Lawmakers In Iowa Try To End No Fault Divorce

Though no one thinks high divorce rates are a good thing, there can be very real benefits to allowing some couples to end bad marriages. Legislators in Iowa are apparently concerned about the high divorce rate in that state and what some say are increasingly “promiscuous” young women and are taking action to bring the number down. Lawmakers are considering doing away with the option of a no-fault divorce in cases where there are children.

Iowa House File 338 would require that couples with children prove one of five conditions before a divorce could be approved by a judge: adultery, physical or sexual abuse, imprisonment, the absence of a spouse for more than a year or that the couple has lived apart for more than two years. Though the bill appears headed for trouble in the legislature, the main sponsor says he has no intention of giving up on it and will bring the measure back during the next session to ensure it is not forgotten about.

Many in the family law world have come out vehemently against the legislation. Experts have said not only is the measure an example of government meddling in family issues, but it is also a dangerous proposal that could put women and children in harm’s way.

Currently, all 50 states have no-fault divorce laws in place, including here in Ohio. These methods of seeking a divorce were introduced in the 1960s and 1970s and made it possible for one party to get a divorce without the burden of having to prove bad behavior occurred. Before the no-fault divorce was possible, people who wanted to end a marriage had to either reach an agreement with their spouse or throw them under the bus. Rather than strengthen marriages, the Iowa legislation seems destined to make divorce a much more combative and intense process.

In fact, a study conducted by researchers at Stanford University found that in states that passed no-fault divorce laws, domestic violence dropped between 25 and 50 percent in the late 1970s and early 1980s. There was also a 10 percent drop in a woman’s risk of being murdered by her spouse and the rate of female suicide fell by 20 percent.

The Iowa proposal would mean that women who want a divorce from an abusive spouse would have to prove the terrible violence in a court of law. For those women without the money to afford an experienced family law attorney, this would mean that they might have no escape from a violent home. The last thing an abused woman needs is another barrier preventing her from leaving a dangerous situation.

There’s also no good reason to suspect that no-fault divorce laws are to blame for high divorce rates seen around the country or in Iowa in particular. A study conducted in California showed that after the state passed its no-fault divorce law in 1970 the divorce rate jumped temporarily, but quickly fell back to its old level and eventually even declined.

If you find yourself facing the prospect of complicated divorce and have questions about your rights and options, contact an experienced Ohio family law attorney who can help guide you through the difficult process. Count on the expertise of Twinsburg family law attorney Carol L. Stephan.

Source: “Iowa GOP Lawmakers Try To Curtail Divorce, Worry It Makes Young Women More 'Promiscuous',” by Will Wrigley, published at HuffingtonPost.com.

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Researchers Find That Combative Parents Stunt Kids’ Development

A new study supported the worry that many parents have long suffered with: that fighting between parents can have a decidedly bad impact on your children. Specifically, the survey found that arguments between parents could change the way children respond to stress, eventually even hampering the way some children develop problem-solving skills.

The study, which was published in the journal Child Development, devoted time to tracking a group of second and third-graders who were followed by researchers for three years. The researchers spent time talking to the children and asking them about their parents’ fights and then analyzing how that correlated with the kids’ ability to handle stress.

The study’s authors rigged up an elaborate diagnostic test that could monitor physical changes in the children, such as increased heart rate, pupil dilation and other signs that they were suffering from stress. The children would come into a lab and answer questions about their parents’ fighting while scientists would monitor the children for signs of a stressed out response and then monitor how they performed on a series of mental examinations.

The research discovered that kids who had a preexisting low tolerance for stress were especially vulnerable to being placed in a combative home. The results showed that children with a tendency to become stressed actually had their stress systems exhausted by angry parents, while those with a greater natural tolerance for stress appeared to suffer less stress burnout.

The study’s authors compared the children’s stress systems to overworked muscles. The author said that while working out is good for everyone because it strengthens muscles and improves health, if people were forced to run on a treadmill 24 hours a day it would eventually destroy the muscles from overuse, much like the kids’ stress response systems were being used and abused.

