Blog

In many states across the Union, common-law marriage (defined in layman’s terms as “living together long enough that the law counts you as married even though you never got a marriage license”) is a legal status that you can find yourself in today. Common-law marriages can still be entered into in the states of: Alabama (though only until January 1, ...

The United States of America has quite a few ideas we hold quite sacred, even though they never appear in the Constitution or any other law. The freedom to travel, for example, is never guaranteed (as any parent with joint custody who wanted to leave the state can attest to). Another classic example is freedom of belief. We have laws ...

This last Friday (11/4) was Love Your Lawyer Day. Yes, Love Your Lawyer Day is a real thing — insofar as some people decided to make it a thing and told everybody that it’s a thing and no one really bothered to disagree. I mean, we have Grandparents’ Day and President’s Day and Boss’ Day, why not Lawyer Day? Right? ...

“Legal separation” is a marital state that doesn’t exist in Michigan. Here, the equivalent is called “Married with Separate Maintenance.” The idea being to enforce the notion that you are still married, but still allow for the fact that the two of you are living independent lives, each paying their own way. Filing for Separate Maintenance The requirements for obtaining ...

Please see Part 1 if you don’t have a firm grasp of what a custody evaluation consists of. One of the most confounding things about family law is that every person comes into each procedure with a unique agenda that is rarely obvious and equally rarely shared honestly. Custody evaluations are no exception. Many parents, for example, try to use ...

Even under ideal circumstances, custody battles are tense, emotional situations that absolutely will affect the rest of your life. When you and your ex have serious issues like abuse, neglect, or parental unfitness in the mix, the court will schedule a custody evaluation. Yes, custody evaluations: when they happen, they’re a crucial part of how the court decides whether your ...

There are some things that are universally true; one of them is that you should only ever hire a family law firm you can trust. Regardless of any other bits of information you think you need, when you’re calling around talking to lawyers about a potential case you have, you should never run with an attorney that doesn’t seem like ...

“Second marriages are the triumph of hope over experience.” — Samuel Johnson Anywhere you go in the world, it’s an inescapable fact that second marriages fail more often (about 60%) than first marriages (about 40%). And third marriages (about 70%) fail more often than second marriages, and so on. The obvious question is why. After all, it’s far less likely ...

You’ve heard the phrase: the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. It refers to a completely normal aspect of human psychology wherein we consistently overvalue those things we don’t have in our lives, and consequently undervalue the things we do have. It’s occasionally (and quite cynically) restated as familiarity breeds contempt. This is a concept ...

Last month, we did a couple of IAQs — Infrequently Asked Questions — about child custody. We got a little bit of positive feedback about that, so we decided to do a similar short series about separation of assets. Today, we’re going to talk about one of the more interesting quirks about how the court handles equity. Premarital vs. Marital ...