Divorcenet News

TBO - Tampa Bay Online

Krista Klaus

TAMPA - Divorce can be one of the most painful and divisive events of a person's lifetime, but a group of Tampa Bay area professionals is working to change that experience.

A growing number of local lawyers, mental health experts and financial advisers are training in a practice known as collaborative divorce, a meeting of the minds that aims to transform divorcing couples into partners in parenting.

"It's a much more civilized process," said Nancy Harris, co-chairwoman of the Tampa Bay Collaborative Divorce Group, a group of professionals committed to keeping divorce out of court while helping couples keep their cool.

"They usually walk out being able to talk to each other."

Collaborative divorce brings couples and their attorneys to the negotiating table along with a mental health expert and a financial professional, usually a certified public accountant. Both parties agree upfront to peaceably settle custody and financial issues out of court, with professionals involved to help resolve inevitable conflicts as they arise.

"It's just question of how you do it. Do you do it collaboratively? Or do you do it with litigation?" said Ky Koch, Harris' co-chairman of the group.

Source: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/may/25/collaborative-divorce-eases-some-pain/life/

New York Time

By Tara Parker-Pope

We’ve all heard the statistic that 50 percent of marriages end in divorce, but recent data on marriage and divorce rates show that isn’t true. Divorce rates have actually declined since peaking in the 1970s, and 10-year divorce rates have dropped dramatically with each generation.

As economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers of the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School explain, there’s no simple equation for predicting divorce risk. Age of marriage, years of education and the decade during which you married all influence divorce risk. For instance, about 23 percent of female college grads married in the 1970s had divorced after 10 years, but among similar women married in the ’90s, only 16 percent had divorced.

Recently, major publications have taken a closer look at the numbers. Time magazine asks the provocative question, “Are Marriage Statistics Divorced from Reality?” The post includes a charming slide show of couples married for 50 years.

Source:  http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/sizing-up-divorce-risk/?src=mv

USA Today

Jonathan Turley

Across the country, some social conservatives are fighting for what they view as a critical article of faith: criminal adultery laws. In the U.S., in the year 2010, people can still be prosecuted for breaching their marital vows. The laws are some of the last remnants of our Puritanical past, where infidelity was treated as not only a marital but also as a criminal matter. While the laws have been challenged as unconstitutional, many people are resistant to the idea of removing such "morality crimes" from our books.

In New Hampshire, for instance, legislators are trying to repeal a 200-year-old adultery law that is widely viewed as unconstitutional. Social conservatives, however, insist that such laws are needed to back up moral dictates with criminal sanctions. A 1997 poll showed that 35% of Americans believe adultery should be a crime, and similar efforts to decriminalize adultery have met with opposition in states such as Illinois and Minnesota.

For many civil libertarians, it is an equally important moment when our nation can finally move beyond laws that require citizens to comply with the moral dictates of their neighbors.

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-04-26-column26_ST_N.htm

AFP

LONDON — Divorce rates are lower in families where husbands help out with the housework, shopping and childcare, according to a study of 3,500 British couples published Tuesday.

The research by the London School of Economics (LSE), entitled "Men's Unpaid Work and Divorce", found that the more husbands helped out, the lower the incidence of divorce.

The study said its conclusions blew open the theory running since the 1960s that marriages were most stable when men focused on paid work and women were responsible for housework.

"The lowest-risk combination is one in which the mother does not work and the father engages in the highest level of housework and childcare," the study found.

Researcher Wendy Sigle-Rushton said economists have spent much time examining and trying to explain the link between women going to work and divorce rates.

"However, in doing so, they have paid very little attention to the behaviour of men. This research... suggests that fathers' contribution to unpaid work at home stabilises marriage regardless of mothers' employment status," she said.

The study analysed married couples who had their first child in 1970, a time when most mothers of young children stayed at home.

"The results suggest that the risk of divorce among working mothers, while greater, is substantially reduced when fathers contribute more to housework and childcare," she said

Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jHBCeOmrgRw17lgIO5eGPD33TbnQ

The Times of India 

Old married couples tend to divorce after their children grow up and move out of their family homes, figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics suggest. According to the figures, the divorce rate has decreased in the country, but people have shown a tendency of walking out from long-term relationships. The ABS paper, Marriages and Divorces, Australia, 2008, notes that last year had the fewest divorces in a single year since 1992, with 2.2 divorces per 1000 population, the lowest in 20 years.

"Divorce today is more likely to involve long-term marriages than in the past," the Daily Telegraph quoted Australian Institute of Family Studies director, Alan Hayes, as saying. He added: "For example, 28 per cent of divorces in 2008 involved marriages of at least 20 years. In 1990, the figure was 20 per cent. "If the relationship has broken down, it may be that couples today are less prepared than in previous generations to stay together after their children leave the marital home." However, he noted that the ABS figures showed that "marriage hasn't gone out of style. People still want to get married. "It's consistent with the institute's research, which indicates the majority of men and women across all ages endorse marriage as an institution."

