“Divorce Coaches” Becoming More Popular

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Epapc

Any Maryland divorce attorney will tell you that divorces are, on average, far more complicated now than they were in previous decades.  Much of this complexity can be attributed to overall shifts in societal norms as well as the ever-changing definition of “family.”  Where at one time, the typical divorce involved a man and a woman in a nuclear family with a house and two kids, the typical divorce now could involve a same-sex couple, adoptions, existing step-children, assets from a previous divorce, existing child support and alimony, among other things.  In this modern divorce environment, attorneys are routinely inundated with the administrative affairs involved in a divorce, diverting their attention from the hard legal issues.

It is in this environment that there has emerged a growing trend toward divorcing parties utilizing so-called “divorce coaches.”  In almost every case, divorce coaches are not attorneys themselves, nor are they supposed to offer legal advice.  What they do offer advice about are the administrative affairs of a divorce.  Let us be clear what is meant by the “administrative” affairs.  Attorneys, on one hand, will offer their services on matters such as child custody, assignment of fault to the divorcing parties, alimony, and child support.  Divorce coaches merely help the parties iron out the details themselves.

For example, an attorney may help a client win a certain child custody arrangement.  If the child custody arrangement is some type of shared arrangement – which is common – the divorce coach will help facilitate the parties’ understanding of their weekly obligations regarding the child’s schedule.  If attorneys help each party with their entitlement to certain portions of the marital property, a divorce coach would help tabulate the assets and assign values to them, then work out exactly how they would be split.  It is easy for a judge to issue a ruling as to how things will be split.  What people do not realize is that the actual mechanics of the asset division can be very complicated, involving the sale of tangible property and manipulation of things like retirement accounts, pensions, and the division of small business interests.

Many divorce coaches are also licensed mediators, meaning they can help the parties come to their own agreements and avoid costly litigation on those issues.  Anything the parties work out themselves in a mediation session can be reduced to writing and submitted to each party’s attorneys so that the attorney can inform the court of what is not in dispute.

Many Maryland family lawyers actually value very much the contributions that a divorce coach can bring to the table.  Most lawyers would rather not spend time and resources hashing out the non-legal issues if someone more attuned to those needs is available.  As a result, it is very common – and less expensive – for divorcing parties to hire a divorce coach for certain aspects of the divorce and to utilize an attorney for the actual litigation and filing process.  Many suspect that this practice will continue its upward trend in the coming years.

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Modern Women Continue to Pay More Alimony

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Epapc

There is a growing trend in Maryland that closely mirrors the same trend nationwide.  As gender roles continue to change and women increasingly become the higher wage earners in American families, the number of instances in which a divorcing wife is forced to pay alimony to her former husband continues to rise.  Most Maryland divorce attorneys would agree that it is far more common these days to see the typical alimony relationship reversed.

According to a recent article on Yahoo.com (Tables Turned: Higher Earning Women Now Paying Alimony to Ex-Husbands, Oct. 3, 2012) women are now the top wage earners in one-third of all marriages.  This figure coincides with a number of employment statistics that indicate that the gap in earnings between men and women in the same industries is steadily shrinking.  It also coincides with more liberal maternity leave policies in both the private and public sectors, meaning that women no longer have to choose between being the breadwinner and being a mother.  When one considers that roughly fifty percent of all marriages end in divorce these days, it is not hard to imagine that a significant percentage of husbands are collecting alimony checks.

Alimony is a legal construct designed to put a lower earning divorced party in roughly the same financial position as that party would be if the marriage had remained intact.  During a marriage, each party acquires a familiarity with a certain quality of life associated with the joint earning potential of both parties.  If the lower earning party no longer can enjoy the benefits of the primary breadwinner’s income, it may place the lower earning party in a disadvantageous position wherein they are suddenly forced to live solely off their own income.  If this lower earning spouse does not have the training or education to obtain satisfactory employment and return their lifestyle to the level it was before, the courts may instruct the higher earning spouse to divert some of their income to the lower earning spouse.  These payments may either be temporary or permanent, and may be subject to modification as circumstances change.

