Love After Marriage For All: How Cohabitation With Another, Regardless Of Sexual Orientation, Can Trigger A Termination Of Spousal Support Post Divorce
I couple weeks ago, I attended a very exciting and thrilling divorce seminar (said no one ever) where a portion of it was dedicated to giving an update on divorce court forms to reflect gender neutral identifiers for the divorce parties. For example, instead of using husband and wife, the court forms will now use spouse 1 and spouse 2 or other similar gender neutral identifiers. I still say the classic Plaintiff and Defendant identifiers are easier, but it is not my courthouse.
I imagine a majority of courts around the country, except perhaps for the Deep South, are adjusting appropriately to be in compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court’s historical decision finding state laws that prevented same-sex marriages are unconstitutional. Which also meant that divorce statutes and divorce case law had to catch up with same-sex marriage. One such aspect of divorce law that needed to catchup with the times was addressed by the Supreme Court of Virginia.
In Luttrell v. Cucco, Luttrell moved the trial court to terminate his spousal support obligation based on his … Read More... “Cohabitation Can Lead To Spousal Support Termination”
A month or so ago I took a trip out to Lake Tahoe for one of my college buddy’s bachelor party. Let me tell you something about Lake Tahoe during the ski offseason, you gamble a lot. And that is what we all did during the weekend. We just gambled and placed bets on various sporting events at the three casinos Lake Tahoe has to offer. I did not go crazy with the bets because my wife would murder me, but I had some fun taking a risk on the uncertainty of will I win or not. Except for when I placed a bet against the Reds during their series with the Pirates. I knew for a fact I was going to make money on that bet.
Domestic violence is never an easy subject to talk about or, in my line of work, to defend. To be honest, there really is no run of the mill domestic violence case. Some domestic violence cases have no defense and I just work out the best possible deal for my client. For other domestic violence cases, after reading the police report and witness statements, I ask myself “how the hell did this person get charged with domestic violence?”
A couple weeks ago, my brother and I went back to our homeland of California to visit our parents and help them get ready for their move back to Ohio. Nothing too crazy, just packing and re-sodding the yard. And an occasional beer or two in the morning hours while we worked. Don’t judge. We were on “vacation” and that whole time change thing was happening. In any event, one morning we finished up our chores and were watching some television. While flipping through the channels we came across Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. Not wanting to pass up a great slasher movie, we started to watch it. About fifteen minutes in it became more of a comedy than a slasher movie. But back in the 1980s that movie was crazy scary! Like most slasher movies it had all the elements of the main characters getting messed with by Freddy until the big finale where they have to take Freddy on. By now you have to be asking yourself what the hell does Freddy Krueger have to do … 
Throughout the years and probably over dozens of cases, the United States Supreme Court has it made clear that Native American tribes are self-governing and sovereign entities whose powers are only limited by the federal government. As a result, reservations are considered independent of state and local power. With that in mind, what happens when a state court is presented with a divorce where one spouse is Native American? Does a state court even have jurisdiction (the right to hear a case and make a decision), or power over an enrolled tribal member? Does a state court have the ability to divide Native American assets upon divorce?
Close your eyes for a moment and think back to a day when Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, Vimeo, YouTube, and LinkedIn were not in existence. Did you feel that sense of pure freedom from Social Media or did you freak out because you don’t know what you friend had for lunch today because you can’t see his food post? Regardless, it is pretty crazy to think about our society without Social Media or Facebook at the grasp of our fingertips.
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. Some of these difficulties include increase of stress in their day-to-day lives, financial struggles due to fixed incomes, and health related limitations as custodial grandparents are usually at a different stage in life when caring for the children. This article will …