Here’s a great deal — read the first five pages of Bill Eddy’s new book The Future of Family Court, to decide if you want to buy it.  I’m just starting the book myself and will post after I’ve finished it, but for now, you can start it on your own and then know that [...]

Parallel Parenting Plans

by Annette Burns on May 15, 2012

In 2008, Matthew Sullivan[1] wrote what is just a fantastic article in the Journal of Child Custody.[2]   Titled Coparenting and the Parenting Coordination Process, it pulls together the essence of parenting coordination, its purpose and reason for being, and the parenting structures and characteristics that are best addressed through parenting coordination.    (Note that the [...]

I get asked all the time “How do I get basic training in Parenting Coordination?  Who’s providing it?”    I always have to answer that it’s necessary to travel out of state for the training.  While Arizona can offer some training, it’s just not possible to have intensive, core training on a regular or annual [...]

Useless JCA Provisions Should Be Spruced Up

by Annette Burns on May 12, 2012

Parenting Plans in Maricopa County, Arizona, need sprucing up in general.   Many attorneys are like me:  We have a form or forms that are used in almost all cases, with sometimes minimal customization for a given case.  Many clients ask that their parenting plan have the “usual” clauses in them, and when they don’t want [...]

Don’t Rely on Your Divorce Lawyer for Important Tax Advice

May 8, 2012

A Forbes blogger just put out an excellent article — accurately titled Divorce Lawyers — Frequently Not the Best Tax Advisors.                                  The three examples given in the article  —- claiming dependency exemptions, the deductibility of spousal maintenance, and the claim [...]

Read the full article →

Consequences: The Iowa Supreme Court and Same Sex Marriage

May 6, 2012

What a terrific article about and interview with Marsha Ternus.  She is the former Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court who signed off on a unanimous opinion upholding same-gender marriage in Iowa.  As a result, Justice Ternus and two other Supreme Court justices were removed from their positions in the state’s next retention vote. [...]

Read the full article →

Custody, parenting time statute changing – SB1127

April 17, 2012

UPDATE:   Gov. Brewer signed SB1127 on May 9, so the changes t0 Title 25 (403, and others) will be going into effect December 31, 2012. Arizona’s custody and parenting time statute has changed in format over the years, but the actual factors that the court must consider in awarding custody and parenting time haven’t [...]

Read the full article →

Great Blog Series on High Conflict Parenting

March 24, 2012

What a great series of articles from Michigan family law attorney Jeanne Hannah’s blog!   Her articles about co-parenting, parallel parenting, and uncooperative and high conflict parents (several have been published over the last few months) are terrific.     It’s so great to see a family lawyer who’s not only interested in reducing the [...]

Read the full article →

Twitter’s at 533,000,000+ members. When did you join?

March 22, 2012

Here’s the chart where you can see not only Twitter’s astronomical growth beginning roughly at the end of first quarter 2009—-but by filling in your Twitter handle, your own join date will be plotted onto the graph.     Were you among the first 10% on Twitter?

Read the full article →

Do-It-Yourself Divorce Forms: Ever A Good Idea?

March 21, 2012

I saw this video on the Family Law Professor Blog about Texas’ new online, fill-out-your-own-Divorce-Petition process.   Arizona of course has had this process for years, at EZCourtForms.   One part of the video says that divorce lawyers aren’t too happy about the do-it-yourself forms.  I haven’t found that to be true.    I think [...]

Read the full article →