According to the American Association of Matrimonial Lawyers, fifty-six percent of law offices that handle divorces are experiencing an increase in instances where the ex-wife is instructed to pay alimony to the ex-husband.  Forty-four percent of the same law offices are experiencing no significant change.  None of the law offices that were polled reported seeing a decrease in the instances of wife-to-husband alimony payments.

Many lawyers attribute these statistics to the removal of any stigma associated with husbands requesting alimony.  As the number of female higher wage earners continues to increase, so too should the stigma lessen.  It is also notable that alimony enforcement agencies are just as vigilant in enforcing payments from female divorcees.  If you are a male lower wage earner seeking alimony from your wife, or if you are a high earning female seeking to lessen or eliminate alimony payments to your husband, contact a Maryland family law firm for a consultation.

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The Law of Maryland Pedestrian Accidents

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Epapc

Every year, hundreds of people are seriously injured by automobiles while crossing Maryland roads.  It is simple physics, really.  Force equals mass times acceleration.  The average automobile has a mass many times greater than the mass of an average person.  An automobile is capable of speeds many times greater than the walking speed of an average person as well.  Any way you slice it, this is a dangerous combination for pedestrians.  Maryland personal injury attorneys know this all too well, as their offices frequently receive calls involving a serious injury or fatality when a pedestrian is involved in a collision with an automobile.

Lawmakers understand that it is unavoidable that pedestrian traffic and street traffic must sometimes use the same roadways.  As such, Maryland law requires that all pedestrians cross streets at designated crosswalks.  Where no such crosswalks exist, Maryland law recognizes an “implied crosswalk” at the natural corners of streets, where the sidewalk can be imagined to continue across the street to the other side.  Drivers of automobiles in Maryland are required by law to stop for pedestrian traffic at all designated and implied crosswalks.  The problem, however, is not hard to imagine.  Pedestrians do not always cross at designated or implied crosswalks, nor do Maryland drivers always stop as they are supposed to when they see a pedestrian about to cross the street.

The other problem that most people do not know about or think about when it comes to pedestrian accidents is a quirk in Maryland law that prevents a personal injury recovery if the injured party is determined to be at all responsible for the accident.  Maryland remains in a dwindling minority of states that recognizes contributory negligence.  Because of this negligence system, any contribution the plaintiff makes to his or her own injury could bar them from any kind of personal injury recovery, even if the defendant is overwhelmingly to blame.

In almost every other state, a jury examines the evidence and determines what percentage each party was at fault.  This percentage is used in the calculation of awarding money damages.  To most, it is considered fairer to the plaintiff because it still allows for recovery if the plaintiff was only negligent to a minor degree.  In Maryland, the mere fact that a pedestrian plaintiff had failed to use a crosswalk can, and has in the past, been the determining factor in a jury’s refusal to award money damages.

Nevertheless, juries in Maryland can still be sympathetic to pedestrians, even if there is a dispute as to whether the pedestrian was properly crossing the street.  A pedestrian who has been struck by an automobile needs an experienced Maryland attorney who can make a compelling and persuasive presentation of the facts of the accident.  Even if the accident claim never makes it to a jury, a pedestrian plaintiff still needs an attorney who will not be bullied by insurance companies whose bottom line depends on their refusal to pay on claims.  Such an attorney is just a phone call away.

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Evidence from Facebook Becoming Common in Court

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Epapc

State and federal courts across the country continue to allow the admission of evidence garnered from litigants’ Facebook accounts.  The social media site is designed to be a platform on which its users can share and express their viewpoints, affiliations, likes and dislikes, and even photos and videos of themselves.  However, Maryland personal injury attorneys warn that an overzealous Facebook user can do serious damage to their personal injury case by posting too much online.

What many personal injury victims fail to realize is that defendant insurance companies will stop at nothing to obtain information about your behaviors after your injury has occurred.  They know that emergency physicians and treating specialists can only do so much to diagnose the extent of a patient’s personal injuries, and that the patient is the only person who can truly give accurate and up-to-date accounts of how they are feeling at any given time.

