Posts from — March 2009

If you are worried your ex may try to kidnap your children, then you should make sure that the day care center, baby-sitter, relative or whomever you leave your children with at any time, is aware that you are in the process of a divorce and that the children are only to be released to you personally (not to your spouse or to any other relative, friend, etc.). You can also file a motion asking the judge to issue an order preventing the removal of the children from the state or the country.

If you can’t afford to pay the filing fee and other costs associated with the divorce, you will need to prepare and file a PETITION TO SUE/APPEAL AS AN INDIGENT. In order to qualify for a waiver of the filing fee, you must be indigent. If you are indigent, your income is probably low enough for you to qualify for public assistance.

Caution: If you decide to file as an indigent, you will probably be asked for more information to prove that you meet the requirements for being declared indigent, and therefore, eligible to have the filing and service fees waived. Before you file the form, you may want to see if the court clerk will give you any information on what is required to be declared indigent. You should also be aware that you can be help in contemp of court for giving false information on this form.

He lived in Atlanta. She lived in New Jersey with the kids. The judge initially ordered her to fly with the children from New Jersey to Atlanta once each week and every other weekend so that they could visit with their father. She had to go all the way to the states Supreme Court to have the decision overturned. What do you think? Was the Supreme Court was right in overturning the lower courts decision?

If you have a genuine fear that your ex may physically attack you, you should go to the clerk’s office and ask about obtaining a restraining order.  These order’s are sometimes referred to as 50B’s.  Why?  Because that’s the section of the statute that governs restraining orders in North Carolina.

[Divorce] is like an onion.  You peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.  — Carl Sandberg

In North Carolina, as in most states, child support is mostly a matter of a mathematical calculation.  Getting a fair child support award depends upon the accuracy of the  income information presented to the judge. 

If you feel fairly sure that the information your spouse presents is accurate or that you have obtained accurate information about his or her income, there isn’t much to argue about.  The judge will simply take the information provided, use the formula to calculate the amount to be paid, and order that amount to be paid.

A new study shows that heart problems caused by failed marriages are greater for women than for men. The study also shows that marital strain is more likely to cause depression in women than in men.

Always laugh when you can.  It is cheap medicine.  — Lord Byron

The NCAA basketball tournament starts today.  Please send positive thoughts in the direction of Wake Forest.

Generally, a grandparent will only be entitled to visitation in situations in which there is an established relationship with the child and the biological parents’ relationship is not intact.