On behalf of The Roberts Law Firm, P.C. posted in Divorce on Tuesday, February 21, 2012
With more information being received and stored on smart phones, it is no secret that they harbor a treasure trove of incriminating evidence. With that, more attorneys are looking to cell phone records through discovery requests. According to a survey of divorce lawyers by msnbc.com, 92 percent of attorneys have seen an increase in cases where cell phone evidence has been used.
Ken Altshuler, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, said that "[a]s smartphones and text messaging become main sources of communication during the course of each day, there will inevitably be more and more evidence that an estranged spouse can collect." They are particularly useful because they are typically emotionally charged and written at the spur of the moment. As such they are more likely to be accurate descriptions of what the person meant to say.
On behalf of The Roberts Law Firm, P.C. posted in Family Law on Monday, February 20, 2012
The financial problems of a slew of professional athletes have been in the news recently. In Georgia, football player Terrell Owens has made headlines with his child support payment issues. NBA star Allen Iverson's name came up, too, when a Georgia court ordered that his accounts be garnished to pay an outstanding debt -- a debt that adds to a pile of other unpaid bills and missed child support payments.
Why is it that professional athletes, especially pros who are retired, have so much trouble holding onto their fortunes? According to MSNBC, at least 75 percent of retired NFL players are broke within two years of departing the playing field. For NBA players, 60 percent go broke within five years of leaving the league. Iverson reportedly earned $154 million in salary while he was playing pro ball. Where did it go?
On behalf of The Roberts Law Firm, P.C. posted in Adoption on Friday, February 17, 2012
Whitney Houston died last weekend. The singer and actress had strong ties to Atlanta. She and her ex-husband owned a home here, and she recorded a couple of albums here. Some news outlets are reporting that Houston's mother wants her to be buried here, too. And, Houston's adopted son Nick lives in the area.
Houston took the boy in as a child and raised him as her own, but it is unknown if the adoption was legal or informal. Nick is now 22 years old, and he is reportedly very close to Houston's 18-year-old daughter. He made headlines himself when he got involved in a fight between Houston's daughter and her boyfriend. He faced criminal charges for possessing a gun, and he insisted he was merely trying to protect his sister.
On behalf of The Roberts Law Firm, P.C. posted in Divorce on Tuesday, February 14, 2012
You've heard it many times before: Money is one of the top reasons couples divorce. You might wonder why they don't try to talk about finances before they tie the knot, but just as people can't foresee their spouse's infidelity or refusal to clean the kitchen, money problems can be hard to predict.
Here are six issues couples often argue about. Did your marriage end because of one of them?
On behalf of The Roberts Law Firm, P.C. posted in Child Custody on Sunday, February 12, 2012
Divorce affects children in more ways than we or our kids realize. Painful memories from the divorce of a child's parents can linger well into adulthood, often affecting his or her own relationships. But a father in Oklahoma says his inability to gain child custody has hurt his son both emotionally and physically.
The boy, who is 11 but is the size of a 7-year-old, may be suffering from "psychosocial dwarfism," according to court records. The condition results from emotional neglect and related factors. His 10-year-old sister has also alleged abuse while living with her mother. Although the Department of Human Services has ordered both children to be removed from her home, they continue to live there, much to their father's frustration. He's filed a motion for an emergency order to have them removed, but the case has hit multiple roadblocks.
On behalf of The Roberts Law Firm, P.C. posted in Adoption on Friday, February 10, 2012
According to a recent report, Georgia is finding success in a program it developed that identifies permanent placements for children with foster parents who are looking to adopt them. This is great news since there are so many children who are born into families that are unable to care for them.
Georgia is making efforts to communicate to people that the foster or adoption process is not as complicated as they might think. They have been working hard to develop a program that contracts with agencies to provide a child's life history including foster placements, into a system that consolidates the time it takes for a family to adopt a child. Essentially it's simplifying the process so that these children can be placed in homes and get the unconditional love and nurturing that they deserve.
On behalf of The Roberts Law Firm, P.C. posted in Child Support on Wednesday, February 8, 2012
After a year of financial troubles, former Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Terrell Owens may be on the mend. The38-year-old recently signed for a season with an Indoor Football League team, and he was able to reduce his child support payments.
Owens has been in family court more than once in the past few months for failing to make support payments to the mothers of his four children. He was not picked up by the NFL last season, and some business deals didn't go his way (lawsuits are moving forward). His new job will not pay him nearly what he was earning in the NFL.
On behalf of The Roberts Law Firm, P.C. posted in Child Support on Saturday, February 4, 2012
A class action suit approved a few weeks ago is back in the headlines -- where it will likely stay for some time. The plaintiffs are parents who have served jail time for failure to comply with a court order to pay child support. The jail time itself isn't as much an issue as the fact that the state does not provide legal representation for indigent parents.
The state believes it has every right to jail these "deadbeat" parents, and the Georgia Attorney General's office wants the class action status overturned. In a motion filed recently, the attorney general argued that the five named plaintiffs went to jail as a result of "their own poor decision-making." The failure to pay child support is an epidemic, the state's attorneys said.
On behalf of The Roberts Law Firm, P.C. posted in Child Support on Monday, January 30, 2012
According to recent news reports, noncustodial parents who are behind on their child support payments are hiding out too easily. Parents across the nation owe hundreds, thousands -- even tens of thousands of dollars. Georgia and every other state must deal with child support debts within state borders on their own. Federal agencies, however, have come up with a new approach.
County deputies attempting to collect on these debts say that approximately 90 percent of the time there is no answer when knocking on doors. They also say they are often given an incorrect address, or the person no longer lives at the address they have.
On behalf of The Roberts Law Firm, P.C. posted in Family Law on Friday, January 27, 2012
Debate is picking up across the country as to whether state legislatures should revise existing laws governing alimony payments. In many cases, states have alimony laws that were put into place decades ago. Proponents of reform efforts say that it is time for spousal support guidelines to be modernized. Those in Georgia considering divorce may be subject to different alimony laws if the state congress decides to adopt changes to existing laws.
One man's case has become reform advocates' prime example of problems with current alimony laws in many states. The man, now 72-years-old, split with his wife in 1997 and was ordered to pay over $25,000 annually to his ex-wife for the rest of his life. Now, the man is suffering from advanced Alzheimer's disease and requires full-time care from his current wife. The man has tried, and failed, five times to end or reduce his alimony payments.
