Nearly 20-Year Divorce Fight Lands Ohio Couple In Hot Water

A recent story in the Cincinnati Enquirer discussed the now infamous Ohio divorce case of Christo and Sharlene Lassiter. The two were married back in 1986 and had 10 relatively happy years together. Since then, the couple has spent 17 years bogged down in a never-ending divorce battle, a process that has lasted nearly twice as long as the marriage itself.

How can this be you might be asking? It turns out the two are both law professors and know enough about court procedure and Ohio family law to drag a case out. Experts that were interviewed about the case say that Cincinnati family law attorneys know the case by heart. Some judges have come out against the couple, lambasting them for making a mockery of the legal profession and arguing that the two ought to be ashamed of their behavior.

Ohio family law experts who were interviewed for the story almost all agreed that a typical divorce where there were no children could be wrapped up in several months. A contentious case with child custody and visitation issues might take up to a year. The Lassiters took more than five years to sign their divorce papers and have since spent another 12 years arguing over various components of their divorce, filing at least 28 separate actions against one another during that time.

According to the Enquirer article, the divorce file between the parties contains nearly 1,400 separate entries, more than 1,000 more than a typical divorce file would have. Almost everything that could go wrong in the divorce has gone wrong. The Lassiters have called the police on one another multiple times and both parties have had and then lost custody of their two children. Each believes the other is out for revenge and the two have used the court system as a tool to exact this revenge for nearly two decades.

Judges in the area have shown that they are over the fight, appearing to show little sympathy for either party. Judges have said, “both parties have behaved in an appalling manner.” In a Court of Appeals case, one judge said that Mrs. Lassiter showed “unrelenting hostility” towards her former husband and “flatly refused to obey court orders.” Another judge wrote that because both parties are law professors they ought to know better than to behave in a way that is not only harmful to their case, but also incredibly damaging to their children. A judge from Cincinnati wrote that the State Bar should admonish the pair and noted that it was frightening to imagine law students learning from their horrible example.

Though a case as contentious and long lasting as the Lassiter’s is thankfully rare, it serves as a good example of the problems Ohio couples should strive to avoid. Try and keep hurt feelings and vendettas out of your divorce. Making the matter about retribution only costs everyone in the long run, especially your children, and does little to help your case.

Source: “Court calls law profs' 17-year divorce fight 'appalling',” by Kimball Perry, Cincinnati.com.

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Do People Actually Fight Over Reward Program Points During Divorce? You Better Believe It

Anyone who goes through an Ohio divorce will run across the term “equitable division.” This refers to the process of divvying up all the joint assets accumulated by a couple over the course of their marriage. The goal is to ensure that by the end, each party walks away with an equitable share of the assets. This can be a tense time for many couples and, occasionally, people latch onto somewhat trivial items and decide to square off with their spouse over seemingly unimportant things. A recent article in Forbes magazine discussed one such instance: people fighting tooth and nail over frequent flyer miles.

It’s hard to image, but there are plenty of couples who have gotten worked up enough about award program points to spark a legal battle. Though plenty of these cases are the result of overly emotional people engaging in petty fights, the author of the Forbes piece points out that in some cases there might actually be something to the dispute. For instance, cases where one or both parties travel frequently or are big spenders and rack up hundreds of thousands of air miles or credit card rewards points there can be real value there. Given the value of the goods that these rewards points can be redeemed for, some individuals are understandably reluctant to just hand over such a valuable prize to their partner.

If you happen to be one of the people with a serious collection of awards points or sky miles and are dead set on getting your fair share, what should you do? First, you need to brace yourself for some dry reading. Go through the terms and conditions of whatever reward program you are part of and see what the company says about dividing points. If the program allows a simple splitting of points into two separate accounts, perfect! That’s the easiest, and unfortunately, least likely option. For instance, Marriott clearly states that it refuses to divide points, even in the event of a divorce.

If your reward system will not allow you to divide the points, you can then look to see if there’s a cash value. If so, simply multiple the cash value by your total points and offset this amount with a lump sum payment to the other party. Usually this cash value won’t be so easy to determine and you may have to do some figuring of your own. For air miles, you can do this by determining how many points are needed to buy an international plane ticket. Do some rudimentary guessing about the value of such a ticket and then multiple that by the total points you have. This helps create a very rough (and debatable) estimate of the value of your reward points that you can then list as an asset and offset with other assets during the equitable division process.

Though it might seem silly to imagine wasting time arguing over airline miles, the fact is many couples going through a divorce choose insignificant items to latch onto and then bicker over. Whether it’s photographs, family mementos, collectibles or frequent flyer miles, the tension surrounding the equitable division process is clear. The best way to avoid a contentious Ohio equitable division fight is to try and take emotion out of the process. Resist the urge to fight for the sake of fighting and remember that it makes no sense to spend $1,000 in attorneys’ fees fighting over a $100 sofa.

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 Lee Stephan.

Source: “Divorce: Who Gets The Air Miles?,” published at Forbes.com.

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Online Actions Land Two Wisconsin Men In Hot Water

As we’ve mentioned before, people frequently say and do stupid things on the internet. For some reason, normally sane people take leave of their senses when posting things online, believing that their actions can never come back to haunt them. Sadly for these people, that’s almost never the case.

