On January 6, 2009, Governor Strickland signed Sub. H.B. 320. This new law requires children between the ages of four and eight and under 4’9″ tall to be restrained by booster seats. The law provides that this is a secondary offense, requiring the driver to be stopped for another reason before a citation may be issued. The law goes into effect on April 6, 2009. Warnings will be issued for six months before fines, ranging from $25 to $75, can be imposed. Governor Strickland is seeking to increase those fines to between $50 and $100 in his proposed budget. Thanks to our friends at the Cleveland Law Library Weblog for posting this summary! To learn more about the new law, click here.
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In these challenging and difficult times, and with depressing news and economic turmoil seemingly everywhere, I thought it was worth re-publishing this humorous but poignant “Job Description” recently posted by fellow family-law blogger, Martha Milam, the publisher of the excellent Durham Family Law Journal. Click here to read and enjoy her blog!
POSITION:
Mother, Mom, Mommy, Mama, Ma
Father, Dad, Daddy, Dada, Pa, Pop
JOB DESCRIPTION: Long-term, team players needed, for challenging, permanent work in an often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends, including frequent 24-hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel is required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities! Travel expenses are not reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required.
RESPONSIBILITIES: Job responsibilities continue for the rest of your life. You must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5.… View Full Article → “So You Want To Be A Parent…”
Two Thumbs Up for the “Helping Children Succeed After Divorce” Seminar!
The “Helping Children Succeed After Divorce” program was created in 1991 through the concerted efforts of the Children’s Hospital Guidance Centers Divorce Services, the Franklin County Domestic Relations Court, and the Family Law Committee of the Columbus (Ohio) Bar Association. The three (3) hour seminar was designed to provide parents with information to help them better understand their children’s reaction to the divorce process and to adjust to the inevitable changes that divorce brings to the family unit.
In Montgomery County, Ohio, attendance at the “Helping Children Succeed After Divorce” seminar, hereinafter sometimes referred to as “Helping Children” is not an option for divorcing parents but a requirement of the Domestic Relations Court. If a parent fails to attend the seminar, the assigned Judge can deny “parenting time” or “visitation” to that parent or refuse to file the Final Decree of Divorce or Dissolution. The program is taught by Galen Curry, Manager of the Parent Education Department of the Court, or by Margaret Leger (Beth) of the same Department. … View Full Article → “Two Thumbs Up for the “Helping Children Succeed After Divorce” Seminar!”
Supreme Court Says Ex-Wife Gets Former Husband’s 401(K) Savings And Investment Account, Despite Divorce Decree Language To The Contrary
Last month, Justice Souter of the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in the case of Kennedy v. Plan Administrator for DuPont Savings and Investment Plan. A dispute had arisen between husband’s estate and his ex-wife over receipt of his Savings and Investment Plan proceeds. A SIP is an “employee pension benefit plan” similar to a 401(K) plan subject to federal ERISA laws. Early on in the marriage, husband had named his wife as the beneficiary to his employer’s SIP plan. The parties divorced and the divorce decree language said that the wife was “divested of all right, title, interest, and claim in and to . . . any and all sums . . . the proceeds [from], and any other rights related to . . . retirement plan, pension plan, or like benefit program existing by reason of [the husband’s] past, present or future employment.” However, the husband never executed a form to remove the wife as his beneficiary of the plan nor did he submit a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) to the employer covering the SIP.… View Full Article → “Supreme Court Says Ex-Wife Gets Former Husband’s 401(K) Savings And Investment Account, Despite Divorce Decree Language To The Contrary”
Why One Should Not Postpone Post-Divorce Estate Planning
Attorney Joseph E. Balmer is head of the estate planning and probate department at Holzfaster, Cecil, McKnight & Mues and is one of only 17 attorneys in the Dayton, Ohio area to be certified specialist in estate planning and probate administration.
Many individuals first think about estate planning when they get married. They realize that, at a minimum, they should have a will, general power of attorney and power of attorney for health care. They may later amend these documents due to life changes or changes in their financial position. However, one might be surprised to know that a recent survey by PNC Wealth Management disclosed that 30% of adults with financial assets of $500,000 or more did not have a will! A recent Harris Interactive survey of the general population found that 58% of all adults had no will. One might be even more surprised that if he or she had a will and became divorced, he or she may be no better off than if he or she had no will.… View Full Article → “Why One Should Not Postpone Post-Divorce Estate Planning”
You Get What You Pay For!
Growing up in a small and rural community in Southwestern Pennsylvania, I was truly fortunate to be reared by a hard-working Father and a loving “stay-at-home” Mother. She taught the four of us so many things by example and by so many proverbs. One of her favorites was “You get what you pay for!” To her, that meant that you purchased fewer items of high quality personal goods or articles of clothing rather than more items of lesser quality or durability.
Today, as a practicing family law attorney in Dayton, Ohio, I have encountered and worked with more than a few clients who, while trying to save money on legal fees, truly did themselves a disservice with the end results obtained. In this article, I shall set forth several actual scenarios and discuss the losses the clients sustained in trying to save money!
Scenario #1: Wife set common sense aside and chose to believe Husband who promised he “would take care of her”!… View Full Article → “You Get What You Pay For!”
You, Us and YouTube
I have been practicing law now for a little over 30 years. It is impossible to describe all the change I have seen in my practice over the years. They range from electric typewriters to voice recognition software to multi-function copiers that can print, scan and send faxes and emails; and almost everyone has a computer and is computer savvy. Ah yes, computers. My first experience with a computer was in 1968 when students were required in my eighth grade class to take “Introduction to Computers.” I would never have predicted then how much those large, clunky devices would change our lives forever!
Information is king. Consumers now rely on computers and the internet much like prior generations used encyclopedias and the yellow pages. So our law firm, whose roots trace back over 65 years, stays current with technology and maintains a website and this blog-concepts which were unfathomable even for visionary lawyers only twenty years ago. … View Full Article → “You, Us and YouTube”