Typically the hardest part of the divorce procedure is reaching the stage where you choose that you intend to file. Men and women generally undergo quite a bit of emotional turbulence ahead of arriving at the conclusion that divorce is the only solution remaining, and so the worst is often behind you when you take that final step. Many partners talk about the possible terms and conditions of a separation and divorce well before they actually file, which makes for a relatively smooth as well as anxiety-free process. There will be not surprisingly times when the individuals taking part can not agree to conditions independently and these actions tend to be more costly, time intensive, and also acrimonious.

When you research the statistics relating to contested versus uncontested divorces they’re really very surprising to the majority of people. Of course, it is sensible that a substantial proportion of divorcing married couples would work together constructively to create terms and conditions which are acceptable to both of them, but the fact is that an overwhelming 90% of all the divorce cases within the United States tend to be uncontested. This can be an inspiring statistic if you’re wondering if they can reach terms and conditions since if nine out of ten people can do it, you most likely can also.

There’s at times a little bit of misunderstanding associated with the actual terms fault and no fault versus contested as well as uncontested when they are employed within the context of divorce proceedings. In an uncontested divorce process both parties consent to the terms and conditions, that include such things as custody, visitation as well as support, the division of community property and assets, and also possible alimony obligations. During contested divorce cases the former married couple can not agree on more than one of these challenges. Whether there is fault present or not does not impact this. A no fault separation and divorce could be contested, and also a divorce motion that is being pursued on fault reasons may be uncontested.

When you have questions or worries about a divorce, even if it is uncontested, speak to an El Paso divorce lawyer in order to request a free consultation. A good family law attorney El Paso TX will provide you with the assistance you’ll need with all aspects of an El Paso TX divorce.

Augusta Military Divorce Attorney – Wanted professor’s wife wanted a divorce, agent says

By CHRISTIAN BOONE – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Thursday, April 30, 2009

The lead investigator in the search for triple homicide suspect George Zinkhan said Thursday the University of Georgia professor’s late wife was seeking a divorce.

“There has been significant information about marital discord within the relationship,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Gregory Jones, citing interviews with family and friends of Marie Bruce, Zinkhan’s second wife. She was one of three people gunned down by the former marketing professor last Saturday outside an Athens theater.

Without delving into the specifics of their presumed break-up, Jones said Zinkhan exhibited “controlling-type behavior” around his wife.

“He would cut off conversations any time they turned to his interests,” Jones said. “He was very secretive.”

That discretion may be helping Zinkhan continue to elude authorities. He’s been on the run six days and investigators have turned up few clues.

They haven’t received many tips, either; Jones said “there haven’t even been many non-credible sightings” of Zinkhan’s 2005 red Jeep Liberty, the car he was last seen driving after the shootings.

From the beginning, police offered two likely scenarios: Either Zinkhan, who has a home in Amsterdam, had left the country or committed suicide.

Jones said the professor’s passport has not been used, so it’s “unlikely” he’s overseas. As for the suicide possibility, “If you’re going to kill yourself, you’re usually not concerned with hiding the body,” Jones said. Still, “we’re eliminating nothing,” he said.

Zinkhan has not withdrawn any money from his bank account or placed any calls from his cell phone since the shootings. If he’s still alive, Jones said, it’s likely he planned his getaway in advance.

“His escape was too smooth,” Jones said.

AJC staff writer Rhonda Cook contributed to this report

Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator.  She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney.  She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.

Georgia Military Divorce Attorney – Military Update: New GI Bill transfer rules offer more control

Tom Philpott – Pacific edition

Servicemembers nearing the end of their careers will find it easier than first thought to transfer new Post-9/11 GI Bill education benefits to their spouse or children, under Department of Defense regulations.

And servicemembers who elect to transfer GI Bill benefits will be allowed to modify or revoke that decision at any time, thus keeping control of a benefit with an average start value estimated at $75,000 to $90,000.

Bob Clark, assistant director of accession policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, discussed the transferability feature of the new GI Bill in some depth during a Wednesday April 29 phone interview.

The details should comfort many long-serving careerists – including enlisted members facing high-year tenure rules or officers facing mandatory retirement – who worried about being denied transferability because they might not meet a requirement in law to serve four additional years.

Clark said the four-year requirement will be relaxed, and for some waived entirely, for individuals near to retirement. The regulation on transferability isn’t final yet because it hasn’t been signed.

“We’re awaiting a general counsel opinion on the [need for] publishing them in the Federal Register,” Clark said.

