Hi. My name is Larry Hirsch, and I practice exclusively in the domestic relations group at Jaburg & Wilk. Parenting coordinators are appointed by the court, and the main thing that they do is help parents make decisions when the parents can’t agree. Look, the parties are getting divorced. Clearly they’re not seeing eye to eye on everything, and more often than not they don’t see eye to eye on parental decisions, nor can they make even the most simplistic agreements on their own. And so a lot of times somebody needs some help, and that’s where parenting coordinators come into play.
Parenting coordinators are often either other family lawyers who are well-versed in custodial litigation, or they’re mental health professionals or medical doctors.
What kinds of issues are appropriate for what we call a PC to oversee? They’re issues like school, vacations, the change of a parenting day, the right of first refusal, babysitters, caregivers, even medical arrangements, medical decisions, which doctors they’re going to see. In other words, these are often things that people shouldn’t be litigating about. They shouldn’t be spending $10,000 on the issue of should I be picking up the kid at 3:15 on Thursday or 3 o’clock on Thursday? So that’s where parenting coordinators come into play – highly beneficial for the parties, saves a ton of money, also helps everybody’s mental health because things are handled quickly by the parenting coordinator.
Now, what are parenting coordinators not for? The main thing that a parenting coordinator is not for is making decisions with regard to decision-making authority or custody. In other words, if you are already divorced and you want to change your custodial access schedule – let’s say it’s week on/week off – and you don’t think father should be seeing the children that much any longer, the parenting coordinator is not the right person to go to for that. Unfortunately, the court is.
By: Laurence Hirsch
Hi. My name is Larry Hirsch, and I practice exclusively in the domestic relations group at Jaburg & Wilk. Parenting coordinators are appointed by the court, and the main thing that they do is help parents make decisions when the parents can’t agree. Look, the parties are getting divorced. Clearly they’re not seeing eye to eye on everything, and more often than not they don’t see eye to eye on parental decisions, nor can they make even the most simplistic agreements on their own. And so a lot of times somebody needs some help, and that’s where parenting coordinators come into play.
Parenting coordinators are often either other family lawyers who are well-versed in custodial litigation, or they’re mental health professionals or medical doctors.
What kinds of issues are appropriate for what we call a PC to oversee? They’re issues like school, vacations, the change of a parenting day, the right of first refusal, babysitters, caregivers, even medical arrangements, medical decisions, which doctors they’re going to see. In other words, these are often things that people shouldn’t be litigating about. They shouldn’t be spending $10,000 on the issue of should I be picking up the kid at 3:15 on Thursday or 3 o’clock on Thursday? So that’s where parenting coordinators come into play – highly beneficial for the parties, saves a ton of money, also helps everybody’s mental health because things are handled quickly by the parenting coordinator.
Now, what are parenting coordinators not for? The main thing that a parenting coordinator is not for is making decisions with regard to decision-making authority or custody. In other words, if you are already divorced and you want to change your custodial access schedule – let’s say it’s week on/week off – and you don’t think father should be seeing the children that much any longer, the parenting coordinator is not the right person to go to for that. Unfortunately, the court is.
By: Laurence Hirsch
I’m Kathi Sandweiss. I’m the Chair of the appellate practice section at Jaburg and Wilk.
You can appeal basically any final judgement, and that means you can appeal a dissolution, but it’s not as if you’re no longer divorced. You’re not appealing the fact of the divorce. What you’re appealing typically is about money. It can be about something else, but typically somebody will appeal a distribution of property, for example. And a lot of times that will go back to what the lower court determined was the value, for example, of a business. And the value of that business will then impact how your property is distributed.
One of the basic errors that someone alleges in the divorce decree, in the dissolution decree is that a business was not valued properly. So, that goes back to a dueling expert standard. My expert witness, say, valued my art practice at $300,000. Your expert witness valued my business at $500,000, and that’ll determine a lot of how much money is distributed to each party. The problem with it is you’re looking at credibility of witnesses, and you don’t want to be in the position of asking the higher court to determine that there was a factual error because that’s a much tougher standard on appeal.