Beyond damaging their stress response system, the children with the highest degrees of burnout from argumentative homes also suffered in cognitive areas such as a decreased ability to problem solve. These children were found to lag their peers in problem-solving skills over the three-year span of the research. Researchers said they believe this shows that stress has a way of getting under your skin and impacting other areas of your life that you may not have anticipated.

If you find yourself facing the prospect of complicated divorce and have questions about your rights and options, contact an experienced Ohio family law attorney who can help guide you through the difficult process. Count on the expertise of Twinsburg family law attorney Carol L. Stephan.

Source: “Is Arguing Really Bad for the Children?,” by Terri Apter, published at PsychologyToday.com.

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Keeping Control Of Ohio Divorce Expenses

Everyone knows how expensive an Ohio divorce can be, between the lawyers and the court costs you’re already talking about a substantial amount of money for most families. Complicated cases can lead to ballooning expenses when child custody issues arise or complicated finances exist. Throw in the bills for accountants, psychologists, custody evaluators and mediators and you’re talking about some serious money expended fighting your former partner. In some cases of especially egregious, a messy divorce is unavoidable, but these cases are few and far between and massive bills should not be expected in most normal cases.

Among the biggest ways to keep costs under control is to create a budget. Talking with an experienced Ohio family law attorney before launching your case and drawing up a limit is a good way to take the emotion out of the process. Coming up with a legal action plan where you work with your attorney to estimate costs in advance takes some of the possibility for heated decisions away. Rather than reacting in anger and lashing out, a legal case map that was done prior to the start of the process can help keep costs in check and your case on track.

Another critical way of keeping costs low is to avoid going to court at all costs. Solving the matter through negotiation with your spouse is by far the fastest and cheapest way to end a marriage. Mediation is another method to consider so that you can avoid appearing before a judge. The fact is that litigation is a very expensive process and your Ohio family law attorney will have to spend a considerable amount of time and money preparing for each court appearance, thus driving up your legal tab. Just remember that every minute your attorney works on your case is another minute you’ll be billed. By working things out privately you can take a big step to lower your overall divorce bills.

Another important strategy to keep costs under control is to try and stay sane while dividing up assets. In the midst of a divorce it can be hard to resist the urge to fight over every last cup and saucer, resist that temptation. You need to fight against the urge to argue and try to ask yourself whether it is worth thousands to fight over a couch that cost a few hundred.

If you find yourself facing the prospect of complicated divorce and have questions about your rights and options, contact an experienced Ohio family law attorney who can help guide you through the difficult process. Count on the expertise of Twinsburg family law attorney Carol L. Stephan.

Source: “How to Keep Divorce Costs Down,” by Deborah Jeff, published at HuffingtonPost.com.

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Socialite Fights Hedge Fund Millionaire Over $50,000/Month Child Support

A recent New York Times article discussed a scandalous affair involving hedge fund millionaires, a love child and a potential gold-digging socialite. No, the article was not a review for the latest episode of The Young and The Restless, it’s about a salacious custody battle taking place in New York.

The story begins in Aspen, Colorado, a great place for such a scandalous tale to start. It was there that Warren Lichtenstein, a Wall Street moneyman, met Annabelle Bond, a British socialite and famed mountain climber who once conquered Mt. Everest. The two began a fast and furious relationship and, five years ago, had a child together. Though they briefly were engaged, they never got married and broke up soon after their daughter was born.

Ms. Bond, not one to nurse a breakup for long, soon found herself in Aspen meeting yet another Wall Street financier, this time, Andrew Cader, a former Goldman Sachs executive and owner of the Tampa Bay Rays. The two began a new relationship right as Ms. Bond and Mr. Lichtenstein started a courtroom fight over child support for their daughter.

