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Arizona Mothers: Know Your Rights

In disputes about child custody, parenting time, visitation rights, and legal decision making, mothers often wonder about their specific rights. Under Arizona law, it’s important to understand that parents are seen as legal equals, and judges cannot make determinations based on sex or gender of either the parents or the child. Still, that doesn’t mean that mothers are powerless in such disputes. Ultimately, Arizona law favors the best interests of the child, and mothers are well within their rights to present evidence and testimony to show their past history and future ability to provide care and stability for the child.

Arizona Fathers: Know Your Rights

Throughout the State of Arizona and across the country, many men feel left out of their children’s lives. Whether they’re unmarried, divorced, or separated, fathers can commonly be pushed away from their kids because they don’t know their parental rights. This hurts both fathers and their children, not only in the quality of their relationship to one another, but also if parents disagree about important decisions such as healthcare and education. Even fathers with amicable relationships with their child’s mother should have a working understanding of how the law protects their rights, the options available if they need to take

Steps To Take When Starting the Divorce Process

Getting a divorce is an emotional process, but you still have to be smart about the decisions you make along the way. At the Law Office of Steven Cole, we walk our clients through the steps they need to take in order to start separating their lives and setting boundaries with their ex-partner. These boundaries will give the judge a more clear picture of each individual’s finances and contributions when going through the court process. Minor Children One of the most emotional parts of any separation is preparing for the new parenting arrangement. You need to get informed about your

Arizona Child Support: What You Need to Know

Arizona law requires custodial and non-custodial parents to provide “reasonable support” for their minor children. This obligation is not something you can avoid. The Arizona Supreme Court has adopted a set of guidelines to calculate the amount of monthly support owed by each parent. However, the detailed explanation that is listed on the court’s website is confusing. To help you understand these issues, we have outlined some of the important points embedded in the Guidelines. We always recommend you seek legal counsel when arranging child support payments because it is not a straightforward process. What Are the Child Support Guidelines?

Important Documents You Need in a Divorce

When you decide to initiate a divorce it seems like such a big weight on your shoulders and you don’t know where to start. We always tell our client’s considering a divorce to start with getting together important documents and let us put the pieces of those documents together for you. At the Law Office of Steven N Cole, we are experienced in the divorce process and in this article we are going to walk you through documents you need to collect when initiating a divorce. 1. Agreements When you got married and throughout your time together you most likely

Common Divorce Mistakes

Common Divorce Mistakes Going through a divorce is one of the most stressful things a person goes through in their life. It is both emotionally draining and creates financial uncertainty. How you play your cards in a divorce can drastically determine the judge’s decisions. The mistakes below are common mistakes our clients have made before hiring us. You don’t want to make mistakes in your divorce. That is why you need an experienced team to advise you through the process. Mistake #1 – Using the Divorce for Revenge The reason for your divorce may be a painful one. This may

CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT IN PHOENIX

Need help enforcing your court orders? For many parents, child support is necessary to care for their children after a divorce. When your ex-spouse fails to provide such support, you may be unable to adequately provide for your children. Our Phoenix child support attorney can advocate on your behalf to ensure that you receive the support you need after a divorce. When you work with Steven N. Cole, LLC, you can rest assured that your case is in the hands of a compassionate and understanding attorney. Our family lawyer is firmly committed to every client’s well-being, placing a special emphasis on individual client

TYPES OF CUSTODY IN ARIZONA

Work with Our Phoenix Child Custody Attorney Child custody legally determines how each parent will care for their child after their marriage has ended. Because these terms influence each parent’s right to make key decisions and spend time with their children, it is a primary concern in most divorces and modifications. Steven N. Cole, LLC can help you seek a ruling that is optimized to meet your needs and the needs of your child. At our firm, we pride ourselves on providing the representation families need to maneuver a wide range of circumstances. Our counsel is backed by more than 20 years

THE BENEFITS OF HIRING A DIVORCE COUNSELOR

With the divorce rate hovering around the 50 percent mark in the United States, more couples are turning towards counseling to help cope with divorce. Divorce counseling also called divorce therapy, is a fairly new concept in the mental health field, and is a therapeutic process for those who are either contemplating divorce, going through a divorce or still suffering feelings of pain or humiliation from a divorce. A divorce counselor can assist in helping an individual grow personally and adjust to life during and after divorce. When you begin to think your marriage is heading in the wrong direction and you