The problem with a lot of personal injury clients is that they feel compelled to post things related to their injury on their Facebook account just like they would post any other thing about their lives.  Defendant insurance companies will monitor the injured victim’s Facebook account and record the victim’s statements and pictures.  You, as the victim, may be significantly injured, but responding very well to treatment.  If you were to post repeated status updates on Facebook as to how well you are progressing, the defendant insurance company – and the court – may interpret your optimism as evidence that you are not as injured to such a degree as you alleged.

Conversely, Maryland divorce attorneys warn that divorcing parties should refrain from posting anything about their divorce on Facebook.  It is common nowadays for opposing parties – and their attorneys – to monitor each other’s Facebook accounts for evidence that can be used to prove fault or determine grounds for granting certain custody or visitations rights to one party over the other.  Even if you have set your privacy settings from “public” to “private,” an opposing party may still be able to use an agent to obtain information.  After all, aren’t we always amazed to learn how we are connected with some of the most seemingly random people?

For those divorcing parties with older children, the same should be said for their Facebook accounts.  Without proper monitoring, children can sometimes inadvertently disclose sensitive information about their parents’ divorce.  Worse yet, one parent might ask the child to spy against the other parent, causing considerable emotional damage to all parties involved.

The fact remains that Facebook can be a vital social media tool, but only if its utilities are not abused for purposes of a lawsuit.  Maryland attorneys are skilled at protecting the privacy and confidentiality interests of their clients.  If you have been injured as a result of someone else’s negligence or are embroiled in the divorce process, keep in mind that the courtroom battle should not be waged on Facebook, but rather under the supervision of a skilled Maryland personal injury or divorce attorney.

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Back-to-School Tips for Divorced and Separated Parents

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Epapc

The beginning of the school year is a chaotic time for parents and children alike.  The chaos can be compounded by the fresh introduction of a divorce or a separation of the child’s parents.  Where custody is shared among two parents and two households, the child’s normal routine can be severely disrupted.  Maryland divorce lawyers observe these kinds of disruptions on a daily basis, and they know that at the end of the day, children crave structure and familiarity with their daily routines.

For these reasons, Maryland family law attorneys are among the best equipped to offer advice as to how divorced or separated parents can reduce disruptions in the child’s routine and thereby reduce the child’s stress.  In general, family lawyers urge divorced and separated parents to communicate civilly for the sake of the child.  Communication is essential to parents’ efforts to try to normalize the experiences the child will have in his or her daily life regardless of which residence the child returns to on a given day.

The parents should create a master calendar that will travel with the child between both residences.  The calendar should include the custody and visitation schedule, important school dates, athletics schedules, homework due dates, vacations, and anything else that would help all parties understand their responsibilities.  If the child is young, he or she might benefit from visual cues on this master calendar.  For example, the days on which the child is to spend with his or her father might exhibit a blue sticker, while the days with his or her mother might be denoted by a red sticker.  Days on which the child has soccer practice might be denoted by a soccer ball sticker.  Whatever the system, the point is that the child is aware of the weekly schedule from the presentation of these visual cues, while the parents are informed of their obligations to get the child to the proper place at the proper time.

As a corollary to the master calendar, parents should equip their child with a master backpack for the week.  It should contain all of the child’s school assignments for the week so that the parents need not make unnecessary trips back and forth to retrieve a worksheet or spelling book.  This type of weekly planning is essential, as the child cannot always be trusted to keep track of these assignments.  The last thing parents want is for their child to ignore a homework assignment because the proper materials were at the other parent’s house.

It is important to note that Maryland family lawyers are not just your allies in the courtroom.  They observe the effects of divorce and separation on children nearly every day.  Their observations give them particular insight as to which custody and visitation plans are effective in reducing the stress on a child.  They know that the best way to keep a child’s mind off of their parents’ relationship is to give them a consistent and unified school routine.

