When a Georgia family court judge makes a custody ruling, they rely on a flexible standard known as the "best interests of the child." This standard lists about a dozen different criteria for a judge to use in determining the best child custody arrangement for the...
Month: August 2011
Managing your finances during a divorce
When you are going through a divorce, adjusting to your new financial reality can be one of the most difficult aspects of your split. Regardless of the circumstances and of each spouse's respective income and expenses, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to...
Georgia fatherhood program loses funding
Several Georgia technical colleges have lost funding for their long-running fatherhood programs, which provide education and support services to both father and mothers with the goal of strengthening families and serving the low-income community. The colleges are...
Should religion affect child custody orders?
In most states, family court judges may not use personal disapproval or a lack of understanding of a religion determine their ruling on a child custody dispute. However, what happens when a parent alleges that the other parent's religious practices cause harm to the...
Ruth Madoff to file for divorce
When Bernie Madoff was arrested in 2008 and charged in connection with one of the largest, most damaging Ponzi schemes in U.S. history, his wife of 50 years denied any knowledge of her husband's fraudulent actions. "Like everyone else, I feel betrayed and confused,"...
Father calls ex-wife “psycho” on public blog
When you are fighting to gain or keep custody of your children, it seems like a bad idea to publicly insult and criticize your children's other parent, especially in a very public forum that is open and available to anyone, including the family court judge that is...
Terrell Owens sued for child support in Atlanta…again
In June, we wrote about professional football player Terrell Owens' failure to pay child support to the mother of one of his children, which caused her to seek legal action. At that time, she filed court papers on Fulton County, asking a family court judge to charge...
What you tweet can be used against you in divorce court
In this day and age of social media and online inter-connectedness, it seems that over-sharing has become the norm. Users of social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and now, Google Plus, regularly post about their daily lives, from the minute details ("I had...
State updates antiquated alimony laws
In Georgia, alimony is largely unregulated by state laws. This was done purposefully by the state legislature, with the intent that Georgia family court judges be given significant discretion to award alimony if, when, and how it is the most appropriate for a...
Congressman reportedly owes $100,000 in back child support
After repeatedly accusing the Obama administration of irresponsible spending and financial policies, a Republican member of the House of Representatives is now facing questions about his own financial management after reports surfaced that he owes his ex-wife over...
