In Georgia can I adopt a child from another country?

Yes. The best way is to formally adopt the child according to the laws of the other country and then bring the child home and re-adopt him or her in Georgia. Filing the paperwork in this way allows the state to issue a certificate of Proof of Foreign Birth showing you as the child’s parent. This will serve as the child’s birth certificate. It is possible to adopt a child in Georgia without formally adopting the child first in his or her home country, but the requirements are more complicated, and prospective parents should be careful not to violate laws in other countries. Many countries have very strict laws about taking children out of the country and prospective parents can be jailed if they don’t follow the laws.

Is a homestudy necessary to adopt a child in GA?

Yes, in almost all cases. Adoption agencies, whether public or private, are required to do them. A home evaluation is necessary to complete an independent interstate adoption. In cases of an independent adoption when the birth mother and the adoptive parents both live in Georgia, the courts will order a home evaluation after the child is born, even if the child is already living with the adoptive parents.

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Savannah GA, Richmond Hill, GA, Fort Stewart, Hinesville, Georgia Family Law Lawyer - Georgia domestic mediator. Georgia divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney

Our family law firm handles cases in Savannah, Georgia. Our Georgia divorce lawyers represent clients in Savannah & throughout Coastal Georgia including Savannah, Hinesville, Richmond Hill, Fort Stewart, Bloomingdale, Garden City, Pooler, Port Wentworth, Thunderbolt, Tybee Island, and Vernonburg, Bryan County, Liberty County, Long County, Chatham County , and Effingham County.

Woman in kidnap hoax hit with divorce news

By Larry King
Inquirer Staff Writer - https://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/20090724_Woman_in_kidnap_hoax_hit_with_divorce_news.html

Bonnie Sweeten's husband wants out.

The Bucks County mother whose bizarre, racially tinged abduction hoax became national tabloid fodder, is headed for divorce court.

Sweeten, 38, had no clue it was coming, her lawyer said yesterday; she found out only when a reporter called.

Her second husband, Richard L. "Larry" Sweeten, calling their marriage "irretrievably broken," filed for divorce late Wednesday afternoon in Bucks County Court.

He also seeks custody of the couple's 11-month-old daughter. Because of pending criminal charges that make her a flight risk, Bonnie Sweeten should not be left alone with the baby, the divorce petition contends.

News of the filing ambushed Sweeten, said her defense attorney, Louis Busico. She was in a meeting with Busico at his office when an Inquirer reporter called the lawyer for comment, he said.

Alarmed, Sweeten interrupted the meeting and called her husband at home. He confirmed his plans, Busico said.

Larry Sweeten's divorce lawyer, Jeffrey J. Baxter of Doylestown, did not return calls seeking comment.

"They are still living in the same marital home, and evidently he was doing this without advising her," Busico said. "It was pure coincidence that she was in my office when The Inquirer called. . . . He told her over the telephone at exactly 4:58 that he had filed for divorce."

Bonnie Sweeten, he said, "is completely distraught and devastated. She had no clue. They were living together as husband and wife."

Sweeten, of Feasterville, awaits trial on charges of identity theft and false reports stemming from the abduction hoax in late May.

A formal arraignment on the charges had been scheduled for today in Doylestown, but Busico on Monday waived her appearance and entered a not-guilty plea. She is tentatively scheduled for trial late next month.

Sweeten gained national notoriety May 26, when she placed a frantic-sounding 911 call. She claimed that she and Julia Rakoczy, her 9-year-old daughter from her first marriage, had been carjacked and abducted on a busy thoroughfare in Lower Bucks County shortly before 2 p.m.

Sweeten told a Philadelphia police dispatcher that two black men had rammed the rear of her vehicle and forced her and Julia into their Cadillac, saying she was calling from the trunk of the car.

Instead, police say, Sweeten had used a former coworker's driver's license to purchase airline tickets and had flown that afternoon to Walt Disney World. She was apprehended at a luxury hotel there the next day, but not before authorities, fearing for the child's safety, had issued an Amber Alert that made it a national story.

Sweeten remains under federal and state scrutiny for possible theft charges. Police have said she is suspected of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from relatives and from clients of the law firm where she worked as a paralegal.



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What does separate maintenance mean in a Savannah GA Divorce?

Separate Maintenance is a type of lawsuit that can be filed instead of a divorce. In a Separate Maintenance suit, the issues that would be handled in a divorce case are resolved, but the couple stays married. For example, child custody, spousal and child support and the division of assets can be sorted out in a Separate Maintenance suit. Some people file these instead of a divorce suit for religious reasons, or because they have very specific legal issues, like the need to maintain health insurance. A Separate Maintenance suit may help a couple resolve complicated legal issues, but the couple does not end up divorced and neither spouse can remarry. In order for either the husband or wife to remarry, the couple must get divorced. Couples can file a Separate Maintenance suit and then later get divorced if their circumstances change.

Savannah GA Divorce Lawyer
GA Uncontested Divorce - GA Contested Divorce -

We specialize in: Separation Agreements - Spousal Support - Property Division - Alimony - Military Divorce - Contempt Actions in Divorce Cases - Child Custody / Custody modification - Child Support Modification - Child Visitation - Adoptions - Prenuptial Agreements

Savannah GA, Richmond Hill, GA, Fort Stewart, Hinesville, Georgia Family Law Lawyer - Georgia domestic mediator. Georgia divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney

Our family law firm handles cases in Savannah, Georgia. Our Georgia divorce lawyers represent clients in Savannah & throughout Coastal Georgia including Savannah, Hinesville, Richmond Hill, Fort Stewart, Bloomingdale, Garden City, Pooler, Port Wentworth, Thunderbolt, Tybee Island, and Vernonburg, Bryan County, Liberty County, Long County, Chatham County , and Effingham County.