The Department of Veterans Affairs administers all veterans’ education benefits. Defense officials are only responsible for transferability policy because of the potential impact on recruiting and retention. Officials decided to confirm policy details before they officially are set because VA will to accept Post-9/11 GI Bill application on Friday May 1.

Here then are the transferability details, as explained by Clark:

ELIGIBILITY – Only members on active duty or in the Selected Reserve on or after Aug. 1, 2009, can transfer new GI Bill benefits, and only spouse or to children or to any combination thereof. Immediate family status will be confirmed through the Defense Eligibility Enrollment Reporting System.

Unused benefits, up to the full 36 months, can be transferred. “You can give 36 months to one child or one month to 36 children,” Clark quipped.

To transfer benefits, members must have served a minimum of six years and commit to serving four more from date benefit transfer is approved. However, exceptions – one permanent and five temporary – will be allowed to the four-year added service requirement.

PERMANENT EXCEPTION: If a servicemember who already has served at least 10 years is barred by service policy or statute from serving an additional four years, because of high-year tenure rules or mandatory retirement rules, they still will be allowed to transfer GI bill benefits if they agree to serve the maximum amount of time allowed by that policy or law.

TEMPORARY EXCEPTIONS: Defense officials will allow five other waivers to the four-year requirement of additional service for categories of members nearing retirement eligibility or with retirement orders in hand.

These exceptions are to recognize, said Clark, “that we have a senior force out there who, had they had this opportunity many years ago, they probably would have selected transferability for their family members.”

Granting these exceptions also help force managers, he said. Without them, the services would see thousands of retirement-eligible servicemembers trying to stay four years longer to qualify for GI Bill transferability. That could have “a very negative impact on our force profiles,” Clark said.

“So we said, ‘Let’s look at a way that we can phase this group out.’ We developed five rules. All will sunset in 2013.”

1) Members retirement eligible by Aug. 1, 2009, may transfer GI Bill benefits to an immediate family member and face no additional service requirement. “Retirement eligible” means completion of 20 years of active service or 20 qualifying years of reserve service.

2) Members with approved orders to retire on or after Aug. 1, 2009, but before July 1, 2010, will not have to serve added time to transfer benefits. This is to avoid forcing the services and members to change set retirement dates in the next year or so. Retirements set for after July 1, 2010, officials decided, could be changed with little difficulty.

3) Members who first become retirement eligible on or after Aug. 1, 2009, but before Aug. 1, 2010, will be required to serve one additional year from the date that transfer of GI Bill benefits is approved.

4) Members who become retirement eligible on or after Aug. 1, 2010, but before Aug. 1, 2011, will have to serve two additional years from the date that benefit transfer is approved.

5) Members who become retirement eligible on or after Aug. 1, 2011, but before Aug. 1, 2012, will have to serve three additional years after benefit transfer is approved.

SUSTAINED ELIGIBILITY – After transfer of benefits, spouse eligibility will not be affected by divorce, and children will stay eligible even if they marry. But the member retains ownership of the benefit and can modify or revoke transfer at any time without explanation. Also, the GI Bill benefit cannot be treated by judges as property to be shared in a divorce.

LIMITS ON USE – A spouse can use GI Bill benefits like the member. The monthly living stipend, set to match local Basic Allowance for Housing rate, won’t be paid if the member is on active duty. If the member has left active duty, the spouse will be paid the living allowance. Children get the allowance whenever they use GI Bill benefits.

Also, the spouse has 15 years to use benefits after the member leaves service. Children can use only until age 26. They can start using transferred GI Bill benefits after graduating from high school or at age 18.

A spouse can use transferred benefits immediately. A child can’t use GI Bill benefits until the member has served at least 10 years.

“We hope to start to accept requests for transfers in June,” said Clark. “But the earliest date transfer would be approved is Aug. 1.”

Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator.  She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney.  She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.

Augusta Military Divorce Attorney – US: Culture of Unpunished Sexual Assault in Military

Dahr Jamail

MARFA, Texas, United States, Apr 30 (IPS) – Sexual assault of women serving in the U.S. military, while brought to light in recent reports, has a long tradition in that institution.

Women in America were first allowed into the military during the Revolutionary War in 1775, and their travails are as old.

Maricela Guzman served in the Navy from 1998 to 2002 as a computer technician on the island of Diego Garcia, and later in Naples, Italy. She was raped while in boot camp, but was too scared to talk about the assault for the rest of her time in the military.

In her own words she, “survived by becoming a workaholic. Fortunately or unfortunately the military took advantage of this, and I was much awarded as a soldier for my work ethic.”