By: Kathi Sandweiss
I’m Kathi Sandweiss. I’m the Chair of the appellate practice section at Jaburg and Wilk.
You can appeal basically any final judgement, and that means you can appeal a dissolution, but it’s not as if you’re no longer divorced. You’re not appealing the fact of the divorce. What you’re appealing typically is about money. It can be about something else, but typically somebody will appeal a distribution of property, for example. And a lot of times that will go back to what the lower court determined was the value, for example, of a business. And the value of that business will then impact how your property is distributed.
One of the basic errors that someone alleges in the divorce decree, in the dissolution decree is that a business was not valued properly. So, that goes back to a dueling expert standard. My expert witness, say, valued my art practice at $300,000. Your expert witness valued my business at $500,000, and that’ll determine a lot of how much money is distributed to each party. The problem with it is you’re looking at credibility of witnesses, and you don’t want to be in the position of asking the higher court to determine that there was a factual error because that’s a much tougher standard on appeal.
By: Kathi Sandweiss
Spousal maintenance can be modified by showing a substantial and continuing change of financial circumstances. Well what does that mean? It can mean any number of things. It can mean that you changed jobs. It can mean you have moved. It can mean you have less parenting time. It can mean that you suffered a catastrophic injury and you’re not able to work anymore. Each case is unique and it requires a specific inspection by the attorney who you hire. Also to consider, if your decree says that spousal maintenance is non-modifiable, unfortunately at that point, the court doesn’t have the power to modify, so the answer to the question then would be no. But again, I would love to talk to you more about your case and if you’d like to talk to me, you can email me.
To modify spousal maintenance in Arizona, contact a Scottsdale divorce attorney.
Spousal maintenance can be modified by showing a substantial and continuing change of financial circumstances. Well what does that mean? It can mean any number of things. It can mean that you changed jobs. It can mean you have moved. It can mean you have less parenting time. It can mean that you suffered a catastrophic injury and you’re not able to work anymore. Each case is unique and it requires a specific inspection by the attorney who you hire. Also to consider, if your decree says that spousal maintenance is non-modifiable, unfortunately at that point, the court doesn’t have the power to modify, so the answer to the question then would be no. But again, I would love to talk to you more about your case and if you’d like to talk to me, you can email me.
To modify spousal maintenance in Arizona, contact a Scottsdale divorce attorney.
A parent granted sole custody, now referred to as sole legal decision-making, has the authority to make final decisions regarding the major life decisions affecting the parent’s children. Such as where the children will attend school, the healthcare the children receive, and the extracurricular activities the children will participate in regardless of the opinion of the other parent.
The other parent is still entitled to obtain information regarding his or her children’s performance in school, performance in extracurricular activities and healthcare from the other parent or directly from the provider of those services. Legal custody means the right and responsibility to make decisions for children, barring any specific court orders to the contrary.
Sole legal decision-making provides one parent to make the final decision on big day to day decisions for the children’s care and welfare without consulting the other parent, including education, medicine, and religion.
Examples where the court may award sole legal decision-making, would include those times where you have drug and alcohol abuse by one parent or the other, substantial child neglect or abuse claims, or convictions, domestic violence where the children were present, harmed, or in danger. As well as child endangerment, including DUIs while having the children in your car.
The visitation parent is expected by the court to conform to big decisions by the sole legal decision-making parent in all day to day decisions when children are with him or her. The exception to that would be private school. Sole legal decision-making parent cannot require the other parent, known as a visitation parent, to contribute to the cost of private-schooling if enrolled without the consent of the visitation parent or the court per the child support guidelines.
School records are also an area where both parents have access to records regarding the children, including medical records, school and extracurricular activity records. Those records are available through the sole legal decision-making parent or from the provider of the service. Except in cases where courts find giving one parent access to records creates a danger to the children. If you are in need of a professional or experienced attorney to represent you and your children’s best interest in any family law matter, please call Alan Cochran at Hildebrand Law PC at 480-305-8300 to schedule an appointment.
