is best for both parents and children. Going to Court with a negative disposition will leave a lasting impression of the wrong kind and will not help you get what you want. Your child and you both deserve to come out of the process with a bright future, so, be positive, courteous, and respectful. The Court will most likely respond in like kind.

Whether or not you are represented by counsel in your Court appearance, applying these five simple suggestions will go a long way into helping you relieve the stress and worry over your situation. Sometimes you can handle these problems on your own, but sometimes, it is best to have supportive counsel in the form of a divorce Lawyer who specializes in child custody cases. He or she will give you the legal knowledge required to provide the confidence you will need to have a positive attitude for your Court appearance. If you feel you need this kind of help, contact us at www.divorceattorneyhome.com , and we will help you locate the right professional for you.

In places like West Palm Beach, Orlando, Boca Raton, and other cities in Florida, not all cases presented within the court system involve support from one spouse to the other. The obligation of one spouse to support the other financially for a temporary or permanent basis is decided on a case-by-case basis as agreed to by the parties or at the court’s discretion.

Florida Statute, Chapter 61.08, in a nutshell, states that in a proceeding for dissolution of marriage, the court may grant alimony to either party, which alimony may be rehabilitative or permanent in nature.

In any award of alimony, the court may order periodic payments or payments in lump sum or both. The court may consider the adultery of either spouse and the circumstances thereof in determining the amount of alimony, if any, to be awarded.

In determining a proper award of alimony or maintenance, the court shall consider all relevant economic factors, including but not limited to: the standard of living established during the marriage; the duration of the marriage; the age and the physical and emotional condition of each party; the financial resources of each party including the non-marital and the marital assets and liabilities distributed to each; when applicable, the time necessary for either party to acquire sufficient education or training to enable such party to find appropriate employment; the contribution of each party to the marriage, including, but not limited to, services rendered in homemaking, child care, education, and career building of the other party; all sources of income available to either party; and the court may consider any other factor necessary to do equity and justice between the parties.

In addition, to the extent necessary to protect an award of alimony, the court may order any party who is ordered to pay alimony to purchase or maintain a life insurance policy or a bond, or to otherwise secure such alimony award with any other assets which may be suitable for that purpose.

Under these guidelines as set out by state statute, unless the two divorcing spouses can come to a voluntary and legal agreement, the Circuit Court in the County of jurisdiction will decide if there will be any spousal support for a person who is disabled. If you are disabled, or you have a spouse that is disabled, and you are seeking a divorce, you are probably going to need legal counseling to help you decide the best avenue for your situation.

Contact us right now at www.divorceattorneyhome.com, and we will help you locate a divorce attorney in your area that can answer all your legal questions.

The traditional, Christian, wedding, and ceremonial vows go something like this: “Do you take this person to be your husband/wife to live together after God’s ordinance – in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love him/her, comfort him/her, honor and keep him/her, in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse, in sadness and in joy, to cherish and continually bestow upon him/her your heart’s deepest devotion, forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto him/her as long as you both shall live?”

In our modern day, these traditional vows have been often modified to fit the nature and personalities of the participants, but in some conservative areas of our country, these vows are still a time honored tradition. The tradition grew out of a Judeo-Christian influence through Christian churches that hold to both Old and New Testament biblical teachings. That the words “God’s ordinance” are used in the traditional ceremony is not by accident.

Most Christians view marriage as a Holy sacrament that is ordained by God himself. An ordinance is a law, by definition, so, many Christian groups view this ordinance as a covenant or contract before God between two consenting adults. Since 84 percent of the United States population considers themselves to be affiliated with Christianity in some way, it is very probable you are familiar with this traditional concept on marriage, and you may even know someone who used similar vows in their wedding ceremony.

Our current laws on the legality of marriage has certainly been influenced by Judeo-Christian values throughout the United States. Fault divorce is what has come out of such a background. No-fault divorce in the United States did not come about until California passed their law on January 1, 1970. a No-fault divorce is the dissolution of a marriage requiring neither a showing of wrong-doing of either party nor any evidentiary proceedings at all. Since the first No-fault law passed in California, all the states except New York has passed some type of No-fault statute. Although a No-fault divorce is readily available in most states today, Fault divorces are still a common occurrence simply because the two parties cannot always agree on how their property and children are to be divided when the divorce is final.