Guzman decided to dissociate from the military on witnessing the way it treated the native population in Diego Garcia. Post discharge, her life became unmanageable. The effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from her rape had taken a heavy toll.

After undergoing a divorce, a failed suicide attempt and homelessness, she moved in with her parents. A chance encounter with a female veteran at a political event in Los Angeles prompted her to contact the veteran’s administration (VA) for help. She began seeing a therapist there who diagnosed her with PTSD from her rape.

She told IPS that the VA denied her claim nevertheless, “Because they said I couldn’t prove it … since I had not brought it up when it happened and also because I had not shown any deviant behaviour while in the service. I was outraged and felt compelled to talk about what happened.”

Two testimonies
April Fitzsimmons served in the Air Force from 1985 to 1989, as an intelligence analyst and intelligence briefer for a two-star general. Early in her military career, another solider sexually assaulted her.

Nineteen years old at the time of her rape, Fitzsimmons reported the assault, and named her perpetrator, who was removed from the base. However, she declined the offer of counselling “because there was a stigma attached to it,” she told IPS.

“Those who seek counselling are perceived to be at risk, as being too weak and vulnerable and it would have meant forfeiting my top-secret clearance to keep military intelligence classified,” she explained.

Another reason for maintaining silence on the matter was that Fitzsimmons was declared “airman (sic) of the year,” in the European command.

“I didn’t want to lose that,” she says, “I wanted the whole thing to go away.”

Fitzsimmons created a one-woman play, Need to Know, which has been running for six years. In the play, she addresses her own sexual assault in the military. When news of rapes and sexual assaults by U.S. soldiers in Iraq, against both other soldiers and Iraqis began to surface, Fitzsimmons became more active.

“After reading about the 14-year-old Iraqi girl, Abeer Qasim Hamza, who was raped by several soldiers, and about Suzanne Swift, a soldier who after being raped by another U.S. soldier went AWOL (absent without leave) rather than redeploy with the command that was responsible for allowing the rape to occur, I was convinced that there was a cycle of sexual violence in the military that was neither being seen nor addressed,” she says.

It is not difficult to ascertain the reason for so few sexual assaults being reported in the military. Jen Hogg of the New York Army National Guard told IPS, “I helped a woman report a sexual assault while she was in basic training. She was grabbed between the legs from behind while going up stairs. She was not able to pinpoint the person who did it.”

Hogg explained that her friend was afraid to report the incident to her drill sergeant, and went on to explain why, which also sheds light on why so many women opt not to report being sexually assaulted.

“During training, the position of authority the drill sergeant holds makes any and all reporting a daunting task, and most people are scared to even approach him or her,” Hogg told IPS, “In this case, the drill sergeant’s response was swift but caused resentment towards the female that made the report, because her identity was not hidden from males who were punished as a whole for the one.”

The incident displays another tactic used in the military to suppress women’s reportage of being sexually assaulted – that of not respecting their anonymity, which opens them up to further assaults.

“After this incident many of the males said harassing things to her as they passed her during training, so much so that she regretted having addressed the issue,” Hogg continued, “You can be ostracised as the woman who had dared to speak up. Women willing to speak up are trained to shut up, which results in an atmosphere of silence. After my experiences in basic and advanced individual training I never reported an incident again.”

Hogg herself faced verbal sexual harassment.

“When I removed my protective top in the heat I would often hear comments such as ‘where you been hiding them puppies’ in reference to my breasts.”

Based on her friends’ experience, Hogg did not even consider reporting.

To make matters worse, according to Department of Defense statistics, 84-85 percent of soldiers convicted of rape or sexual assault leave the military with honourable discharges. Not only are they not penalised, they are honoured.

Like countless others, Guzman learned early that the culture of the military promoted silence about sexual assault. Her experience over the years has convinced her that sexual violence is a systemic problem in the military.

“It has been happening since women were allowed into the service and will continue to happen after Iraq and Afghanistan,” Guzman told IPS, “Through the gossip mill we would hear of women who had reported being raped. No confidentiality was maintained nor any protection given to them making them susceptible to fresh attacks.”

“The boys’ club culture is strong and the competition exclusive,” Guzman added, “To get ahead women have to be better than men. That forces many not to report rape, because it is a blemish and can ruin your career.”

She is not hopeful of any radical change in policy anytime soon, but, “One good thing that has come out of this war is that people want to talk about this now.”

More than 190,000 female soldiers have served thus far in Iraq and Afghanistan on the front lines, often having to confront sexual assault and harassment from their own comrades in arms.