Jon hired high-powered divorce lawyer
Kate went with a local attorney, while husband chose a big name

By Courtney Hazlett
The Scoop

Courtney Hazlett
The Scoop
Kate Gosselin told People magazine that it’s her husband Jon who wanted a divorce “for a long time,” and, “no questions asked, he went and hired a lawyer and said, ‘You better get one.’”

As it turns out, Jon didn’t just hire any lawyer. According to the couple’s divorce filing, Jon retained Charles J. Meyer, one of the Philadelphia area’s most high-profile family law attorneys (one of his current clients is Philadelphia 76ers player Andre Iguodala, whom Meyer is defending in his child support case).

Kate went with attorney Cheryl L. Young. “She’s much more low-profile but she has an excellent reputation for being fair, reasonable, logical," says one local attorney. “She’s not a high-drama type, she's really, really solid.”

Story continues below ↓
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And although Jon was the first to retain counsel, it was Kate who initiated the divorce filing. Why?

Mark Vincent Kaplan, the Los Angeles-based attorney who represented Kevin Federline in his divorce from Britney Spears (and is not involved in the Gosselin case), weighed in.

“It doesn’t matter who files first, but I like my clients to file first because that means I go first at the time of trial and present my construct of reality and let the other side have the burden of proving why that’s not accurate,” said Kaplan.

In other words, Kate will get to present her side of the story, including her ideal plan for custody, division of property and finances, etc., before Jon can weigh in.

Keeping tabs: Kate’s failure is People’s win
This week’s celeb weeklies offer a vast improvement over last week, but it certainly took a village to get there.

“It Feels Like I Failed” is a genius cover line because much of America is thinking, “yes, you did fail.” It’s affirming — and the consumer loves that — but compelling enough to inspire a sale. Better yet, People manages at the same time to be evenhanded by devoting a significant portion of real estate to Jon, including the headline “This will be a difficult transition.”


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Savannah GA, Richmond Hill, GA, Fort Stewart, Hinesville, Georgia Family Law Lawyer - Georgia domestic mediator. Georgia divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney

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Divorce Puts Light on United Technologies Jet Use

By JOHN EMSHWILLER and DIONNE SEARCEY

A divorce proceeding involving a top official at United Technologies Corp. has uncovered potentially embarrassing records showing he made extensive personal use of company aircraft.


Associated Press
United Technologies said George David had authorized a "handful of flights by unescorted guests" on company aircraft. It said he had reimbursed the company for those flights, but the company declined to provide further details. Above, Mr. David arrives for divorce proceedings in Hartford in March.
Over the past seven years, George David, United Technologies' chairman and former chief executive, and his guests have used corporate planes and helicopters for personal travel on several hundred separate flights, company records show.

Among other things, the records show that on about a dozen occasions, Mr. David allowed guests to travel on board without him, including to join him on vacation -- which he said in court was "normally not" permitted under company policy.

In response to questions from the Journal, United Technologies said Mr. David had authorized a "handful of flights by unescorted guests" on company aircraft. It said Mr. David had reimbursed the company for those flights, but declined to provide further details, such as when the reimbursements were made.

Earlier, a United Technologies official had said the company couldn't accept reimbursement from executives because of certain Federal Aviation Administration rules. In a written statement Monday, the official said the reimbursements were "FAA-compliant," but didn't elaborate.

The records of the 67-year-old Mr. David's personal air travel from 2002 to 2008, which were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, became available as a result of a divorce battle between Mr. David and his wife, Marie Douglas-David, in a Connecticut court. Ms. Douglas-David, 37, is seeking tens of millions of dollars from Mr. David.


Mr. David stepped down as CEO in April 2008 after 15 years in the top job at United Technologies, which makes Sikorsky helicopters, Otis elevators and Pratt & Whitney airplane engines. During his tenure, annual earnings soared from $585 million in 1994 to $4.69 billion last year, and the company's stock-market value grew some 12-fold to $75 billion.

United Technologies, based in Hartford, Conn., said company policy required Mr. David, as well as CEO Louis Chenevert, to use company aircraft for personal flying for security reasons. The company estimated that more than 80% of Mr. David's flight time on corporate aircraft was for business travel. "Information about his flight itineraries, exchanged in the litigation, has been disclosed outside the courtroom in an obvious attempt to embarrass him," the company said in a statement.

Like many companies, United Technologies doesn't charge its executives for personal travel on corporate aircraft. It uses a formula to estimate the cost of a given trip and adds that amount as income when reporting the executive's compensation to the Internal Revenue Service. The taxes on this imputed income are often much lower than the cost of chartering a private plane.

Through a United Technologies spokesman, Mr. David declined to be interviewed.

Personal use of company jets is a major issue for some shareholder activists and government officials seeking to clamp down on executive perks. The Securities and Exchange Commission began several years ago to press companies to be more open about the cost of executives' personal travel. Proxy filings, including those by United Technologies, routinely estimate this cost.

Some companies, including Sears Holdings Corp. and Ford Motor Co., have begun selling their corporate aircraft.


Associated Press
The records of George David's personal air travel became available as a result of a divorce battle between Mr. David and his wife, Marie Douglas-David. Above, Ms. Douglas-David leaves a Hartford court after the first day of proceedings in divorce trial on March 18.
Records show Mr. David's travels ranged from international flights to a helicopter ride in the Hamptons on New York's Long Island. In a statement, United Technologies said "selective references have been made to certain flights...in an attempt to devalue" Mr. David's record.

In March 20 court testimony as part of his divorce case, Mr. David was asked by one of his wife's lawyers whether flying unescorted guests was allowed under company travel policy. "Normally not," Mr. David said.

