As you plan for summer, consult the parenting plan to determine what special terms there are in place – perhaps within the text of a parenting plan – for this time of year. Some plans allow planned vacations to trump the normal schedule. Be sure you discuss any scheduled activity with your co-parent. This can include vacations, day trips or just regular visits. The more details you can agree on in advance, the less chance there will be for misunderstandings or disagreements later.

Communicate openly

Proper communication should be a practice throughout the year, but it’s especially important during the summer when schedules can be more hectic. Make sure both parents have a clear understanding of what’s expected and are on the same page.

Be willing to adjust

Summer schedules don’t always go as planned. Be willing to accommodate changes in the other parent’s schedule, as long as they are reasonable and communicated in a timely manner. Always remember the focus should be on the children’s well-being and happiness. Make decisions based on what’s best for them, not what’s most convenient for you.

Practice mutual respect

Respect the agreed upon schedule and avoid last-minute changes unless absolutely necessary. Picking up and dropping off the children on time will also show respect for the other parent’s time. This also provides stability for the kids, which can greatly benefit them.

Encourage shared experiences

Allow and encourage your kids to share their summer experiences with the other parent. This can help maintain a sense of continuity and stability for your children. If you’re going on vacation, remember to set up a plan for communication between your co-parent and your children. You can use phone calls, video chats and similar methods to do this.

Summer should be a fun and relaxing time for your children. Avoid turning it into a competition about who can provide the best or most extravagant summer experience. Instead, focus on creating meaningful and memorable moments with your children.

Then, when they divorce, they have to sort through all of their belongings and also their financial applications to start living financially separate lives. Many couples in Georgia will have a difficult time addressing their marital property in the early stages of a divorce.

Debts can also prove to be a sticking point for many couples. Will a spouse who did not take on major debts have to help pay them back after a divorce?

Many debts could be marital debt

Just like couples share their income regardless of whose name is on the paycheck deposited into the shared bank account, so too do couples share responsibility for debts created during their marriage. Obviously, debts added to shared credit accounts will be the theoretical responsibility of both spouses.

Accounts held only in the name of one spouse could also be subject to division in a Georgia divorce. In most cases, the primary consideration regarding whether the debt is subject to division or not will be the date when it originated.

If someone had debt from before their marriage that they still have not paid off when the divorce occurs, that debt will likely remain theirs to take care of separately. Most debts from during the marriage, including student loans and credit cards in the name of only one spouse, could potentially end up divided.

What happens to debt can be a major sticking point

Some people insist that they will not help pay for certain debts, possibly because their spouse created those debts by conducting an affair. Other people may worry that their spouse will fail to pay debts after the divorce and ruin their credit score.

A thorough review of the household financial circumstances is a key starting point for anyone contemplating a divorce in Georgia. Additionally, they will want to try to identify charges that could constitute dissipation, such as money wasted on an extramarital affair.

In some cases, someone worried about the behavior of their spouse might take the debt in the divorce along with more marital property so that they don’t have to worry about their former spouse defaulting. In theory, every divorcing couple will have the opportunity to set their own terms for property division, including the division of debt. Otherwise, they will have to rely on the judge’s interpretation of the state’s equitable distribution standard.

Identifying the most pressing concerns that may evolve from property division concerns may help those who are preparing for divorce in Georgia secure better outcomes with the assistance of a reputable attorney.

That being said, while there is no technical requirement for either person to file for divorce first, there can also be some advantages if you are the one to do so. So, though you don’t want to rush, it is something of a balancing act. It can be beneficial to act before your spouse does once it becomes clear that your marriage is coming to an end.

Gathering paperwork in advance

One advantage is that you can gather the paperwork that you need for the divorce long before filing. If your spouse files first, you might feel like you are scrambling to get caught up. But if you get things in motion before they know that you are going to file, you’ll have more time to get everything in order.

Accurate disclosure of assets

If you believe that your spouse is going to try to hide assets from you (which is illegal), waiting for them to file for divorce may give them months or even years to begin hiding these assets and removing them from your possession. If you file first, you may be more likely to receive an accurate disclosure when they file a response with the court.

