Going through a divorce is one of the most stressful events in a person’s life. On top of the emotional and mental aspects of divorce, it can also create complex financial issues. Common questions include “who gets the house?” or “who gets the retirement fund?”. Unfortunately, there is no hard and fast rule to answer those types of questions. Each case is fact sensitive. This is where seasoned divorce attorneys and clients spend their time; trying to figure out what makes sense financially and ... Read More
10
Oct2019
09
Oct2019
To find that a child is a CHINS at a fact-finding hearing (trial), DCS must prove three elements: (1) the parent’s actions or inactions have seriously endangered the child; (2) that the child’s needs are unmet; and (3) that those needs are unlikely to be met without State coercion. It is the third of these elements that the Supreme Court has found to be the most important. The purpose of a CHINS proceeding is to protect the child, not punish the parent. Therefore, at the time ... Read More
26
Sep2019
By statute, the Indiana Department of Child Services (“DCS”) has to investigate every claim of abuse or neglect by a parent reported to the hotline number. Unfortunately, DCS is understaffed and its primary investigators are not trained sufficiently to handle the onslaught of parental neglect reports including those who make false reports to gain some tactical advantage (such as in a divorce case). Thus, it is not uncommon for a parent to be falsely accused of neglect/abuse of their ... Read More
24
Sep2019
Parents constantly worry about their children. The problem is magnified when the threat of harm to the children comes from your ex (or biological parent) as like you, they too have a fundamental right to raise their children. However, courts treat abuse—particularly physical abuse very seriously— as they are charged with always looking out for the children’s best interests. This blog covers legal tools you may engage to obtain “protection” for you children to key evidence you may need to make your case.
Depending ... Read More
23
Sep2019
In most post-divorce cases, there comes a time when a non-custodial parent believes it is “time” to go back to court and move to modify custody. One major mistake parents make is equating the betterment of their life with a substantial change for their children to modify child physical custody. Custody modifications are not uncommon, and presupposing you are not making this mistake, what you need to establish to likely prevail in your modification case is based on three components that are explored in this ... Read More
20
Sep2019
It is common knowledge that addiction to illicit and prescription drugs is at “epidemic” proportions in the United States. Unfortunately, families are not immune from this problem and many divorces are tied to addiction (which may be tied to mental illness diagnoses as well). Many spouses simply do not know how addiction may play into divorce, so they wait or do not file at all until it is too late. This blog covers what you need to know about filing for divorce where addiction ... Read More
12
Sep2019
With Americans increasingly living and working abroad as we expand to a global workforce, Indiana divorces with international aspects are not uncommon.1 This blog briefly highlights some of the issues you need to know if you are in this situation.
Jurisdiction. As long as one of the parties have lived in the state and county for six (6) months, the Court has jurisdiction to entertain a divorce case and it can make a custody award, divide the property, ... Read More
11
Sep2019
The importance of pets in our society is measured in terms of billions of dollars. Couples are delaying children or not having them at all--and pets are more commonly accepted everywhere—such as at hotels. They are the “kids” for many people and when a divorce comes about, they can be the central issue of contention—who gets “Tigger” the cat or “Fido” the dog. This blog addresses pets under current Indiana law.
As many readers may be surprised to learn, pets are treated as normal household ... Read More
10
Sep2019
In high conflict custody cases, it is common to have a forensic Ph.D. level custody evaluator conduct an evaluation and make recommendations to the court as to who should have custody in the child’s best interests. These evaluations result in a written report. However, no professional is accurate all of the time, and occasionally an errant report issues. In short, we all make mistakes—even professionals. If you get an adverse custody evaluation in your case, this blog is focused on potential “fixes” for a custody evaluation ... Read More
04
Sep2019
A question most every experienced divorce lawyer has been asked is “Can I obtain joint physical custody?” Joint physical custody literally means the children spend equal (or near equal) time with each parent. There are some standard ways this may be accomplished such as parents having the children on a 3-2-2-3 schedule or 5-2-2-5 (days). In some cases, the parents may even go week-on, week-off. This blog explores the current law on (joint) physical custody, how it may be reached and ordered at trial, and problems that ... Read More