The question arose in connection with Mr. David's use of a company jet to fly unescorted guests to Italy to join him and his wife on a yachting vacation in 2005.

The records of Mr. David's personal travel list about 900 flights, or the equivalent of about 450 round trips, though some of the flights were legs of the same journey.

The majority of Mr. David's personal flights involved helicopters. About a quarter of them involved jet travel, with destinations that ranged from Paris and Buenos Aires to San Diego and Augusta, Ga.

A review of SEC filings of Fortune 100 companies by Equilar Inc., an executive-compensation research firm, shows that the median reported value of a chief executive's personal travel was $141,477 last year. For 2008, United Technologies reported Mr. David's personal travel at $309,865 and that of Mr. Chenevert, the current CEO, at $93,435.

United Technologies proxy statements show Mr. David's personal travel costs have declined from a 2006 level of $612,303.

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Savannah GA, Richmond Hill, GA, Fort Stewart, Hinesville, Georgia Family Law Lawyer - Georgia domestic mediator. Georgia divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney

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Lawyer jailed 14 years for court divorce contempt is freed

By JOANN LOVIGLIO

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Pennsylvania attorney who was released from prison Friday after serving the longest imprisonment on a civil contempt charge in U.S. history said judges have too much discretion in cases like his.
"If I had been convicted of murder in the third degree in Pennsylvania, I would have been out in half the time I was in jail," H. Beatty Chadwick said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
A judge ordered Chadwick's release from a county prison in suburban Philadelphia more than 14 years after he was jailed for refusing to turn over millions of dollars in a bitter divorce battle. The case prompted dozens of appeals to county, state and federal courts, twice reaching the U.S. Supreme Court.
Chadwick, 73, said he will stay with his 41-year-old son, Bill, for now. He said he plans to find a job, though he was not sure what sort of work he would do.
"I have to spend a little time thinking about that and seeing how I can best use my skills and talents," Chadwick said, speaking from the office of his lawyer, Michael Malloy. He said he was not sure if he would return to practicing law; he is eligible to apply for his law license when a five-year suspension ends next year.
Chadwick was jailed in April 1995, accused of hiding $2.5 million from his ex-wife during divorce proceedings. Chadwick maintained he lost the money in bad investments. In 2006, before the economic downturn, experts estimated the money would be worth more than $8 million.
After repeated attempts to have himself freed, Chadwick's request was granted by Delaware County Judge Joseph Cronin, who determined his continued incarceration had lost its coercive effect and would not result in him turning over the money.
In court documents ordering the release, Cronin said he agreed with previous court rulings that Chadwick "had the ability to comply with the court order ... but that he had willfully refused to do so."
But Chadwick's continued imprisonment would be legal only if it were likely that he would ultimately comply with the order. The judge said that there was little chance of that, and Chadwick should be released.
Chadwick insisted Friday that he was unable to pay the money and said the law should be written so people in his situation can have a jury decide if they are capable of complying with court orders. He said there also ought to be time limits on jailing people for contempt, adding that there is an 18-month limit in the federal courts for refusing to testify before a grand jury.
"There's no question about whether they're able to do it — everybody's able to testify. But in my case, of course, there's a question: Was I able?" he said.
Chadwick and the former Barbara Jean "Bobbie" Crowther married in 1977 and lived in Philadelphia's wealthy Main Line suburbs. She filed for divorce in 1992.
Bobbie Chadwick, now known as Bobbie Applegate, declined to comment when reached by telephone at her home in Maine on Friday.
Applegate's attorney, Albert Momjian, said it was the longest incarceration on a civil contempt case in U.S. history. He said he understood and respected the judge's decision but was still disappointed.
"Here's a guy who thumbed his nose at a court order for 14 years," Momjian said of Chadwick. "There should be some kind of sanctions for doing that."
Momjian said he was discussing with his client options in pursuing the divorce settlement. He also was seeking a court order requiring Chadwick to wear an electronic monitoring device and barring him from getting a passport.
"My contention is that he's going to take off very quickly," Momjian said. "He's not going to stick around."
A one-time corporate lawyer, Chadwick has battled non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in prison.

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Savannah GA, Richmond Hill, GA, Fort Stewart, Hinesville, Georgia Family Law Lawyer - Georgia domestic mediator. Georgia divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney

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Man jailed in divorce free after 14 yrs.

By WILLIAM BENDER
Philadelphia Daily News
benderw@phillynews.com 215-854-5255

H. Beatty Chadwick is either the most hardheaded lawyer in America or a poor sap who lost 14 years of his life to a money-grubbing ex-wife and cold-hearted judges.

Either way, at 3:08 p.m. yesterday the Main Line attorney who had been imprisoned since 1995 on a contempt charge walked out of the George W. Hill Correctional Facility a free man.

Chadwick, 73, who is believed to have set a U.S. record for time served in a civil-contempt case, was jailed during divorce proceedings for allegedly stashing $2.5 million in overseas accounts - out of the reach of his wife and her lawyers.

While fighting non-Hodgkins lymphoma in prison, he has steadfastly maintained that he lost the cash in a bad investment. Judges repeatedly denied his request to be freed, until yesterday, when Delaware County President Judge Joseph Cronin approved his release.

"He's not bitter, he's happy to be out," said Chadwick's attorney, Michael Malloy. "He's a very low-key, even tempered guy."

"I've never seen him lose his temper. I've never seem him upset."

Chadwick's plans were to go home to be with his son, Malloy said.

Many still believe that Chadwick - reportedly a control freak who would ration his spouse's toilet-paper usage and designate specific times for sex - is a stubborn liar who still has the money.

"This guy is so off-the-wall that he's never going to change his mind," said Albert Momjian, attorney for Barbara Applegate, Chadwick's ex-wife. "If he doesn't have access to the money, how does he pay all these lawyers?"

