Blog

Have you ever flown on an airplane, and heard the flight attendant tell you that it’s critical that, should the oxygen masks drop down, you always fix your own mask to your face before you attempt to help your children do the same? Have you ever wondered how they could ever expect a parent to follow those instructions? The answer ...

The Supreme Court’s ruling last month that marriage was a human right that could not Constitutionally be denied to homosexual couples was, in a word, correct. But that fact doesn’t necessarily mean that Michigan’s state laws will ever give the appearance of complying with the ruling…or that the rest of Michigan’s laws will ever comply with the spirit of the ...

We don’t usually directly address issues that are current ‘pop culture’ items, because that’s often a trap — there’s really no good that can come of getting embroiled in it. But in this particular case, this oh-so-viral Tsimhoni case of the judge who found a trio of children to be in contempt of court and sentenced them to time in ...

One of the more devastating circumstances we’ve seen at Gucciardo Law goes like this: two people split up, and the one that was ‘the breadwinner’ signs an agreement to split the marital estate in a certain manner with the spouse that was the ‘homemaker.’ At the same time that the breadwinner is signing the agreement, however, they’re also (secretly!) filing ...

Research has shown that the commonly-known ‘Seven Stages of Grief’ are quintessentially fictional. Even the author of those seven stages originally conceived them as a very rough guideline, never intended to be a strict sequence or even necessarily always appearing. Nevertheless, the ‘stages of grief’ concept is an enormously powerful tool for achieving self-understanding in a moment of intense emotional ...

Deep, gut-wrenching anxiety. Drive-you-literally-insane guilt. And shame…shame enough to make you down a pint of Hubby Hubby and come back for seconds. That’s what’s on the menu when you look at your child and consider sitting them down to tell them that their parents are about to get a divorce. How do you explain it? How do you tell them ...

There’s not a lot more intimidating than having your lawyer hand you a giant stack of papers that are chock full of jargon, formulas, and little grids to fill out — and then hearing him say “bring this back as soon as you possibly can…it’s important.” How important are we talking? When it’s the documentation of your financial status used ...

A divorce has a lot of costs — many financial, many emotional, some that go beyond either one. While the emotional and other costs can affect your life for years, the financial costs can ruin it, both for you and for any children you’re caring for. A skilled financial professional can help you understand the legal situation, help you translate ...

Simply put, some people hurt the ones they love. The reasons why vary widely, as do the forms that the abuse takes, but all abuse is unacceptable. Abuse is defined, broadly, as: “Any behavior that is exceptionally jealous, possessive, critical, isolating, threatening, controlling, or violent.” Abuse can happen to anyone, regardless of age, class, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or ...

Many divorced parents assume that sharing their children with their ex is going to be worse for everyone involved, for any number of reasons…and they’re very wrong. Shared parenting, when approached with good intention by both sides, is the best path forward for both parents and children. Two is Better Than One When it comes to childhood, simply put, having ...