MONEY WOES WEAKEN MARRIAGES

Research has shown that low-income couples are less likely to marry and more likely to divorce than couples with more money. According to researchers at the University of California, money problems, drinking and drug use is the cause of this trend. However, researchers say that lower-income people value the institution of marriage as much as those with greater incomes. A study which was published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, suggests that efforts to strengthen marriages of lower-income people need to focus on the problems faced by these people instead of just promoting the value of marriage. In the study, co-authors Thomas

FEARS OF DIVORCE MAY BE KEEPING YOUNG COUPLES FROM MARRIAGE

In the United States today, the percentage of married adults has reached an all time low. Researchers form the University of Central Oklahoma and Cornell University conducted a study, which was published in the December 2011 issue of Family Relations, into the diminishing rate of marriage by interviewing 122 people in cohabitating relationships. By interviewing these people, the researchers found that 67 percent of these cohabitating couples had fears about the emotional, financial, social and legal consequences of divorce, and the worries of having to deal with the fallout of divorce , made them leery of marriage. The researchers found that middle-class couples had

MAKING YOUR DIVORCE EASIER

Going through the divorce process is an emotional, stressful time in a person’s life, which is even made even more difficult when the divorce is a “bad” one. According to one counselor and mental health consultant, Diana Dodson, divorcing couples need to learn how to have a more amenable divorce, especially when there are children involved.Dr. Dodson states that it is difficult for divorcing couples to not have feelings of anger, getting even with the ex-spouse, blaming the spouse for the marriage problems, not accepting responsibility for the marriage break-up, denying problems exist, putting children in the middle, feeling like a failure or

HOW PARENTAL ALIENATION CAN AFFECT YOUR DIVORCE

For many families, the difficulties associated with divorce iron themselves out as everyone becomes accustomed to their new way of life. For others, ending their marriage is the beginning of their problems. Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) is a harmful condition that can occur after divorce when one parent tries to alienate their child from the other. This is damaging to all members of a family, and should be avoided whenever possible. Parental Alienation Syndrome is caused by repeated attacks on another parent’s character. This can occur intentionally, as one party frequently casts the other in a negative light or prevents

MAINTAINING YOUR PRIVACY IN A HIGH ASSET DIVORCE

When working through a divorce, no one wants the details of their private lives revealed and in cases of high net worth, maintaining privacy can be especially challenging. Couples are often active members within their community and private details which surface during a divorce have the potential to irrevocably damage personal and business relationships. At the Law Office of Steven N. Cole, LLC, we understand the importance of maintaining confidentially and there are several steps which spouses can take in order to preserve as much of their privacy as possible. When concerns regarding confidentially are at the forefront of a

Children & Divorce – HELPING CHILDREN COPE WITH DIVORCE DURING THE HOLIDAYS

While the holidays are a joyful and festive time for many, this time can be difficult for children who are dealing with the divorce of their parents. If you are currently in the process of divorce or have recently separated from your spouse, there are several things you can do to help your children cope with this change during the holiday season. 1. Plan Ahead for Holiday Gatherings When children have to divide their time between two households, the holiday season can become a bittersweet time. If you are making plans for any holiday get-togethers this year, make an effort to coordinate

SUPREME COURT RULING ON SAME-SEX MARRIAGE RIGHTS COULD BE LOSING FAVOR

When the United States Supreme Court announced that same-sex marriages would be legalized nationwide, an estimated 50 to 60% of Americans were in favor of the decision while only 40% were opposed. Despite the apparent majority supporting the ruling, it did not stop the opposition from voicing their concerns about potential violations to states’ and religious rights. It appears that what they have said has not fallen on deaf ears, as there may be a dramatic decrease in supporters, according to a recent survey conducted online by the Associated Press (seen here). The poll, which included 1,004 adult participants and lasted from July

PREGNANT MAN FILES FOR DIVORCE

Arizona does not allow same-sex marriage. What happens when a man who was born as a woman, but had a sex change, though he still has female reproductive organs, marries, moves to Arizona, and then decides he wants to divorce his wife? What happens is a judge questions whether the man’s marriage was legally valid in the first place.Thomas Beatie is the man in question. He is a transgender man who is now divorcing his wife Nancy.Beatie was born as a woman in Hawaii, had a sex change in 1998, but retained his female sex organs. He and his wife