The VA’s PTSD centre claims that the incidence of rape, assault, and harassment were higher in wartime during the 1991 U.S. attack on Iraq than during peacetime. Thus far, the numbers from Iraq show a continuance, and increase, of this disturbing trend.

The military is notorious for its sexist and misogynistic culture. Drill instructors indoctrinate new recruits by routinely calling them “girl,” “pussy,” “bitch,” and “dyke.” Pornography is prevalent, and misogynistic rhymes have existed for decades.

Understandably, Department of Defense (DoD) numbers for sexual assaults in the military are far lower than numbers provided by other sources, primarily because the Pentagon only counts rapes that soldiers have officially reported. Even according to the Pentagon, 80 percent of assaults go unreported.

Pentagon spokesperson Cynthia Smith told IPS, “We understand this is very important for everyone to get involved in preventing sexual assault, and are calling on everyone to get involved, step in, and watch each others’ backs.”

According to the DoD Report on Sexual Assault in the Military for Fiscal Year 2007, “There were 2,688 total reports of sexual assault involving Military Service Members,” of which “The Military Services completed a total of 1,955 criminal investigations on reports made during or prior to FY07.”

The criminal investigations yielded the shockingly low number of only 181 courts martial. “We understand that one sex assault is too many in the DoD,” Smith told IPS, “We have an office working on prevention and response.”

A 1995 study published in the Archives of Family Medicine found that 90 percent of female veterans from the 1991 U.S. attack on Iraq and earlier wars had been sexually harassed. A 2003 survey of women veterans from the period encompassing Vietnam and the 1991 Iraq attack, published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, found that 30 percent of the women soldiers said they were raped.

In 2004, a study of veterans from Vietnam and all wars since, published in the journal of Military Medicine, found that 71 percent of the women were sexually assaulted or raped while serving.

At the 2006 National Convention of Veterans for Peace in Seattle, April Fitzsimmons, who early in her career was raped by a soldier, met with 45 other female vets, and began compiling information.

“I asked for a show of hands of women veterans who had been assaulted while on duty, and half the women raised their hands,” Fitzsimmons told IPS, “So I knew we had to do something.”

She, along with other women veterans like Guzman, founded the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN) to help military women who have been victims of sexual violence.

It is an uphill battle for women in the U.S. military to take on the system that clearly represses attempts to change it.

“When victims come forward, they are ostracised, doubted, and isolated from their communities,” Fitzsimmons told IPS, “Many of the perpetrators are officers who use their ranks to coerce women to sleep with them. It’s a closely interwoven community, so the perpetrators are safe within the system and can fearlessly move free amongst their victims.”

Fitzsimmons shared with IPS a view that underscores the gravity of the problem.

“The crisis is so severe that I’m telling women to simply not join the military because it’s completely unsafe and puts them at risk. Until something changes at the top, no woman should join the military.”

Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator.  She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney.  She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.

Georgia Military Divorce Attorney – ‘He won’t let go’: Husband stalks divorce-seeking wife from his cell

By KITTY CAPARELLA – Philadelphia Daily News

FOUR YEARS after her husband shot her six times, repeatedly raped her and left her bleeding on the bathroom floor for hours, Crystal Haynes says that she’s being victimized by him again – in court.

Today, she is to appear in Montgomery County Family Court for the ninth time in about 18 months to try to finalize a no-fault divorce she filed in 2005.

Her ex-husband, Kendall Williams, 49, is acting as his own attorney – filing motion after motion to prevent the divorce decree – from his jail cell at SCI Smithfield, a state prison in Huntingdon, Pa., where he’s serving a 17 1/2-to-35-year jail term for attempted first-degree murder in the attack.

“I can’t take it anymore,” said Haynes, 49, who testified against him at a 2005 preliminary hearing for attempted murder.

“How much more can I be victimized? How can he keep dragging me back to court? Why is the judge allowing this?

“Why am I being subjected to this man’s control?” she asked. “I’m still terrified of him. I want to have a normal life. I want closure.”

Williams, former president of the Inquirer and Daily News security guard union from 1990 to 2001, is challenging every detail in the divorce, as if he were negotiating a union contract, she says.

Haynes said that there was no joint property to divide. But that hasn’t stopped him. With each new motion, the two face each other on video monitors – he from prison, and she from court.

On a recent list of 98 demands, he wanted alimony, medical insurance, a washer/dryer, TV, computer printer, a videotape of his wife giving birth to their daughter, jewelry he gave his wife, the couple’s two Siamese cats (Miles and Simba), and perishable and nonperishable food.