When a Fault divorce occurs, the two opposing spouses are required to go to court before a judge or a jury. There are still eleven states that allow divorces to go to jury under certain circumstances. Only Texas, today, allows a jury to decide the fate of all the ramifications of divorce including the custody of children. In places like Cincinnati and in other cities around Ohio, the reason for a Fault divorce has to be stated on the legal document entitled Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, and then filed in the local court of jurisdiction. The only legal reasons allowed for a Fault divorce in Ohio are: if either party had a husband or wife living at the time of the marriage from which the divorce is sought; willful absence of the adverse party for one year; adultery; extreme cruelty; fraudulent contract; any gross neglect of duty; habitual drunkenness; imprisonment of the adverse party in a state or federal correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint; and procurement of a divorce outside this state.

Before No-fault divorces were so common, our nation relied on our Judeo-Christian roots to understand what we considered to be acceptable reasons for divorce, but today, with so much diversity within our borders, marriage has become a battleground for the separation of church and state. Our roots has taught us that marriage is a covenant contract that should be legally binding, and our existing laws reflect what our roots have taught us. Therefore, we perceive the marriage ceremony, regardless of who officiates over it, as a legal binding contract between two consenting adults, and it takes a legal action to undo what has been legally done.

Likewise, there should be no wonder why Fault divorce reasons in our laws also reflect our roots. For instance, in Ohio, notice the similarities between the traditional Christian vows and the legal reasons for divorce. The Christian vows ask you to promise to forsake all others and keep to the one person so long as you both live which can be violated by the legal reasons of adultery and already having a husband or wife. Promising to continually bestow your love for your spouse for as long as you live certainly might equate as a broken promise when the legal reason of willful absence from your marital partner for a year or more applies. To honor and cherish your spouse may be broken in the legal reason of extreme cruelty or abuse. Since the marital vow has always been a form of legal and binding contract, should we always take our spouses for better or for worse, or better yet, should we vow to do so without legal recourse?

Maybe you and your spouse have come to that place where you think things have gotten a lot worse than you could have possibly imagined, you think there is reason enough to divorce, and you cannot agree on how to go about ending your marriage in a friendly and No-fault way. If this is the case, you both are probably going to need legal advice. Contact us right now at www.divorceattorneyhome.com, and we will help you find a divorce lawyer in your area that can provide you with the legal help you are seeking.

Is there really any such thing as a friendly divorce? Actually, the good news is there can be. Washington is a No-Fault (Uncontested) Divorce state. That means, regardless of whether you live in places like Seattle, Bellevue, Everett or any other city within the Washington, you can readily and quickly obtain a divorce without a lot of legal complications, that is, if you and your spouse can agree to terms in a friendly manner. It is important to note that a history of domestic violence in a relationship may very well hinder any attempt at a friendly divorce and may even exacerbate the problem, so, if the history exists, it is not recommended by this author you try a No-Fault Divorce without legal counsel.

Once the shock, hurt, and anger have subsided from the initial realization your marriage is over, the time may be right for you and your spouse to seriously look at a No-Fault Divorce. If both parties are mature and reasonable, there is no reason for anything unfriendly to occur, but what both will have to do to accomplish a goal of a friendly divorce is first to forget the reason you are getting a divorce. In this case, the reason for getting the divorce is what one or both of you might think is what caused the divorce. If the differences are irreconcilable, the reasons only become stumbling blocks to a friendly solution. Therefore, it is impervious that both parties are willing to move on with their lives looking forward to a new life, and they need to stay away from unproductive accusations about why the marriage failed and whose fault it was. If you can both get by this fact, you stand a reasonable chance of successfully obtaining a friendly divorce.

When both of you resolve to avoid accusations, then, it is time to meet in order to discuss the details of the marriage dissolution. There are basically three subjects you will need to discuss in detail in order to dissolve the marriage in a friendly manner, so, staying on subject is very important. The three subjects you need to discuss include your community finances, assets and children. Since each of these are complicated subjects within their own rights, it would probably be wise to resolve the issues associated with each subject one at at time. If you can come to a friendly agreement on these three subjects, the rest of a No-Fault and friendly divorce includes placing the information you have gathered together on state documents, of which the primary document is entitled Petition for the Dissolution of Marriage, signing the documents, and filing them with your local Court of Jurisdiction. Once filed, Washington does not have a waiting period before the divorce takes place. Once the Decree of the Dissolution of Marriage is granted, the divorce is final.

A No-Fault or friendly divorce is not for everyone. Sometimes, two people can not get by their shock, hurt, or anger, and sometimes they just can’t agree on the dissolution of their finances, assets, or the custody of their children. When this happens, it may be time for you to consider getting a professional counselor to help untangle the legal complications you may face. Contact us at www.divorceattorneyhome.com, and we will help you find a divorce attorney who can answer any legal questions you may have in your situation.

When I was young, newly married, and had two small children at home, I was a busy, self employed, entrepreneur who often made promises to my children I couldn’t possibly have kept.