About 35 prison staffers gathered yesterday - some crying and hugging Chadwick - to say goodbye to the "model inmate" who had worked in the law library and forged friendships with everyone from guards to senior administrators, said prison Superintendent John Reilly.

"He's done more time than maybe the majority of people convicted of homicide do," said Reilly, a former prosecutor. "What person in his right mind is going to flaunt the authority of the court and say, 'I'm going to spend the rest of my life in jail?' People just aren't made that way."

Yet, Reilly concedes, he and most other observers simply don't know whether Chadwick is still hiding his fortune.

"To me, he's an enigma," he said. "I can't get a read on the guy." *

Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Savannah GA, Richmond Hill, GA, Fort Stewart, Hinesville, Georgia Family Law Lawyer - Georgia domestic mediator. Georgia divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney

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Still tipping the scales in Carolina
By Myron Pitts

RELATED

Battle of the Bulge: States packing on pounds
North Carolina retains its "big boy" status in the new rankings on obesity.

We're tipping the scales as 12th-fattest state, according to a report by the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Never ones to sit still, unless there's a TV around, we jumped four places since last year.

Twenty-eight percent of Tar Heel adults and 33.5 percent of children qualify as obese, which means they're carrying enough weight to cause serious health problems.

We're joined by our southern cousins. Mississippi is No. 1, again. Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Kentucky, Louisiana and Arkansas are all in the Top 10. Missouri and Georgia are just behind North Carolina.

I'm bummed.

I held high hopes the Yankee transplants who have flooded the state would help us out here. (In the rankings, the Slim Jim northeast states are crowded near the bottom.)

I thought that the Yanks would come bearing better diets, full of non-fried foods, and would bring the state's fat average down. Therefore, natives like myself could continue eating what we want. This was to be the trade-off for having to put up with the newer arrivals' ignorance of grits and their frou-frou diets and unfathomable preference for unsweetened tea.

But clearly that's not working, at least not here.

Virginia, on the other hand, with its North-South split between actual southerners and D.C.-area people, is distancing itself from its southern cousins. The former capital of the South ranks 38th in fatness.

Meanwhile, the tough economic times have exacerbated our state's weight problem, says Karen McLeod, the health promotions coordinator of the Cumberland County Health Department.

"A lot of times when you have less money, you aren't able to buy the healthier foods," she said.

Another study suggests a way out of our jam.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina found that people tend to put on the pounds after they get married. A married or cohabitating person is twice as likely to be obese as a single person.

Consider that North Carolina, in terms of divorce rates, is at the other end of the state rankings, consistently coming in around 32nd.

In other words: Unlike the governor of our neighboring state to the south, we stick with the one we've got.

Or, as the old players say after a couple of brutal rounds in divorce court: "It's cheaper to keep her."

(I guess it's cheaper to keep him, too, but that doesn't rhyme as well.)

Maybe we also can add that "it's thinner to drop him or her."

But hoping people break up strikes me as an unsavory way of dealing with our weight issues.

How about a more holy approach?

Among county programs to fight obesity is one that gives seed money for churches to grow a nutrition program, McLeod said.

That one holds promise, in my opinion.

We have lots of buffets around here, but many more churches, about one per corner. There are so many people getting saved around here, it's not even funny.

We've got people running to the Lord. If we can get them running the Lord, that would be just gravy.

No, not gravy. A low-fat gravy substitute.

Columnist Myron B. Pitts can be reached at pittsm@fayobserver.com or 486-3559.
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Savannah GA, Richmond Hill, GA, Fort Stewart, Hinesville, Georgia Family Law Lawyer - Georgia domestic mediator. Georgia divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney

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The Stripper, The Pizza Boy and The Bondage Bungalow

https://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/07/06/crimesider/entry5136850.shtml

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (CBS/AP) A married dad of two; a remote mountain cabin; a stripper tied up on the couch - what could possibly go wrong? Everything, if you are David Jansen, 46, of Snellville, Ga.

What may have started off as a romantic rendezvous, became anything but.

When Jansen ordered a pizza and the deliveryman was greeted with a scene either made in hell or made in Hollywood.

Did the showgirl tied-up on the couch have a penchant for bondage or was she being raped?

The deliveryman says she silently begged him to "please call 911." So 32-year-old Chris Turner called the police from a nearby home. Jansen was promptly arrested and charged with rape.

At first the story was a tale of a quick-thinking deliveryman's heroism. But now, prosecutors aren't sure what happened and they have dropped all charges in the case. Jansen has claimed that the May 26 incident was consensual.

"It's hard to look inside somebody's brain to see if all this was contrived between two parties or if she really was kidnapped and raped,” Sevier County Assistant District Attorney Steven Hawkins told The Associated Press. “Who can tell?"

Jansen, whose wife filed for divorce after his arrest, wasn't in the courtroom in Sevierville.

VIDEO COURTESY OF CBS AFFILIATE WVLT

"This has been a difficult time for Mr. Jansen and he is happy to have this part of the ordeal behind him," Jansen's attorney Don Bosch said. Jansen has not decided whether to take legal action against the woman or anyone else involved in his arrest, Bosch said.

Tennessee authorities learned, after Jansen's arrest, that the 24-year-old Atlanta woman who accused him had been convicted and sentenced to probation for lying to Georgia police about being attacked in 2005 and 2006.

Hawkins said there were no plans to charge her in Tennessee.

"She insisted it did happen and there is a lot of evidence that it did happen," said Hawkins, who talked to the woman by telephone Thursday.

The woman's attorney, Alan Begner of Atlanta, said Hawkins "did not ask us what we thought about" dismissing the charges, but he said he understood the burden of proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt.