“In his prison cell?” she asked, in disbelief.

Two months ago, Williams sought a paternity test for their 28-year-old son, a motion denied by Family Court.

“I cannot imagine the frustration and anger [Crystal] feels,” said Karen Model, an attorney with Montgomery County Crime Victims Project, who represents Haynes pro bono in her divorce, and who accompanied her during attempted-murder proceedings.

Model hopes that the property issues are resolved today.

“If he files something, he has the right to be heard,” she said. “The problem is, he won’t stop.

“The judges in Montgomery County are some of the finest anywhere,” she added. “If they felt they could stop this, they would.”

Williams’ mother, Audrey Williams, 68, says that she believes that her son wants the divorce. “They should have never been married,” she said. “Maybe things bother him. They could play on his mind.”

Asked about 98 items he requested, she said, “I don’t know why he would want to do that.”

As for the birthing tape, she added, “He wants his things.

“In several letters, he said he was sorry things turned out like this,” she added. “He messed up his life, her life, but he stayed in touch with his daughter. I think he does have remorse.”

Model disagrees. “To me, he’s a scary guy,” she said. “He has such vengeance and hatred for her. He shows no remorse.”

The divorce was granted in 2005, but the property distribution has not been resolved. Haynes must appear before a master, lawyer Mindy Harris, who must resolve property issues before making a recommendation to Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge R. Stephen Barrett, who issues the final decree.

Neither Harris nor Barrett returned calls for comment.

“We try to keep her away” from Williams in court, Model said. “He thinks he’s Perry Mason. In his warped mind, he thinks there is case law” for his position.

Model blames access to the prison law library for Williams’ frivolous motions, but a state prison spokeswoman said that, by law, prisons cannot prohibit access to the library.

Barton Washington, 53, a friend of the couple for about 30 years, last spoke to Williams about a year ago.

“Everything was about the things she did,” he said. “No matter what she did, she didn’t deserve to be shot six times. He had affairs all over the place.

“He’s doing all he can to hold this [divorce] up,” he added.

Haynes said that she turned over receipts – for trips and a swimming pool and deck he had built for a girlfriend – to her attorney.

The couple met at Cheney University in the late ’70s. By April 2005, the 20-year marriage had been unraveling for some time when Haynes filed for divorce.

Haynes said that she was fed up with her husband’s paranoia, the tracking device on her car, the private eye following her, in addition to Williams’ federal conviction for a $32,000 theft of union funds, criminal charges for writing bad checks, his lies and girlfriends.

And she had begun to see someone else.

A month after she filed for divorce, Williams called her at work saying that he was going to commit suicide. She notified police, who took him in for a mental- health evaluation, Haynes said.

Williams’ mother saw the incident differently. “Crystal thought he was talking crazy and put him in the hospital,” she said.

On Sept. 5, 2005, Haynes was packing her belongings and getting ready for work when her out-of-work husband followed her from room to room in their three-bedroom apartment at Valley Forge Towers, in King of Prussia.

Thus began a 14-hour ordeal.

Hiding a gun under a pillow, he fired, striking her in the back, as she stood in the bathroom.

“I tried to get past him to the bedroom,” she said. “We struggled, and he dragged me back in the bathroom and shoots me again in the pelvis and hip.”

Standing over her, Williams yelled: “How did you get the money for the apartment?” He had been accessing her financial accounts, she said.

After she fell, she said, he sat on the floor, just inches away, and fired three more times, hitting her left earlobe, right hand, and right side of her neck.

“I don’t want to die!” she pleaded, screaming in fear. “What about our kids?”

Then, she collapsed, pretending to be dead.

Williams disappeared, hid her car in a garage and when he returned, he took off his clothes, she said. With a towel, he wiped the dripping blood from her shattered pelvis.

“Then, he raped me orally and with penetration,” she said. “A 200-pound-plus man, laying on me, raping me. There’s nothing I could do.”

For nine hours, she drifted in and out of consciousness on the bathroom floor, as blood coagulated around her.

About 6 p.m., her adrenalin spent, she awakened to pain all over her body. She tried to get up, only to realize she couldn’t walk. Her leg was paralyzed. She wrapped a cord around the bathrom door knob, trying to keep it shut, keep him away.

Suddenly, a gunshot blasted. The bathroom door flew open. Williams stood there, a gun in his hand, she said.

“I’m going to kill myself,” he told her.

Sobbing in pain, she said, “I can’t walk.”

He asked her to shoot him. She refused.

He told her he wasn’t going to hurt her anymore.