Planning a divorce strategy

Filing first also gives you time to assemble a divorce team and work with them to create a strategy that will meet your needs. For instance, parents are often focused on ensuring that they get shared custody of the children. On the other hand, wealthy business owners may be focused on preserving their assets. Every divorce is unique, but you can plan for what your specific divorce will likely entail.

Getting started

If you know that you want to file for divorce, it’s important to begin looking into the legal steps you’ll need to take and all of the options that you have available to you so that you can make informed decisions.

How do you know if you’re ready for adoption?

Before committing to an adoption, you should conduct some self-reflection. Answering the following questions may prove helpful in analyzing how ready you are for the process and what it entails:

• Do you have the financial resources needed to care for an adopted child? As you probably know, children can be expensive to care for. But an adopted child may have additional, and sometimes even unexpected, costs associated with providing them with adequate care. For example, you may learn that the child is genetically predisposed to certain physical or mental health conditions that require medication or other forms of medical treatment. Ask yourself and really calculate whether you’re ready to take on these costs.
• Are you ready for the challenges that you might face? Although we all like to think of the adoption process as being a happy process with storybook endings, which they can be at times, they usually have their own challenges that can be difficult to overcome. You may have to deal with issues with the child’s birth parents seeking access to the child, the child questioning where they come from and conflict when the child disagrees with you on any number of topics. Be realistic about what adopting a child may look like in your family and whether you’re ready to handle those challenges.
• Do you have proper support? As mentioned above, adopting a child isn’t always easy. Therefore, you may find it helpful to have support not only throughout the adoption process but also as you raise the child. If you don’t have adequate support, the process can be much more difficult. So, carefully think through whether you have the support that you need to make an adoption successful.
• Are you comfortable having tough conversations: You might have to have tough conversations with your adopted child and their birth parents. These talks might pertain to the child’s history or the birth parents’ access to the child. And these conversations may be ongoing. Consider whether you’re able and willing to have those tough talks in a way that is caring and supportive.
• Are you prepared for evaluations? In many instances, in order to be approved for adoption, you have to undergo home studies and other evaluations to ensure that you’re a fit individual to care for a child. These assessments may also determine if you and a certain child are a good match. But these can be pretty extensive evaluations, so you’ll want to be prepared to go through that if you want to successfully get through the adoption process.

Finding help navigating the adoption process

While you’ll certainly need informal support to help you get through the adoption process, you may also need legal guidance. An attorney who is experienced in this area of the law may be able to provide you with the insight and guidance that you need to make the decisions that are right for you and the child involved.

If you want to learn more about what the formal adoption process entails and how an attorney can help you, please think about reaching out to an attorney who is adept at handling these matters.

But what is it about January that creates this rise in divorce filings? Is there anything inherent about this month, in particular, that pushes people toward the end of their marriages? Below, let’s take a look at a few of the factors that influence January‘s reputation.

Tax concerns

One thing to remember is that married couples file joint tax returns. With tax season coming up, they’re likely considering all of these joint finances. They may decide to get divorced in January so that they don’t have to file jointly the following year. They can separate all of their finances in advance and file their own taxes.

Family times

Additionally, the holidays tend to be times for families to come together. Maybe you want to take the children to their grandparents for Christmas. Maybe you’re meeting up with everyone for Thanksgiving. Regardless of the specifics, the late fall and early winter months are often thought of as months for holidays and family, so couples will sometimes put off a divorce until this has ended. But after New Year’s Day, the divorce is back on the table.

Returning to school

Children often get the holidays off for various school breaks, so parents may have a bit more of a chaotic schedule and it may feel like the children are around all of the time. If the parents wait until January, those kids head back to school for the winter semester, and the parents will have a bit more free time to focus on the divorce. They can also have more delicate conversations without the children around.

