Child Support in the New Year
There are a number of good reasons to take a look at your child support. It is not uncommon for parents to just let the old order “ride”, not wanting to stir up the old hard feelings and conflict. While a desire to not cause problems is understandable, the under or over payment of support is a problem you have every right to correct. If it has been a couple of years since you last had support looked at, if a child has turned 12, if the medical insurance is a problem, if a child is no longer needing day care services, or there has been a significant change in income, the time is ripe for a quick look at the support payment.
In most cases, there is little that can be done to go back in time and correct problems, day care is an exception, but for every month that goes by you stand to loose out on any benefit a support modification may bring. At a minimum, you can at least confirm the income of the other parent, so that you can make an educated decision about your next step. There are new child support laws that went into effect about 15 months ago, and these new laws can make a big difference in the child support payment.
It’s easy to put off dealing with money issues, but, if you haven’t looked at support in a while, now is a good time. 2010 tax returns are being prepared, w-‘s are available, and, with the changes in the child support laws, now is a great time to get the support right.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Ringing in the New Year
Ringing in the New Year
I does seem like we are a little more motivated to get our lives in order during the new year. It’s so easy to put things off, but the risk can be significant. Now is the time to take a look at your personal issues and take the steps needed to get them handled.
It seems like more people are thinking about estate planning after Christmas. Who will make my medical and financial decisions for me if I am unable to do it myself? Will my estate go to the people I want to receive it? Will minors that may receive bequests be protected, and the bequest properly managed and distributed?
All of the above are good questions, and if the answer to any question is “I don’t know”, then it is time to get some professional advice. You can usually meet with an attorney at little or no cost who can explain estate planning and how to best achieve your goals. All you are out is your time, and the advantages to getting educated on estate planning issues can really pay off.
If you have not sought help with your estate planning needs or if it has been years since you last talked to an attorney about these issues, now is a great time to do the responsible thing. A little time and trouble now can save your family and loved ones a great deal of sorrow and expense later.
I does seem like we are a little more motivated to get our lives in order during the new year. It’s so easy to put things off, but the risk can be significant. Now is the time to take a look at your personal issues and take the steps needed to get them handled.
It seems like more people are thinking about estate planning after Christmas. Who will make my medical and financial decisions for me if I am unable to do it myself? Will my estate go to the people I want to receive it? Will minors that may receive bequests be protected, and the bequest properly managed and distributed?
All of the above are good questions, and if the answer to any question is “I don’t know”, then it is time to get some professional advice. You can usually meet with an attorney at little or no cost who can explain estate planning and how to best achieve your goals. All you are out is your time, and the advantages to getting educated on estate planning issues can really pay off.
If you have not sought help with your estate planning needs or if it has been years since you last talked to an attorney about these issues, now is a great time to do the responsible thing. A little time and trouble now can save your family and loved ones a great deal of sorrow and expense later.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Knowing your credit score
Divorce and Your Credit Score
Increasingly, I am seeing people who are thinking of a divorce, in the middle of a divorce, and have completed their divorce worried about their credit score. Will the divorce lower my score? Will I be hurt by my spouse’s failure to pay debt? What can I do to protect myself?
It is a good idea to think about these issues. Your credit score has a big impact on your financial life – getting a loan, interest rates, getting the best deal, etc. You can take steps to protect yourself, but you need the facts first. Do a credit check and see who your creditors are. It sounds funny, but you may be listed on debt incurred by your spouse and you don’t even know it.
Just because you are divorced (or may get a divorce) doesn’t keep your spouse’s behavior from hurting you. It is common in any division of debt for each party to take some of the bills (I get the Visa and you get the Master Card). If both of you are on the account, regardless of what the Divorce Decree says, if your former spouse fails to pay the debt, the creditor will come after you for payment and his or her poor payment history will reflect on your credit score.
There are ways to be protected throughout the process, but it takes a lot of investigation and aggressive follow up. Sometimes it is possible to have your name removed from a debt as part of the divorce process, but more often your spouse cannot qualify to go it alone. A well drafted Decree of Dissolution can go a long ways toward giving you the protection you need. If done right, most of the time you can avoid problems with your credit score.