However, Begner noted the woman had not recanted her story. She did not immediately return an e-mail seeking comment Thursday, and a phone call to the club she worked at rang unanswered.

The woman told police she knew Jansen as a customer at a restaurant and strip club she worked at in Atlanta. She claimed he lured her into his car, tied her up, drove to Gatlinburg and raped her. Police found rope and ripped clothing in the cabin.

Turner discovered her bound on the couch while making a delivery to a remote rental cabin near Gatlinburg in the Smoky Mountains. After Jansen signed his credit card slip, Turner rushed to another cabin and called police. Jansen was arrested, and the woman was taken to a hospital.

She later told Turner she feared she would have been killed if not for him.

Bosch later found witnesses and convenience store surveillance videos that suggested the woman had chances to escape or call for help. And a polygraph test indicated Jansen was truthful when he told investigators that the sex was consensual, and that the kidnapping was part of a bondage fantasy.

While the case may not have been what it seemed, Hawkins said that takes nothing away from the deliveryman's actions.

"I think he saw what appeared to him based on all the evidence to be a kidnapping and he did the right thing. I don't think this diminished what he did a bit. Nor does it diminish what the sheriff's department did," he said.

"Everybody did what they felt was right based on everything right then."

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Savannah GA, Richmond Hill, GA, Fort Stewart, Hinesville, Georgia Family Law Lawyer - Georgia domestic mediator. Georgia divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney

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A jury in a divorce case? Yes, in Georgia

By Péralte C. Paul

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Friday, July 03, 2009

The road to wedded bliss usually ends in the couple declaring their undying love before a judge or, in a religious setting, a man — or woman — of the cloth.

In Georgia, the exit ramp to Splitsville brings the now-not-so-happy couple before a judge, too. However, a quirky but little-used right of divorce law in the Peach State allows for a jury of 12 strangers to help decide most aspects of the case.

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In fact, Georgia and Texas are the only states where couples seeking to dissolve a marriage have the right to divorce by jury. (New York juries can’t try such cases but can be called to decide if couples meet the state criteria for divorce.)

A lot more common in the 1970s when Georgia judges were prone to giving lifetime alimony in divorce cases — which the paying ex-spouse usually would contest — it’s a rare occurrence now. They’re also more expensive because preparing for a jury requires a lot more prep work and support materials used to explain various concepts to them that lawyers don’t need to do when arguing a divorce case solely before a judge.

“It is time-consuming and expensive,” said Stephen A. Land, an Atlanta attorney and former Fulton County assistant district attorney. “Most lawyers charge from $300 to $600 an hour. A jury trial could add two extra days and at seven hours a day, two extra days of trial is $5,000.”

There’s also court costs, which include paying jurors for their time.

But despite periodic attempts to scrap it from the Georgia code — including as recently as 2007 — those initiatives have always failed because attorneys say it’s a valuable tool in their arsenal of legal strategies.

So it’s not likely to go away anytime soon, lawyers say, because they and their battling clients have an advantage in keeping that right though it’s often used only as a last resort.

“I really think the jury trial is a basic right for all litigants, and it helps ensure fairness and the right to have the community help when spouses just cannot do it themselves,” said Randall M. Kessler, a family law attorney and founding partner of Kessler, Schwarz & Solomiany in Atlanta.

“It is also perhaps the very best way to ensure that people try their best to settle out of court, since a jury trial is always a risk, for both sides, no matter what the facts are.”

Plus, couples aren’t keen on having details of their private lives displayed before a dozen strangers.

“I’ve had more than one juror on a divorce case say to me afterward, that they would rather die than have that paraded in front of everybody,” Land said.

Kessler recounted a recent case where his client and her prominent doctor husband couldn’t come to an acceptable settlement agreement going back and forth for a year. Kessler’s client asked for a jury trial.

But the day before the trial was to start, Kessler said the husband and his attorney wanted to settle.

“The judge let us stay in the courthouse, and we were there until 3:30 a.m.,” Kessler said. “I think it hit him that everything he expressed to the world was not the side the jury was going to see.”

Still, some, like Terry Thorp of Roswell, believe that a jury of 12 yields a more just result than going up before a judge alone.

Thorp, who owns a drywall and installation business in Woodstock, said he tried to settle with his wife of five years, but the two could not come to an acceptable agreement. They went before a mediator — still no solution.

He opted for a jury trial following a preliminary hearing where he was ordered to pay temporary alimony. Thorp said he decided that because he didn’t believe he was given a full chance to tell his side of the story.

“To give everybody a fair chance, you need to have a trial,” said Thorp, who received his divorce in 2005. “If you go before a judge and the judge has certain pet peeves and you do something they don’t like, you never know. It’s very difficult to let one person make a decision over your life.”

Georgia divorce juries can decide alimony, child support and distribution of assets and debt. Custody of the children, though, is only determined by the judge. Texas has the reverse with juries deciding custody and visitation rights, and the judge determining the division of assets. Texas juries also can hear cases where one parent seeks to terminate the parental rights of another or if a one is trying to prove paternity.

Though the laws differs in both states on what juries can decide, lawyers cite the same benefit: They can serve as a hedge against bias from the bench.

“You might have a rogue judge who has a reputation for not awarding much alimony,” Kessler said.

Lawyers add that because Georgia also is a solid Bible Belt state, certain divorce triggers, such as infidelity, might not resonate as much with a judge who’s heard hundreds of cases, but might with a couple of jurors who might find adultery morally reprehensible. Conversely, it might bring sympathy from a juror for the cheating spouse if the juror has done the same thing.

