Are Married or Single Women Happier?

happiness single women married women

A New Book From Happiness Expert Raises Questions About The Longevity Of Married Women

Do Married Women Feel Happy In Their Marriage? Maybe Not Says Happiness Expert

happiness single women married womenAs little girls, many of us dream about that wedding, the white picket fence, babies, and living the perfect life. Who knew that same studies have shown that the happiest in the subgroup of women in the population is actually women who are unmarried and childless?

According to happiness expert, Paul Dolan, a professor at the London School of Economics, studies support that women who are unmarried and childless are the happiest. He says that marriage and raising babies which are the traditional markers associated with success do not correlate with happiness. ln his book Happy Ever After he reported on a study from the American Time Use Survey.

They studied levels of misery and levels of pleasure in separated, divorced, windowed married and unmarried individuals. Dolan says that “the study found that the level of happiness reported by those who were married was higher than the unmarried, but only when their spouse was in the room”. Unmarried individuals reported lower levels of misery than married individuals who were asked when … Read More... “Are Married or Single Women Happier?”

Common Law Marriage in Ohio – Does it Still Exist?

common law marriage ohio

Ohio No Longer Recognizes Common Law Marriage After 1991

common law marriage ohioI’m sure most, if not all, have at least heard of the term “common law marriage“. By legal definition, a common law marriage is a marriage that doesn’t quite rise to the level of a legal, formal marriage, but is created by the two parties, who co-habit together and hold themselves out to their community as married. A legal marriage has a licensing component, and a certain level of solemnization requirement that might not be met by a common law marriage.

While common law marriages aren’t scarce, they are less common than they used to be. Prior to the widespread availability of easy transportation and the internet, people in remote areas of the country, especially out west, would need to wait around for the circuit-riding pastor to arrive in order to officially wed. Without a formal schedule, people began to pair off and held their own ceremonies before their family and friends and would hold themselves out in the community as married, even without all of the official paperwork being filed. After so long, no one really recalled that so-and-so weren’t actually legally married by the pastor.

Marriage Is

… Read More... “Common Law Marriage in Ohio – Does it Still Exist?”

Parenting Styles: Helicopter Versus Snowplow Parenting. [Trouble Ahead?]

parenting snowplow parent

The 50 people charged In Varsity Blue Scandal Practiced Snowplow Parenting

Overparenting Styles: Helicopter Vs. Snowplow. Which Parenting Style Are You?

parenting snowplow parentThe helicopter parent is the one who hovers over their child, worrying about all the horrible things that could happen to them. They try to monitor their child’s activities and warn them of dangers lurking ahead. In contrast the snowplow parent works hard to clear any thing in the way of their child’s success. They work hard to be sure their child does not encounter frustrating life experiences or have to deal with failures.

This type of parenting has definitely been in the spotlight with the college bribery scandal that has rocked the news. In this investigation dubbed Operation Varsity Blue, the 50 people charged were acting as snowplows. They were shielding their children from any of the risks, difficulties and possible failure of the process of attending prestigious colleges. Basically they forged ahead as a snowplow would, clearing the path ahead.  Some of the allegations were bribing SAT proctors and paying university coaches to make sure their child was accepted to the college of their choice. Most of these parents took painful measures to ensure their child would … Read More... “Parenting Styles: Helicopter Versus Snowplow Parenting. [Trouble Ahead?]”

Divorce and Digital New Age Communications and Technology

divorce social media

The Serious Impact Social Media May Have On Divorce Case

Social Media And E-Mail Correspondence May Impact Divorce Case

divorce social mediaOkay. I am showing my age. But I remember when the practice of domestic relations law was so much simpler in many ways. How many of you even remember the old IBM Selectric typewriter or even carbon paper! I do. In my 40 years of practice I have seen the advent of word processing, the internet, Fax machines, copy machines, computers (that network together), cell phones, email, texting, an explosion of software applications not to even mention Google and all the social media platforms!

