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The Valuation Dilemma

The most contentious business issue in many divorce proceedings is the value of the business that must be divided as part of the divorce settlement. Valuation is an inexact science, and the divorcing couple can easily spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on expert and legal fees battling it out over the value of one or more private companies included in the marital estate. This challenging issue is not subject to any easy fix. But there are some options the couple may want to consider before engaging in an expensive and time-consuming valuation battle.

Marital settlement agreements are common documents used to mitigate problems with divorce litigation.  While a pre-nup is more common, couples can also agree to enter into a post-nup that details a property division and removes any conflict regarding the valuation of specific assets. Texas statutes set forth strict requirements to follow for marital agreements be enforceable.

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nipsey-hussele-300x223Nipsey Hussle sadly passed a few months ago from gun shot wounds.  He left behind a daughter whom is now resides with the family of Nipsey Hussle.  A Petition for guardianship has been filed in Court by Nipsey’s sister.  A Guardianship works similarly like a child custody action in family law court.  The Court uses the best interest standard to determine what is best for the child.  It is similar to a family court proceeding.

Tanisha Foster is the biological mother of Nipsey’s child.   Nipsey Hussle’s sister Samantha Smith filed a petition for guardianship over Nipsey’s daughter, was assigned to a different judge for an initial hearing Friday afternoon.

The judge cleared the courtroom and allowed the mother and daughter to spend 20 minutes together alone in the gallery. Foster wiped away tears as she left the emotional reunion.
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childrenPsychological evaluations of children are confidential.  A recent case has come down in California that enforces the idea of confidentialty and the importance of keeping information gotten from a investigation secret.  All of this comes from the importances of keeping our children safe from attorneys and the divorcing parties or child custody litigants who are so angry with each other that they will do anything to destroy each others reputation and credibility.
Sadly child custody investigations are really a result of the vicious lawsuits that are filed blaming the other parent of atrocities worse than warfare.  The lack of civility has created an area of family law that has become so often used and abused by litigants that we lose site of our children and their needs and concerns.  We forget they are lost in the craziness of the parents and their vicious accusations upon one anther without any merit usually.
“Confidential information contained in a report prepared pursuant to Section 3111 that is disclosed to the licensing entity of a child custody evaluator pursuant to subdivision (a) shall remain confidential and shall only be used for purposes of investigating allegations of unprofessional conduct by the child custody evaluator.”  This means that the legislature of the State of California takes the child custody investigation so serious that the actual evaluator is held up to a very high standard of confidence about their report. The protection of the children or child is so high that any release of any information will be dealt with as the utmost breach of trust by the Court of Law. This results again from the seriousness of the child custody litigants who are foaming at the mouth to deface the other parent at any cost.  They will do whatever it takes to take down the sanctity of parenthood and any good the other parent might offer the children.  It just doesnt matter anymore the gloves are off and the boxing match starts.
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adele-parenting-trick-t-300x180News of Adele’s impending divorce from her husband Simon Konecki was a surprise to many, and many more were surprised that the star and her husband had not signed a pre-nuptial agreement. Under California law, Konecki may be entitled to up to half of the singer’s earnings from the time they were married. If they choose to file in California, where they own significant property and Konecki has an office for his company, the pair might have to split everything evenly. Adele has already gifted Konecki a property worth over $600,000, which some see as an indication that the split may be amicable. Adele herself said in a Vanity Fair interview that money is “not that important a part of my life.”

The lack of a pre-nup may seem unusual in the cynical climate of Hollywood’s almost contractual atmosphere surrounding relationships and even marriage. There is a perception that pre-nups are a fact of life, and that all wealthy people have them. In fact, only around 5% of married couples have pre-nups, and only 15% of divorcees say they regret not having had one. There are obvious caveats – Steven Spielberg found out the hard way that pre-nuptial agreements need to be an actual legal document, a literal back-of-the-napkin mistake that cost him a $100 million settlement. Both sides need appropriate counsel and a thorough accounting of their assets, which can make the cost of a pre-nup financially impractical for some.

The other side of the debate over pre-nups is emotional, grounded in a perception that such a document, or even the desire to sign one, is inviting the relationship to fail, tempting fate, or making it easier to get out of. It can even be seen as an indication that there is no trust in the relationship. The reality is, a pre-nup is an important legal tool, one which can be used to protect family assets, ease transitions, and hold individuals accountable. In a climate where up to 50% of marriages end in divorce, a pre-nup can be invaluable.

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facebook-and-instagram-imageSocial media influences everything these days, from pop-culture to even divorce. To elucidate this point, simply try to find one person in your family, or among your friends, or peers at work that does not have a Facebook account. It is everywhere, unavoidable, and ineluctable. The courtroom is not immune to its presence either. When divorce is involved, the question of electronic evidence, and social media evidence, in particular, comes into play in various ways. Modern relationships fall hazard to the sometimes illicit goings-on of spouses that end up publicized for all the world to see.

Attorneys have to account for these modern times and the Facebook or Instagram posts.  Instagram has become the new forerunner of posts into the personal lives of parties.  People must become aware that once a divorce opens up on Court the social media accounts become public record.  That is to say that they provide an instant insight into happenings of the parties real personal lives and their true feelings about one another and what they are hiding from the divorce proceedings and the court.

The numbers don’t lie here. Social media is affecting relationships and being brought to bear on divorce litigation in serious and important ways. For a lawyer to effectively use (or defend against) social media evidence in a divorce case, he or she needs to understand both the ramifications of admitting such evidence and the legal precedent therein.