“It can be used as a safeguard rather than having one person making a decision about it,” said Wilbur Warner an Atlanta divorce attorney and partner in Warner, Mayoue, Bates & Nolen. “With a jury, at least, it’s a composite of the baggage and issues and it’s not one person deciding.”

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Child Custody Lawyer Savannah Georgia - Divorce Attorney

Do we need an attorney in a custody case?

If you and your spouse can’t agree on the terms of custody, you probably both need attorneys. Additionally, in certain cases, the court may appoint an attorney, or guardian ad litem, to
represent your child.

What are custody seminars and do we have to go to one?

Custody seminars are classes designed to help the parents sort out the issues they are going to face regarding their child or children. They are required by the courts in certain counties for all divorces involving children under the age of 18.

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Our family law firm handles cases in Savannah, Georgia. Our Georgia divorce lawyers represent clients in Savannah & throughout Coastal Georgia including Savannah, Hinesville, Richmond Hill, Fort Stewart, Bloomingdale, Garden City, Pooler, Port Wentworth, Thunderbolt, Tybee Island, and Vernonburg, Bryan County, Liberty County, Long County, Chatham County , and Effingham County.

Savannah GA Child Custody Lawyer - Attorney

Who will get custody of our children?

Georgia law does not favor the mother or the father and either or both may be given custody of a child. Either your attorneys or the judge will work out a custody plan for the children. The goal of the plan will be the best interests of each child. Until the plan is worked out, the couple usually shares custody, often subject to rules laid out in a temporary plan. A child of 14 or older usually is allowed to choose which parent to live with. Younger children may speak to the judge, but the judge may also consider a variety of other factors before deciding where to place the child or children. The ability of each parent to care for the child or children will be a key factor in determining who will get primary custody.

If the attorneys are able to work out a custody agreement, the judge will have to approve it. The judge may make changes to the plan if he or she deems that would be better for the child.
Grandparents or other relatives may seek custody of a child, but the law tends to favor the parents first and other relatives may have to show that the parents are actually harming the child in order to get custody.

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Savannha GA Divorce Lawyer-

What if my spouse has abused our children?

You should call the police if you suspect your children have been abused by anyone, including your spouse. Child abuse is a crime. Your children’s safety and well-being is foremost and you can be held legally responsible if you allow your children to be abused. Police officers can help you protect your children, and may refer you to social service programs that can help. Additionally, they can provide documentation of the abuse allegation that your attorney or social worker will need to help you and the children going forward.
If you fear for your children’s safety, social service agencies can also help you.

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Brooke in middle of War of the Hogans
BY MIKE MOONEYHAM (CONTACT)
Sunday, June 7, 2009



Is there any end in sight to the dysfunctional Hulk Hogan family saga?

It’s one nasty turn after another, and barely a day seems to go by without one of the family members spewing venom in the media.

One might have hoped that the 2007 car accident involving son Nick, which left friend John Graziano in a permanent vegetative state and the now 18-year-old with an eight-month prison term, would have had a sobering, humbling effect on the Hogan family. Perhaps some good could have come out of such tragedy. Valuable lessons could have been learned.

Life is fragile. Fences can be mended. Families should stick together.

If anything, though, the War of the Hogans has only intensified.

And now 21-year-old daughter Brooke Hogan, whose second season of “Brooke Knows Best” premieres today on VH1, seems to be in the line of fire as her parents’ acrimonious divorce battle plays out before the public, on TV and in the tabloids.

The latest coming out of the Hogan camp is from the Hulkster in response to his estranged wife’s charges that their daughter’s behavior doesn’t match the All-American girl image Hogan has tried to create.

Linda Hogan (Bollea) claimed that Hulk (Terry Bollea) was rolling and smoking joints with Brooke’s boyfriend, rapper Staxx, at her recording sessions. Hogan vehemently denied the allegations, and said that Linda was “lost” and “needs help.”

“Brooke is a clean-cut girl. She’s very open and honest,” Hulk proclaimed in the current issue of Life & Style magazine. “Brooke can’t have a relationship with her mother like this.”


Provided
Hulk and Linda Hogan during happier times.
Hogan, 55, also refuted Linda’s allegations of drug use, and said it’s his 49-year-old, soon-to-be-ex-wife who is engaging in illegal drugs with her 20-year-old “boy toy” Charlie Hill. He even offered to take a legally supervised drug test if Linda would do the same.

“If Linda says she’ll take a drug test, I say bring it, brother. It needs to be done, and she’ll fail it.”

Linda answered the challenge by voluntarily taking tests that came out negative.

“Linda Hogan is clean, clean, clean,” publicist Gary Smith reported last week. He said she took a full medical exam and tested negative for everything including marijuana, cocaine, speed, amphetamines and opiates.

“Linda does not do drugs and never accused her daughter of doing drugs either,” said Smith. “Now the truth is in black and white; all Linda wants is an apology from both of them.”

Brooke told US magazine last week that she tried calling her mother, but to no avail.

“I actually dialed her phone ... but she didn’t answer. I love her no matter what. I’ll forgive her and I’ll pray for her, but I don’t think I can be around her anymore. Ever. She may as well have disowned me. She did in my heart.”

Brooke also said on Howard Stern’s Sirius satellite radio show Wednesday that she can’t say for sure that her mom has done drugs, but that something isn’t right.

“Do I have a gut feeling that she has something to come clean about? Yes,” she said. “But that’s just my gut.”

Smith issued a release claiming Brooke “continues to spew lies on behalf of her father’s lame attempt to distance himself from the reality that he is no different from the homicidal O.J. Simpson.” If Brooke continues, the rep added in an unintentionally humorous statement, “Charlie (Linda’s boyfriend) will be forced to put aside his paramedic/firefighting career path and release an album called Redemption which will easily surpass any of Brooke’s records sales.”