A last chance

Finally, some couples look at the holidays as a last chance for the marriage. They may hope that it brings them closer and means they don’t need to get divorced. But if that doesn’t pan out, then they have a new focus for the following year as they move forward with their life.

Are you getting divorced?

If you do decide to get divorced this January or any other time this year, be sure you know what legal steps to take.

When nothing can be done to stop an inevitable divorce, opening lines of communication can make life easier for husbands, wives, and, more importantly, children. Brief talks that are detailed, friendly, and firm can set the tone and avoid arguments and conflicts in emotionally-charged times.

Setting a tone during a new normal

Regardless of marital status, communication between a couple can take many forms with countless definitions. In a marriage, interactions are usually about respect and affection, whether it involves the latest news or expressing emotional or romantic feelings. The objective is to maintain closeness and a connection.

While in the midst of marital dissolution or post-divorce, communication can become something akin to business transactions. Specifically, parents are now in the business of ending a marriage and raising and ensuring children’s best interests. Pain, misunderstandings, or grievances in the past no longer require resolution.

Communication eventually devolves in a way where “conversations” are about divorce and shared parenting time. Face-to-face conversations may no longer be necessary. Texting is the apparent alternative. However, non-face-to-face talks can result in words being exchanged without the luxury of face-to-face interactions. Sending a text that contains negative or incendiary language should bring pause to the sender, who will hopefully hit “delete” instead of “send.”

The end of a marriage can see people at their best or worst. Yet, when one spouse is putting up obstacles and making life unlivable for an ex or soon-to-be ex, the other may want to “fight fire with fire.” Legal representation can help to navigate through an emotionally-charged process and focus on your best interests, specifically open and civil lines of communication.

When you know the basics about parenting plans, you will feel more comfortable moving forward with your family law matter in Georgia. What should parents with underage children know about parenting plans?

They address responsibilities and rights

Your parenting plan isn’t just a breakdown of your custody schedule, although such schedules are important inclusions in modern parenting plans. Your parenting plan will typically also discuss how you will share legal authority and other details, like which address will technically be the child’s primary address and which parent can claim the children for income tax purposes.

The rules and guidelines within your parenting plan determine what rights you have in your relationship with the children and also when you can potentially go back to court either to enforce the order because of a dispute with your ex or to change the existing parenting plan.

You can create your own parenting plan

Every county in Georgia provides a template that parents can fill out when negotiating a parenting plan, such as this version provided by Fulton County. You don’t have to go to family court to set those terms, such as what percentage of parenting time each of you will have.

You can agree on those terms without directly involving a judge in their creation. You can negotiate through your attorneys or attend mediation to settle the issues on which you currently disagree. Of course, if reaching a mutual agreement is not possible, then you can always go to court to litigate. A judge will have to approve any plan you make to officialize it.

You can update your parenting plan when circumstances change

The best parenting plans include rules that you can adapt to changing family circumstances. However careful you are, it is impossible to completely predict what your family’s future needs will be.

Thankfully, you will have the option of seeking a modification to your existing custody order anytime there is a substantial change to your family circumstances. You will typically need evidence of those changes, and as with initial custody matters, you will have the option of either litigating with your ex or cooperating for an uncontested filing.

Learning the basics about parenting plans can help those preparing to negotiate shared custody arrangements in Georgia.

This week, let’s briefly look at that last piece: the birth parents’ consent. While there are a number of ways that you can negotiate or litigate over consent, one commonly utilized option is the post-adoption contact agreement.

What is a post-adoption contact agreement?

A post-adoption contact agreement is a written agreement where the adoptive parents agree to allow the child’s birth parent to have some form of contact with the child even after the adoption is finalized. The type of contact that is allowed under the agreement can vary depending on the circumstances, but it may include:

• Regular or periodic in-person visitation
• Phone calls
• Letters
• Cards
• Gifts
• Attendance at the child’s events
• Written updates to the biological parent
• Photographs that are sent to the biological parent

The breadth and frequency of contact can be negotiated amongst the parties so that an agreement is reached that is fair and in the child’s best interests. Keep in mind, though, that if an agreement cannot be reached for post-adoption contact, then there’s a stronger likelihood that you’ll have to litigate over the issue of the biological parent’s consent to the adoption. Offering a post-adoption contact agreement, then, is often a good way to secure a biological parent’s consent to the adoption.

