...Ready for Court? page 7 Common Questions, page 8 REMEMBER: It is always best to have the advice of a lawyer. The court clerks, librarians, and judges want to help you, but they cannot give you legal advice, help you fill out your forms, or tell you what to do. If you proceed without a lawyer, you will be responsible for protecting yourself. Texas Divorce Brochure © Partnership for Legal Access 12/14/09 Page 1 of 9 Basic Information What is a divorce? A divorce ends your marriage. A divorce decree says who keeps what property and who pays what debts. Important Note: The www.TexasLawHelp.org forms are forms used in a basic, uncontested divorce. You will need to hire a lawyer to draft forms for special issues like spousal support, transfer of land and houses, division of retirement and...
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...MAINTENANCE TOPIC A. B. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. INTRODUCTION CHILD MAINTENANCE What rights to support do children have? Who has a duty to support (maintain) children? What is the maintenance system? What do maintenance officers at court do? How is the amount of maintenance calculated? Why pay maintenance? What happens at the maintenance enquiry? What happens if the other person does not arrive at the maintenance enquiry? How is maintenance paid? Must I still pay maintenance if the other parent: What if I have other children? What happens if a child is born outside of marriage and paternity is contested? What happens if a parent fails to pay maintenance? How can I enforce a maintenance order that has been issued in South Africa where the maintenance defaulter has moved to another country? How can I enforce a maintenance order that has been issued in a foreign country in South Africa? What happens if I need to change the maintenance amount? What happens if I change my address? What happens if one of the child’s parents has passed away? When does the duty to maintain end? What can I do to protect the best interests of children when it comes to maintenance? What happens if none of the child’s relatives can support him/her? PARTNERS/SURVIVING SPOUSES ASSISTANCE IN MAINTENANCE MATTERS PAGE 3 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 10 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. B. C. 1 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Black Sash FAMSA Gender...
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...2010 Child Support: Then and Now What is child support? According to dictionary.com, child support is defined as payment made for the support of the children of divorced or separated parents while the children are minors or until they reach an age set by the separation agreement or in a court order (Dictionary.com). This argument will show the changes in child support over the last fifty years, along with statistics that show how many people are in need of child support. The research will also show what the current child support laws and enforcement regulations are at present day. Child support started as far back as 1935, with a program that provided Aid to Families with Dependent Children, also known as the AFDC, this program would help families that met the established federal need requirements, receive monthly minimum payments from the state. One requirement that would qualify a family to receive a monthly payment would be if a child was not being adequately supported by a parent that was not around, and not paying support (Morgan). Basically, these benefits that the families were receiving from the government were a substitute for child support. This was the start of child support laws and enforcement. It was not until 1974, that there were more changes to child support laws. At this time, child support was to be shifted from the money coming out of the taxpayers’ pockets to making the absent parent being the one responsible for paying for the needs of the child. Congress...
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...no fault of their own, but because of geography and financial limitations. In the majority of child custody hearings, the mother is always favored. This is regardless of her parenting ability or her financial ability to support the children. According to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), nearly 75% of all child custody awards are made to the mother. Only about 10% of child custody awards are made to fathers. The rest of the child custody awards involve some sort of joint custody arrangement. Recent Census Bureau child custody statistics also indicate that nearly 40% of all noncustodial fathers have no access to or visitation rights with their children (Child Custody Coach, 2008). This is not the law but once again the judges ruling on the side of what has become social commonplace. Many fathers would love to have custody of their children. This parental right appears to have been taken away from them except in extreme and clearly defined examples of an unfit mother. In cases when both parents can care for the children properly, the mother will generally receive custody. The current child support system is also biased. Each state has rules and guidelines it goes by, but they all calculate income as a factor. That by itself is fair. Where it gets tricky is if a custodial mother chooses not to work it becomes the noncustodial father to support her and his children. This is because the standard...
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...policy per say. We do have laws that says a noncustodial parent is to pay support for a/the dependent child under the age of eighteen. The custodial parent is called the “oblige” and is the one who gets the support for the dependent. The noncustodial parent is the one who pays support and they are called the “obliger”. “Child Support” is money paid by a parent to a party taking care of the children (usually, the other parent) to help support the children. A parent has a legal duty to help support his/her children. The court’s main concern in setting child support is to make sure that your children have enough money to meet their needs. Support is for clothes and food, to give the children a place to live (rent/mortgage and utilities) and have decent daycare and medical care. If the parents do not have enough money to meet the children’s needs, the court also takes into account parents’ ability to pay. A stepparent also has a legal duty to help support his/her stepchildren until a divorce from the child’s parent is final or until there is a court order ending the stepparent’s obligation. The parent usually must pay child support monthly. So what does it mean to be a deadbeat dad? There are plenty of fathers who do not pay child support because they simply choose not to, leaving their children and their children’s mother in a lurch. There are fathers who are unable to comply with child support orders because they are just too poor. People in arrears can face jail time...
