What Constitutes family Law

Family law. It’s a term you may have heard thrown around in the past, one associated primarily with divorce in the minds of the masses. The term encompasses a number of issues surrounding marriage and divorce, however, all of which have legal ramifications that have the potential to adversely affect your future. These issues, which range from child custody and child support to spousal maintenance, annulment and more, shine a light on the importance of having an experienced divorce lawyer as your advocate. The Arizona law firm of McGuire Gardner, P.L.L.C. can make certain your rights are protected, and work toward the fair and equitable outcome you desire in your family law case.

An experienced and qualified family law attorney can and will educate you as to applicable law in cases involving:

* Divorce
* Legal separation
* Annulment
* Child support
* Child custody
* Alimony
* Spousal maintenance

* Adoption
* Parental rights
* Adoption
* Paternity cases
* Pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements

Should you be confronted with any of these issues, the first thing you should know is that the laws governing these issues are complex. You can’t be expected to know the law on your own, but you can depend on someone who does. Most family law firms will offer you a free initial consultation, which can be an invaluable resource in terms of gaining valuable information. A sit-down with an experienced attorney can bring a sense of order to what may seem like a chaotic situation. In the process you’ll gain valuable insight and begin the process of protecting your rights.

In Arizona, McGuire and Gardner, P.L.L.C. will schedule your free initial consultation immediately after you contact them by phone or by email, provide maps or driving directions to an office in your community, and assist you in scheduling a time to meet with an attorney at your convenience.

A divorce, particularly one that includes custody and financial issues, can make for one of life’s most stressful occurrences. The issues involved in family law cases carry with them a great deal of emotion for all parties involved. In such times, the worst possible option is going it alone. Put your case in the hands of an experienced family law attorney, and put yourself on a path toward the outcome you desire.

The Process Of Family Court Restraining Orders

Copyright 2006 Law Offices of Donald P. Schweitzer

The first step to understanding the process of obtaining a family law domestic violence restraining order is to understand that this process is quite different from the process involved when protective orders are automatically put into place by the courts in criminal matters. In criminal matters, the police and the court are empowered to issue automatic temporary restraining orders. Evidentiary hearings are not conducted before these restraining orders are put into place. Consequently, in criminal courts the protected party does not need to be a part of the process.

In many instances, victims of domestic violence need to obtain a restraining order in family court, for example, where the criminal court restraining order is not adequate to deal with issues such as child support, spousal support, or custody and visitation. In other instances, a victim of domestic violence may need the protection of the family court where criminal charges were not filed or have been dismissed.

Unlike criminal matters, the protected party seeking a family law restraining order has to file his or her own papers, attend at least two hearings, and be able to conduct an evidentiary hearing. In addition, the Petitioner in a family court restraining order matter is responsible for ensuring that the Respondent has been served prior to the hearing.

At the hearing, Petitioners seeking a family law restraining order must be able to present a case, and convince the judge by a preponderance of the evidence that domestic violence was committed. Thus, a basic understanding of what constitutes domestic violence is essential. In some instances, the matter does not qualify as a domestic violence case, because the parties do not have the right type of relationship. Instead, the case may be filed as a Civil Harassment matter, which involves its own unique process and standard of proof.

The hearing for a permanent restraining order is essentially a mini trial. At the hearing, all of the rules of evidence apply, and both parties have the right to a meaningful opportunity to present evidence and cross examine witnesses. Preparing for a family court restraining order hearing should include, composing direct and cross examination questions, and when possible, gathering of physical and demonstrative evidence. In this high tech age that we live in, e-mail messages, voice messages, and surveillance video are frequently introduced into evidence to prove or disprove a case. Police reports are also allowed into evidence as an exception to the hearsay rule. Thus, litigants should attempt to obtain police reports, whenever possible, as they can be very persuasive to the judge. People within the legal profession recognize the serious consequences involved with the issuance of permanent restraining orders. Given that restraining orders typically impose significant limitations on a partys liberty, and can affect a partys ability to find or maintain employment, these matters are being taken more seriously by the courts in recent years. Courts have become more skeptical of the requests that are made for restraining orders and hold the moving party to his or her burden. Indeed, the days of family courts rubber stamping restraining orders appear to be coming to an end. Consequently, it is incumbent upon any person who is faced with having to be a part of this process to do his or her homework before entering the courtroom.