I often see problem that impact credit scores arise at the beginning of a divorce. Payments are missed because the parties can’t agree on who pays which debt. Irregularly occurring debt is missed – like quarterly insurance payments. Bills aren’t paid because the direct withdrawal for the payment comes out of a now closed account. It makes sense for you and your spouse to try to sit down and get this worked out as best you can at the very beginning. It will help both of you keep your good credit, and save problems from popping up after the divorce is final.
Increasingly, I am seeing people who are thinking of a divorce, in the middle of a divorce, and have completed their divorce worried about their credit score. Will the divorce lower my score? Will I be hurt by my spouse’s failure to pay debt? What can I do to protect myself?
It is a good idea to think about these issues. Your credit score has a big impact on your financial life – getting a loan, interest rates, getting the best deal, etc. You can take steps to protect yourself, but you need the facts first. Do a credit check and see who your creditors are. It sounds funny, but you may be listed on debt incurred by your spouse and you don’t even know it.
Just because you are divorced (or may get a divorce) doesn’t keep your spouse’s behavior from hurting you. It is common in any division of debt for each party to take some of the bills (I get the Visa and you get the Master Card). If both of you are on the account, regardless of what the Divorce Decree says, if your former spouse fails to pay the debt, the creditor will come after you for payment and his or her poor payment history will reflect on your credit score.
There are ways to be protected throughout the process, but it takes a lot of investigation and aggressive follow up. Sometimes it is possible to have your name removed from a debt as part of the divorce process, but more often your spouse cannot qualify to go it alone. A well drafted Decree of Dissolution can go a long ways toward giving you the protection you need. If done right, most of the time you can avoid problems with your credit score.
I often see problem that impact credit scores arise at the beginning of a divorce. Payments are missed because the parties can’t agree on who pays which debt. Irregularly occurring debt is missed – like quarterly insurance payments. Bills aren’t paid because the direct withdrawal for the payment comes out of a now closed account. It makes sense for you and your spouse to try to sit down and get this worked out as best you can at the very beginning. It will help both of you keep your good credit, and save problems from popping up after the divorce is final.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays!
It’s a wonderful time of the year, and, for some of us, a very difficult time of the year. The stress of life always seems to intensify during the holidays. This can lead to run ins with the law. It’s best to know how to handle these situations before they occur.
If you are pulled over, be pleasant – the officer is only doing his or her job. Making the officer mad is not going to help your case. Just remember this: Ask to speak to an attorney right away. Make no comments, statements, or confessions until you have had a chance to talk to an attorney. You can provide the officer with your license, registration, and proof of insurance, but keep in mind that everything you say will be used against you. This is no line from a bad cop show, everything you say will be used against you.
Usually the officer will ask you to perform sobriety tests at the scene of the stop. Walk and turn, leg lift, etc. I do not recommend your taking these voluntary tests. In my experience, nearly everyone fails these tests – so why give the prosecutor more ammunition to use against you? After you have had the chance to talk to an attorney, you can then make decisions about other aspects of the arrest, but don’t get sucked into a conversation with the officer prior to talking to an attorney. It may seem like a casual conversation, but it is not. You have a right to remain silent, use it.
Enjoy your holidays. Drive safely, and protect your rights.
It’s a wonderful time of the year, and, for some of us, a very difficult time of the year. The stress of life always seems to intensify during the holidays. This can lead to run ins with the law. It’s best to know how to handle these situations before they occur.
If you are pulled over, be pleasant – the officer is only doing his or her job. Making the officer mad is not going to help your case. Just remember this: Ask to speak to an attorney right away. Make no comments, statements, or confessions until you have had a chance to talk to an attorney. You can provide the officer with your license, registration, and proof of insurance, but keep in mind that everything you say will be used against you. This is no line from a bad cop show, everything you say will be used against you.
Usually the officer will ask you to perform sobriety tests at the scene of the stop. Walk and turn, leg lift, etc. I do not recommend your taking these voluntary tests. In my experience, nearly everyone fails these tests – so why give the prosecutor more ammunition to use against you? After you have had the chance to talk to an attorney, you can then make decisions about other aspects of the arrest, but don’t get sucked into a conversation with the officer prior to talking to an attorney. It may seem like a casual conversation, but it is not. You have a right to remain silent, use it.