Although my intentions were well meaning and good, I never really considered the implications of what I was promising to two hopeful, dependent, but naïve kids who spent a lot of their young lives with broken hearts as well as promises. They learned all too well old Dad really did not mean what he said.

One day, when my son was about six, my promise to attend a very important school play was met with an untimely business meeting that seemed much more important to me at the time. The next morning and after the evening before when I offered up my excuses to my son for missing his play, my wife and I called to our children to come to breakfast. Our little girl came, but our son did not answer.

Upon investigation to our son’s whereabouts, we found a note in his room pinned to his bed that simply read “Dad does not love me. I have run away. Love” and he signed his name. After learning from our older daughter that she had helped our son pen the note, we also learned he had run away to his best friend’s house which was two blocks away. Relieved, but hurt from the implications I had somehow failed my son, from that moment on, I vowed to either never promise something I couldn’t keep, or keep all the promises I made to my children.

Since that day some twenty four years ago, I have kept the commitment of that personal vow. It has made a grave difference in our children and my relationship. It took a while, but they know today that when their Dad promises them something, they can trust what he says.

Marriage vows are a whole lot like the promises we make to our children. When we make those vows of promise when we are young adults, we really don’t always consider the implications of what they mean. We are often, like children, naïve about the ceremony and its ramifications.

When it comes to living out the promises of our marital vows, we too often allow other things we think are more important get in the way of our commitment to one another. Sometimes, it is the commitment to our jobs that conflicts with our marital commitments, sometimes we just spend more time with our friends instead of our spouses, and at other times, the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence.

Regardless of the good intentions we may have, we can come to the place in our lives where, like my son, we may feel like that special person in our life no longer loves us, and we may want to run away from out commitments. Not all stories end with the happy ending my son’s story ended.

He could have gotten seriously hurt when he ran away. If that would have been the case, our relationship could have been permanently and irretrievably broken. It wouldn’t have mattered what my real intentions were or how committed I would have vowed to be. It is the same with marriage. They can become permanently and irretrievably broken, regardless of our intentions and commitment level.

In the United States, broken marriages happen to almost fifty percent of all marriages. It doesn’t matter where you live, marriages can and do get irretrievably broken. When they do, you may actually no longer love one another. If that is the case you find yourself in, and you feel your marriage is irretrievably broken, you may need legal help to end your marriage. Contact us right now and we will help you find a divorce lawyer in your area who can help answer all the legal questions you might have concerning divorce.

When it comes to a divorce, child custody is one of the most difficult problems that Pennsylvania faces today. Trying to decide what is best for the children involved is a responsibility many have lost countless nights of sleep over. The costs, financially, emotionally, and in time, consumes the parents, children, and the state governments trying to untangle the mess of a broken marriage.

So, why is it that some in the United States has so many problems with such a natural event as raising children? There are many reasons, but probably the overwhelming factor for contributing to problems with child custody is maturity. Merriam Webster defines maturity as attaining a final or desired state. When it comes to raising and taking care of children, a desired state should mean taking on all responsibilities that go along with attaining the goal of raising children to the legal age of adulthood. Being able to do so requires you recognize and devote yourselves to the resources at hand that will help you attain the goal. Some of the basic resources necessary to raise children include a source of income, a nurturing and positive environment, adequate shelter, preparation for the future, good healthcare, and an adequate diet. In a nutshell, raising children requires you to be responsible at working hard to provide the basic resources for your children. Both you and your spouse should be in sync, dedicated, determined, and focused on your goals if you expect to be successful in raising healthy children.

When a marriage becomes irretrievably broken, as a spouse, what does your mature responsibility then become to your children? In places like Harrisburg, Lebanon, Carlisle, and other cities in Pennsylvania, if a friendly and formally signed agreement between the spouses concerning basic resources for the children has not been made, the Court of Common Pleas may decide what is ultimately best for the children. If either or both of you are capable parents, one of you may be chosen as the primary physical care taker of the children, called the custodial caretaker. The one of you not chosen as the custodial caretaker will then be referred to as the non-custodial caretaker. Regardless of how you are now referred to by the courts, neither of you loses the responsibility of raising your children to a healthy adulthood. Because the primary custodial caretaker keeps the children most of the time, their resources, like income, will be depleted faster than the non-custodial caretaker’s. Therefore, it stands to reason, if you are the non-custodial caretaker, you may be ordered to contribute toward your child’s resources through what the courts call child support.

