Posted on July 17, 2012 in Personal Injury

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 Posted on July 15, 2012 in Family Law

Since the advent of the social media website, many people are sharing their lives on the internet. You can find whole families of people sharing pictures, stories and other things through Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites. Employers have been warning their employees for years about the dangers of representing a company online. Multinational companies have since starting drafting policies outlining how to use these tools of broad communication. CBS Local reports that divorce lawyers are now warning of a downside of using social media during divorce proceedings.

The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers says that 80% of divorce lawyers are seeing information from Facebook being used in divorce proceedings. Social media can provide an accurate timeline for affairs or show past insults and indiscretions. At least that’s what most people assume would be a risk for using Facebook. But e-discovery can be more encompassing than that according to Karen Conti, a law professor at the University of Illinois. She states that another aspect to worry about is “(c)ustody battles. Where you might see a parent smoking pot or something that would have an impact on their ability to be a good parent. Someone has taken a trip or they’re dissipating family money…or they’re doing something that’s not in the best interest of the family.”

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 Posted on July 14, 2012 in Personal Injury

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 Posted on July 11, 2012 in Personal Injury

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 Posted on July 10, 2012 in Family Law

While divorce rates have slowed down for most Americans, amongst the Baby Boomer generation, the divorce rate is climbing.

According to data compiled by the federal government's 2009 American Community Survey, divorce rates for couples over 50 have doubled during the past twenty years. According to researchers, blacks were most likely to divorce after fifty, while whites were least likely. Hispanics fell in the middle of the numbers, once the rates were studied by ethnic group.

The researchers cited several reasons for the upturn in divorce rates among Boomers. Longer lifespans led to couples re-evaluating their choice of lifestyle and partner. For others, what defined a happy marriage in their youth has shifted to personal fulfillment. Now adults want to explore how to find that outside of a marital relationship.

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 Posted on July 08, 2012 in Personal Injury

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 Posted on July 04, 2012 in Family Law

While couples cite numerous reasons for filing for divorce, studies show than in an majority of the cases, the wife is the party that initiates the filing.

According to a survey conducted by the AARP, amongst couples aged 40-79, two thirds of all filings for divorce are initiated by women. While we think of the stereotype of middle aged men dumping their wives for younger women, the report finds that in most cases, men are blindsided by a filing for divorce.

More than a quarter of men surveyed responded that they never saw the divorce coming, as opposed to 14% of women who reported being shocked by a divorce filing. Most women filed for divorce due to verbal, emotional and physical neglect. In the state of Illinois, couples can file for a no- fault divorce which means that neither spouse has to prove that the other is responsible for the breakdown of the marriage.

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 Posted on July 03, 2012 in Personal Injury

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 Posted on June 30, 2012 in Family Law

After six years of what seemed to outsiders to be wedded bliss, Katie Holmes shocked the entertainment world by filing for divorce from her husband Tom Cruise on Friday. Whether a nasty legal battle will follow remains to be seen.

Holmes has filed for sole custody of the couple’s six year old daughter, Suri, leading to speculation that there are differences of opinion within the couple on how their daughter is to be raised. The natural assumption among entertainment news sources is that Tom Cruise’s controlling nature and deep involvement with the Church of Scientology have something to do with split.

Custody issues are the number-one cause of nasty legal battles in most divorce cases. Parents want to be with their children, and want to remain as involved with them as possible. Even the most amicable of splits can turn ugly when a custody battle is involved. In Tom and Katie’s case, things can turn even more sour because she has filed for sole rather than joint custody of their only child, which would give her complete power to make decisions on things such as where Suri lives, goes to school, and her religious upbringing.

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 Posted on June 27, 2012 in Family Law

Former Disney teen star Miley Cyrus is the latest celebrity to announce her engagement. The announcement is causing headlines because Cyrus is just 19, while her fiance is 22. And Cyrus isn't the only celebrity getting married young—many others have joined her in the trend. But are these young celebrities sending the wrong message to teens?

Teens are often stereotyped for doing anything that they see their role models doing, and many teens grew up watching Cyrus on television. Research shows that couples who marry before the age of twenty are three more times likely to divorce than those who marry at age twenty five or later.

In addition, many teens are not experienced in dealing with the issues that come with marriage. Many are uneducated about spending and saving money, which is the most common reason for divorce in the United States. Another significant contributor to divorce is disagreement on having chilren, or the number of children each spouse wishes to have. Many teens are still not ready to have open discussions on these topics.

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