OUR BLOG
When Older People Get Married
When the couple married, they were senior citizens. They thought they had made adequate preparations. There was a prenuptial. It was specifically drawn. However, something happened that they did not plan for: the husband suffered from dementia after the marriage....
Transformative Experiences in Family Law
Father Greg Boyle has spent 30 years working in LA with gang members and young people transitioning out of prison. He is the founder and Executive Director of Homeboy Industries. Homeboy is a series of businesses including a restaurant, a bakery, cafés, and farmers...
Patterns Of Irrationality
One of the most rewarding aspects of having the privilege to practice family law is to observe human irrationality. When I listen to the predicaments that people find themselves in I am struck with the sentiment that truth is stranger than fiction. In his book, The...
Behavioral Economics & Family Law: The Problem of Dividing Personal Property
Human behavior is a funny thing. People don’t always act in predictable ways. You could confirm this by discussing the subject with just about any lawyer who has worked in the field of family law. Recently, Richard Thaler won the Nobel Prize in Economics. His work...
The Problem of Child Marriage
More than 167,000 young people age 17 and under married in 38 states between 2000 and 2010, according to a search of available marriage license data by a group called Unchained at Last, which aims to ban child marriage. The search turned up cases of 12-year-old girls...
Death And Prenuptial Agreements
Prenuptial agreements are utilized by parties who for various reasons do not wish to be bound by existing Florida law should there be a divorce or death of a party to the marriage. In a divorce context, these agreements are tools to establish the expectation of the...
Aspects of Same-Sex Marriage
In the case of Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the issue before the Supreme Court is whether a Christian baker has the right to refuse to create a wedding cake for two men. Since the Supreme Court of the United States has recognized same-sex...
The Art of Drafting
One of the aspects of the practice of family law that gets little attention is the drafting of legal documents. We know that most family law disputes are resolved by agreement. Some of the most important work that lawyers do comes in the form of drafting. It often...
When Family Law Intersects with Bankruptcy
From a family law perspective, it is important to realize that certain types of debt are not dischargeable in Bankruptcy. These include certain tax obligations, obligations incurred as a result of fraud or criminal activity, alimony, child support and certain...