We will explain in person how to protect your privacy during this unsteady time in life, when you don’t know who you can trust and who to turn to. Of course, all of your conversations with us will be held in the strictest confidentiality. But there are some steps you can take outside of our office to help protect your personal information during this period. Here are a few suggestions that, as always, do not constitute actual legal advice. It’s important to speak with a member of our Georgia family law team for guidance regarding your specific situation.

1. Change your passwords. Before you were considering a divorce, you and your spouse may have freely shared email accounts, social media accounts, and many other online profiles, each with an accompanying password. If you’re like most people, you probably only have a very limited number of passwords, most of which your spouse will be aware of. You probably even have a notecard with all of your passwords written down on it. The best way to ensure that your spouse is unable to view communication you want to keep private is to change your passwords on your personal accounts. If you don’t have a personal email, now is a good time to set one up, with a totally different password than your usual few.
2. Be careful with your cell phone. If you use your cell phone to communicate with trusted friends and family (or your Georgia divorce attorney) about your divorce, it’s best not to leave it lying around the house. You might even want to get in the habit of clearing your call history and text messages. This may sound like an unnecessary precaution, but it’s too easy to have confidential information exposed simply because you left your cell phone where your spouse could access it.
3. Consider what you say to whom carefully. Before or during a divorce, your natural inclination will be to reach out to friends and family to receive support and guidance. You will definitely need their support and encouragement, but you must be wise about what you say and to whom you say it. Friends that you and your spouse share in some sense equally might not be the best people to open up to. You may be very close with members of your spouse’s family, but it’s not advisable to share any of the details of the divorce with them. Instead, choose a trusted outside resource, especially professionals legally bound by privacy and confidentiality restrictions, such as a licensed therapist, clergy member, and especially a member of our highly rated legal team.

Again, our Georgia divorce lawyers will give you specific advice for your situation, and your conversations with us will always be kept secure and private. Contact us for a free consultation to discuss your case, so that we may assess how we can help you and your children with these important Georgia family law concerns.

Image courtesy DaveBleasdale on Flickr.

When you do decide to adopt, it’s important to know all of the steps and requirements.

Requirements:

• Be at least 25 and 10 years older than the child
• If you’re married, be at least 10 years older than the child
• Criminal Record Review
• Home Safety Assessment
• Medical Exams
• References
• Drug Testing
• Orientation
• Pre-service training
• Home evaluation

The DHS Georgia Adoption Process is as follows:

Step 1: Inquiry

• Contact DHS
• Answer a few questions
• Schedule an interview

Step 2: Orientation

An orientation meeting will allow you to:

• Learn important info about the Georgia adoption process and requirements
• See the pictures of children who need a home

You should carefully consider all of the information before moving on to…

Step 3: IMPACT

Next, you’ll need to take 20 hours of adoption preparation classes. These programs will educate you on:

• General Children’s Info
• Behavior Management Skills
• Adoption’s Effects on a Family
• What the Agency Can Do for You
• And much more

DHS’s particular program is known as IMPACT:

• Initial Interest
• Mutual Selection
• Pre-Service Training
• Assessment
• Continuing Development
• Teamwork

Step 4: Evaluation

After all classwork and assessment is complete:

• Your Family Evaluation will be given to the Adoption Exchange
• You will be considered a possible parent to a child in need of adoption

Step 5: Pre-Placement

• The time you wait before adopting will vary
• Check photolistings to view potential children
• Attend matching meetings and events

Step 6: Placement

• Identify a specific child or county you want to adopt in
• If DHS approves you, you’ll get to see more information about the child
• A meeting to ask questions and schedule visits
• When you sign a placement agreement, the child will become a part of your family!
• If the child is Special Needs: you may qualify for additional Adoption Assistance
• The agency and your case manager will provide continual support

Step 7: Finalization

After a child is placed in your home, you need to legally finalize the adoption:

• File an adoption petition with a lawyer
• County Superior Court Hearing
• Once the legal process is over, visits are no longer necessary

If you need representation for a gay adoption in Georgia, make sure you get the help of an experienced LGBT Georgia Adoption Lawyer !

Unfortunately, if you’re reading this, you may not have to imagine it at all. According to data collected by The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2009, the total amount of late and unpaid Georgia Child Support was $2,471,650,925! Even more disturbing is the fact that this number was actually a 5.1% decrease from 2008 (U.S. H.H.S State Boxscores). In some cases, the problem becomes so severe that the single parent can post the name and information of the delinquent mother or father on the Most Wanted Georgia Child Support Evaders list. To be on this list, the following criteria must be met:

• Arrears (amount owed) must be more than $5,000
• No payments have been made within the last 6 months
• The Division of Child Support Services has used all possible location resources

Sadly, the real victim in Georgia Child Support Evasion is ultimately the child. If your children are suffering because one of their parents is running away from their responsibilities, know your rights! Contact a Georgia Child Support Lawyer as soon as possible to fight for your child’s best interests. You may be the only one who is.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Cynthia Wright decided in Gary’s favor and awarded a reduction of the support from $28,000 to $5,000 in November 2005. The superior Court Judge told Diana Gowins who is a former nurse to work for a living and watch her lavish spending but she refused to do the court’s advice and pointed out that she has the right to be a stay-at-home mother. She appealed the decision to the court of appeals.

