What to Expect from a Guardian ad Litem During Your Divorce Matter Involving a Special Needs Child A major part of our family law practice involves working with couples and families going through the divorce process. In many divorce cases, complex issues such as child custody, child support, parenting time, alimony, and financial or property […]
Recognizing Child Abuse
Child abuse is not always evident or easy to detect, particularly when the abuser is in a position of authority, such as a parent, stepparent, or other adult living in the household. Such figures of authority exercise a significant amount of power and influence over children, which can intimidate victims of abuse into silence. This […]
Parenting Time Exchange: Anxiety in Young Children Part 1
Advice for custodial parents when their child objects to spending time with one of their parents. It is common for young children whose parents are no longer together to, at some point, express that they do not wish to spend time, or wish to spend less time, with one of their parents, most commonly the […]
Drug Abuse and Custody Cases: Drug Testing
Initial and random drug testing may be performed to confirm allegations of drug abuse and ensure compliance with court orders. Heroin and prescription opioid use is on the rise across the country and has become a national epidemic. In Georgia, overdose deaths have jumped by 51 percent since 2015, and courts have seen a correlative […]
How Social Media Use Can Affect Your Family Law Case
Smartphones are now a ubiquitous piece of technology used by countless individuals to access social media. Many people routinely share insight and photographs of their children and the many aspects of their daily routines and rituals. While this may be a fun pastime, it can often be used against one or both parties in a […]
Lump Sum Child Support Payments
Several family law lawyers say a Sept. 20 Georgia Supreme Court ruling that affirmed a lower court’s grant of a lump-sum child support payment to cover 13 years of care sets a “dangerous” precedent because it grants one parent a large sum of cash without oversight. But the court said nothing in the child support […]
You can obtain sole legal and physical custody when a parent is unfit.
The Court of Appeals issued a decision on February 18, 2013 enforcing a trial court’s decision to award sole legal and physical custody of the parties’ two year old child to the mother. In this case, the father was an alcoholic, failed to attempt to see his child for several months and lacked judgment to […]
A court cannot prevent a party from applying for a modification based on an alleged future change.
On March 18, 2013, the Supreme Court reversed a trial court’s decision that limited when the mother, who was awarded child support, was able to ask for a change in the court ordered child support. In that case, the mother asked for a change in child support after the parties had agreed she would become […]
If a Court does not address all issues relating to support, the issue could be lost.
The Court of Appeals held in a decision on March 18, 2013, that all issues, including division of extra-curricular expenses, must be included in the final order. In that case, the Husband filed for a modification of support. The original divorce decree stated that Husband was to split extra-curricular expenses on top of paying child […]
Be careful of your Facebook posts!
divorce to post negative comments about the other party or inappropriate things they did with or in front of the children. This is not only inappropriate because of the effect on the children, but it could hurt your case as well. In a recent Court of Appeals decision, the Court has also upheld a trial […]