Instead, as attorneys and judges become more technologically advanced a person’s internet behavior is easier and easier to bring back to life. Messages, photographs, text messages and emails can all be found and dredged up again at inconvenient moments. One example of that is the recent case of a man from Wisconsin who is now facing felony charges after posting a photograph of himself surrounded by a giant pile of money.

You might be asking yourself, what’s the big deal? Sure, a pile of money is a bit unorthodox, but there’s nothing illegal about it, right? Wrong. The problem is not the picture of the money, it’s that the man was seriously in arrears with his child support at the time of the picture.

The young man flaunted his money, booze and other extravagant purchases online for the world to see, yet never made a single child support payment for his two-year-old child. The man will now have his work cut out for him trying to explain to a judge why he possessed so much cash but was never able to spare any for his child.

In a related case, another man is now under investigation by another Wisconsin prosecutor after claiming on Facebook that he had a job and had enough money to buy a new motorcycle while also telling a court that he was destitute and unable to pay his child support obligations. Yet again, someone’s online activities have come back to bite them. The moral of the story is, if you don’t want a judge to see it, don’t post it online.

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: “Facebook Money Pics Bust Dad for Allegedly Dodging Child Support,” by Alexa Valiente, published at ABCNews.com.

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How do you decide between separating and divorcing?

Anyone considering a divorce has likely wondered about whether separation might be a better idea. After all, divorce can be a relief for some couples who have grown tired of constantly fighting, but no one wants to rush into such an important decision with doubts. The following are some questions experts have come up with to help you think through the decision making process.

First of all, you need to make sure you understand what exactly is making you so unhappy. Taking some time to have a true separation and think through the unhappiness might be wise. If you are not exactly sure why you want to end your marriage, some time and space can be a good idea to help solidify your feelings before deciding to pull the trigger.

Second, what’s the underlying issue that has led to the unhappiness? Is it physical or verbal abuse? How about a gambling problem? Drug dependencies? Repeated cheating? Or is it something less terrible like communication trouble? The answer is not meant to demean those problems, but can help in deciding whether separation is a good idea. In cases where something dangerous like physical abuse or a drug addiction is at play, a clean break might be the best option for everyone involved. If the problem is something like a communication breakdown, a separation might be a good way to seek therapy and work through your issues.

If you have children, it’s also essential to consider how a split will affect them. For some kids, a separation might be a bad thing in that it provides false hope of reconciliation, especially if both parents know the marriage really is over. In other cases, a separation can be a good thing in that it ends the damaging fights and gives parents some breathing room to calm down and work through their issues on their own.

Finally, are you both sure that you are ready to split? If one spouse is still unsure, a separation can be a good way of letting that person get used to the idea of a new life on their own. It can also be helpful in giving the other spouse a taste of what divorce will look and feel like. In some cases, this might be enough to force the couple back together and make otherwise reluctant spouses willing to work through their issues. Unless both parties are really ready for a divorce, a separation might be a good place to start.

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: “To Divorce Or Separate? Experts Weigh In,” by Claire Daniel, published at HuffingtonPost.com.

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North Carolina General Assembly Tries To Slow Down Divorce Process

Late last month, legislators in North Carolina took an unusual step of trying to create a new two-year waiting period before a divorce can be finalized. The decision grabbed headlines not only in North Carolina, but also across the country with articles puzzling over the legislature’s attempt to meddle in marriages. Beyond imposing a two-year waiting period before a divorce is allowed to become official, Senate Bill 518 would also require that couples who are considering divorce go through marriage counseling before a judge could officially sign off on the divorce.

The bill, known as The Healthy Marriage Act, was crafted to help support the institution of marriage according to its Republican supporters. The measure would replace the current one-year separation requirement that is currently in place. The Healthy Marriage Act also states that couples would be permitted to either live together or apart during the waiting period, meaning that cohabitation would not be seen as a block to divorce.

The legislation goes on to say that before a divorce can take place, one spouse would have to submit a written notice to the other spouse notifying them about his or her intention to file. This would then begin the two-year countdown. During this interim period, the couple would be required to take classes designed to improve their communication skills and work on their conflict resolution abilities. Thankfully, the Healthy Marriage Act does not require that the couple attend the classes together. If the couple has children there are even more hurdles to be cleared, including a four-hour course that discusses the impact of divorce on children.

The backer of the legislation says that the state’s divorce rate is already far too high and the measure is an attempt to try and reduce the problem of marriages ending in divorce. The sponsor of the bill says that he believes that by slowing down the process of divorce, more couples will consider reconciliation, something that he believes is better for everyone.

Opponents of Senate Bill 518 say that the measure represents the height of governmental meddling in personal affairs and that the state should stay out of marriages entirely. Others emphasize that the attempt at strengthening families comes too late in the marriage when the spouses are already fed up with one another. Earlier intervention and counseling might help, but to try and save things so late in the game is often a futile effort.

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: “N.C. Lawmakers Propose Two-Year Waiting Period Before Divorce,” by Jacob Gershman, published at WSJ.com.

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