She pleaded with him to call his mother, the police, anyone. She said she thought he was pretending to make calls in the bedroom, yet he mentioned nothing about her, naked from the waist down, on the floor in the next room. Crying, she told him whatever came to mind just to end the torture.

Finally, he called police, saying “My wife’s hurt.”

When Upper Merion police arrived about 10 p.m., they arrested Williams and found his tape-recorded confession saying that he was sorry. He was charged with attempted first-degree murder and 30 other counts, and held on $5 million bail.

Paramedics had Haynes airlifted to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where she underwent multiple surgeries over 2 1/2 weeks.

Bullets had knicked her liver, fractured her right hand, left hip and a rib, and damaged nerves from her hip to her ankle, where she had no feeling.

Doctors told her that a bullet, which hit the right side of her neck, was so close to a main artery that she was lucky she hadn’t bled to death.

While she was hospitalized, Haynes said, Valley Forge Towers demanded $1,000 to clean up the bloodied apartment, which she paid, and wanted her belongings out by the end of the month. Two Montgomery County detectives and their friends volunteered to move her.

After her release, she required two more operations to reconstruct her left ear and damaged neck. Her sister took her in, setting up a hospital bed in her living room. Haynes spent more than 18 months in physical therapy before she could walk again.

Model accompanied her to nearly 10 meetings with detectives and assistant District Attorney Wallis Brooks to prepare for the criminal case.

On July 9, 2007, almost two years after the incident, Williams pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder and a weapons violation. The other 29 charges were dropped.

Within weeks of his Oct. 2, 2007, sentencing, Williams appealed his conviction and began filing motions to challenge his divorce. Until the court stopped him, he sent legal documents to his ex-wife at her sister’s home, instead of to her lawyer.

Ellen Adler, of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said that “perpetrators are manipulative and will use any means to harass or victimize the victim,” including the courts.

In a global sense, she added, if the court is made aware of “an abuse of [the legal] process,” the judge could say, ” ‘We’ve heard enough’ and stop the case.

“It sounds like this guy is a classic abuser,” she added. “He won’t let go.” *

Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator.  She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney.  She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.

Lake County FL Military Divorce Lawyer

Within the Florida the process which is often called divorce proceedings is named dissolution of marriage, which carries a distinct philosophical implication which is obvious whenever you think about the grounds for separation and divorce within the state. Throughout Florida it is possible to apply for separation and divorce based upon the premise that a marriage happens to be irretrievably broken or perhaps assert that the filing is necessary as a result of mental incapacity of the wife or husband.

For you to be regarded as a resident of the state of Florida for the purpose of registering a dissolution of marriage petition, either the petitioner or the respondent has to have resided within the state for a time period of not less than six months prior to the registering.

After the couple has registered a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage with the court they must try to determine divorce terms that will be reasonable to both former spouses. After the terms and conditions are reached either by voluntary agreement between the divorcing married couple or even through adjudication by a judge, a Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage would be awarded and the divorce becomes legitimately binding in the eyes of the state.

Should you have questions or worries regarding a divorce, a good Orlando family attorney can offer the help you need with any aspect of an divorce attorney Orlando.

Augusta Military Divorce Lawyer – 8-year-old Saudi girl divorces 50-year-old husband

By HADEEL AL-SHALCHI – AP

CAIRO (AP) — An 8-year-old Saudi girl has divorced her middle-aged husband after her father forced her to marry him last year in exchange for about $13,000, her divorce lawyer said Thursday.

Saudi Arabia has come under increasing criticism at home and abroad for permitting child marriages. The United States, a close ally of the conservative Muslim kingdom, has called child marriage a “clear and unacceptable” violation of human rights.

The girl was allowed to divorce the 50-year-old man who she married in August after an out-of-court settlement had been reached in the case, said her lawyer, Abdulla al-Jeteli. The exact date of the divorce was not immediately known.

A court in the central Oneiza region previously rejected a request by the girl’s mother for a divorce and ruled that the girl would have to wait until she reached puberty to file a petition then.

There are no laws in Saudi Arabia defining the minimum age for marriage. Though a woman’s consent is legally required, some marriage officials don’t seek it.

But there has been a push by Saudi human rights groups to define the age of marriage and put an end to the phenomenon.

One Saudi human rights activist Sohaila Zain al-Abdeen was optimistic that the girl’s divorce would help efforts to get a law passed enforcing a minimum marriage age of 18.

“Unfortunately, some fathers trade their daughters,” she told The Associated Press. “They are weak people who are sometimes in need of money and forget their roles as parents.”

