Family Law

What drives divorce costs dramatically higher is one thing and one thing only: disagreement between the parties. If the husband and wife can agree on the key issues, such as property division, custody, and child support, all that remains is drafting of documents. But when there are battles, negotiations, debates - all those things take time. And as noted above, the lawyers are charging by the tenth of an hour. So, if both sides are represented by attorneys (and they should be!) a debate over who gets to keep the painting in the living room or a wedding present can quickly become far more expensive than the painting or buying a new toaster oven. That's not to say that key issues and disagreements shouldn't be fought out, either in negotiation or litigation, but simply a word to the wise. It often makes sense to settle economic issues rather than litigate them.

1) Panama City, Fla., with a total divorced population of 15.5 percent and a 4.3 percent 2009 divorce rate.

2) Sierra Vista, Ariz., with total divorced population of 13.6 percent and a 5.5 percent 2009 divorce rate.

I was reading an article recently on divorces. These are the top 5 reasons they believe couples divorce:

1. Different values and interests
2. Abuse — physical and emotional
3. Alcohol and drugs
4. Infidelity
5. Career-related conflict

What do you think?

When one thinks of custody and visitation in a divorce case, the first thing that most likely comes to mind is: "When will I see my children?" An important aspect of visitation is not only when you will see your children, but also when you will be able to speak to them during the times in which your former spouse has custody/visitation. For many parents this is a no brainer, the children can speak to the other parent as often as they would like. In more adversarial divorces, however, this is not always the case. Sometimes one parent may feel that the other parent calls too often, disrupting his/her visitation or custodial time, or calls at inopportune times, when the children are doing homework or asleep.

Conventional wisdom says that divorce rates increase as the economy decreases. The reason for this is simple: Some couples who were staying together because the money was good are finding themselves arguing more about their finances and finding fewer reasons to stay together; other couples are simply pushed to the edge by economic stresses. But in the current bad economy, the opposite is actually occurring. More couples who were considering divorce are deciding to stick it out, either in hopes that the economy will soon recover or that their relationships will.