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Archive for the ‘Relationships and the Law’
Calling the Shots from the Grave
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
I’ve written before in these columns that having a will allows people to decide for themselves how their money and property will be distributed after their death, rather than to let their state’s “intestacy”...
Tags: bequest, charities, texas oil, trusts, wills
Your Honor: That Man Alienated My Wife’s Affection!
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
If you live in Mississippi, Hawaii, Illinois, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota, or Utah, and you have a sexual relationship with a married person that leads to the breakup of his or her marriage,...
Tags: alienation of affection, gossip, home wrecker, outdated notion, sexual relationship
Sex, Lies, and Online Dating
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
Boomers returning to the dating world after divorce or widowhood have to deal with something that probably didn’t exist the last time they were single: online dating sites. There are literally thousands...
Tags: boomers, dating sites, deliberate misrepresentation, scams
Loans to Adult Kids: A Cautionary Tale
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
I was talking recently to an old friend, “Janet”, who told me about a troubling situation that I suspect is all-too-common among Boomer parents with adult kids.
Janet is a 61 year old divorced woman...
Tags: adult kids, loans, written documents
Why Are Divorces So Expensive?
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
I was reading a local news story the other day about a restaurant that had to be sold because of a divorce involving the owner and his wife. Evidently, the divorce was an ugly one, with allegations flying...
Tags: amount of money, anger, attorney fees, divorce mediation, witness fees
Getting Divorced in Stages
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
From a legal standpoint, a divorce proceeding begins when either the husband or the wife files a court document commonly called a petition. Psychologically, though, the divorce process begins much earlier....
Tags: anger, bitterness, denial stage, stages of divorce, thought processes
Adultery and Divorce: Facts and Myths
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
With so many entertainers, politicians, and professional athletes making headlines because of their sexual infidelities, it might be worth taking a look at how the law deals with adultery.
Let’s start...
Tags: adultery, divorce courts, emotional affairs, extramarital sex, filing for divorce
Dodgers Owner Fires Wife; Now She’s Firing Back!
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
I’m not sure what’s going on with Boomer-generation baseball owners in California, but yet another one is going through an extremely expensive divorce, and this time it’s a nasty one, too.
A while...
Tags: business owner, divorce cases, frank mccourt, john moores, salary
Paying Alimony? Thinking of Retiring? Better Think Twice!
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
Of all the issues in divorce cases, alimony is typically the most polarizing, more so even than child custody. If a husband is ordered to pay alimony, I guarantee you he insists he’s paying way too much,...
Tags: alimony, boomers, partnership, remarriage, retirement
Boomer Couples Resolving Differences from the Ground Up
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
I’ve written previously in Boomer-Living about mediation, and why it’s usually better than litigation as a way of resolving disputes in divorce cases. But mediation can also provide lessons on how...
Tags: Boomer-Living, compromise, divorce mediator, husbands and wives, litigation
Yet Another Reason Not to Have an Affair
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
How would you like to wake up and learn that a woman you had an affair with has gone public with all the details? Even worse, how would you like to be a wife who reads that her husband’s motive for the...
Tags: accusations, affairs, cheaters, invasion of privacy, legal protections
Where There’s a Will ……
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
Despite the unrelenting efforts of the legal profession to educate the public on the importance of wills, most people still don’t have one. A 2007 Harris Interactive survey disclosed that only forty-five...
Tags: beneficiary, executor, personal property, remarrying, wills
The Trials of Trial Separations
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
There are no accurate statistics on informal, or “trial”, separations, but it’s obvious that they are quite common. In my law and mediation practices, probably eighty percent of the divorcing couples...
Tags: emotional abuse, mediation, separations
A Kinder, Gentler Approach to Divorce
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
In an earlier article (“Avoiding the Well-Meaning Stranger”), I discussed divorce mediation, and why it’s often more effective than litigation as a way of resolving the many issues that arise during...
Tags: divorce
Jim Duzak
Posted in: Boomer-Living's Authors & Relationship Authors & Relationships and the Law |
Jim Duzak, Boomer-Living Director, is a Lawyer, mediator, workshop leader, and author of “Mid-Life Divorce and the Rebirth of Commitment” (Cold Tree Press, 2007). Jim Duzak has been called The Attorney...
Preventing “Sudden Divorce Syndrome”
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
The figures vary a bit from state to state, but, in general, about seventy percent of divorce cases are filed by women. Does that mean that wives are less happy in their marriages than husbands are? Not...
Tags: divorce cases, marriage counselors, relationship issues
The Case for Prenups
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
In an earlier column, I discussed some of the reasons---primarily psychological ones---why the big majority of couples don’t get prenuptial agreements. Today, I’d like to offer a few reasons why couples should...
Tags: child support issues, divorce court, prenup
The Silent Partner to Your Divorce
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
If you and your spouse are thinking of getting divorced, there are almost certainly going to be other people involved, possibly for a long time to come. No, I’m not talking about your children---not...
Tags: debt obligations, divorce agreement, divorce cases
When Once Isn’t Enough
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
I’ve always felt that the toughest of all family law cases are the ones in which the parties go back to court---sometimes repeatedly---seeking either an enforcement of the original divorce order, or...
Tags: divorce, family law cases
Psychological Barriers to Prenuptial Agreements
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
If you’re a member of the Boomer generation and you’re thinking seriously of getting married (or, more likely, remarried), you should also be thinking seriously of having a prenuptial agreement. They...
Tags: divorce, marriage, prenups, prenuptial agreements
Common Law Confusion
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
Of all the legal concepts related to marriage and divorce, common law marriage is probably the most misunderstood. I’m willing to bet that at least ninety percent of the people who think they have a...
Tags: common law marriage, marriage and divorce
The Unintended Consequences of Long-Term Separations
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
In a previous column, I wrote about legal separations, in which there is a court-ordered framework of rights and responsibilities covering everything from property division and debt allocation to spousal...
Tags: legal separation, marriage
Avoiding the Well-Meaning Stranger
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
I mean no disrespect to family court judges, but if you’re getting divorced and you choose to litigate your case, you’re allowing a well-meaning stranger to decide your fate. The judge assigned to...
Tags: divorce litigation, family court judges
Grandparent Visitation: a Right without a Remedy?
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
Millions of boomers are grandparents, and millions more look forward to the day when they will join the club. Most grandparents seem to love their role so much that their biggest complaint is that they...
Tags: grandchildren, grandparents, legal custody
The Fault with No-Fault
Posted in: Relationship Center & Relationships and the Law |
With the exception of New York, every state in the country has a no-fault divorce law. In some of those states, a person still has the option of filing for divorce on one of the traditional “fault”...
Tags: divorce mediator, family court judge, fault divorce