In 2007, The Georgia court of Appeals reversed the decision of Judge Wright and ordered Gary to pay $300,000 to Diana Gowins to get caught up in the monthly support and start paying $28,000 a month again. Gowin’s lawyer argued that Gary makes more than $13 million a year so the $28,000 he gives out monthly is just in proportion to a man who pays $280 a month as support if they earn $130,000 annually.

Kenny Shattan, Gary’s lawyer, appealed the Appellate Court’s decision to the Atlanta Supreme court for finality (CA No. A07A0979: Gowins vs. Gary).

Disclaimer: Our blog moderator occasionally allows guest blog post authors to post blogs of interest on our blog. The above blog post is a guest blog post. The author is not an attorney and is not affiliated with this or any law firm. This post should not be mistaken for legal advice. You should not act or rely on any information in this blog without seeking the advice of an attorney.

The reason that everyone should have a Will is simple: If you don’t have a Will the courts will decide what happens to your money, property and children after your death.

In most cases the court will take the easy way out and give your money and property to your closest living relative. This means that somebody you don’t like or trust could end up with your house, your bank accounts, your valuables and everything else you have.

If you want one particular person who is not related to you to have something of yours, or inherit everything, you will have to have a Will. If there is no Will that individual could be left with nothing. Especially in the case of domestic partnerships in Georgia, since same-sex couples are not legally allowed to marry in Georgia, gay couples must be especially vigilant about maintaining a Will and should speak with one of our family law attorneys about protecting the legal rights of their partners.

Creating a Last Will and Testament in Georgia:

Fortunately, the average Georgia Will doesn’t have to be that complex. If you don’t have that much money or property, a basic Will should suffice. Our attorneys will maintain a hard copy of the Will, and make sure it is legally signed and notarized.

Your heir should have a copy of the Will. Always make sure your heirs are aware of the Will and know where to find it. If you have more than one heir make sure each of them has a copy of it.  In some cases it might be a good idea to have a copy of the Will placed with a business manager or friend you trust. This would be an excellent idea if the heir is a child or teenager or lives in another country.

Every other state in the United States, including Georgia, as well as every province of Canada,  no fault divorce available for quite some time now. New York was the last state to make no fault divorce available to its residents.

What is No Fault Divorce?
Until the 1970s, most states required that a person provide a reason or “fault” if they wanted to divorce their spouse. The person seeking divorce had to go into court and present evidence or testimony that their spouse had done something that provided legal grounds for divorce.

In some states this meant that a spouse had to prove their spouse had committed adultery. In other states they could bring up legitimate grounds for divorce such as abuse or cruelty. Many divorce lawyers believed that these laws encouraged people to perjury, and most agreed that it made for some very ugly, very contentious divorce cases.

The problem was that traditional divorce made the entire process difficult and complicated, not to mention  expensive, and the result is that divorce was more often available only to the rich who were able to hire divorce lawyers. Many poor people found themselves trapped in failed marriages because they couldn’t get divorced without hiring a lawyer.

No Fault Divorce under Threat
Even though New York is the last state to adopt no fault divorce, it is conceivable that no fault divorce could disappear in other states. Some social conservatives believe that no fault divorce laws make divorce too easy which undermines the family and hurts children.

A few social conservatives have tried to overturn no fault divorce laws or make divorce harder. Although there seems to be little popular support for these measures, they have been proposed in a number of states.

Future of Divorce
Since no-fault divorce is now legal in all fifty states it is doubtful there will be any major changes to divorce laws in the near future. Instead the state legislatures will probably let future decisions about divorce be made by the courts.  If you are going through a divorce and live in Georgia, contact one of our GA divorce lawyers today.

A contested divorce is, of course, one option. This is the most traditional way of getting divorced in Georgia, and usually involves family law attorneys representing both husband and wife. The case may go to court, but more often than not is usually settled out of court.

Mediation is another method for divorce. This also usually involves an attorney on both sides helping to negotiate settlements on behalf of clients. However, this is often a less contentious process than going to court. Importantly, anything decided at mediation must still pass the scrutiny of a GA judge, especially if children are involved.

A collaborative divorce is another form of alternative dispute resolution that is becoming more and more popular. Again, this usually involves attorneys, and our Atlanta and Athens GA divorce lawyers are involved in many collaborative divorces, however this method also requires a commitment from both husband and wife to working things out amicably. If things do not work out, the attorneys usually step down and different divorce lawyers are called in to handle the contested divorce case.

And then of course there are uncontested divorces in Georgia, which are usually the simplest and cheapest way to go about getting a divorce, but require both husband and wife to agree to every single term of the divorce.

Without a doubt, any consultant will tell you a divorce can be a stressful situation, but knowing your options will help. We wish you the best of luck during this trying time, and please feel free to call one of our Georgia family law attorneys if you have questions or need representation during your divorce process.

According to Georgia family law, the courts are to “equitably distribute” marital property.  This begs two questions.  What is equitable, and what is marital property?  Neither question is what it first appears.

