Listen (a rant)
Can I be candid with you a moment; I need you to listen carefully. No? I will anyway. You need it! You are a poor listener. I will never in a million light years understand why, when someone calls my…
Can I Oppose My Divorce?!
So I got a heartbreaking divorce call this afternoon. A crying wife contacted me worried sick because her spouse, with whom she just began marriage counseling, had filed for divorce. The cad. Her first court date is in March. She…
The Family Court Chambers Conference
The Family Court chambers conference is a unique instrument that can be of exceptional benefit to you, your family, and your case if used correctly. During your Family Court appearance, you will notice at the calendar call that the attorneys…
How Do I Explain This to Our Child?
Telling a parent not to discuss a pending divorce, post-divorce, or child custody proceeding in the R.I. Family Court is easy advice to give. And like all easy advice it is freely given. Adhering to that advice is more complicated.…
My Child Found a Corpse!
Parents who suffer a bitter break-up often struggle to communicate as well as they would like, or as their child may require. To the parents, this is a natural fact of life. After all, for every reaction there is an…
A Note on Abandonment
My Family Court firm has had a surge of calls about divorcing parties regarding what constitutes abandonment. Abandonment in the context of a R.I. divorce action means specifically an allegation that one parent voluntarily left the marital home where at…
Honesty with Clients
Being brutally honest with potential new clients saves everyone involved a lot of time and trouble, even if it negatively affects the office's bottom line. Early this morning I received a frantic call from a father who was afraid for…
When Is Child Support Retroactive?
When the R.I. Family Court enters a child support Order stating that the “non-custodial parent” (whichever parent does not live with the child primarily, or the parent who has fewer overnights with the child in a given month) must pay…
HOW LONG WILL MY DIVORCE TAKE?!
Please See Also Other Divorce Related Inquiries: How much is this divorce going to end up costing me (no, in total)?, How long will I have to carry this weight around? Can't we just end this already? Haven't I suffered…
Fired in Family Court
When a Family Court attorney fires her client – or is fired by her client – the relationship lives on as some kind of radioactive toxic zombie, shambling forward on pleadings, phone calls and court appearances. It is not ……