Smith, in the letter to celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, also accused Brooke of fabricating claims or misrepresenting the facts about her breast augmentations, her relationship with Staxx and comments about Hill.


AP
Hulk Hogan with daughter Brooke.
“She only judges Charlie because of his long hair and age. Linda doesn’t judge ... Brooke is Hulk’s only remaining mouthpiece and a pawn in his game of control,” said Smith.

“Brooke Hogan has spoken out in support of her father only because of her mother’s repeated fabricated attacks on him,” replied a Hogan attorney. “She is in the unique position of knowing both parties in this litigation and she has only spoken as to what she knows to be the truth based upon her personal experience with each.”

Hogan added that he believes his daughter is more of an adult than her mother.

“I hope one day Linda will grow up and be an adult like Brooke is,” he said. “Linda has to reach to her level. One day, maybe.”

Hogan’s attorney says a mother-daughter relationship appears unlikely at this time because Linda “continues to attempt to throw her family under the bus to gain publicity.”

Linda filed for divorce just a month after the last episode of their popular reality show aired. Hogan later said he was surprised that his wife wanted to end their 24-year marriage, even though the two had visited a marriage counselor on their VHI show.

Hogan told People magazine last year that the couple had experienced marital difficulties for nearly a decade, and that “the reality show just amplified the problems.”


Provided
Jim Cornette's new book is a great read for fans of the Midnight Express era.
- The highly anticipated Jim Cornette book is out, and it’s a must for any serious wrestling fan’s collection.

Don’t expect a behind-the-scenes look at Cornette’s life. “The Midnight Express 25th Anniversary Scrapbook” is not an autobiography, nor is it advertised as such, but it is a fascinating look at one of the greatest managers and tag teams in wrestling history, as told by one of the smartest and funniest guys in the business.

The full-color book is detailed and accurate, with results, clippings, photos and even payoff receipts, along with insightful recollections from Cornette.

The book is available at www.jimcornette.com.

>
Charlotte Observer
NASCAR driver Joey Logano (left) receives a hug from Ric Flair after Logano was voted the fan favorite slot for the Sprint All-Star Race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte on May 16. Flair served as honorary race director.
- Ric Flair may be 60 years old. He may be officially retired. Yet he still found himself in a familiar position last week — the main event of Monday Night Raw. And he more than held his own in a street fight with Randy Orton.

Flair got the better of Orton during a show-finishing brawl that started in the parking lot, moved to the backstage area and ended up inside a cage in the ring. Orton got last-minute help from cronies Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes, however, and ended up knocking out the Nature Boy with his trademark stiff kick to the cranium.

Flair, who suffered a head laceration, also badly cut his hand during the backstage segment and had to get 12 stitches.

Flair, bloodied and bruised, was pleased with the performance.

“It was great,” he said the next day. “But I’m sore as hell.”

- Maverick (Dakota) Darsow was among several developmental performers released by WWE last week.

Darsow is the son of former pro star Barry Darsow (Krusher Khruschev, Demolition Smash, Repo Man).
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Divorce groups finding more support in churches
Dana Clark Felty | Saturday, June 13, 2009 at 12:30 am

Paula Morris is a devout Presbyterian who believes "God hates divorce."

She also believes God doesn't want anyone to stay in a marriage at the expense of their dignity.

"I think if you're in an abusive relationship or your spouse is cheating on you, there's an integrity you have to support," said Morris, who has run "divorce recovery group" at First Presbyterian Church of Savannah.

"When you are at that point, you're in line with the Bible to get a divorce," she said.

Once shunned in church, the topic of divorce is carving out a niche in a growing number of Christian congregations.

Some churches are hosting support groups and Bible study courses aimed at offering encouragement to those who are separated or going through divorce.

The trend presents a theological challenge for some ministers and members who still see the growing acceptance of divorce as a key problem in American society.

Seeing a void

A 2004 study commissioned by Lifeway Research for its "Facts & Trends" magazine showed that 43 percent of Protestant ministers listed divorce as one of the top three issues threatening the traditional family, along with negative influences in the media and materialism.

However, more than half of the ministers said they believed "churches tend to focus so much on traditional families that they do not serve important groups such as singles, childless couples or single parents appropriately."

Christians James and Sherry Wilson saw a void when it came to ministering to the divorced at Bible Baptist Church. So three years ago, they convinced their pastor to let them start a support group for divorcees.

Since then, they've worked with about 60 people using a 13-week seminar called DivorceCare, one of several video-based curricula created and sold by the Christian nonprofit group Church Initiative.

The program addresses topics such as loneliness, anger, depression, child care, financial survival and new relationships and how they relate to the Bible. The 30- to 45-minute video is followed by a discussion period.

According to Church Initiative's Web site, DivorceCare support groups are designed to "focus on the healing that can only come from the Lord."

The Wilsons believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible and that "God doesn't like divorce," Sherry Wilson said.

"He hates it. But he also hates liars and a lot of things that we can do. We need help with all of it, she said. Divorce is "not the unpardonable sin."

The Wilsons have each been divorced themselves and are lifelong Christians.

Sherry Wilson believes more congregations are softening their condemnation on divorce and seeking ways to be supportive.

"We live in a sinful world. Things are going to happen, even to Christians," she said. "If we can't come to the church for God to heal us, then where can we go?"

Other area churches including Savannah Christian Church, Grace Community Church and Rincon First Christian Church in Rincon also use the DivorceCare curriculum.

Program leaders at Rincon First Christian encourage participants to go through the DivorceCare curriculum twice and then join a study group.

"The second time around, they really pick up on the information," said Minister Steve Parker.

The church initially launched the program a few years ago in response to divorcees in their own congregation. When outsiders started showing up, Parker saw an opportunity for community outreach.

