Child Support Arrearage Can Impact Travel Outside The Country
PUBLISHERS UPDATE: Here is one of my favorites posts about the U.S. Passport Denial Program from back on January 15, 2011! This U.S. government program is still going strong. Here is a link to their website to learn more. 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!
Renewal Or Issuance Of A U.S. Passport May Be Denied If More Than $2,500 Is Owed In Child Support
Most people don’t realize that if you have a child support arrearage of more than $2,500 that you are NOT eligible for either a renewal or the issuance of a U.S. passport. Also, be aware that there is no guarantee that even if your arrearage balance is below $2,500 that you will be allowed to obtain a passport because you are still in arrears. Many people who had intended to travel abroad have learned about this restriction the hard way and ended up having their plans aborted by a passport denial. Think about the implications if, for example, you were planning on getting married overseas and … Read More... “Blast From The Past: Non-Payment of Child Support May Result in Denial of a Passport”
It often is said that children are the most affected by divorce. Now a Toronto study has found that men with divorced parents are significantly more likely to suffer a stroke than men from intact families, according to a recent study from the University of Toronto. The study, published in the International Journal of Stroke, shows that adult men who had experienced parental divorce before they turned 18 are three times more likely to suffer a 
Since the beginning of the recent housing crisis, I have had the experience of working with clients who have fallen behind with mortgage payments which resulted in the mortgage lender filing a foreclosure action with the Court. This course of events often leads to the filing of a personal bankruptcy action to discharge the mortgage indebtedness. In order to get the information to write this article, I chose to interview my son, who will be known as CS, and a divorce client, who will be known as RP. CS and RP have some commonalities: (1) both had experienced a divorce proceeding; (2) both had experienced a decline in the value of their homes causing them to be “upside down”; and, (3) both of them had support obligations (child support or spousal support) resulting in each having less disposable income with which to pay their monthly mortgage payments. Having a house be “upside down” simply means that the amount of the mortgage balance is far greater than the actual fair market value of the home. Both men filed a 
It is now almost 5 years since Ohio’s long-term care partnership program was implemented in order to allow Medicaid participants to protect more of their assets from the Medicaid spend down process. With the rising cost of long-term care and the effect that the recession has had on most individual’s savings, this program is more valuable than ever. A long-term health care insurance policy that meets certain criteria can provide tremendous savings and asset protection against future health care needs by allowing an individual to shelter an amount of assets equal to the amount of coverage under the policy.
Financial decisions in a marriage are not always a joint venture; wherein both Husband and Wife cooperate in the decision making. In the first few years of my own marriage, my Husband filed our taxes for us. I would check to ensure he put in all my information, but I never looked to see what numbers he was putting into his part of the tax return. Now that I am an attorney practicing in divorce, I know the detrimental effects that can occur in these situations.
If you are a recipient of Social Security Income or Social Security Disability Income and you are going through a divorce or dissolution, your first step should be to find an attorney who has a good working knowledge of social security income and social security disability income. Spousal support, child support, and property settlements are often the main issues in any divorce or dissolution. Not only does spousal support, child support and property settlements encompass a great deal of the divorce or dissolution proceeding, but when one receives these things as part of a global settlement or adjudication, and they are also receiving social security income, social security disability income, Medicare, or Medicaid, one can find that what they want and what they get can be often two very different things.