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beckThe Singer Beck and his wife of 14 years have decided to call it quits and get divorced after a 14 year marriage.  The pop star decided it was over after Valentines day this year and gave her the news. Beck is a practicing Scientologist so it adds a twist as to how the two children will be raised post split up.  In child custody cases religion can be a major source of conflict on raising the children. This might create a high conflict child custody dispute. The two children are eleven years old and 14 years old.  Becks wife is Marissi Ribissi who is the brother of Giovanni Ribissi.

In addition, Beck is actively involved in movie projects which could effect the division of divorce property for the two exes. Movie project residuals will cause a dispute among Hollywood A listers when they get divorced. Earlier this week, Beck released a song called “Super Cool” for the soundtrack of “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.”

Beck has won seven Grammy’s in his career, including Album of the Year in 2015 for “Morning Phase.” He won two at this year’s awards: Best Alternative Music Album and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.

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Many people feel that if they are going to get divorced they need to find a least adversarial way in order to resolve all the issues of the divorces such as Spousal support, Child support, and property division.  And thus recently there has been a push by many divorcees to go the that way.  However, issues have arisen that might be an impediment to an easy mediation, divorce free conflict amongst litigants going through a divorce.  Everyone believes and rightfully so that everything during the mediation process remains confidential and thus all agreements are set in stone. However, such is not the case.

A recent article from The National Law Review cited a recent case where the confidentiality provision of the medation agreement did not get signed.  Therefore the alleged agreement between the parties was not proven to be an agreement in the Court of Law.  As a result all the hard work and time and and effort put into paying a mediator and getting a divorce agreement done out of court was for nought.  This kind of situation can occur more likely than not if your mediator or the parties are not experienced at doing the mediation process.  In the case cited above the alleged agreement between the parties could not be show in the court of law because the parties never signed a waiver of confidentiality clause. Therefore the agreement could not hold weight nor was admissible in the Court of law.

In order for the mediation agreement to be a part of the Divorce proceedings the parties would have needed to sign a waiver of confidentiality which would then let the mediation document become admissible in a court of law.  Normally all mediations are confidential and therefore cannot be brought into the legal setting without a waiver of confidentiality signed by both parties.

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In June, Kentucky will become the first state to require a presumption of equally shared parenting in child-custody cases even when one or more parents is opposed. While it’s common for states to prefer joint custody when both parents are amenable, Kentucky’s presumption will apply even without divorcing parents on board. This is a major breakthrough in developing a parenting plan that is often difficult and expensive to come by in family law Courts in California and across the United  States.

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin signed the measure in April, declaring that judges must presume “that joint custody and equally shared parenting time is in the best interest of the child” in almost all divorce cases. Last year, Kentucky required the same presumption for temporary child-custody cases while divorce is pending. Again, for a state to implement such a broad and powerful message to family law courts across America and Kentucky is quite outstanding.  Custody is often so tumultuous to fight in court that to add a presumption of 50/50 without any fighting in court is really setting a different type of  family law custody standard now.

Exceptions exist for situations “involving an incident of domestic violence within the preceding three years” or where “there has been a domestic violence order entered” or being entered. Obviously when there is violence the joint  custody presumption must be sidelined in order to keep the child safe from any potential violence or abuse.

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Dennis Quaid is divorced again and this time he has to divide much more than he did with his prior famous wife Meghan Ryan .  This new wife is no famous nor did she have the income that his prior famous wife had.  Apparently there is as lot of property and children to divide and since he is the bread winner he will have to fork up way more money to her than she to him.  When you are a movie star you make movies and wives or husbands that are married or famous celebrity movie stars can make a very good investment for their future.

A movie is like putting money way in the bank for the celebrities and their exes.  Because movies have something called residuals.  Residuals pay out into the future and are determined by how well the movie does in future years.  So if a party was married for a number of years to their movie star spouse and then divorce they can claim residuals for the movies that were made during the life of the marriage.  Its pretty cool I would say.  So Kimberly Quaid will be receiving a portion of Dennis Quaid’s residuals for her entire life as long as the movie that was made during her marriage makes money down the road.

As many of you remember Dennis Quaid had a pair of twins boys who are 10 years old.  The boys were the subject of lawsuit against Cedar Sinai Hospital when they were born because the hospital accidentally gave them Heparin and they almost died.  Apparently the couple will share joint custody of the boys.  There are two types of custody the family court recognizes.   Legal custody is where both parents will decide the best schools and medical care for the child.  physical custody is how the time share will be distributed. Dennis Quaid is said to have gotten 25% of the timeshare and Kimberly Quaid got 75%.

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Married at First Sight” star Nate Duhon last week filed to divorce Sheila Downs, whom he met and married last year at the Palmer House Hilton as cameras rolled for the Lifetime network series. What is not stated about divorces is that getting married can be very easy and without any complications.  However,  getting divorced can be very complicated and very difficult.  The fun out of the married and whats next a divorce.  This is what is sounds like occurred to the couple on the  Chicago season of Married at First Sight.  Im not sure how well the contestants knew each other  before  they got married.  But from the looks of it they probably did not know each other very well

Duhon, 26, cited irreconcilable differences in his Nov. 14 filing in Cook County court. Downs lives in Arlington Heights, while Duhon has moved back to his home state of Michigan, court records show. Downs and Duhon, who both did not respond to a Tribune request for comment, are the second “Married at First Sight” couple from Season 5 to split.

 Apparently Duhon was not the first contestant to seek a divorce on this show as Genoa native Cody Knapek filed for divorce from Chicago dietitian Danielle DeGroot on Sept. 26. That case is expected to be heard in court Wednesday.
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