Costumes: When purchasing costumes, masks, beards and wigs, look for flame-resistant fabrics such as nylon or polyester, or look for the label “Flame Resistant.” Flame-resistant fabrics will resist burning and should extinguish quickly. To minimize the risk of contact with candles and other fire sources, avoid costumes made with flimsy materials and outfits with big, baggy sleeves or billowing skirts. Purchase or make costumes that are light, bright and clearly visible to motoris... Read Full Story

The final decision in this case is not earth shattering, but it provides a good discussion of how DHS operates during the course of a case. As always, if a parent will follow the case plan then reunification is likely. If the parent does not follow the case plan then termination is likely. Read Full Story

Administrative Order No. 10 provides guidance as to calculating a payor’s net income for child support. A distinction is made between self-employed payors and those that are not self-employed. In this case, the payor was previously self-employed but was not self-employed for the months leading up to the final hearing. Nonetheless, the trial court used the self-employed methodology contained in Administrative Order No. 10. The Court of Appeals reverses due to that error. Here’s... Read Full Story

As you might suspect, divorce shines a light on just about everything that is private in your life. In this Orlando, Florida divorce, nude photographs of the wife are at issue. Turns out that husband decided to put them on a spanish pornography site. Wife has sued him stating that the photos were meant only for her husband, not to be distributed over the internet. At first blush (no pun intended:), it seems that the photos are technically marital property and therefore belong to both the h... Read Full Story

Time magazine asks this question in the following article… http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1930772,00.html?xid=rss-topstories-polar Read Full Story

The police in Sumner County, Tennessee say “yes.” Here’s the link… http://www.abajournal.com/news/did_court_order_ban_facebook_poke/?from=widget This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 at 6:29 am and is filed under Divorce. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site. Read Full Story

Seven Myths of Divorce Posted on October 2, 2009 by J. Benjamin Stevens www.scfamilylaw.com Myth 1: Most men cheat on their wives. Actually, the best designed study to date indicates that nearly 80% of men report that they have never cheated on their wives. Myth 2: Most divorcing women are jilted by their husbands. Many studies have corroborated that the great majority of divorces (two thirds to three quarters, depending on the study) are initiated by women. This makes sense because numerous... Read Full Story

A surprising number of clients tell me during the initial consultation that Arkansas is “not an alimony state.” They are surprised to hear that Arkansas is indeed an alimony state. They are also surprised to hear that alimony is modifiable, much like child support, after the divorce is final. The primary reason for a modification is a change in the parties’ financial condition after the divorce. The Arkansas Court of Appeals recently provided a good discussion of alimony... Read Full Story

QDROs, Qualified Domestic Relations Orders, are drafted by an attorney, and signed by the judge, usually after the divorce is final. The purpose of the QDRO is to provide one spouse with a portion (usually half) of the other spouse’s retirement account due to the fact that the retirement account is marital property. In a divorce, we divide pretty much everything right? Well, that normally includes retirement accounts. But retirement accounts present the problem of taxes and penalties... Read Full Story

Divorce is emotionally draining, especially during the holidays and special occasions. Divorced parents must communicate with even more diplomacy, patience, mutual understanding, respect, and tolerance than married couples planning holiday travel, dinners, reunions and gift-giving. Juggling schedules during marriage is hard, and it only gets harder after divorce. Here are 10 tips for making sure everyone enjoys special occasions: 1. Plan Ahead Develop a parenting schedule before the holidays... Read Full Story