Bankruptcy In Post-Divorce: Hire An Attorney Before You File!

By Anne Shale   |   April 18th, 2015

An Interview with Mr. Cris Shale relative to his thoughts Post-Bankruptcy/Divorce

Valuable Advice For Others Facing The Same Bankruptcy Dilemma Post-Divorce

Several years ago, I posted an article to the Ohio Family Law Blog about my son and one of my clients who had both elected to file a Bankruptcy proceeding following a divorce and following a marital residence being “upside down” with the total mortgage liability.  In layman’s terms, the value of the marital residence, as appraised, was way below the mortgage indebtedness associated with the home.  Cris, with a high child support obligation and other associated bills, could not afford to keep the mortgage current on his former marital residence.  So, he sought counsel and filed a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.

Before meeting with Cris, I sent to him several questions to stimulate our Bankruptcy discussion:

  • Were there any negative outcomes or effects from taking the Bankruptcy?
  • Were there any positive outcomes or effects from taking the Bankruptcy?
… View Full Article → “Bankruptcy In Post-Divorce: Hire An Attorney Before You File!”

Divorce: Spouse Missing? Send Summons On Facebook!

By Robert "Chip" Mues   |   April 11th, 2015

Will Serving Divorce Papers Via Facebook be Allowed in Ohio?

Justice Matthew Cooper of the Manhattan, New York, Supreme Court is setting precedent which is likely to be a game-changer should the rest of the country follow suit.

In a recent decision, Justice Cooper gave Ellanora Baidoo the green light to serve her elusive husband, Victor Sena Blood-Dzraku, divorce papers through his Facebook account.

The couple, both from Ghana, were married in a civil ceremony in 2009.  Shortly thereafter, the relationship began to unravel when Blood-Dzraku refused to fulfill his promise of participating in a traditional Ghanaian wedding ceremony.  As a result, the couple parted ways and only remained in contact via social media and the occasional phone call.  Nevertheless, Blood-Dzraku apparently does not want a divorce as every attempt to find him has failed.

Baidoo’s attorney, Andrew Spinnell, explained that Blood-Dzraku is nowhere to be found.  The last known address for him was vacated in 2011, the post office has no forwarding address for him, no billing address linked to his prepaid cell phone exists, the Department of Motor Vehicles has no record of him, and even efforts by a private investigator hired to find him have failed.… View Full Article → “Divorce: Spouse Missing? Send Summons On Facebook!”

Custodial Grandparents: Stress From Raising Grandchildren

By Thomas G. Kopacz   |   April 4th, 2015

Increasing Number of Grandparents Becoming Custodial Grandparents to their Grandchildren

Custodial Grandparents Have Higher Stress Levels than Grandparents Who Are not Caregivers of their Grandchildren According to Recent Studies

What children need most are the essentials that grandparents provide in abundance.  They give unconditional love, kindness, patience, humor, comfort, lessons in life.  And, most importantly, cookies.

~ Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

I believe Mayor Giuliani’s wonderful quote about grandparents resonates in most of our hearts when we think of our own grandparents.  However, in today’s society we are seeing an increasing number of grandparents becoming custodial grandparents to their grandchildren.  Custodial grandparent or grandparents are best defined as grandparents who take over as the primary caretaker to their grandchildren.  Collectively, custodial grandparents often face a number of different and unique difficulties associated with the caring of their grandchildren, when compared to the traditional nuclear family structure of two birth parents raising and caring for their children.… View Full Article → “Custodial Grandparents: Stress From Raising Grandchildren”

Gray Divorce: Division of Retirement Assets Disparity

By Robert "Chip" Mues   |   March 28th, 2015

Be Sure To Hire A Divorce Attorney With Experience In “Gray Divorce” Cases

An interesting article published in the Arkansas Business Journal discussed the issue of divorce with retirement age individuals.  As a founding member of the International Academy of Attorneys for Divorce Over 50, I personally am quite familiar with the unique issues that often arise in these “gray divorce” cases. When discussing the financial background of many couples aged 50-60, the typical equal asset allocation can be problematic.