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...a Single Father in America What does it mean to be a single father in this country? At the time that my wife and I separated, I had no clue to the challenges that lay ahead. I had never given it much thought because like every married guy out there, I was never going to be without a partner to help me raise my kids. But I knew, that given my situation , I could not let them stay with their moth-er. And before you roll your eyes and say “yea, right”, I will just say that when it was all said and done and had gone before a judge, he too agreed with my opinion and awarded me full cus-tody of our two young boys. But, that is where the inequities and even prejudices started to ap-pear. My lawyer told me I could ask for child support but that I would likely get very little if nothing at all. And then if I did win a small amount that collecting it would be even tougher. I did not make a lot of money but it was more than she made. This way of thinking is so foreign to a man because we usually think of custody and all that goes with it being in favor of the wom-an. Most men, I was soon to discover, automatically just gave the kids to their wives and asked how much do I have to pay? I saw that this was not just a cliché but something that occurred with great regularity. They were usually told by their own lawyers that it would be a waste of time and money to fight for custody of their kids. This was because most judges did not think that fathers made very good, nurturing...
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...Abstract Living in a broken home will affect more than fifty percent of children born this year alone as they will have to endure the divorce of their parents before they’re of age ceremony; turning 18. Not only that, but children whom experience such a thing are more than likely to need psychological help. A broken household is the result from one’s parents divorcing, sometimes certain parents to never be seen again or even the start of abuse. The purpose of this study is to provide a systematic review of the evidence-based literature concerning broken homes, illness, behavior and delinquency. It is hoped that this study will inform those studying human development. Keywords: Broken, Home, Relationship, Bonding, Development, Action, Emotion. The Effects of Living in Broken Homes It is time, at last, to speak the truth about broken homes and the how they affect the psychological development of children. Problematic behavior in children up to adulthood goes hand in hand with how they were raised and what setting their childhood took place in. Depression, separation issues, anxiety, relationship problems, disorderly conduct and delinquency or even little emotional reaction could all be factors of living in a broken home. Not only is there a possibility of these actions, but relationships and bonding could also be put to a halt. Children can hardly control their emotions let alone actions upon having little to no structure. As Oxford points out, “it is not the actual break-up...
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...We figured that we would start off with being nice and cordial, and only get aggressive when it came to items such as the house or custody which were two big things we knew we wanted to win. Surprisingly, the house was a very simple battle to win. We knew that there was no way we could kick the mother from the home especially since she had physical custody of the children. Therefore, we agreed that in lieu of paying child support that Tom would continue paying for the mortgage and the maintenance of the house as long as he got sole ownership of the house, we added one contingency to this arrangement, we stipulated that Tom will continue for the house only till the kids move out or till the time Jake turns 22, depending on whichever comes first. This is where we ended on the first day of negotiations and we were fairly confident that the rest of the negotiations would be smooth sailing because we dealt with what we thought were the two biggest...
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...RUNNING HEADER: SOCIAL HISTORY OF CHILD SUPPORT Abstract A key component of welfare reform involves changes in the assumptions about human behavior which are embedded in social policies. Policy assumptions have been transformed from forcing a belief that social service providers act as guardians, to a stance in which all participants are regarded as self-seeking cons. These ideas are particularly pertinent to policy developments concerning financial obligations for children, and this paper examines these issues in relation to child support policy in the US. It highlights the evident and inevitable failure of this policy to meet its primary stated aim of revenue generation. In the US this failure is compounded by the creation of parallel systems for dealing with children and families, one for financial obligations and the other for care and development, which are founded on downward opposed assumptions about human behavior and capabilities. Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………...4 Social Policy History……………………………………………………….4-6 Research History…………………………………………………………...7-9 Child Support Becomes the Law…………………………………………..10 Child Support Law & It’s Effects…………………………………………11-13 Social Effects: Parents, Children & Child Support………………………..14-15 Child Support System Changes….…………………………………………15-16 Child Support System Remedies….………………………………………..17 Child Supports Outcome on Communities/Government/Family……………17-18 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………...
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...benefits and the other group will have been denied them all. The first group will have grown up with both parents present in the house and the second group will have not had both parents present. Parental conflict appears to have a pronounced effect on the coping efforts of children. The intense anxiety and anger between some parents in the early stages of divorce is real. Often time’s parents allow their children to get in the middle of fierce verbal fighting between them. Berating the other parent in front of the child is another way of placing the child in an unfair position, which in essence is expecting the child to choose between the parents. Any form of parental conflict, no matter to what degree, lends to a difficult adjustment period for children involved. (Jekielek). The deterioration in parent-child relationships after divorce is another leading cause in psychological problems for children. With a divorce comes a parenting plan of some kind. A child may experience shared custody between both parents or custody by one parent with visitation by the...