It was not clear if the man received money for the divorce settlement. The man had given the girl’s father 50,000 riyals, or about $13,350, as a marriage gift in return for his daughter, the lawyer said.

The 8-year-old girl’s marriage was not the only one in the kingdom to receive attention in recent months. Saudi newspapers have highlighted several cases in which young girls were married off to much older men or young boys including a 15-year-old girl whose father, a death-row inmate, married her off to a cell mate.

Saudi Arabia’s conservative Muslim clergy have opposed the drive to end child marriages. In January, the kingdom’s most senior cleric said it was permissible for 10-year-old girls to marry and those who believe they are too young are doing the girls an injustice.

But some in the government appear to support the movement to set a minimum age for marriage. The kingdom’s new justice minister was quoted in mid-April as saying the government was doing a study on underage marriage that would include regulations.

There are no statistics to show how many marriages involving children are performed in Saudi Arabia every year. Activists say the girls are given away in return for hefty marriage gifts or as a result of long-standing custom in which a father promises his infant daughters and sons to cousins out of a belief that marriage will protect them from illicit relationships.

Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator.  She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney.  She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.

Augusta Military Divorce Attorney – Hunting for the secrets of a happy marriage

By A. Pawlowski – CNN

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” — Leo Tolstoy, “Anna Karenina”

(CNN) — No one can truly know what goes on inside a marriage except the two people involved, but researchers are getting increasingly good glimpses at what makes couples tick, how relationships are stressed and what factors can keep the spark alive.

The goal: To find out what keeps love alive and couples together.

Putting marriage under a microscope has resulted in new long-term studies that are showing better than ever how a birth or simple boredom can drain a union.

More surprisingly, old photographs might help predict your chances of getting a divorce, new research suggests.

All of the findings can help couples learn lessons about their relationships and their spouses, said Nadine Kaslow, a professor at Emory University School of Medicine who specializes in couples and families and also serves as chief psychologist at Grady Health System in Atlanta, Georgia.

To have children or not?

Movies often portray the birth of a child as a joyous event that solidifies a couple’s union, but the arrival of the first baby puts a sudden, important strain on a marriage, according to a study published recently in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Researchers followed more than 200 couples for eight years after their wedding — the longest study yet looking at the impact of a child on marriage.

About 90 percent of mothers and fathers saw at least some decreases in relationship satisfaction after they became parents, said Brian Doss, assistant psychology professor at Texas A&M University and one of the authors of the study.

Spouses who were the most romantic before the birth of their child found the transition to parenthood the most difficult.

“Couples who were really enjoying a lot of the quality time they were spending before birth had a lot more to lose,” Doss said.

“Whereas couples who just naturally over time had adopted more of a friendship relationship, kind of a co-partner relationship, perhaps didn’t miss or didn’t notice the loss of that connection as much.”

Staying childless wasn’t the secret to marital bliss, however. Couples in the study who didn’t have children still became less happy with their marriage, just much more gradually than those who had children.

Couples considering starting a family may find the results alarming, but psychologists say they serve as a reminder that a relationship needs to be nurtured.

“People tend to be less dedicated to their relationship and not prioritize being with each other,” Kaslow said. “This deterioration seems to be pretty sudden right after the birth, so that’s a particularly crucial time to be mindful of it.”

Simple steps can go a long way to keeping a relationship strong. Couples can start by setting aside some private time every day, even if it’s just 15 minutes, and scheduling a weekly date, Kaslow advised.

How to fight boredom

Most people think that problems and tension spell trouble in a marriage, but a new study has found boredom is also a powerful force in eroding marital bliss.

Couples who reported being in a rut seven years into their marriage were significantly less satisfied with their relationship when researchers checked back with them nine years later, according to a study to be published next month in Psychological Science.

“For boredom to have such long-term implications I think is very significant,” said co-author Terri Orbuch, a research professor at the University of Michigan and a professor of sociology at Oakland University.

But closeness over time can eliminate that effect, the study also found.

How can couples get close if they’re feeling bored? Sharing novel activities with each other — like taking a cooking class or learning to ski — is the key, said Orbuch, who has been following a group of married couples for 22 years and is writing a book about their marriage strategies.

Some boredom is inevitable in a marriage, but it is absolutely possible for a couple to reignite a relationship, Kaslow agreed.

Her parents have just started taking classes about opera together and have assembled a “bucket list” of all the places in the world they still haven’t been to that they would like to visit.

“They want to do more exciting things even at their age to nurture the relationship. I think that’s what healthy long-term relationships do,” Kaslow said.

What do photos reveal?