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Head Injuries Common in Maryland Auto Accidents

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Epapc

Much has been made of the National Football League’s recent crusade against concussions and other traumatic brain injuries.  The impacts in the game of football are intense and violent, and potentially can have long term detrimental health effects on the players who sustain these injuries.  Medical researchers have likened the impact of a forceful football tackle to the impact of an automobile accident, and Maryland car accident attorneys have taken notice.

As a side effect of the all the catastrophic brain injury research spurred by high profile incidents in the NFL, researchers are also discovering that the similar impacts of a car accident can create dangerous, sometimes hidden medical problems.  The most common head injuries resulting from car accidents are concussions (the sudden acceleration or impact of one’s brain within one’s skull), contusions (bruises or bleeding on the brain), head penetration injuries, and diffuse axonal injuries (tearing of the brain tissues).

One of the scariest things about traumatic brain injuries in car accidents is that the symptoms do not always match the damage done.  In other words, a car accident victim might experience only a mild headache or dizziness while in reality they may have sustained much more serious head injuries.  Similarly, brain injuries are terrifying because symptoms may only arise in a car accident victim days, weeks, months, or years after the initial impact.

For these reasons, Maryland auto accident lawyers urge car accident victims to seek out prompt, attentive, and continuing medical attention.  If you are taken to a hospital, insist that the medical staff include a head trauma examination in their diagnostic checklist.  After your initial hospital visit, it is likely that you will need continuing medical attention by specialist doctors who are experts in the areas of the body that you sustained injuries.  Remember that although these are specialists, you should feel free to share with them any head pains or other cranial symptoms you are experiencing.  Even if they are unable to diagnose or treat any head conditions, they will undoubtedly be able to refer you to the right doctors who specialize in head trauma.

Be mindful of the signals that your body is giving you.  If you were not prone to migraine headaches prior to your car accident, and you are now experiencing frequent headaches, they may be a sign of a more serious condition.  The most important thing you can do is to seek the best medical treatment available.  Your Maryland personal injury lawyer will take care of the rest.

Maryland car accident victims have legal remedies available to them to compensate for their injuries.  If the negligent driver is insured, bear in mind that their insurer is not in business to pay on accident claims.  The insurance company’s lawyers will stop at nothing to make sure your claim does not hurt their bottom line.  That is why a personal injury lawyer is a valuable ally in the claims process.  Your lawyer will make sure the right person is held accountable, and that their insurer compensates you for the injuries you sustained.

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Why “Uncontested Divorces” Are Rarely Uncontested

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Epapc

Divorcing couples often object to setting foot in Maryland family law offices, claiming that their divorce is uncontested.  The most common reason for this claim is that each party wants to save money by eliminating the need for a lawyer.  The reality of an uncontested divorce situation is that the divorce is contested unless and until the couple has reached a stipulation of agreement as to custody, visitation, and division of marital property.  Very few actually have such an agreement in place at this stage.

Couples who claim that their divorce is uncontested almost always are really saying, “We want our divorce to be cheap.  We agree on all the major stuff.  We promise.”  They are dismayed to find that a court will not grant the divorce until a stipulation of agreement is drafted.  It is at this stage that the parties typically visit a Maryland family lawyer and discover that their positions are much more divergent than they realized.

The parties will claim that they have agreed to split everything “right down the middle.”  In reality, the parties almost always have an incomplete picture of what they can split.  For example, one party may not realize that he or she may have an interest in their spouse’s individual retirement account.  They may not realize that certain items of property purchased entirely with one spouse’s funds may nevertheless be treated as marital property if the property was purchased during the course of the marriage.  When these considerations surface, the parties almost invariably change their tune as to what is agreed upon.

The same can be said for custody and visitation issues.  The parties very often can come to their own understanding of who will be entrusted with primary custody of the children, and some may even have an elementary understanding of a joint custody or visitation schedule.  What many divorcing parties fail to realize is the specificity required in these agreements.  The parties must agree on all of the specific logistical details of their custody and visitation understanding.  The agreement must detail things like who picks up the kids from school, who is responsible for transportation of the kids to and from each other’s homes, where the kids go in case of emergency, and sometimes even vacation schedules.  In short, the parties typically can come to an understanding as to the general principles of their custody and visitation schedule, but rarely delve into the minutia of it.

