Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Using special masters to resolve post-divorce conflicts

What Qualifications Does a Special Master Need?

Maria and Tom Warrenpiece were stuck. They had two children: Carlos, age 7, and EIsa, age 9. Subsequent to their separation two years ago, they had extreme difficulty making decisions together about the care of their children. A year ago, they had a custody evaluation and the Commissioner ordered a joint custody arrangement with the outline of a schedule for school weeks and during vacations and holidays. However, Maria continued to see Tom as very controlling and unresponsive to the children. Tom thought that Maria was trying to exclude him from the children's lives whenever she could. As a result of the uncertainty and conflict, Carlos was having behavioral problems at school and EIsa was frequently weepy. Maria would only allow communication through their attorneys. After they had been in court three times in six months, the Commissoner proposed that the parties consider using a Special Master. Both Maria and Tom were disillusioned with using the court repeatedly to resolve their problems. They were informed that by mutual agreement they could try a new process. Through their attorneys, they agreed on procedures and chose a Special Master. One year later Tom and Maria communicate by fax, sparingly using the phone and occasionally meet with the Special Master to make particular decisions.

This is the kind of situation in which a family can benefit from the appointment of a Child Custody Special Master, or Parenting Plan Coordinator. This new role, recently introduced in Southern California, provides a useful alternative to other dispute resolution mechanisms for chronically conflicted divorced parents, particularly those who repeatedly look to the courts to resolve relatively minor issues in the family. It is also useful when one or both parents have significant psychopathology, when there are children with special needs. or children who are infants and toddlers in which significant negotiation needs to occur to coordinate parenting of their development. A big impetus to the establishment of this role was provided by a training session given by Dr. Joan Kelly in the fall of 1997, co-sponsored by the Divorce and Family Therapy Specialists, L.A. County Bar Family Law Section, and Cedars-Sinai Hospital. The participants in this seminar were surveyed after the seminar about their opinions and the results of this survey will be described later in this article.
Angus Strachan, Ph.D

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For more information, contact the Family Law Offices of Renee M. Marcelle at (415) 456-4444, or online at http://www.familylawmarin.com/--

Joint or Sole Custody?

For the sake of the children, the goals of divorcing parents should be the same: involvement of both parents in the lives of the children and mitigation of conflict between the parents. These two factors should dominate all others when thinking about custody.

A joint-custody solution gives a psychological boost to the parent who would otherwise be the noncustodial parent. But, even in a sole-custody situation, generous time-sharing (combined with open communication between parents) can create an environment where a noncustodial parent is significantly involved in the children's lives.

Is joint custody right for you? That depends a great deal on the ability of you and your spouse to get along. If you are to share decision-making, you must be able to sit down with your former spouse in a non-combative atmosphere and make decisions together. Shared values and parenting styles make this custody style more viable.

Here's what psychologists have found after long-term studies of families in joint-custody and sole-custody arrangements:
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Joint custody is a viable option only if the parents have an amicable relationship with each other, communicate well, and understand the nuances of their kids' day-to-day routines. Parents in this situation feel more involved in their children's lives than the noncustodial parent in the sole-custody arrangement. On the other hand, in a family where one parent says "black" and the other parent says "white," the children are better off with a sole-custody arrangement to reduce the possibility that their parents will fight over every decision that must be made on their behalf.
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For parents not on friendly terms, joint legal custody (that is to say, joint decision-making) means more room for disagreement and continuation of conflict. These parents are more likely to return to court than parents who have one decision-maker (sole custody).
By Pamela Weintraub

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For more information, contact the Family Law Offices of Renee M. Marcelle at (415) 456-4444, or online at http://www.familylawmarin.com/--

Child Custody: Is a custody battle best for your children?

Look at this time as an adventure and opportunity of trying to improve your parenting skills in order to improve the quality of the relationship you have with your children. Your children simply can't lose in an effort such as this.

1. Conservatorship
Conservatorship is the term used in Texas to designate the division of parental rights, privileges, powers and duties. Joint managing conservators may share all rights or may share some rights and retain others exclusively. By law, it is now presumed that the parents should be named joint managing conservators unless good cause is shown. Because of this presumption, this handbook will only address joint managing conservatorship in detail.