Surprisingly, a possible clue about whether you stay married or get divorced may be contained in your photo album.

Researchers analyzed photos taken in childhood or young adulthood from hundreds of people and rated their expressions on a “smile intensity score.”

The less intensely the subjects smiled, the more likely they would be divorced later in life, while the biggest smilers had lower divorce rates, according to a study published online this month by the journal Motivation and Emotion.

Scientists don’t know what accounts for the link, but say a smile may indicate higher levels of positive emotions and signal other traits, said co-author Matt Hertenstein, associate professor of psychology at DePauw University and head of the school’s Touch and Emotion Lab.

“People who smile a lot may attract happier people and maybe happier marriage partners,” Hertenstein said. “It may be that people who smile in response to a photographer are more obedient people and obedience may help in a marriage. I really don’t know the explanation.”

Before you run to check your spouse’s yearbook photo, keep in mind one picture can’t tell the whole story, Kaslow said.

“I think the issue really is both getting a sense of a whole set of pictures and also the level of positivity that [people] bring into life and relationships,” she said.

Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator.  She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney.  She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.

On many occasions the most challenging part of a divorce procedure is reaching the stage where you choose that you intend to file. People usually go through a large amount of emotional upheaval ahead of arriving at the conclusion that divorce may be the only option left, therefore the worst is often behind you when you take that ultimate step. Several husbands and wives discuss the possible terms and conditions of a separation and divorce before they actually file, and that makes for a comparatively smooth as well as stress-free proceeding. There can be needless to say cases when the individuals involved cannot agree to terms and conditions independently and these actions are much more expensive, time intensive, and also acrimonious.

If you check out the figures concerning contested compared to uncontested divorces they’re truly quite surprising to most individuals. Yes, it makes sense that a considerable percentage of divorcing married couples would likely work together constructively to come up with conditions that are acceptable to the two of them, however the fact is that an overwhelming 90% of the divorce cases throughout the United States are usually uncontested. This can be an inspiring fact for anybody who is wondering if they could reach terms simply because if nine out of ten people are able to do it, you almost certainly can also.

There is sometimes some misunderstanding associated with the particular phrases fault and also no fault as opposed to contested as well as uncontested when they’re employed within the context of divorce proceedings. With an uncontested divorce process both parties agree to the conditions, that include such things as child custody, visitation as well as support, the division of community property and assets, as well as possible alimony payments. During contested divorce cases the former married couple cannot decide on more than one of these issues. Whether there’s fault present or not doesn’t impact this. A no-fault divorce can be contested, and also a divorce action that’s being pursued on fault grounds could be uncontested.

If you have questions or worries about a divorce, even if it is uncontested, make contact with an El Paso military divorce attorney to request a complimentary assessment. A good family law lawyer El Paso Texas can offer the assistance you may need with all aspects of an El Paso TX divorce.

Typically the most challenging part of a divorce procedure is reaching the stage where you choose that you need to file. Individuals generally go through a large amount of emotional turmoil ahead of getting to the conclusion that divorce could be the only solution left, therefore the worst is usually behind you whenever you take that final step. Many husbands and wives discuss the potential terms and conditions of the separation and divorce before they actually file, and that makes for a relatively smooth and anxiety-free process. There are not surprisingly times when the individuals concerned can not agree to terms on their own and these types of actions are much more costly, time intensive, as well as acrimonious.

If you research the figures relating to contested versus uncontested divorces they’re really quite astonishing to the majority of people. Of course, it makes sense that a considerable percentage of divorcing husbands and wives would work together constructively to create terms and conditions that will be agreeable to both of them, yet the truth is that an overwhelming 90% of the divorce cases throughout the United States tend to be uncontested. This is often an inspiring fact if you are wondering if they can come to terms because if nine from ten people can do it, you almost certainly can also.

There’s occasionally a little bit of misunderstanding surrounding the particular phrases fault and no fault versus contested and also uncontested when they are applied in the context of separation and divorce proceedings. During an uncontested divorce process each party agree to the terms and conditions, that include things such as custody, visitation and also support, the division of community property and assets, as well as possible alimony obligations. During contested divorce cases the former couple can not decide on one or more of these challenges. Whether there may be fault present or not doesn’t impact this. A no-fault divorce process could be contested, and also a divorce motion which is being pursued on fault grounds could be uncontested.

Should you have questions or concerns concerning a divorce, even if it is uncontested, contact an El Paso TX child custody attorney to request a complimentary assessment. The best divorce attorney El Paso will provide you with the help you need with all aspects of an El Paso TX divorce.