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
12
Sep2019
03
Sep2019
In most counties, the trial courts make parties fill out financial declarations shortly after filing for a divorce and exchange it with the other side. These forms cover everything from income to weekly bills and assets and liabilities. Most litigants reel at this fact because the form takes some time to complete. However, the courts are doing parties a great favor by this mandatory “informal” discovery because it saves time and expense later, as it gives each divorcing party ... Read More
29
Aug2019
Individuals who find themselves in the middle of a paternity or divorce proceeding understand the emotional struggle that comes along with it. Whether it’s a paternity proceeding to establish custody, or a modification of a prior divorce decree, these types of proceedings never tend to get easier for people. For this reason, and some others, people treat these types of proceedings as a way to “air out dirty laundry” of the other. There are certainly numerous pieces of evidence that are ... Read More
27
Aug2019
You do not have to be a lawyer to recognize that today’s children are being raised in large numbers by third-parties, ranging from grandparents to relatives to friends and total strangers. Knowing how important stability is to a child’s sense of well-being, many third-parties mistakenly believe that they can just file in court and obtain “custody” since they are raising someone else’s children. However, the United States Supreme Court has determined that natural (and ... Read More
23
Aug2019
Everyone who begins a divorce watches television or has a friend who has certain beliefs in the divorce system that often shape how they talk about the process, view it and sometimes advise their friends. In this blog, we address three myths that are commonplace in Indiana. Avoid these and make the most of your divorce and expectations.
Sixty-day divorce. Under the Divorce Act, the court can divorce parties in 60 days. However, divorce is a complex financial transaction and where there are children involved, one that their ... Read More
22
Aug2019
The trial court’s final order, such as in a divorce case, dividing the property and making a custody award can be enforced immediately. And it usually is. That said, a litigant who does not want an order enforced pending an appeal has two ways to stop its enforcement pending an appeal. In this blog, we cover stays that stop a trial court’s final order from being enforced.
As a first step, which ... Read More
19
Aug2019
Indiana trial court judges are tasked with the duty to make sure that at the time of divorce (or paternity) adjudication the children’s best interests are met. If the parents have an agreement on custody and it is not contested, they may infer that agreement of the parties is in the children’s best interests. However, where physical and/or legal custody is contested, there are four key ways a trial court judge determines what is in a ... Read More
13
Aug2019
Divorce can be a complex emotional, financial and business transaction for most spouses. It is one they often do not know much about other than what they have heard from friends or observed on television. This usually has little to do with reality in an Indiana divorce. Over time, we have observed that in initial consults, prospective clients could have obtained more from the process and been on a better path to move forward if they had gathered ... Read More
28
May2019
Many people in Indiana have a general idea of what it means to appeal a decision. The popularity of legal TV shows, true crime shows streamed to our laptops and tablets, and news stories about the reversal of criminal convictions based on DNA evidence or a new United States Supreme Court case all touch on the idea of an “appeal.” We’ve already broadly covered the basics of an appeal in our blog post “What Does It Mean to File an Appeal?” This blog post ... Read More
09
May2019
Any person in Indiana who suspects a child is abused or neglected is required by law to report this to the Indiana Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline at 1-800-800-5556. For children, reporters (i.e., callers) range from disgruntled parents going through a separation to teachers, therapists, and doctors. When DCS receives such a report, they may partner with law enforcement, such as if the allegation is child molesting. DCS is legally mandated to investigate every call. A standard practice with ... Read More