On behalf of Lawrence Law Office posted in Unmarried Couples on Wednesday, May 15, 2013
According to statistics, about half of people in their thirties or forties have lived together with someone in a romantic relationship to whom they were not married. However, without the legal protections of marriage, it can be difficult to protect your interests. Following these suggestions may help individuals in Ohio avoid or mitigate potential challenges.
Many people are interested in purchasing a home, especially with the ready availability of low interest rates. Both individuals should put their name on the mortgage deed in order to maintain half an interest in the property regardless of how their relationship develops. An individual can own real estate with another person through joint tenancy with right of survivorship or tenancy in common. A lawyer could execute or review the deed to ensure that his or her client's rights are protected.
On behalf of Lawrence Law Office posted in Divorce on Thursday, May 9, 2013
Ohio couples who do not have children and have limited assets may not have as many issues to contest during divorce proceedings. However, many couples in today's difficult economy have debts that need to be addressed during the divorce process.
The first thing that divorcing spouses should do is protect their legal and financial interests. They should construct a list of each account that the spouse has, either individually or jointly. They should list the status of each account, and they should also pull their credit report to determine if there are other debts that they may be liable for. For any joint accounts, spouses should notify the lending or banking institution of the pending divorce. They may also be able to cancel accounts with the approval of the divorce court.
On behalf of Lawrence Law Office posted in Child Support on Friday, May 3, 2013
Divorced parents in Ohio probably know all too well the issues and complications that can arise from child support arrangements, for both the payer and the recipient. An ongoing feud between a socialite, her boyfriend and her ex-husband shows that even the wealthy aren't immune from child support disputes. It's also a great example of how the most important issue, the children's best interests, often gets lost in the fighting.
Wall Street financier Warren Lichtenstein has filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Manhattan contending that his ex-wife, socialite and mountain climber Annabelle Bond, and her current boyfriend, former Goldman Sachs executive Andrew Cader, have conspired to mislabel Ms. Bond's assets as loans so that she could receive higher child support payments. Mr. Lichtenstein and Ms. Bond have a 5-year-old daughter and had been engaged in a child support dispute. In the midst of the dispute, Ms. Bond and the couple's daughter moved to Hong Kong, where Ms. Bond requested and was granted nearly $50,000 in monthly child support payments from Mr. Lichtenstein.
On behalf of Lawrence Law Office posted in Child Custody on Monday, April 22, 2013
In a decision being lauded by immigrants' rights advocates, an appeals court has ruled that a mother's undocumented immigrant status has no bearing on her fitness as a parent. In so ruling, the court reversed a lower court decision in a child custody case that granted sole custody to the four-year-old girl's paternal grandparents. The grandparents have not yet decided if they will seek further appeal.
The mother, who is living in the United States illegally, gave birth to her daughter in April 2009 when she was just 17 years old. She and the girl's father, who was 15 at the time, never married but lived together with his parents, the baby's grandparents. The father and grandmother are U.S. citizens; the grandfather is a legal resident.
On behalf of Lawrence Law Office posted in Child Custody on Thursday, April 18, 2013
Police arrested an Ohio man on charges of domestic violence after a custody visit took an ugly turn. The man, age 29, went to visit his son at the home of the child's mother. According to the mother, the man began threatening the boy while at her home. When she told him that he should not speak to the boy in that manner, he allegedly started choking her. The woman then called law enforcement.
When police arrived on the scene, they arrested the man. He was being held at county jail pending bond, which was set at $10,000. Not only does the man face criminal charges, his future child visitation rights likely will be impacted.
On behalf of Lawrence Law Office posted in Child Support on Friday, April 12, 2013
When lottery jackpots reach into the hundreds of millions, people throughout Ohio start dreaming of what they could do with the potential windfall. But those who are behind on their child support payments should temper their dreams. Any lottery winnings are likely to be intercepted and used to pay back child support.
That will be the case of the recent winner of the Powerball jackpot. On March 23, 2013, the jackpot reached an astronomical $338 million. One lucky man held all the winning numbers and, according to lottery officials, has opted to receive a $211 million lump sum payout, the third largest in Powerball history. After taxes, the man will be left with around $152 million.
On behalf of Lawrence Law Office posted in Divorce on Friday, April 5, 2013
Tax preparation can be confusing enough during normal circumstances, but Ohio residents who are divorcing or recently divorced may find that tax time will present additional challenges this year. Here are the answers to some common questions about how to prepare your taxes following a divorce.
What is my filing status? To determine your filing status for 2012, the only relevant date is December 31. If you were still married as of that day, even if you and your spouse were separated and the divorce was in the works, you must file as either "married filing jointly" or "married filing single." If you already were divorced that day, even if the divorce was finalized only one day earlier, your filing status is either "single" or "head of household." There are certain tax advantages that may apply if filing as "head of household" but you must meet certain requirements to use this status. Consult with your attorney or tax preparer if you are not sure.
On behalf of Lawrence Law Office posted in Child Support on Wednesday, March 27, 2013
With unpaid child support obligations on the rise in Ohio, the state's collection agencies are looking for new ways to get delinquent parents to pay up. The amount of past due child support in Ohio has increased by more than $689 million over the last five years. Roughly 80 percent of parents who are obligated to pay child support are behind by at least some payments. Despite these gloomy statistics, there is some good news. The trend is slowing as the state's economy improves and as state child support collection agencies are implementing new collection methods.
The state still employs traditional methods to collect overdue payments. These include withholding from a delinquent parent's unemployment benefits, suspending state-issued auto, recreational and professional licenses, and ordering jail time and fines in egregious cases. However, smaller budgets and increased workloads have state agencies looking for more creative methods to encourage payment.
On behalf of Lawrence Law Office posted in Divorce on Thursday, March 21, 2013
Ohio residents may have heard of a recent study conducted by Baylor University, which shows that when two religious parents divorce, their children are more likely to change religions or leave organized religion as adults. According to the findings published in the "Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion," someone who lived with just one religious parent as a child is twice as likely to leave or change religions as an adult than someone whose parents remained married. The lead researcher for the study believes this is because children of divorce have less exposure to a second actively religious parent following their parents' split.
Prior research suggested that divorce alone impacted a child's future religious commitment. However, those studies did not look at the religious commitment of both parents during marriage. The results may have simply reflected the impact of having parents with different levels of religious commitment or different religious beliefs. Those factors are already associated with children having a lower level of religious commitment later in life. Additionally, religious differences between spouses are associated with higher levels of divorce.
On behalf of Lawrence Law Office posted in Family Law on Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Does Facebook contribute to higher divorce rates in Ohio? In 2009, Facebook was cited as a contributing factor in one of nine divorce proceedings in the United States. One 2012 survey suggests that Facebook plays a role in one out of every three divorces. Exactly what role does Facebook play in the dissolution of marriage? Let's take a look.
Quite simply, the advent of Facebook and other social media sites has made cheating on a spouse less difficult. First, it has become much easier to reconnect with someone from your past. While it initially may seem harmless to look up an old boyfriend or girlfriend on Facebook, the ease of communicating via social media facilitates the rekindling of those old feelings. Facebook also makes it much easier to maintain an extramarital relationship. In the past, two people carrying on an affair had to meet in person or talk on the phone, which increased the risk of being caught. With texting, Facebook and other social media, it is now much easier to stay in contact with a lover without your spouse finding out.