By: Alan Cochran
A parent granted sole custody, now referred to as sole legal decision-making, has the authority to make final decisions regarding the major life decisions affecting the parent’s children. Such as where the children will attend school, the healthcare the children receive, and the extracurricular activities the children will participate in regardless of the opinion of the other parent.
The other parent is still entitled to obtain information regarding his or her children’s performance in school, performance in extracurricular activities and healthcare from the other parent or directly from the provider of those services. Legal custody means the right and responsibility to make decisions for children, barring any specific court orders to the contrary.
Sole legal decision-making provides one parent to make the final decision on big day to day decisions for the children’s care and welfare without consulting the other parent, including education, medicine, and religion.
Examples where the court may award sole legal decision-making, would include those times where you have drug and alcohol abuse by one parent or the other, substantial child neglect or abuse claims, or convictions, domestic violence where the children were present, harmed, or in danger. As well as child endangerment, including DUIs while having the children in your car.
The visitation parent is expected by the court to conform to big decisions by the sole legal decision-making parent in all day to day decisions when children are with him or her. The exception to that would be private school. Sole legal decision-making parent cannot require the other parent, known as a visitation parent, to contribute to the cost of private-schooling if enrolled without the consent of the visitation parent or the court per the child support guidelines.
School records are also an area where both parents have access to records regarding the children, including medical records, school and extracurricular activity records. Those records are available through the sole legal decision-making parent or from the provider of the service. Except in cases where courts find giving one parent access to records creates a danger to the children. If you are in need of a professional or experienced attorney to represent you and your children’s best interest in any family law matter, please call Alan Cochran at Hildebrand Law PC at 480-305-8300 to schedule an appointment.
By: Alan Cochran
Genetic testing generally comes up in the context of a paternity petition. A paternity petition can be filed during a pregnancy or after the child is born. Once the child is born, the court is going to order genetic testing. The court will order the mother, the child and the potential father to undergo testing. The court has complete discretion as to assigning the cost of that genetic testing. It can assign the cost to the mother, the father, or split the cost somehow. Another context where genetic testing may come up is when the department of economic security is looking to establish paternity. In that case, DES will shoulder the cost of the genetic testing. If you have any other questions concerning this matter or any other family law matter, please contact me at Hildebrand Law. The phone number is (480) 305-8300. Thank you.
Genetic testing generally comes up in the context of a paternity petition. A paternity petition can be filed during a pregnancy or after the child is born. Once the child is born, the court is going to order genetic testing. The court will order the mother, the child and the potential father to undergo testing. The court has complete discretion as to assigning the cost of that genetic testing. It can assign the cost to the mother, the father, or split the cost somehow. Another context where genetic testing may come up is when the department of economic security is looking to establish paternity. In that case, DES will shoulder the cost of the genetic testing. If you have any other questions concerning this matter or any other family law matter, please contact me at Hildebrand Law. The phone number is (480) 305-8300. Thank you.
Parenting time is perhaps the largest factor affecting the amount of child support a non-custodial parent will pay. The more parenting time days one spends with the children, the bigger the discount off the presumptive child support amount. For more information, call me, Greg Davis at Davis Limited, (602) 279-1900.
By: Greg Davis
Parenting time is perhaps the largest factor affecting the amount of child support a non-custodial parent will pay. The more parenting time days one spends with the children, the bigger the discount off the presumptive child support amount. For more information, call me, Greg Davis at Davis Limited, (602) 279-1900.
By: Greg Davis
Hello, I want to speak to you today about the difference between a divorce and legal separation in the state of Arizona. In actuality, there are very few differences between the two and in both cases the court is going to divide your assets, divide the community debts, enter orders for custody of the children, order child support, if appropriate in both cases, the court will order alimony, or what we refer to as spousal maintenance.
The only difference between a legal separation and a divorce then is, the spouses are not returned to the status of being single people and are not free to remarry. If you have any other questions regarding the differences between a divorce and a legal separation, please feel free to contact me.
By: Chris Hildebrand
Hello, I want to speak to you today about the difference between a divorce and legal separation in the state of Arizona. In actuality, there are very few differences between the two and in both cases the court is going to divide your assets, divide the community debts, enter orders for custody of the children, order child support, if appropriate in both cases, the court will order alimony, or what we refer to as spousal maintenance.
