Everyone who is married at some point thinks about divorce. The longer the marriage, the more at stake: children, property, debts, and a lifetime of joy and sorrow.
Good listening skills aren’t just important to relationships. They can also keep you out of jail.
A client, I’ll call him “Ted,” swore to me that “everything was fine” but then his wife slapped him with a restraining order. When he called to talk to her about it, Ted (unwittingly) violated the order and ended up under arrest – charged with a felony for violating a court order, as well as misdemeanor aggravated harassment for the phone call. “She didn’t have to do this,” he lamented. “If she wanted a divorce, she could have told me; we could have done this in a friendly way.”
I see it all the time: guys are dumbfounded that their wives take drastic measures to get their attention when they want a divorce. But it’s no surprise to me. Aside from being a woman and a divorce lawyer, I was also a “mean girl” in high school. I know how those b*tches operate. Here’s a few simple things to understand how your wife operates too. Continue reading “Men: Top Three Tips To Avoid A “Mean Girl” Style Divorce”→
Gentlemen, let me confirm what you have long suspected: if you are the primary income earner in your family, particularly where your wife has stayed at home, be prepared to pay in your divorce.
For the most part, laws have consistently leaned towards protecting women who do not work, who set aside careers (or never start one) and raise children. These laws favor the idea that there is an inherent value in raising children and tending to the family.Continue reading "Breadwinner: Know The Divorce Laws"→
Michael looked at me with a stunned glare. I re-ran the child support calculations again. After some (but not all) of his taxes were considered, the calculator showed the same number, 25% of his income for child support. “I knew I was going to pay; I just didn’t know it was going to be that much!”
Primary bread-winners repeat after me: you agreed to pay the bills during the marriage and you are stuck paying after the divorce.