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Life/Relationships/Man-Woman/Divorce-rates-rising-for-long-term-couples/articleshow/5964835.cms

California’s same-sex domestic partners and married couples seeking breakups should find those processes simpler if the Separation Equity Act bill that passed in the state Assembly on Thursday passes the Senate as well.

Some couples are united as domestic partners and as legally married spouses. That is because many domestic partners chose to marry each other when the option became legally available to them. But current divorce law requires them to dissolve each of the unions separately.

According to proponents of the bill, couples who represent themselves in their divorce might not be aware that both processes have to be completed. They are also required to pay a separate fee for each.

How did California end up with couples caught in this bizarre situation? The state of California, which started performing same-sex marriages in 2008, halted them following the passage, later that year, of Proposition 8. Proposition 8 established a statewide ban on same-sex marriage. Opponents appealed the proposition to the state Supreme Court, arguing that the measure infringed on the constitutional rights of other same-sex couples who wanted to marry but could not.

Source: http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2010-05/gay-divorce-bill-removes-extra-hurdle-for-domestic-couples

24-7 Press Release

By:Rubin, Glickman, Steinberg and Gifford, P.C.

A business owner living in Pennsylvania, including Montgomery County or Bucks County, who is married or considering marriage, should know how his or her business may be affected in the event of divorce. The following legal issues may pertain to a business and a marriage:The value of your business may be included in a divorce settlement. Under Pennsylvania Marital Property Law, marital property is defined as all property acquired from the date of the marriage until the date of separation, including property that is titled in only one person's name and including any increase in value in property acquired before the marriage.A business may be scrutinized during divorce proceedings to determine income for support and equitable distribution purposes. A prenuptial agreement may exclude a business from equitable distribution proceedings as long as full disclosure has been provided.Some guidelines you can follow to generally protect a business are as follows:- Have a good business accountant. This person should be able to help explain your financial decisions if they are called into question by the other party.- Retain all records of the value of your business at the time of your marriage. With this information, you will be able to record the appreciation and depreciation of the business during the marriage.- Itemize all expenses; keep accurate tax returns, records, books, and receipts. These will all be scrutinized in a support context.Creating a fair settlement requires good information from both parties. When you have good records, you can protect your business - and yourself - in the unfortunate event of divorce.Source:http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/how-to-protect-a-business-in-the-event-of-divorce-151345.php

Fav Stocks.com

By Sequoia

Divorce and bankruptcy have serious effects on each other, especially with regard to property and personal finance. When the marriage partners have overwhelming debts and are heading for divorce, bankruptcy may be a way to deal with the financial issues. Bankruptcy may be filed by only one spouse or jointly. The effect of bankruptcy on divorce proceedings is abrupt. An automatic stay stops all activities on divorce proceedings.

Going through bankruptcy and divorce together may cause quite a bit of confusion and many complications. It will be best to find a bankruptcy lawyer at once to properly guide you, along with the lawyer who is helping you with your divorce. Having expert guidance with property settlements, alimony, child support and other financial issues is very valuable when you are undergoing bankruptcy and divorce at the same time 

Source:http://www.favstocks.com/divorce-and-bankruptcy-filing-for-bankruptcy-during-a-divorce/1313059/

Fairfield, CT – June 3, 2010 sees the return of an popular post-divorce support group in Fairfield, CT. ‘Flying Solo – Healing Through the Aftermath of Divorce,’ is an 8-week course offering a safe, confidential forum for women coping with the often unexpected ramifications of their post-divorce lives. This evening group is the creation of Fairfield and Norwalk-based psychotherapist Caroline J. Temple, MSW, LCSW, a divorcee herself. As a holistic psychotherapist in private practice, Temple sees an ongoing and ever critical need for post-divorce support. Nationwide figures consistently show that 50% of marriages end in divorce and many women find themselves ill prepared for some of the realities of life afterwards.

“Divorce support groups can be life changing,” says Temple, who has organized and led similar groups for over 10 years. “

Group connects women with others going through similar situations, reducing their isolation and providing knowledge and power to lessen their fear and help them work through their grief.”

http://www.bignews.biz/?id=870125&keys=Divorce-Support-Group-Advice

While there are no readily available statistics, it seems like everyone who goes through divorce turns to spirituality as part of their healing. The form of spirituality is as unique as the individual, ranging from a return to church or born-again evangelicalism to meditation and yoga.

Perhaps the most famous example is Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling divorce memoir "Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia." While sometimes panned as a divorce tell-all equivalent to emotional vomiting, there is a good reason why "Eat, Pray, Love" is always among the first recommendations to newly-divorced women. It demonstrates how spirituality can lead to great personal growth that heals the wounds of divorce and rebuilds lives.

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