"Folks want to go somewhere where people don't know them," he said. "We've been pleased with the outcome."

As a conservative Christian, Parker says he still struggles with his conflicting desires to both comfort those hurt by divorce and to preach that divorce is defying God's wishes.

"This Sunday I'm going to preach on it and I'll tell you, I'm just as nervous as a cat," he said. "I think (Christians) have a tendency overall to ignore it and it'll go away.

"We all were taught growing up that divorce is the unpardonable sin, which it's not. It's a sin, but we're all sinners saved by grace."

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Jon and Kate Gosselin to announce divorce?; who's staying, who's leaving 'Grey's Anatomy'; and more: The Morning After
by Melodie Smith/Plain Dealer Reporter
Friday June 19, 2009, 6:00 AM


Karen Alquist/TLC via AP
A major announcement is planned on a special one-hour "Jon & Kate Plus 8," airing at 9.pm. Monday on TLC.
Jon and Kate Gosselin will have a major announcement Monday, the TLC network says.

"Recently, we've made some life-changing decisions ... ones that we hope will bring each of us some peace," Kate Gosselin says in a video promoting the special one-hour edition of their show "Jon & Kate Plus 8."

TLC wouldn't comment on what the announcement will be. However, an unnamed source told RadarOnline.com that the couple is divorcing.

Rumors of infidelity by both spouses -- Jon with a schoolteacher, Kate with her bodyguard -- have been splashed across magazine covers for months. Both have denied the allegations. But Kate did acknowledge difficulties in the marriage in the show's highly rated season premiere last month.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania's Labor Department is investigating whether the show's production is complying with state child labor laws. (TLC has said it "fully complies" with state regulations, the Associated Press reported.)

TLC's "Jon & Kate Plus 8," airing 9 p.m. Monday, follows the Gosselins as they raise their 8-year-old twins and 5-year-old sextuplets. According to reports, the couple are under contract for a total of 40 episodes this season.



Dan Steinberg/AP
T.R. Knight
'Grey's' news
[Warning: Spoilers ahead!]

According to reports, Katherine Heigl is returning to "Grey's Anatomy," while co-star T.R. Knight is moving on, possibly to Broadway.

The fifth season of the ABC medical drama ended with Heigl's character, Izzie, and Knight's character, George, appeared headed for greener pastures after medical traumas.

But Entertainment Weekly columnist Michael Ausiello said this week that ABC has granted Knight's request to be released from his contract. Now, the actor is in talks to star in a Broadway revival of "Lend Me a Tenor" in 2010, an Ausiello source said.

Fans go wild ... uh, maybe not
"Twilight" star Robert Pattinson is fine after being clipped by a taxi in downtown Manhattan on Thursday, a publicist says.

Initial reports said the young actor was fleeing a throng of fans, but the representative for Summit Entertainment later said the incident "was not caused by fans."

"Rob Pattinson is fine," the publicist's statement said, adding that the incident had been exaggerated in early reports.

The accident happened near the famous Strand bookstore on Broadway at 12th Street, where Pattinson was filming his latest movie. The film, a romantic drama titled "Remember Me," co-stars Emilie de Ravin ("Lost"), Pierce Brosnan and Chris Cooper, and is scheduled for release next year.

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Jon & Kate divorce not typical, say parents of multiples

BY SHANNON PROUDFOOT, CANWEST NEWS SERVICE

When Gail Moore heard Kate Gosselin, star of the hit reality show, Jon & Kate Plus 8, bemoan that she and her husband hadn't beaten the marital odds stacked against parents of multiples, she cringed.

"I was listening to it and I went, 'Oh, God,' " says the mother of 16-year-old twin boys and an older son and daughter. "I know why she would say that, because definitely, there is a lot more stress, so it feels like you're two to three times more likely to have marital problems -- but there's nothing that proves that."

Gosselin's comments came during a heavily promoted special episode of TLC's show about her Pennsylvania family, which includes eight-year-old twin girls and five-year-old sextuplets. After months of reported marital struggles, Gosselin, 34, and her husband Jon, 32, announced they were separating, but hours before the show aired Monday night, news broke that she had filed for divorce.

"Parents of multiples have triple the divorce rate," Kate said on the program. "I was thinking we were going to beat that. I don't know if I can say that anymore."

Moore and other Canadian parents of multiples take exception to that.

Moore, the chair of Multiple Births Canada, says the organization was inundated with calls from reporters after the show aired, but they combed through international research and found nothing that showed an elevated divorce rate among parents of multiples.

"She's blaming it on the multiple births," she says of Gosselin. "Maybe it has something to do with having the cameras on you."

According to Statistics Canada, there were 11,034 children born as multiples in 2006, the most recent year for which data is available, up from 9,118 in 2000. The agency doesn't break those numbers down into twins, triplets and so on.

Moore, who lives in New Liskeard, Ont., argues the teamwork required to parent multiples brings many couples closer together.

"It makes them a stronger unit, because they realize the children need them, and they work as a team to be able to handle all of the physical things that need to be done for the children," she says.

Lynda Haddon of Perth has been teaching pre-natal classes to parents expecting multiples for 20 years, and she encourages her students to tend to their marriages as carefully as they do to parenting. "You're doomed" is the last thing they need to hear, she says, but people are often only too eager to share horror stories.

Haddon is about to celebrate her 30th anniversary with her husband, and she says raising their 28-year-old daughter and 26-year-old twin girls strengthened their bond.

"I'm very saddened, because it's very hard on the rest of us when this is out there," she says.

TLC announced on Tuesday that a "retrospective of Jon and Kate's first 10 years" will air on June 29, then the show will go on hiatus until August, giving the Gosselins time to "regroup" before resuming a modified schedule.

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

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