Pennsylvania child support guidelines are based on the Income Shares Model for calculating child support. The monthly support amount determined by applying the guidelines is divided proportionally according to each parent’s income. These two support amounts are then offset to establish which parent will pay the other parent for support of the child. All income is typically verified by examining past W-2’s and child support worksheets are available at the courthouse. Ideally, the amounts chosen are not intended to break either side, but to maintain the level of resources that best supports the general welfare of the children involved.

Maybe you have found yourself in the predicament of divorcing with children, and you are not sure what is fair and what is not fair when it comes to your children. If you and your spouse cannot amiably agree on a legal solution, you may need legal counsel from a professional who is trained to help you in your situation. Do the mature thing and contact us right now at www.divorceattorneyhome.com, and we will put you in touch with a divorce lawyer in your area that can help you on legal matters concerning child custody and support.

The traditional, Christian, wedding, and ceremonial vows go something like this: “Do you take this person to be your husband or wife to live together after God’s ordinance – in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love him or her, comfort him or her, honor and keep him or her, in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse, in sadness and in joy, to cherish and continually bestow upon him or her your heart’s deepest devotion, forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto him or her as long as you both shall live?”

In our modern day, these traditional vows have been often modified to fit the nature and personalities of the participants, but in some conservative areas of our country, these vows are still a time honored tradition. The tradition grew out of a Judeo-Christian influence through Christian churches that hold to both Old and New Testament biblical teachings. That the words “God’s ordinance” are used in the traditional ceremony is not by accident. Most Christians view marriage as a Holy sacrament that is ordained by God himself. An ordinance is a law, by definition, so, many Christian groups view this ordinance as a covenant or contract before God between two consenting adults. Since 84 percent of the United States population considers themselves to be affiliated with Christianity in some way, it is very probable you are familiar with this traditional concept on marriage, and you may even know someone who used similar vows in their wedding ceremony.

Our current laws on the legality of marriage has certainly been influenced by Judeo-Christian values throughout the United States. Fault divorce is what has come out of such a background. No-fault divorce in the United States did not come about until California passed their law on January 1, 1970. a No-fault divorce is the dissolution of a marriage requiring neither a showing of wrong-doing of either party nor any evidentiary proceedings at all. Since the first No-fault law passed in California, all the states except New York has passed some type of No-fault statute. Although a No-fault divorce is readily available in most states today, Fault divorces are still a common occurrence simply because the two parties cannot always agree on how their property and children are to be divided when the divorce is final.

When a Fault divorce occurs, the two opposing spouses are required to go to court before a judge or a jury. There are still eleven states that allow divorces to go to jury under certain circumstances. Only Texas, today, allows a jury to decide the fate of all the ramifications of divorce including the custody of children. Before a divorce can occur in places like Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News and in other cities around Virginia, the reason for a Fault divorce has to be stated on a legal document entitled Complaint for Divorce, and then filed in the local court of jurisdiction. The only legal reasons allowed for a Fault divorce in Virginia are: adultery; sodomy or buggery committed outside the marriage; where either of the parties subsequent to the marriage has been convicted of a felony, sentenced to confinement for more than one year and confined for such felony subsequent to such conviction, and cohabitation has not been resumed after knowledge of such confinement; and where either party has been guilty of cruelty, caused reasonable apprehension of bodily hurt, or willfully deserted or abandoned the other.

Before No-fault divorces were so common, our nation relied on our Judeo-Christian roots to understand what we considered to be acceptable reasons for divorce, but today, with so much diversity within our borders, marriage has become a battleground for the separation of church and state. Our roots has taught us that marriage is a covenant contract that should be legally binding, and our existing laws reflect what our roots have taught us. Therefore, we perceive the marriage ceremony, regardless of who officiates over it, as a legal binding contract between two consenting adults, and it takes a legal action to undo what has been legally done. Likewise, there should be no wonder why Fault divorce reasons in our laws also reflect our roots. For instance, notice the similarities between the traditional Christian wedding vows and the legal reasons for divorce in Virginia. The contractual promise to forsake all others and keep yourself only to your spouse for as long as you both shall live may be broken for adultery, sodomy and buggery outside the marriage, and willfully deserting the other. The contractual promise to love and cherish your spouse may be broken by being guilty of cruelty or abuse. Since the marital vow has always been a form of legal and binding contract, should we always take our spouses for better or for worse, or better yet, should we vow to do so without legal recourse?

Maybe you and your spouse have come to that place where you think things have gotten a lot worse than you could have possibly imagined, you think there is reason enough to divorce, and you cannot agree on how to go about ending your marriage in a friendly and No-fault way. If this is the case, you both are probably going to need legal advice. Contact us right now at www.divorceattorneyhome.com, and we will help you find a divorce lawyer in your area that can provide you with the legal help you are seeking.