Enjoy your holidays. Drive safely, and protect your rights.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Your Parenting Plan and the Holidays
Your Parenting Plan and the Holidays
The holiday season is a great time for most of us. Time with the children, family events, outdoor fun. For some, this time of the year is complicated by conflicts over when the children will be with which parent. The holiday season can be stressful, and, if there is no agreement on visitation, can be nearly beyond your ability to cope.
The best advance planning involves taking a good hard look at your Parenting Plan. Plot out the regular visitation, holiday visitation, and winter vacation visitation on your calendar. If you are able to talk to the other parent, try to get an agreement that your work accurately reflects his or her understanding of the Parenting Plan. If you both agree, visits and exchanges during this season can be much less stressful.
If you and the other parent do not agree, there is still time to get the conflict resolved by attorney and/or court intervention. It generally takes two weeks to get in front of a court on this kind of conflict, but, in emergency situations, the time line can be accelerated. What rarely works is to wait to the last minute and then discover that your plans are not in accord with the other parent’s interpretation of the court order.
Putting your thoughts in writing, and documenting your delivery of these notes to the other parent can go a long ways toward creating a paper trail that can be most useful if the issue needs to go to court. If you expect a conflict, or have had prior problems enforcing the Parenting Plan, you need to take early action to ensure you have a happy and appropriate holiday visitation schedule.
The holiday season is a great time for most of us. Time with the children, family events, outdoor fun. For some, this time of the year is complicated by conflicts over when the children will be with which parent. The holiday season can be stressful, and, if there is no agreement on visitation, can be nearly beyond your ability to cope.
The best advance planning involves taking a good hard look at your Parenting Plan. Plot out the regular visitation, holiday visitation, and winter vacation visitation on your calendar. If you are able to talk to the other parent, try to get an agreement that your work accurately reflects his or her understanding of the Parenting Plan. If you both agree, visits and exchanges during this season can be much less stressful.
If you and the other parent do not agree, there is still time to get the conflict resolved by attorney and/or court intervention. It generally takes two weeks to get in front of a court on this kind of conflict, but, in emergency situations, the time line can be accelerated. What rarely works is to wait to the last minute and then discover that your plans are not in accord with the other parent’s interpretation of the court order.
Putting your thoughts in writing, and documenting your delivery of these notes to the other parent can go a long ways toward creating a paper trail that can be most useful if the issue needs to go to court. If you expect a conflict, or have had prior problems enforcing the Parenting Plan, you need to take early action to ensure you have a happy and appropriate holiday visitation schedule.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Parents with no relationship with the other parent
Parents with no relationship with the other parent:
Frequently I work with a parent who has no real relationship with the other parent. The extent of their relationship with the other parent might be very brief prior to the birth of the child. Parenting is hard enough when you know the other parent well, and have a long relationship history. What do you do when you hardly know the other parent?
Frequently, I see parents that may have hard feelings toward the other parent in these circumstances. “You weren’t there to give me emotional support during the pregnancy.” “You have shut me out of my child’s life.” “I have no interest in you playing a part in my child’s life.”
There are several things that can help. Get some professional counseling to help you address your feelings about the child, lack of relationship, and how to manage your future relationship with the child. If you can talk to the other parent, co-parenting counseling is widely available. It helps both of you understand how to work together to raise a child (even when there is no personal relationship between the two parents). If the parents can recognize that it is the child’s best interests that come first, and that the involvement of both parents is a positive for the child, learning to co-parent can be a rewarding experience.
Too often, the father of the child will have little or no contact with the mother or child in the early days. (I often see cases where the father didn’t even know he was having a child until after the birth!) Washington law allows either parent to seek an appropriate Parenting Plan and Order of Child Support. If either parent is proactive, the parents can both have a meaningful relationship with their child from the beginning.
Putting off getting a Parenting Plan can adversely impact your future time with the child. Our courts are frequently concerned when one parent has little contact with the child (for any reason) and then wants to be involved in a significant way. The thinking is that a bond needs to be established with the parent and child early on, and, if it is lacking, it can take years to work up to normalized contact.
As soon as you are aware of the pregnancy – get involved. Take age appropriate parenting classes, attend medical appointments, and be there at the birth. Showing your attention to the mother and child can go a long ways toward keeping you involved in the child’s life. If you are the mother, involving the father can go a long ways toward avoiding conflict later.