Compare Family Income Benefit Insurance

This kind of cover is designed to give a monthly or yearly income to help if one or both wife and husband die and they require income to provide for dependents. Two things control the cost and these are chosen at the quotation stage and should be altered depending on your situation. The first is the term this is how long the policy will pay out for if you need to claim. A term of 15 years will give income for that length of time. However if you died at year 5 the family income benefit policy will only pay out for the next five years on a 10 year term. Cover at the best price at a time when you need it most
For eg you have a new born child. You could say that cover would be required for 20 years. You might set the term for the family income benefit policy for 18 years. You die 10 years in and the policy would only pay out for 8 years. However after the 8 year period the need for income ceases as the child is now able to earn income by themselves.
The other variable is the sum assured. Unlike a term insurance quote that pays out a fixed sum the sum assured will be set at the yearly income required. The family should already have or take out adequate insurance to pay off mortgages and loans therefore the income required can exclude these commitments. Family income benefit amount should be set to the amount the family will need with one partners income gone.
The best feature of family income benefit over term insurance is that amounts insured and income cannot alter. Unlike term insurance where a lump sum would be invested to provide income and therefore the income is variable and depends on performance of the investment. Another problem with using a lump sum to provide income is that in general people are scared by investing and many will waste the amount of the claim as the urge to use the sum assured and to buy cars or holidays can be to hard to stop.
In brief family income benefit can form a very important part of life insurance and protection planning. Used with level and decreasing life insurance policies to protect debts. It also other forms of illness and income protection covers. Your best advice and solution is to speak to a insurance adviser to help protect your family.

Blended Family Summer Bonding Activities

As a blended family, you have likely already identified activities that everyone loves doing. Going to the beach or the pool, outdoor activities like softball or lawn darts, going for drives, to the movies, theme parks, camping, visiting relatives; any or all of these might be something your family is looking forward to doing this summer. Whenever you find something that everyone likes to do together, try to fit it into your schedule.

Family game days
A day at home does not have to be boring or spent in front of the television or the computer! If your blended family ground rules prohibit overuse of electronic equipment, offer alternative activities. You might like to set up a scavenger hunt for the step siblings in your stepfamily.

These hunts might be limited to the house and yard, or you may feel comfortable sending off teams or pairs of step siblings to find and carry home the items on their scavenger lists. Items on the list might include things like a tennis ball, a pink shoe, an empty tin can, a maple leaf, etc., things that can fit into a plastic garbage bag. If you like, make the game more challenging and include things like a seed for an oak tree, or a tube of dentifrice. Appropriate rewards for finding the most items might be presented, such as a pass on nightly chores.

Board game or computer game marathons are always a good way to spend a day or two locked in competitive fun. You may want to check online for ideas of free family computer games that are appropriate for your step family. It really does not matter whether you and your step family enjoy monopoly, checkers or a fast-action computer game together. What matters is that you enjoy doing something together. Having fun together builds bonds and memories.

Share laughter
A movie or television show that makes everyone laugh is a free ticket to blended family fun. Sharing a laugh is among the best bonding activities a blended family can have, so take advantage of every opportunity to share a laugh with your step family members. Building a blended family based on shared laughter and enjoyment of each other makes for bonds that endure.

Step family group projects
Summertime is a great time for a group project within your blended family. Building or erecting a swing set or tree house, taken from planning sessions at the kitchen table to the home building supplies store to the backyard, are the kinds of projects that can keep step parents and their kids involved, communicating, and accomplishing something together.

Choose projects that encourage teaching moments, such as measuring, cutting, hammering, and problem solving needed to construct a swing set. When step kids learn something useful from a step parent, and have fun at the same time, bonds are created while life lessons are learned.

The most important project for step family summers is to enjoy being together. Whatever you do as a blended family, make it satisfying for everyone, make it family-focused, and make it fun. Although step kids may not spend their entire summer vacation with you, make time for a project; something that takes planning, execution, and has a definite accomplishment factor so you can celebrate it together. A blended family that plays together stays together.

Importance of hiring an experienced Dayton Workers Compensation Lawyer

A worker who may get trapped in a workplace accident that has been a cause due to the carelessness or negligence of an employer may try by different means to get the compensation that he is eligible to get being the worker of a company in which he has worked all through. In Dayton, the laws related to workers compensation are complex and keep on revising, difficult to be understood by normal masses, so the urgent need is to hire a Dayton Workers Compensation Lawyer to obtain the most accurate results. >

A worker is one who works very hard to earn living and even the income that is earned is just sufficient to meet the day to day expenses. So if by bad luck the worker becomes a victim of an unexpected accident then it is only the compensation that can help him to hold his medical and other expenses that may occur due to the accident. Sometimes the worker may get so seriously injured that his body becomes weak to carry out work again and thus there is no source of income in this troublesome situation.

It is very important that the worker or his family members or anyone else related to him file the case against receiving compensation in a short duration subsequent to the days when the accident took place. As when a worker or his family members or any other person fails to file a case regarding compensation in between the fixed time interval since the accident date then there are chances that the legal body may not file the case and categorized is a late file, which may cause the worker to obtain absolutely nothing as compensation from the third party who is the sole responsible for the accident that has made the life of the worker miserable.

So, if you or anyone familiar to you is a worker in Dayton and been a victim of such type of accidents then do alert him or his family members to file a case by hiring a well experienced Dayton Workers Compensation Lawyer to increase the chances of obtaining the money that is needed very urgently.

The Author is a professional writer, presently writing for dayton work accident lawyer