The only difference between a legal separation and a divorce then is, the spouses are not returned to the status of being single people and are not free to remarry. If you have any other questions regarding the differences between a divorce and a legal separation, please feel free to contact me.
By: Chris Hildebrand
My name is C.D. Owens. I am 91 years of age and I’ve been practicing law for 64 years. I approach the whole subject on the practice of law on the basis that the best interests of whatever kind of person you’re dealing with at the time, that their problems are paramount and that we are obligated and duty bound ethically and otherwise to give them the very best that we have and we’re pretty good.
I was recently asked by a judge before whom I tried a case in the preceding 4 or 5 hours she came back out to where I was packing up my briefcase, sat on the edge of the table and said C.D. why in the hell are you still doing this? I wonder why you stay with it this long. I said, because I like what I do. These problems will get people off balance so that they can’t even think straight. The biggest problem in that situation is to help ourselves in counseling and get them to the point where they can think straight.
Actually, I think one of the most important things that someone looking for an attorney can and should do, and I always tell them this when they first come to us as prospects, go look at our website, go check our credentials, go check our ratings. We are rated very highly. They should check us out. Always look at the backgrounds and experience of the people when you’re hiring and you’re hiring a lawyer. And don’t hire a lawyer ever, unless you have every confidence that you can depend on that lawyer, that the lawyer can be honest and truthful with you and that they will give 280%.
By: CD Owens
My name is C.D. Owens. I am 91 years of age and I’ve been practicing law for 64 years. I approach the whole subject on the practice of law on the basis that the best interests of whatever kind of person you’re dealing with at the time, that their problems are paramount and that we are obligated and duty bound ethically and otherwise to give them the very best that we have and we’re pretty good.
I was recently asked by a judge before whom I tried a case in the preceding 4 or 5 hours she came back out to where I was packing up my briefcase, sat on the edge of the table and said C.D. why in the hell are you still doing this? I wonder why you stay with it this long. I said, because I like what I do. These problems will get people off balance so that they can’t even think straight. The biggest problem in that situation is to help ourselves in counseling and get them to the point where they can think straight.
Actually, I think one of the most important things that someone looking for an attorney can and should do, and I always tell them this when they first come to us as prospects, go look at our website, go check our credentials, go check our ratings. We are rated very highly. They should check us out. Always look at the backgrounds and experience of the people when you’re hiring and you’re hiring a lawyer. And don’t hire a lawyer ever, unless you have every confidence that you can depend on that lawyer, that the lawyer can be honest and truthful with you and that they will give 280%.
By: CD Owens
Like other assets, business interests can be treated as community property or separate property and sometimes, a combination of both. If your business was started during the marriage, then it is community property. If your business was started before the date of your marriage, it is your separate property.
However, the marital community may still have a claim to some of the profits and increase in value that occurred during the marriage, and these values must be apportioned between separate property and community property interests. Whether the business is community property or separate property, it will have to be valued.
To do so, it will be necessary to retain a business valuation expert. Whether valuing a community property business or apportioning an increase in value in a sole and separate business it is important that your attorney understand business valuations. Your attorney needs to understand the valuation approaches, methods and procedures and the law that applies to valuing and apportioning business interests. If you are facing a divorce and you or your spouse own a business, feel free to contact me for more information.
Like other assets, business interests can be treated as community property or separate property and sometimes, a combination of both. If your business was started during the marriage, then it is community property. If your business was started before the date of your marriage, it is your separate property.
However, the marital community may still have a claim to some of the profits and increase in value that occurred during the marriage, and these values must be apportioned between separate property and community property interests. Whether the business is community property or separate property, it will have to be valued.
To do so, it will be necessary to retain a business valuation expert. Whether valuing a community property business or apportioning an increase in value in a sole and separate business it is important that your attorney understand business valuations. Your attorney needs to understand the valuation approaches, methods and procedures and the law that applies to valuing and apportioning business interests. If you are facing a divorce and you or your spouse own a business, feel free to contact me for more information.
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