Frequently I work with a parent who has no real relationship with the other parent. The extent of their relationship with the other parent might be very brief prior to the birth of the child. Parenting is hard enough when you know the other parent well, and have a long relationship history. What do you do when you hardly know the other parent?
Frequently, I see parents that may have hard feelings toward the other parent in these circumstances. “You weren’t there to give me emotional support during the pregnancy.” “You have shut me out of my child’s life.” “I have no interest in you playing a part in my child’s life.”
There are several things that can help. Get some professional counseling to help you address your feelings about the child, lack of relationship, and how to manage your future relationship with the child. If you can talk to the other parent, co-parenting counseling is widely available. It helps both of you understand how to work together to raise a child (even when there is no personal relationship between the two parents). If the parents can recognize that it is the child’s best interests that come first, and that the involvement of both parents is a positive for the child, learning to co-parent can be a rewarding experience.
Too often, the father of the child will have little or no contact with the mother or child in the early days. (I often see cases where the father didn’t even know he was having a child until after the birth!) Washington law allows either parent to seek an appropriate Parenting Plan and Order of Child Support. If either parent is proactive, the parents can both have a meaningful relationship with their child from the beginning.
Putting off getting a Parenting Plan can adversely impact your future time with the child. Our courts are frequently concerned when one parent has little contact with the child (for any reason) and then wants to be involved in a significant way. The thinking is that a bond needs to be established with the parent and child early on, and, if it is lacking, it can take years to work up to normalized contact.
As soon as you are aware of the pregnancy – get involved. Take age appropriate parenting classes, attend medical appointments, and be there at the birth. Showing your attention to the mother and child can go a long ways toward keeping you involved in the child’s life. If you are the mother, involving the father can go a long ways toward avoiding conflict later.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Domestic Violence is Everyone’s Problem
Domestic Violence is Everyone’s Problem
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The epidemic of domestic violence has become much more public in recent years, but the problem persists. Most advocates for victim’s rights believe that education, awareness, and prompt action can go a long way toward meeting this issue head on.
Domestic violence tends to perpetuate it self from one generation to the next. Child who witness domestic violence are much more likely to be abusers or be abused when they are older. Stopping this vicious cycle is all our responsibility!
Women, men, and children are victims everyday and in every community. What can you do? If you or someone you know is being abused, call the Washington State Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-562-6025 or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or at TTY 1-800-787-3224. Reporting the problem can go a long way toward getting these victims the help they need.
There are a number of private legal actions available to DV victims. You can report the problem to the police, they will be very proactive in addressing the problem. For children, CPS can investigate allegations and help get the appropriate protection. Adult Protective Services can investigate allegations for older folks. You can ask the court to enter a civil protection order – if violated, it is a criminal offense. A family law attorney can help you get out of a violent situation, and help get legal protection from future violent behavior.
In addition, although not my area of specialty, counseling can really help deal with the abuse in a healthy way. There are any number of qualified counselors who work with DV abuse victims in every area of our state. There are also programs available through church and non-profit organizations that can help at little or no charge.
The real solution is awareness and action. Taking that first step to get help is often the hardest, but is also the most important.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The epidemic of domestic violence has become much more public in recent years, but the problem persists. Most advocates for victim’s rights believe that education, awareness, and prompt action can go a long way toward meeting this issue head on.
Domestic violence tends to perpetuate it self from one generation to the next. Child who witness domestic violence are much more likely to be abusers or be abused when they are older. Stopping this vicious cycle is all our responsibility!
Women, men, and children are victims everyday and in every community. What can you do? If you or someone you know is being abused, call the Washington State Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-562-6025 or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or at TTY 1-800-787-3224. Reporting the problem can go a long way toward getting these victims the help they need.
There are a number of private legal actions available to DV victims. You can report the problem to the police, they will be very proactive in addressing the problem. For children, CPS can investigate allegations and help get the appropriate protection. Adult Protective Services can investigate allegations for older folks. You can ask the court to enter a civil protection order – if violated, it is a criminal offense. A family law attorney can help you get out of a violent situation, and help get legal protection from future violent behavior.
In addition, although not my area of specialty, counseling can really help deal with the abuse in a healthy way. There are any number of qualified counselors who work with DV abuse victims in every area of our state. There are also programs available through church and non-profit organizations that can help at little or no charge.
The real solution is awareness and action. Taking that first step to get help is often the hardest, but is also the most important.
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