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”
Who Needs Cupid?
Valentine’s Day is the start of the busy season for Dayton divorce lawyers. Many couples wait until after the holidays and it gives them time to file their taxes “jointly” and receive a larger refund. It also can be a reckoning day when people decide that they deserve better.
While romance abounds with cupid’s magic for some, it also can be a difficult time for many divorced individuals who don’t have a valentine to share it with.
Here are some tips from Jennifer McCarron and Eugene Kayser, licensed family therapists from Abington, Pennsylvania:
Ignore the holiday
Think about Valentine’s Day like a holiday for a religion you do not celebrate. Simply decide you are not participating in the activities typically associated with the day.
- Do something special for yourself.
Go to a spa, take a walk or try any other activity that nourishes you. Kayser said, “showing love and regard for yourself can make you feel stronger”.
Mom Loses Custody For Alienating Children From Their Father For Over A Decade
An Ontario, Canada, Superior Court Judge issued a thorough well-reasoned but very unusual decision on January 16, 2009, changing custody of three (3) girls, ages 15, 11 and 9, from their primary caregiving mother to the father based upon evidence of a long pattern of parental alienation. In fact, Mother had denied Father, a vascular surgeon, any contact with the girls for about two (2) years before these proceedings.
Judge Faye McWatt not only changed custody to the father, but denied Mother any contact with the girls for at least 90 days. The Court concluded that Mother had conducted a “consistent and overwhelming campaign for more than a decade to alienate the children from their father”.
The Court was impressed with the testimony from Dr. Barbara Fidler, an expert in the field of parental alienation. The Court, in its decision, stated:
Dr. Fidler testified that children are more susceptible to alienation in certain age ranges.… View Full Article → “Mom Loses Custody For Alienating Children From Their Father For Over A Decade”
Virtual Visitation: Part 2 – Legal Aspects
In the second part of a two part series, Attorney Robert Mues looks at the legal aspects of Virtual Visitation.
Ohio Revised Code Section 3109.051(A) provides, in part, that, “Whenever possible, the order or decree permitting the parenting time shall ensure the opportunity for both parents to have frequent and continuing contact with the child, unless frequent and continuing contact by either parent with the child would not be in the best interest of the child.” In 2006, a bill was introduced in the Ohio Senate to allow Juvenile or Domestic Relations Courts to grant a reasonable amount of “electronic communication” between a parent and a child so long as the electronic communication was in the child’s best interest and the equipment was readily available. In Senate Bill 341, electronic communications was defined as “communication facilitated by the use of methods of communication such as the telephone, electronic mail, instant messaging, video conferencing, or other wired or wireless technologies via the internet, or another medium of communication that allows a party who has been granted parenting time, companionship, or visitation rights to communicate with a child during times in which the child is not physically present with the party.”… View Full Article → “Virtual Visitation: Part 2 – Legal Aspects”