With the Holiday Cheer often comes parenting time and other child-related disputes surrounding the holidays including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. To avoid some potential of dispute, we suggest you look at your most current custody order(s) and the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines. With this, you can engage the other parent in a discussion and try to reach an agreement about who has what time and drop-offs and pick-up times and places well in advance. Try to account for foreseeable problems, such as bad weather or those that are unique in your ... Read More
06
Nov2018
17
Oct2018
For most of us, it is easy to be prepared to go to a new doctor’s appointment. We generally know what the doctor wants to know (our medical history) and what brings us to the doctor in the first place (a routine checkup to a lingering pain or bump). On the other hand, most people really do not know what to expect when they first seek an attorney for an auto accident, divorce, or criminal matter. Just the thought of needing an attorney and making an appointment can be overwhelming ... Read More
03
Oct2018
When you are a party in civil litigation (you are suing or being sued), it is common to receive a subpoena for your deposition. This means your opponent is on a “fishing expedition” to find out everything you know about the issues involved in the case. This process is done before a court reporter and you are asked all sorts of questions. Depositions are different than testimony at trial since the opposing counsel can ask a much broader scope of questions at a deposition if they might lead to admissible evidence.1 Keep ... Read More
11
Sep2018
No. Maybe. Even in today’s digital world, marital infidelity is difficult to define. Nevertheless, statistics show that “cheating” is one of the biggest factors in filing for divorce. Decades ago, the various states adopted the concept of no-fault divorce. This means if one party states the marriage is broken and wants a divorce, this is enough for the court to have jurisdiction over the matter. In the past, adultery or other wrongdoing was required; this is no longer the case.
There are now specific statutory reasons for a divorce under current Indiana law: ... Read More
22
May2018
While children are resilient and “bounce back”, modifying physical custody from one parent to another parent is a major life factor that may impact the child’s fundamental sense of safety, security, and stability. For this reason, there are two common factual situations where custody modification does not make a strong legal case.
The first is where the non-custodial parent’s life has improved, but this has had little impact on how the kids are doing in the custodial parent’s care. Remember, ... Read More
04
Jan2018
Almost everyone knows someone who has been, is or will be going through a “terrible” custody battle. The best of parents—acting under the stress of a separation or divorce—experiences a range of emotions from loss to rage.
In some cases, the perceptions of the parents are magnified by underlying psychological issues, substance abuse or both and lead to the truly high-conflict custody case. While there is no legal definition for a high conflict custody case, they all share some of the same hallmark behaviors and incidents ... Read More
03
Jan2018
In criminal and domestic cases in particular, a litigant is often at his or her lowest point in life, facing a serious criminal charge or a messy and protracted divorce. The outcome of the case may shape their future. For this reason, most lawyers have encountered family and friends wanting to pitch-in to fund a proper case for a loved one. The question that arises is what are the ethical and practical limits to third-party payers. This is the focus of this blog post.
The first ... Read More