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(Continued from this post about alternative custody arrangements.) As useful as custom custody arrangements are, they do have issues all their own. We try to ensure that all of  our clients understand these dangers before they put their name on a custom custody agreement. Everything Changes The biggest hiccup with custom custody is that your child is probably going to be ...

We put up an article a couple weeks back about ‘nesting,’ an alternative custody arrangement in which the kids remain in one home while the parents move in and out. That got us a small flurry of questions about other alternative custody arrangements, so we figured we should just put up another couple of posts about them. Defining ‘Alternative Custody ...

Normally, as a family lawyer, the topic of spousal privilege isn’t one that comes up all that often — but it has been relevant to a couple of our clients over the past few years, and somehow, in the wake of Valentine’s Day, it seems particularly apropos. So let’s talk about how spousal privilege works. (A ‘privilege,’ in legal terms, ...

For two years, and across hundreds of marriage therapy sessions, researchers recorded. They created a computer algorithm that examined dozens of features of the recordings, but the words and meanings were not among them. The algorithm instead focused strictly on the sonic features of the recordings, such as pitch, volume, and pacing. Then, after recording several sessions for each couple, ...

‘Nesting’ or ‘Bird’s-Nest Parenting’ is an unusual custody arrangement that is uniquely focused on the good of the children, and involves some extraordinary sacrifice on the part of the separated parents. In short, the children stay in one home, and the parents move in and out when their custody schedule dictates a shift in parenting time. A nesting arrangement is ...

To someone who is recently divorced, broken up, or lost their spouse, Valentine’s Day can seem cruelly ironic. All conversation turns to romance, and every storefront is bedecked in roses, hearts, and lace. It’s like the world stops caring about you unless you’re part of a couple. For those of us who have recently split up — doubly for those ...

There’s a lot of advice about getting divorced out there, but it’s almost all focused on the financial and emotional aspects of getting divorced. There is, however, more to life than money and fear, and we should spend some time talking about the impact of divorce on other areas of your life. So today, we’re going to talk about faith. ...

Custody battles are often very challenging, not because they are difficult (though they are), but because they literally challenge our views of ourselves and our lives. We tell ourselves a story about how our live is and how it is going, and we argue vehemently against any narrative that portrays us in a less positive light. But losing custody of ...

A fascinating news story came up a few weeks ago: a woman in New York is filing a suit against her husband for having secretly divorced her four months after their marriage…which was 20 years ago…and she claims she had no idea that they weren’t legally married that whole time. She found out, she says, because of tax paperwork that ...

In our last post, we talked a bit about what spousal support (alimony), and how in many cases it is paid out until the receiving spouse marries or begins cohabitating with a new partner. We got a few emails in asking “What ‘cohabitating’ mean, precisely?” and “How do I know if my spouse is cohabitating?” The legal standards for cohabitation ...