Is a post-adoption contact agreement best for the child?

It depends on the circumstances at hand. If the child was abused by the biological parent and has suffered psychological harm as a result, then ongoing contact with that parent probably won’t be in the child’s best interests. However, there can be benefits to creating and adhering to a post-adoption contact agreement, including each of the following:

• The child has a better sense of their familial history, which may avoid lingering questions that pain the child later in life
• The child is wrapped with more support from the biological parent
• You, as the adoptive parent, may have better access to important information, such as family medical histories
• You can foster a positive relationship with the biological parent that furthers the child’s best interests

Keep in mind, too, that these post-adoption contact agreements can contain provisions with conditions that, once triggered, can end the agreement. Therefore, if a biological parent, say, fails to appear at multiple scheduled visits, then the entire agreement may cease. This helps ensure that you can protect the child’s well-being while holding the biological parent to the terms that were negotiated.

Competently navigate your adoption-related issues

There is a lot to take into consideration when adopting a child. Deciding whether to offer a post-adoption contact agreement is just one of the issues that you’ll have to think about.

We know that these matters can be confusing and stressful, and you certainly don’t want to make a mistake during the process that jeopardizes the viability of the adoption. That’s why experienced family law firms like ours are here to help. An attorney who is experienced in adoption law can help guide you throughout the process so that you can ensure that it plays out as smoothly as possible. That way, you can focus on what really matters: welcoming the child into your family.

In many situations, one of the first steps to developing a co-parenting relationship is establishing paternity. While paternity may be a simple question for some, that is not always the case.

Here’s what you should know about establishing paternity in Georgia.

Legal marriage

Under Georgia law, when the child’s parents are legally married at the time of the birth, courts presume the husband is the child’s father. If this is not the case, you will need a court action to alter that presumption.

Court orders

You can also establish paternity with a court order through a local, state or federal court. In some cases, the court will request that the mother, father and child must submit a DNA paternity test.

Paternity Acknowledgement Form

The last way to establish paternity is by voluntarily signing a Paternity Acknowledgement Form. Often, these forms are available at the hospital when your child is born. Alternatively, you can go to the State Office of Vital Records in Atlanta or the Office of Vital Records in the county where the child was born.

What about legitimation?

While these options can establish paternity, or biologically who the father is, it does not necessarily establish a father’s right to bring an action for custody. Legitimation is a separate process that can give the father of a child born out of wedlock specific rights regarding custody and care of the child.

If you consider evolutionary theory, mismatches between males and females may influence divorce decisions. Is it possible that the features which initially attracted you to your spouse have become obsolete?

For example, consider mismatches such as:

Genetics

Women have shown a historical preference to select a partner based on traits such as masculinity, social dominance and good looks. However, men with these characteristics tend to show greater interest in short-term relationships.

Financial security

Financial security used to be a need for many women who planned to be stay-at-home wives and mothers. That necessity has changed over the past few decades, with ladies entering the workforce by storm. Many women currently hold high-paying positions of their own, minimizing the need for a partner.

Caregiving

Females are nurturers by nature, often prioritizing taking care of others – whether that’s through taking care of the home, raising the children or catering to their spouse’s needs. For career women without a true partnership, the stress of doing everything may bring you to your breaking point.

Ask yourself whether divorce is the answer

Recognizing a mismatch in your marriage doesn’t necessarily mean you’re on the path toward divorce. However, you may be wise to think about what’s best for all involved.

Talk to your spouse about how the two of you can challenge traditional gender norms to work as a team. Or try viewing your relationship from a different perspective.

You and your spouse might decide to make some changes in your day-to-day lives, thereby trying to rekindle the romance you once shared. However, it might be worth a shot.