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...“My Parents are getting Divorced” What do you think of when you hear about a single mother raising her three kids? Usually, people think of a deadbeat mom, and low life, rebellious kids. However, in my mother's case, you see an independent woman, who is confident in her kids and in her job. My mother isn't the kind of parent that you would see in the newspaper for killing she was desperate for money or love, or too depressed from a divorce to care for us. Living in my house as a youngster was rough. The holidays were the worst. My parents fought about everything, from the Christmas tree, to the turkey on Thanksgiving. Nothing was ever "normal" in my home. The day my parents got divorced was probably the best day in my mother's life. It was most likely because she wanted to make my brother's life and mine easier. Because we would no longer have to hear the screaming and yelling at three AM about the house not being clean. My mother was a happier person when she wasn't fighting with my father. And the house was a lot quieter. I'm sure my mother had been thinking about divorcing my father for sometime. But, why hadn't she done it when all hell broke loose? Or when all the fighting had started? That question still burns in my brain. I know things would have been worse if they had stayed together. My mother and my father were completely wrong for each other. My mother was all about organization and my father was just a big mess. As for us kids, we turned out pretty well...
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...Introduction The Child Support Organization currently operates under the state government. Although each state enforces their child support orders using similar guidelines some use different guidelines. This organization needs to be totally revamped. There are two reasons this system needs an overhaul and I have two ideas that I believe can be implemented to help them thrive going forward. Using Kotter’s eight step approach I will present the plan to transform the organization. Company Overview Although the office of child support enforcement which is a federal entity oversees all the child support agencies on the state level, I will focus on one agency. That agency is the child support agency in Fulton County Georgia because I am familiar with that agency. The Fulton County department of human services division of child support services enhances the wellbeing of children by locating the Non-Custodial parent. The non-custodial parent is the parent that does not have custody of the child. They also establish paternity, handle support orders, enforce and modify support obligations and the collect and distribute child support payments. They promote parental accountability while reducing the public’s responsibility for giving financial and medical support to the children (dcss.dhs). Diagnosis There are two main areas that I believe the division of child support is failing in. There are also two new initiatives that I feel can be implemented...
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...as part of this procedure. The court is ultimately responsible for making sure the children’s best interest is reflected when deciding what happens to them after a divorce. Parents play a key role in this decision making, though if conflict between the parents causes them to fight and not be able to come to an affable arrangement, then the courts must decide for them. This paper explains what the court expects from parents, surrounding divorce and custody issues, how they can best resolve those conflicts, and why it is best to solve those issues in the interest of the children. Keywords: Custody, physical custody, legal custody, temporary custody, joint custody, alternative dispute resolution, child custody mediation, collaborative law, parenting plan, child support, child custody evaluation, visitation, parental rights and responsibilities, temporary order, final order. Custody of Minor Children after Divorce in the State of Vermont When parents decide they no longer want to live together, they separate and if married, usually divorce. There can be many reasons for this, however, they all stem from some sort of conflict between the two parents. When separating with children, there are laws parents face when dealing with issues such as where the children will live. Parents must go to court and file paperwork even if they have not decided to divorce. When tensions already run high between parents because of the separation, it can be difficult to agree on such matters...
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...dads are those who are under a child support obligation who have not made the required payments. The name deadbeat dad is not use just for fathers in the state of Georgia. Deadbeat parent is actually the term that is used for Georgia. A parent with this given title chose not to be financially a supportive parent in their children’s lives. Mostly used in the United States and Canada, the gender-specific deadbeat dad and deadbeat mom are commonly used by the child support agency to refer to men and women who have fathered or mothered a child and willingly fail to pay child support ordered by a family law court or statutory agency like the Child Support Agency. (www.gabar.org, 2008) The parent who fail to receive child support payments from a deadbeat parent can report that parent to the appropriate state agency responsible for ensuring child support collections. (Roger Thorne, 2010) The process for reporting a "deadbeat" parent is the same regardless of sex. In Georgia the policy for deadbeat dads consist of several things. The deadbeat parent is placed on child support. The Georgia Department of Human Services, Division of Child Support Services (DCSS) helps children by enforcing parental responsibility to pay financial support. All Georgia families have access to Division of Child Support Services, which include assistance with locating the non-custodial parent, confirming paternity, establishing and enforcing child support and medical support orders, and collecting and...
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...parenting styles can cause a child to have anxiety and confusion. Parents have a difficult time communicating with each other after they separate from each other. Children see parents fighting with each other if they do not know how to communicate with each other. Children will learn negative values if they see their parents fighting with each other because they cannot communicate. Children will have to relocate often if they share time between parents. Children become frustrated and lonely if they have to constantly relocate. Children will not have a sense of a solid home base if they are constantly switching between two homes. Children gain many benefits if they share time between two parents. Children maintain a strong relationship with both parents if they share time with each one. The children will not feel a sense of rejection from one parent if they are both involved. Children will have a stronger self-esteem if they are involved with both parents. Each parent provides a unique support system to a child. Mothers are the emotional, nurturing, and security support to a child. Fathers provide a protection, instruction, and strength support to children. Cooperative parenting has many benefits to a child’s well-being. Children are less likely to be manipulated by one parent if both parents cooperate together. Parents are less likely to shower children with gifts to make up for lost time if they share time. Child support is usually paid more consistently...
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