Those times are in the past. Life has changed dramatically. We are now bombarded with voice messages, texts, emails, Facebook posts, Tweets, LinkedIn, IM’s and many more technological advances. Some folks have literally become “hooked” on their devices and these social platforms. Their lives seem to revolve around personal information that they post on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, Tumblr and many others too numerous to list.

Going Through A Divorce? Take A Break From Social Media

If you think the posts are secret, think again. Nothing on the internet is truly secret. We have written about … Read More... “Divorce and Digital New Age Communications and Technology”

Blast From The Past: Why Selecting One Court Over Another Could Be Important In Your Dissolution

Blast from the past 13 years Ohio Family Law Blog

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Here is one of my favorites posts about dissolution of marriage and residency requirements in Ohio, from June 4th, 2011! We have a ton of interesting articles in our archives of the Ohio Family Law Blog. Use our Search tool and enjoy a few oldie but goodies!

Are There Residency Requirements To File A Dissolution Of Marriage In The State Of Ohio?

dissolution marriageIn order to terminate a marriage in the State of Ohio via a divorce proceeding, the party seeking to terminate the marriage must meet certain requirements as to residence of the parties.  By law, if a party is seeking a divorce from the other party in Ohio, one of the parties must have been a resident of the State of Ohio for more than six (6) months and a resident of a particular County for more than ninety (90) days preceding the filing of the Complaint for Divorce.

By contrast, if the parties in a marriage seek to terminate their marriage by a dissolution proceeding, one of the parties must have been a resident of the State of Ohio for more than six (6) months before filing their Petition for Dissolution of Marriage.  By statute, Ohio … Read More... “Blast From The Past: Why Selecting One Court Over Another Could Be Important In Your Dissolution”

[NEW STUDY] The Correlation between Social Interaction and Happiness

divorce study

New Data Confirms Findings From 2010 Social Interations Study

social interactions happinessA prominent 2010 study involving the correlation between social interactions and happiness done by Matthias Mehl, Simine Vazire, Shannon Holleran, and Shelby Clark has recently been updated and redone. These same individuals repeated this social interactions study with a broader group of participants including cancer patients, healthy folks  as well as with people who were recently divorced. The results were published in the September 2018 issue of Psychological Science

We are all social creatures. Interaction with others is generally necessary in our society. These 2 studies investigated these engagements with others as well as what kinds of social interactions make people happy. Is having superficial relationships or casual conversations enough to positively move the “happiness meter”?  Is it enough just to be around others and to have casual conversations? Or, is it important to be engaged in deep and meaningful conversations? Did only the “extraverts” react positively to the social interaction?

The Connection Between Social Interaction And Happiness Confirmed

The researchers factored personality measures into this study. Somewhat surprisingly, the results between the “extraverts” and the “introverts” didn’t vary. All participants generally reacted similarly: the greater the interaction the greater the … Read More... “[NEW STUDY] The Correlation between Social Interaction and Happiness”

Commissions and Ohio Child Support – A New Ohio Supreme Court Decision

Alert Key Legal Update

Ohio Supreme Court Rules One-Time Commisions To Be Excluded In Gross Income Calculation Of Child Support

child support gross income supreme courtUnder the new Supreme Court Decision, A.S. v. J.W., 2019-Ohio-2473, which was decided on June 25, 2019, commissions that are one time award are not to be included when calculating gross income for child support calculations.

When child support is calculated for a divorce settlement, the court bases the amount on the a number of things, including the gross income of each parent. Gross income, according to the statute (O.R.C. 3119.05(D)) includes the yearly average of pay, plus the average of any bonuses or overtime earned. The Court then can either average those totals from the past three years, or use the most recent year’s information.

The issue that the Court grappled with was to whether commissions are to be included in the calculation of ‘bonuses or overtime’ earned. In part of the statute, it is included in the list, and not included in another part of the statute. This leads to what us lawyer types call ‘confusion’.

To sort through the statute, the Supreme Court looked at the specific case before them. In this case, Mother had primary custody and sought a … Read More... “Commissions and Ohio Child Support – A New Ohio Supreme Court Decision”

Page 30 of 71
1 … 28 29 30 31 32 … 71