July 2012 Archives

Many men think that the system is stacked against them in a divorce. Due to gender stereotypes or simply inertia, their perception is that women are favored in child custody decisions. Many men also believe they tend to get the short end of the stick in alimony or spousal support awards.

One question looms large for many people who paid more than scant attention to the recent divorce settlement between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

My husband and I are planning on divorce. His assets are under his parents name and he earns as much as I do. Can I claim any? Answer: I believe the question that you are asking is, do you have any claim to assets that are in your husband's parent's name. The short answer to that question is no.
That being said, if you can show that he transferred those assets to his parents to avoid dividing them in the divorce, the court could offset those assets from other marital assets or order him to reimburse you for the value of those assets. To fully answer this question, we would need to know more facts about your situation. For more information please visit one of our websites: Property Division

Trust can break down in a contentious divorce. Sometimes it happens slowly, over an extended period of time. In other cases, it can happen suddenly, when you realize that your spouse has been misleading you.

Most long-term football fans know who Andre Rison is. Rison played at a high level for a number of years in the National Football League, including a lengthy stint in Georgia with the Atlanta Falcons.

We last reported on developing news in former boxing champion Evander Holyfield's child support dispute with the Georgia Department of Human Services (GDHS) in our June 11 blog post.

A Person recently asked us: How do you determine jurisdiction? Married for 42 years. Primary residence is in Georgia and own condo in Florida. Wife is now staying in Florida since November 2011. I want to file for divorce in Georgia, but how do I know where jurisdiction will be? Answer: The question of Jurisdiction can be a very complicated one. As a general rule a person has the right to have any civil lawsuits brought against them in the state and county where they reside. Of course there are exceptions to this rule and the issue of "where they reside" can be rather subjective and up for argument. For example, if your wife is just on an extended vacation in Florida, then she still resides in Georgia for the purpose of jurisdiction. If she moved to Florida in 2011 and intended to make Florida her home then she would reside in Florida. The primary exception to the general rule would be Georgia's long arm statute which would allow for Georgia to exercise personal Jurisdiction over the resident of another state. However, to qualify for jurisdiction under the long arm statute you must meet very specific requirements. For that reason, you will probably need to seek the advice of an experienced Divorce Lawyer. For more information on the process of filing for divorce, please visit the links to our websites. Divorce

A women recently asked us a divorce question: My husband has filed for divorce. We have been married almost 18 years , turbulent years. He is asking for half of what we have, is that likely? The answer: As a general rule the courts here in Georgia divide marital property equitably. There are two issues there, first what is marital property and what does equitably mean. Marital property is anything acquired during the marriage that is not a give or inheritance to one person alone, however, gifts or inheritance can be commingled and made to be marital property. Equitably, means fair in the mind of the judge or jury deciding how the property is going to be divided.
Marital property can be anything of value or any debt of the parties without regard for the name on the account or debt. If the debt or asset was acquired during the marriage in can be divided by the court. For example, if you have a 401-K in your name and he has a credit card in his name, the court could, if it was deemed fair to do so, give him part of your 401-K and make you responsible for a portion of of his credit card debt. As we stated earlier, an inheritance or gift is marital property if it was commingled, examples of how something can be commingled are depositing the asset into a joint bank account or spending the money on a joint asset such as the marital residence. Otherwise, you are not entitled to any portion of his inheritance nor would he be entitled to any that you might receive in the future. It might be important in your situation to note that inheritance may be considered when deciding the issue of alimony.
Equitable division is very subjective, the judge or jury may look at all issues surrounding the parties including their conduct in deciding what is fair. Thus, the ultimate answer to your question is, if the court believes it is fair, your assets might be split 50/50. For more information on this topic please visit our websites: Property Division 

A women recently asked us on our: Am I entitiled to a portion of the home, we purchased as common law partners and later married 3 years later The answer: There are three distinct questions here, first were you common law married, two are you entitled to an equitable division of the marital home, three, are you entitled to alimony. First, Georgia did not abolish common law marriage until 1997, so if you were common law married before that date it would still be enforceable. That would be a question of fact for the judge to decide but it would be possible. The second question is concerning the home. In Georgia we divide marital property equitably, meaning fairly. there are two theories that could be used to say that at least some portion of the marital residence is marital property. First, if you were common law married at the time of purchase then it would all be marital. Second, if you were married in 2008 then a Thomas calculation could be done to determine what portion of the home is marital and certainly some portion of it would be assuming there is equity. The third question is concerning alimony and that would be determined by his ability to pay and your financial needs. You have not provided enough information for any of us to speculate on this issue.  To answer this question we would need to know more about your financial status.   For more information on this topic please visit our websites at: Property Division  

We were recently asked a Paternity and Legitimation question. A Paternity action is when a father brings an action to enforce his rights to visit with a child. A Legitimation action is an action brought by a mother to make the father the legitimate legal father of the child so that the child can inherit from the father and the father will be responsible to provide child support for the child.

Father's Day was a couple of weeks ago. It's nice that dads, like moms, get a special day. But it takes more than one day a year to recognize that the role of fathers often goes unappreciated in today's society.

Many couples whose marriages end in divorce might prefer to go their separate ways entirely. When the time comes for a clean break, though, not every couple has that luxury -- particularly if children are involved. When child support and shared child custody are involved, most ex-spouses find it impossible to avoid communicating and being together occasionally.