These couples are more likely to have combined their retirement planning and savings. Over the past 5 generations, the workplace demographics have shifted.  Often, many couples who marry today both pursue a career path and develop their own separate retirement accounts.  In the 1950’s and 1960’s, married couples often relied financially on the men in the relationship to be the primary “breadwinner”.  This means that when a retirement account is discovered during the divorce process, and it’s distributed equally, each party will be left with 50% of their retirement assets even though they are often only a few years away from retirement.  … View Full Article → “Gray Divorce: Division of Retirement Assets Disparity”

Adoption Records NOW Unsealed in Ohio!

By Robert "Chip" Mues   |   March 14th, 2015

All Adoption Records And Original Birth Certificates Available To Ohio Citizens

New Ohio Law Gives Adoptees Easier Access To Adoption Birth Records

UPDATE – March 20, 2015, is the first day that individuals adopted in Ohio between January 1, 1964, and September 18, 1996, can pay a $20 fee, and fill out a request form to get a copy of their original birth certificate and certificate of the adoption. Ohio now becomes the twelfth state to provide ALL of their adopted citizens access to their adoption records. This will affect up to 400,000 people who have previously been denied access to their Ohio birth records.

To learn more about this process, view this comprehensive 8 minute video from the Ohio Vital Statistics.

To obtain the request form go to: www.odh.ohio.gov/vs

Here is the backstory from my article from May 10, 2014, posted on the Ohio Family Law Blog.

Adoptees Can Access Original Birth Certificate Says New Ohio Law

A new law in Ohio will unseal records for about 400,000 Ohio adult adoptees.   … View Full Article → “Adoption Records NOW Unsealed in Ohio!”

Domestic Relations Court In Greene County Hires Nidiffer

By Anne Shale   |   March 7th, 2015

An Introduction to Greene County Domestic Relations Court Staff Attorney Justin C. Nidiffer


Justin C. Nidiffer

On February 9, 2015, I traveled to the Domestic Relations Court of Greene County, Ohio to interview Justin C. Nidiffer, the newly hired Staff Attorney for the named Court.  Justin advised me that he had completed an internship with the Court during his last year in law school and that he was so very pleased with that experience.  It was apparent to me that the Domestic Relations Court was very satisfied with Justin’s performance as the Court hired him as their very first Staff Attorney to commence his position on January 1, 2015.

What will Justin’s responsibilities be?

  1. He will be reviewing new cases filed with the Court and examining the pleadings and Financial Affidavits of the parties.  He will then be preparing and filing the Court’s Temporary Orders of Custody and Support.  He will be working closely with Judge Steven Hurley, Magistrate Cynthia Martin, and Magistrate Kimberly Combs.
… View Full Article → “Domestic Relations Court In Greene County Hires Nidiffer”

FOMO: Does it Impact Decisions to File for Divorce?

By Guest Contributor Donna F. Ferber, LPC, LADC   |   February 28th, 2015

The Role FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) Plays Out In Daily and Family Life

Technology has created a glut of new words and expressions. It also has “repurposed” old words; a mouse is no longer just a rodent in my basement. A crash is not a vehicular accident, a chip is not just used for scooping up onion dip and a pad is not just a monthly required feminine product.

Electronic communication has also introduced us to a wave of new acronyms. LOL, ROFL, OMG, BRB were sprinkled through our e-mail and now are a standard in texting. Those initialisms (another new word I recently learned) have entered into our face to face conversations and are a part of our lexicon. Since I don’t Tweet, Snap, or Facebook, I admit I am lagging in current vocabulary updates.

Then an acquaintance confided she attends church weekly because she has FOMO. For those of you who are, like me, lagging in social media jargon, I will decode.… View Full Article → “FOMO: Does it Impact Decisions to File for Divorce?”

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