The lesson to take away from these observations is that uncontested divorces are exceptionally rare.  Though many couples may not realize it, the services of a Maryland divorce lawyer are a valuable resource, even if the couple appears to be in agreement.  The divorce process is almost always an emotional, trying time for all parties involved.  Rash and uninformed decisions sometimes leave divorcing parties with less than what they could have had.  An experienced attorney will make sure all of your interests are taken care of, including the ones you did not realize were at issue.

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Train Derailment Kills Two Teens in Howard County

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Epapc

Maryland personal injury lawyers are sometimes tasked with making the best of a tragic situation.  Every year, thousands of people are killed by the negligence of other citizens, defective product designs, and negligent maintenance of private or public fixtures.  When these tragedies happen, these same lawyers are forced to wear a different hat.  They become wrongful death lawyers.

One such tragedy brought this regrettable task back into focus.  This week, two teen girls were crushed to death when a train derailment sent tons of coal spilling onto the track area and onto Main Street Ellicott City below.  Elizabeth Nass, a student at the University of Delaware, and her friend Rose Mayr, a student at James Madison University in Virginia, were home in the Ellicott City area finishing their summer break.  They decided to spend their evening in downtown Ellicott City, where they climbed atop a railway bridge overlooking Main Street to one side and the Patapsco River to the other side.  Eerily, the girls posted pictures of their view atop the bridge shortly before the train came through town.

When it did, the train derailed for reasons not yet ascertained by the Nation Transportation Safety Board.  The train carried primarily a cargo of coal from West Virginia.  As the cars began to tip off the tracks, the girls were unable to flee from the spilling coal.  Autopsies revealed that the cause of death was compressional asphyxia; they were crushed to death.

Flash forward to the weeks and months from now, where the cleanup will continue and official reports will be generated as to the cause of the derailment.  Some have speculated that the train could not have derailed unless its operators were exceeding the posts railway speed limit of twenty-five miles per hour.  Others have speculated that the rails were in such disrepair that their faulty maintenance was the cause of the crash.  No matter the actual cause, the families of the victims are likely going to want some form of closure.

Although there is no indication of criminal activity in this case, the law allows for civil remedies in the form of money damages to compensate the victims’ survivors for their loss.  That is, of course, provided that the families want to pursue such remedies, and that their Maryland wrongful death attorney has the skill and expertise to prove in a court of law that the fate these girls suffered was as a result of the negligence of others.

If your loved one has passed away and you believe that the cause of their death was the negligence of others, consult a Maryland wrongful death law firm for a consultation.  Your attorney can evaluate the facts and circumstances of your claim and advise you of your legal rights, including the likelihood that you will be able to prove your claim and whether you may be entitled to financial compensation for your loss.  Nothing can bring back your loved one, but the right attorney can make sure the person responsible is held accountable.

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Olympics Commercials Warn of Distracted Driving Accidents

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Epapc

The Games of the XXX Olympiad came to a dramatic end this past Sunday, signaled by all the pomp and circumstance on the closing ceremonies in London.  While these Games will be remembered by many people for the tremendous displays of athleticism and the record-breaking achievements of our American athletes, many viewers will also remember some of the persistent advertising.  The most poignant of these commercials were a series of a public service announcements warning of the dangers of distracted driving.  In particular, many will remember the one featuring a young woman whose sister crashed her car because she was reading a short and simple text message:  “yeah.”

Maryland personal injury attorneys surely took notice of these ads, seeing as they are well-accustomed to handling cases in which their clients were injured by similarly distracted drivers.  Attorneys know that the distracted drivers themselves are rarely the only ones injured by their inattentiveness.  Distracted drivers pose just as much danger to the innocent motorists who happen to be unlucky enough to be sharing the road with them.