Ms. Bond decided to leave America and return to Hong Kong, where she was a citizen, and filed suit there against Mr. Lichtenstein. After a prolonged child support fight, the Hong Kong court ordered Mr. Lichtenstein to pay Ms. Bond $41,800 per month in child support as well additional money for school expenses, tutoring, medical bills and travel. Experts say the child support award was one of the largest ever issued by a Hong Kong judge.

While the original child support dispute is over and done, Mr. Lichtenstein recently caught wind of potential financial fraud perpetrated by Ms. Bond, something that he believes should justify a sharp reduction in the amount he pays in child support. According to Mr. Lichtenstein, Ms. Bond left him and immediately took up with Mr. Cader. Mr. Lichtenstein claims that Cader has conspired with Bond to hide her true financial condition and life of privilege by disguising monetary gifts as loans.

For example, Mr. Lichtenstein recently learned that Ms. Bond and their daughter have moved into a home in an upscale area of Hong Kong that is being rented by Mr. Cader for $26,000 per month. However, Mr. Cader has structured this lease as a loan rather than a gift. Additionally, Cader supposedly has given Ms. Bond more than $3.5 million in cash that has also been designated as a loan. Mr. Lichtenstein argues that this money represents gifts to a lover and not a loan and that the two have conspired to lie about Ms. Bond’s financial situation to extract more money in child support and also to avoid Mr. Cader having to pay gift taxes on the money.

The case is currently before the Federal District Court in Manhattan who will now have the pleasure of unraveling this web of intrigue.

If you find yourself facing the prospect of complicated divorce and have questions about your rights and options, contact an experienced Ohio family law attorney who can help guide you through the difficult process. Count on the expertise of Twinsburg family law attorney Carol L. Stephan.

Source: “Millionaires Clash Over Socialite’s Child Support Claims,” published at NYTimes.com.

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A recent article about a woman from Texas who was sentenced for failing to pay her child support obligations has sparked a debate about whether incarcerating people who have gotten behind on bills makes sense.

The woman, Cheryl Walton, was charged with two counts of felony non-support of her children. After pleading guilty, a judge sentenced Walton to a suspended five-year term. The woman is also required to immediately pay $5,000 toward her back child support as well as continuing to pay an additional $270 per month during her five year sentence on top of her normal child support obligations to ensure her arrearage is paid in full.

Stories of parents skipping out on the obligations to the children they should be caring for are certainly irritating. On the one hand, deadbeat parents should be punished and forced to pay for the children they created, but on the other hand, creating a modern day debtors prison is not something states should so happily embrace.

It’s been more than two centuries since a person was allowed to be thrown into jail for being behind on debt payments, but that has not stopped states across the country from embracing the idea that parents who owe child support money ought to be locked up. Ohio has a similar law which allows prosecutors to charge a parent who is in arrears with a criminal offense and ultimately serve jail time.

Ohio law makes the situation dependent on the amount of child support owed, but the charge that a parent could face for being behind ranges from a misdemeanor to a felony. While this may seem exceedingly harsh, it is thankfully only a last resort. Before jail time, a parent can have his or her license suspended, have hunting and fishing licenses revoked, lose their professional licenses (doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc.) and even have tax returns confiscated by state authorities.

In cases where such actions are not enough or where the amount owed is too great, courts in Ohio have the power to charge parents with criminal actions. Not only does this power extend to those people living within the state, but courts can even request that a parent be extradited from another state to be brought before an Ohio court to face charges.

This kind of power has prompted concern by some who worry about the effectiveness of such a strict system of enforcement. While jailing non-paying parents — the vast majority of them men — does lead to payment in many cases, critics say that it unfairly penalizes poor and unemployed parents who have no ability to pay, even though federal law makes clear that a person must have “willfully” violated a court order before being incarcerated. How willful is it when you have no job and not financial resources?

If you find yourself facing the prospect of complicated divorce and have questions about your rights and options, contact an experienced Ohio family law attorney who can help guide you through the difficult process. Count on the expertise of Twinsburg family law attorney Carol L. Stephan.

Source: “Unable to pay child support, poor parents land behind bars,” by Mike Bunker, published at NBCNews.com.

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