Equitable distribution is best described as what is fair, rather than what is equal.  So if the court decides that a 60-40 split is more fair than a 50-50 split of the property, than that is what the court will do.  The court can base its reasoning on any number of factors, including how much each spouse contributed to the purchase of the property, each spouse’s occupation, if the divorce was “for cause,” if there are children, who has primary custody of the children, etc.  In short, the court can consider almost any factor which would help it arrive at a fair or equitable distribution of the Georgia marital property.

Georgia marital property is, in layman’s terms, property acquired during and as a part of the marriage.  The most common example is a house jointly bought by a husband and wife.  Property owned individually before the marriage, such as bank accounts, is not considered marital property.  Further, property acquired individually during the marriage is often not considered marital property.  For example, if the husband receives a gift of golf clubs from a friend as a birthday present, or the wife inherits some family heirlooms from her parents while they are married, the property is often considered to be separate.  Individual property can become marital property, however, if one is not careful.  For example, if the husband buys himself a car with his own money, but allows his wife to use the car for family errands, it might be “converted” into marital property by the court.

As you can see, the division of property upon divorce can become very complicated, very quickly.  The facts of each case often make or break the separation of marital assets settlement, and we recommend that you have one of our GA divorce attorneys on your side to make sure you aren’t taken advantage of.

Taking The First Step

As can be seen above, issues regarding the separation of marital property can be confusing and sometimes murky, and the help of an experienced attorney to help ensure that your interests are well protected will be invaluable. If you are dealing with a GA divorce, we advise you to speak with one of our divorce lawyers sooner rather than later.  Please note that for a typical divorce, our law firm retainer begins at $2,500.00.  If you would like to talk with one of our family law attorneys about representing you, either fill out the brief form to your left or give us a call.

As the legal end to a marriage, filing for a divorce in Georgia can be initiated by one spouse or agreed upon by both spouses.  If you are going through a divorce,  it can get emotionally tiring and upsetting, as well as legally complicated, and if you live in or near Sandy Springs, GA, we recommend consulting with one of our experienced divorce lawyers.

Two of the biggest problems that may affect your marriage and result in a divorce are irreconcilable differences and money issues. In the state of Georgia, hiring an educated and knowledgeable attorney will be very important when it comes to protecting your rights regarding your divorce case. The law firm of Kitchens, New & Cleghorn, LLC is committed to helping you obtain excellent results for your divorce case. Our prime objective  is to reach amicable and reasonable resolutions for our clients, and to litigate when no other options are available.

Our Sandy Springs divorce attorneys are experienced in handling Georgia family law cases in the following areas:

+  Uncontested Divorces
+  Mediation
+  Division of Property
+  Alimony/Spousal Support
+  Child Custody
+  Child Support

If your case requires vigorous negotiation, mediation or trial, we possess the legal knowledge and courtroom experience to protect your interests.

In case you are filing for divorce, feel free to get in touch with us today and speak to our divorce attorneys. For a free consultation with one of our Sandy Springs family law attorneys, either fill out the brief form to your left, or feel free to give us a call.

The decision to file for divorce is never an easy one. Divorce is a stressful, overwhelming, and confusing time. However, if you decide that divorce is the best choice for you, it’s important to make sure your rights and needs are protected. If you are in Gwinnett County, it’s in your best interest to work with divorce attorneys who know the Gwinnett County family law system inside and out, and who can provide you with personalized attention, dedicated legal counsel, and respectful representation to get through this difficult time. At Kitchens, New & Cleghorn, LLC, our divorce lawyers will take the time to thoroughly review your case, discuss what’s important to you, and help you resolve your case successfully. Indeed the Gwinnett County divorce attorneys at the law firm of Kitchens, New & Cleghorn, LLC handle all types of divorce cases, including uncontested and contested divorces, and will provide you with the diligent representation throughout the divorce process.
Gwinnett County Lawyers You Can Rely On | Judgment You Can Trust

Decisions on a divorce in Georgia carry far-reaching consequences that can impact someone’s finances, parenting, and children well into the future.  Careful consideration of a client’s long-term interests is absolutely essential in the specialized realm of family law.  Our Gwinnett County divorce attorneys understand that each and every client’s personal relationships are as unique as their own fingerprint. Achieving the right result requires not only a thorough familiarity with each unique circumstance, but also the ability to craft and implement the right legal strategy designed to accomplish each individual client’s objective.

At Kitchens, New & Cleghorn Family Law, our attorneys routinely practice in Gwinnett County and are committed to helping you obtain excellent results for your divorce case.  We believe that a divorce should be fair and that you deserve to be well taken care of. We have immense experience in the realm of family law in Georgia and look forward to presenting you with the care and the compassion you deserve.  Be it divorce, child custody, child support or any other family law issue in Gwinnett GA, we are committed in providing you with personalized, compassionate and exceptional legal representation.

Getting Started
Our family law  are committed to assist you in the courtroom as well as in the negotiation proceeding to avoid situations getting more complex. If you would like a free consultation with one of our Gwinnett County Divorce Lawyers, either fill out the brief form to your left, or feel free to give us a call.