The statistics are as sobering as the public service announcements.  According to a November 2011 survey from HealthDay, more than 86 percent of drivers reported eating or drinking (non-alcoholic beverages) while driving.  More than half of those people reported doing it regularly.  Thirty-seven percent of those surveyed reported that they have texted while driving, with eighteen percent admitted to doing it regularly.  Other common driving distractions reported by those surveyed included styling hair, doing makeup, reading maps, adjusting GPS navigation devices, surfing the internet on a smart phone.

Texting in particular is a huge problem because there is rarely a substitute for the use of the “spare” hand and the quick glances away from the road.  Bluetooth technology has made hands-free calling more widespread, but texting continues to be a deadly practice, especially among women and young people (aged 16-24).  Studies show that a texting driver spends an average of ten percent of his or her driving time outside the boundaries of their traffic lane.  Their reaction time is reduced to that of a seventy-year-old.  The average glance away from the road lasts almost five seconds – enough time to travel the length of a football field.

Suffice to say, distracted driving is becoming an epidemic.  Although there is no reliable data, many suggest that well over half of all traffic accidents are caused by some form of distracted driving.  It seems that nothing can prevent the injuries sustained by innocent motorists at the hands of the distracted drivers.  However, innocent motorists can take solace in the fact that an expert Maryland auto accident lawyer can protect your legal rights if you are unlucky enough to be a victim.  Maryland accident attorneys routinely win huge monetary settlements and jury verdicts against defendant drivers’ insurance companies.  If you have been injured in an auto accident caused by someone else’s distracted driving, make sure you are able to win the compensation you deserve so that you can focus on your recovery.

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What Happens to the Family Business After Divorce?

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Epapc

Maryland divorce attorneys are routinely asked by their clients to explain what will happen to the family business.  After all, the State of Maryland recognizes most family businesses as marital property, meaning that the value of the business accumulated during the course of the marriage.  The common misconception in divorce proceedings is that a business owned and operated by only one of the spouses is immune from asset division during the split.  Don’t be fooled.  When it comes to businesses, what you consider “yours” is almost always considered “both of yours.”

Consider the classic case of the entrepreneurial husband who owns and operates a contracting company.  He manages several employees, owns several vehicles, and maintains a vast array of construction tools and materials.  His wife is a stay-at-home mother whose primary duties in the relationship include cooking, cleaning, and raising the children.  The husband works 8-10 hours a day for his company and the wife has never operated a saw or driven a nail.

In Maryland, like in most jurisdictions, courts have distinguished the purely economic contributions of the husband and the purely domestic contributions of the wife.  However, these relatively opposite contributions are likely to be counted somewhat equally in the divorce process.  Here’s how it works.  The wife’s counsel will argue, backed by well-established case law, that the wife should be entitled to her fair share of the assets or value of the husband’s business.  In theory, the wife’s domestic contributions are what allowed the husband to become an entrepreneur and grow the contracting business to what it is at present.  Taking the logic a step further, if the wife had not been home raising the children and caring for the household duties, the husband may not have been able to build the company to its present value.

What this means for the divorcing parties is that they should consult a Maryland divorce lawyer, who can arrange for a business appraisal to be conducted.  The business appraiser will attempt to approximate the value of the business as measured by the value of all the assets owned by the company (in our example, the vehicles and tools) along with what is called the “goodwill” of the business.

Goodwill is a term for the concept that a business derives its value from things other than its tangible assets.  Some factors that determine the goodwill of a business include the reputation of the business’s name, the reputation of the owner or employees who work for the business, the business’s ability to generate repeat customers, and the location of the business in relation to where its patrons come from.  Like tangible assets, goodwill has a value.  The value is subjective and is likely to be hotly debated in divorce litigation, especially if one party believes the other is drastically undervaluing the business.

An experienced Maryland family law firm is likely to have handled dozens or hundreds of cases with similar complexities.  The family business is likely to be one of the most valuable marital assets to be divided in the divorce.  Make sure you get your fair share.

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