Childish.
What follows is the worst fu*(&ng phone call from child custody clients (and that is really, really saying something): "My four-year-old told me she would rather live with me. So we don't need to go to court anymore and I win,…
“I feel badgered!”: the problem with trials
The one lament I hear more than any other in Family Court is some version of, "I want a trial!". To which I respond something snarky like, "No, you really don't", or, "Everyone wants a trial until they get a…
“Visitation Isn’t Free”
(by guest blogger) I observed something troubling in family court today. A mom and her attorney had just come out of a mediation. They were loudly discussing what had just happened with the mediator, ex-husband, and opposing counsel. (A note…
Oh, you have text messages??
Painful truth – you overvalue the text messages, voicemails, secret recordings and videos you have taken of your significant other showing him or her high / drunk / dangling from a bridge or involved in illegal activity. Meaning – your…
I don’t like my attorney or my judge or my husband and I want new ones!!!
I don’t know how attorneys get on with their clients in bankruptcy, criminal, or real estate closings, but in family court chances are you are not going to be lifelong besties with your attorney. And it’s not our fault. It’s…
Maybe I lied in my deposition but it isn’t my fault because if they wanted me to tell the truth they wouldn’t have deposed me!
Not everyone knows exactly what a deposition is: Instrument of torture used in the Middle Ages to see if someone was a witch? One of the forms you sign when you apply for a mortgage? Name of the trendiest new…
So, How Long is My Family Court Case Gonna Take?
The most commonly-asked question by a brand new client visiting a family law office is some version of, “How long is my case going to take?”. Or, “When can I finally be free of my wife (or husband)?". Or, “What’s…
What is Mediation and Do I Have to Go and Who Will be There and Who Pays and What Should I Say and What if it Doesn’t Work and What’s the Point Anyway?
Should you find yourself in the RI Family Court you have unknowingly and unintentionally become part of quite a process. A process that I hope you are coming to understand a bit better with each pithy blog post. One part…
Get Out of My Courtroom
A fellow Family Law attorney told the following anecdote, and I think it encapsulates the Family Court experience (n.b. “standing” means the right to bring a case, i.e. either parent of a child has standing to file a custody case…
My Husband’s Attorney is Always Yelling, and Therefore He Must Be Winning?
In Family Court, the yelling lawyer is the losing lawyer. Any legal argument that can rest upon its own reason need not be screamed. It can be given at any decibel and be perfectly effective. Judges are not juries. Judges…