Dealing With Divorce in the New Millennium

By the time you get to a certain point in your life, you’ll have to endure loss. It might be losing a parent, a job or your hair. Sometimes it’s the loss of a spouse. In any of these cases, knowing you’re not alone can help to ease the pain.
Seattle writer Theo Pauline Nestor writes about the ups and downs of modern-day divorce in her new memoir, "How to Sleep Alone in a King-Size Bed."
The title encapsulates what a friend of mine is going through now, so I read Nestor’s book with a mix of emotions. I was eager for insights that could help me help my friend, but I didn’t want to be a voyeur.
I needn’t have. Nestor is candid, but tender, too. In telling her side of the story, she respects that there are other perspectives. She keeps whining to a minimum, and her well-honed sense of the absurd helps to leaven the tale...

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

Honey, I Want A Divorce! How To Have The Talk

There are some conversations that are hard by their very nature. Telling your spouse you want a divorce is certainly at the top of the list.
Since marriage is one of life's central relationships, seeking a divorce feels like a tremendous failure. And it is tough to initiate something you know will have great emotional, practical and financial fallout for yourself (and your children, if you have them)...

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

Child's Divorce Also Hard On Parents; Here Are Some Tips

Question: I'm devastated over the divorce of an adult son. Am I wrong to be so torn apart? After all, I'm 77 years old.

Answer: By no means are you "wrong" to be anguished. Instead, you are one more sideline sufferer, the newest member of a growing legion because roughly half of all American marriages end in failure. According to census figures, about 1 million couples call it quits every year. When they do, that means 4 million parents find tranquil lives thrown into turmoil

And, pardon the clich?, "But once a parent, always a parent." Or, better still: "Little kids, little problems. Big kids, BIG problems...

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

Divorce Rates Dropping With Real Estate

During the Great Depression, the divorce rate dropped sharply. Couples couldn't afford to pay the legal fees to split up. These days, the real estate market could be keeping couples together.
For most people, a house is the most valuable asset they own. Today, some divorce lawyers and therapists say trying to sell a house is starting to make things even more complicated than they already are.
For many homeowners, a sluggish real estate market just means a delay in making a move. But for a married couple no longer getting along, it is much more than an inconvenience.
Divorce lawyers and therapists report that the shift in real estate is making breaking up harder to do...

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

After Divorce, Stable Families Help Minimize Long-Term Harm To Children

A new study found that children who lived in unstable family situations after their parents divorced fared much worse as adults on a variety of measures compared to children who had stable post-divorce family situations.
"For many children with divorced parents, particularly young ones, the divorce does not mark the end of family structure changes – it marks the beginning," said Yongmin Sun, co-author of the study and associate professor of sociology at Ohio State University’s Mansfield campus.
A stable family situation after divorce does not erase the negative effects of a divorce, but children in this situation fare much better than do those who experience chronic instability...

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

Divorce Settlement Considerations

As you consider your divorce settlement, you may be tempted to sign it just to get things over and done with. This is a bad mistake. Even if everything looks fair and equitable, you may not really be getting a good deal.
Below is an article that outlines some major areas to consider in your divorce settlement:

Divorce and Your Finances: The 7 Most Costly Mistakes
Each year there are nearly 1 million divorces in the United States, or about 50% of all marriages (2002 United States Census Bureau statistics). The real tragedy, however, is the financial devastation that occurs to many individuals after their divorce...

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

Top Five Things To Consider When Hiring A Divorce Attorney

Hiring a divorce attorney to handle your divorce is a very important decision. The following are a few important guidelines to follow when hiring a divorce attorney:

1. Attorney's Experience
Any divorce attorney you consider should have substantial experience in handling divorce cases in your area. An experienced divorce attorney will know what to expect of the judges in your jurisdiction and should be able to use this knowledge to your advantage. Additionally, the attorney should practice primarily in the field of divorce law.

2. Client Testimonials
The best way to decide which divorce attorney to use is to find out what former clients have to say about the attorney...

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

Child Support and College Support

Do you, as a divorced parent, have a legal duty to pay for your child's college education? The answer is yes, no, or maybe depending upon the state in which you are divorced.
You could be ordered to pay for all or a portion of your child's college education if your divorce state has a law giving a court the power to award college support, also called post-secondary or post-minority support. College support may be in addition to child support, a part of child support, or a separate payment after regular child support ends. It can be used to pay for an education at a college, university, vocational school, or other type of post-secondary educational institution.
A court having the power to order college support may consider several factors when ordering you to pay for your child's college education...

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

Interstate Divorce: Getting A Divorce Across State Lines

Susan from California asked, "Can I file for divorce in California if my husband lives in New York? Or, do I have to file in New York?" The answer is that there's no easy and straightforward answer. Maybe yes, maybe no and maybe in both. It just depends upon the facts of Susan's situation, the laws of California and the laws of New York. It revolves around the questions of which state has jurisdiction to enter an enforceable order that handles each legal issue involved in the divorce and which state has proper venue if both states could have jurisdiction.
Jurisdiction is the power and authority that a court or a judge has to hear and determine a particular type of case and issue. Personal (in personam) jurisdiction and subject matter (in rem) jurisdiction are the two types that most frequently come up in an interstate divorce...

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

Adult Children of Divorce

Adult kids of divorce (known as AKODs or ACODs) may be equally or more harmed by the loss of family stability and by parents' poor boundaries than are younger children.
It is commonly accepted that divorce has a developmental impact, and often a serious one, on teenagers and young children. The effect of their parents’ divorce on children who are already considered adults, though, is often dismissed. Adult children of divorce, or ACODs (AKODs, another common acronym, stands for "adult kids of divorce"), are often expected to be an "adult" and support their parents through the pain of separation and divorce. They may also be drawn into their parents’ arguments in ways that younger children might not be...

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

Tips For Raising Your Child Alone

Tips on how to raise your child alone, including finding role models, building strong bonds, and finding time for simple parenting time.
No one ever said that raising a child alone would be easy, but sometimes every single parent needs help. Here are some tips for single parents to help ease the stress of going it alone.
You’re Not the Only One
It is easy to feel alone when you are a raising a child by yourself, but according to Parenting Without Partners, more than 12 million families in the United States are single parent families because of a death, divorce or seperation. Families with only one parent are becoming the "norm," and resources are becoming more available for single parents...

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