In those extreme circumstances which warrant a sole managing/possessory conservatorship arrangement, the sole managing conservator (the "custodial" parent) is the person who is granted all of the rights, privileges, powers and duties of a parent. The possessory conservator (the "noncustodial" parent) has only limited parental rights when he or she has actual possession of the children. There may be some instances when a non-parent may be appointed as a sole managing conservator or possessory conservator, although this rarely occurs in a divorce case. When it does occur, one or more of the grandparents of the children may be appointed as an additional possessory conservator. In addition, there may be more than one possessory conservator with specific rights to possession of the children at certain times.
Anita K. Cutrer

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For more information, contact the Family Law Offices of Renee M. Marcelle at (415) 456-4444, or online at http://www.familylawmarin.com/--

An Inflexible Ex: You and the children

If you're one of those divorced persons who have a contentious relationship with their exes, be ever so careful that you don't let it have an impact on the mental well being of the children you are parenting together.

Unfortunately, children are almost always victims when it comes to divorce -- helpless victims who love both parents -- and the last thing they need is to feel the tension and acrimony between the two people they love the most. Nor do they need to feel they must choose one parent over the other. But I find that couples are so caught up in their anger, need for control, or bitterness that they don't fully realize how their behavior (their unkind words and actions toward one another) can affect their children, who are often left feeling they must pit one parent against the other.
by Stacy D. Phillips

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For more information, contact the Family Law Offices of Renee M. Marcelle at (415) 456-4444, or online at http://www.familylawmarin.com/--

Friday, May 21, 2010

Helping Separated Parents Communicate

Communication between separated or divorced parents can be problematic. Depending on the age, health and circumstances of the child, these parents may find it necessary to communicate with each other anywhere from several times daily to at least weekly.

For some parents, ongoing conflict can cause communications to degenerate leading to more difficulties. With this in mind several strategies are often suggested such as telephone contact or a communication book. Both of these strategies pose problems.

The telephone requires hearing the emotional tone of the conversation which can easily lead to the conversation degenerating. Sometimes a parent will tape the conversations for use in court, but then it becomes questionable if this party goaded the other to increase conflict for the taped conversation. Further, clandestine taping inflames the bad feelings of the other parent who may seek retribution.

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For more information, contact the Family Law Offices of Renee M. Marcelle at (415) 456-4444, or online at http://www.familylawmarin.com/--

The Double Dip in Valuing Goodwill in Divorce

In circumstances in which the property division includes a business to be valued, it will most likely include both tangible and intangible assets. If the value of an intangible asset, such as goodwill, is charged to one party, the income stream, which is being used for the calculation of income available for support, is most likely the same income stream that was used for the computation of goodwill. Hence, the double dip.
The issue of double dipping has frustrated many business owners involved in a marital dissolution because of the financial hardship it may create. This article deals with identification of the problem, causes, and some possible solutions.

To read this article in its entirety, please click here.

For more information, contact the Family Law Offices of Renee M. Marcelle at (415) 456-4444, or online at http://www.familylawmarin.com/--

Decisions Affecting Divorce - Splitting of Retirement Benefits

A QDRO is a legal document or a provision included in another legal document such as a divorce-related property settlement or divorce decree. The QDRO establishes the right of a former spouse (also known as the alternate payee) to receive all or part of the other former spouse's qualified retirement plan benefits and pay the income taxes on those benefits. In other words, "he who gets, pays."

A QDRO is required to meet specific requirements set forth in Internal Revenue Code Section 414(d). Until the Hawkins decision the Internal Revenue Service had been successful in claiming that a failure to follow the statutory requirements to the letter resulted in the participant former spouse being taxed on a constructive distribution from the plan, which is than deemed given to the alternate payee. In other words, the alternate payee gets the cash, while the former spouse gets the tax liability.

To read this article in its entirety, kindly click here.


For more information, contact the Family Law Offices of Renee M. Marcelle at (415) 456-4444, or online at http://www.familylawmarin.com/--