After the holiday season is over, both attorneys and the courts see an uptick in divorce filings, especially in the first half of January creating the nickname ‘divorce month.’
According to an article published in the New York Times in 2019, there is a significant jump from December to January in Google searches of the topic of divorce as well as attorneys doing more filings and taking on new clients.
Two factors may play a role in this yearly trend. One factor includes not wanting to ruin the holidays for children and other family members.
Divorce also rises after the holidays because of the idea of starting the year fresh.
“The holidays are over, and I’m not going into this year as miserable as I was last year.” Vicky Townsend, co-founder and chief executive of the National Association of Divorce Professionals, said in the New York Times article.
Although filings may see a jump from December to January, it doesn’t mean that marriages on the rocks are doomed during this time. Divorce filings are often cyclical and caused by many factors, especially this year with the pandemic at play.
“Too much time with family can often trigger someone waking up and realizing, ‘This is not what I want for the rest of my life,’” according to Susan Myres, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and a divorce lawyer in Houston. “You’ll see an uptick in filings after Valentine’s Day and around August,” when children have had summer off and before school starts.
January may not spell the end of one’s marriage, however if you are thinking about separating, it may be time to give an attorney a call about your potential options.
Attorney Neil Magner has over 15 years of experience serving southeastern Wisconsin in various forms of family law, including divorce and legal separation, post-judgment modifications, child custody and support matters, equitable property division and paternity cases. Call 414-281-4529 to schedule an appointment.
Primary Caretaker Designation and Custody
Wisconsin parents who are considering a divorce should be aware of how a preference for the primary caretaker can affect custody arrangements. While joint physical custody is often seen as the ideal scenario, the preference is usually given to the child’s primary caretaker. The primary caretaker standard emphasizes the importance of the relationship between a child and the parent he or she spends the most time with.
Family courts determine which parent is the primary caretaker by using several factors, including who is responsible for bathing, dressing, meal preparation, making health care arrangements and other aspects of general care. The courts also consider which parent is responsible for helping the child with school work, attending school functions and planning leisure activities. Each of these factors contributes significantly to the parent-child bond the courts are interested in preserving for the well-being of the child.
When both parents have had an equal share in parenting responsibility, the courts use the “child’s best interest” standard to determine custody. This standard considers factors such as the child’s wishes and the physical and mental health of each parent. The courts also consider the stability of the home environment, interaction with extended family and how the custody arrangement would affect the child’s ability to adjust to social changes after the divorce.
A divorcing parent may benefit from contacting a family law attorney for advice on custody and visitation. An attorney may also be able to provide assistance with enforcing an existing custody order if the other parent is in violation of it. In many cases, legal assistance will be advisable if negotiations between parents has broken down.
Is January really ‘divorce month’?
After the holiday season is over, both attorneys and the courts see an uptick in divorce filings, especially in the first half of January creating the nickname ‘divorce month.’
According to an article published in the New York Times in 2019, there is a significant jump from December to January in Google searches of the topic of divorce as well as attorneys doing more filings and taking on new clients.
Two factors may play a role in this yearly trend. One factor includes not wanting to ruin the holidays for children and other family members.
Divorce also rises after the holidays because of the idea of starting the year fresh.
“The holidays are over, and I’m not going into this year as miserable as I was last year.” Vicky Townsend, co-founder and chief executive of the National Association of Divorce Professionals, said in the New York Times article.
Although filings may see a jump from December to January, it doesn’t mean that marriages on the rocks are doomed during this time. Divorce filings are often cyclical and caused by many factors, especially this year with the pandemic at play.
“Too much time with family can often trigger someone waking up and realizing, ‘This is not what I want for the rest of my life,’” according to Susan Myres, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and a divorce lawyer in Houston. “You’ll see an uptick in filings after Valentine’s Day and around August,” when children have had summer off and before school starts.
January may not spell the end of one’s marriage, however if you are thinking about separating, it may be time to give an attorney a call about your potential options.
Attorney Neil Magner has over 15 years of experience serving southeastern Wisconsin in various forms of family law, including divorce and legal separation, post-judgment modifications, child custody and support matters, equitable property division and paternity cases. Call 414-281-4529 to schedule an appointment.
Approaches to Dividing a House During Divorce
Many Wisconsin couples who are getting a divorce own a home together. In some cases, a couple might agree to live together despite the divorce and pay off the mortgage. However, this is not a workable solution for many people, and if that is the case, the couple needs to find a way of splitting the asset.
If one person is going to take the house and remove the name of the other person from the mortgage, it is necessary to refinance the mortgage. This means that the person who gets the house must qualify on the basis of just one income. An additional down payment might be necessary, or the person may need for someone to cosign the loan.
The couple might choose to sell the house and take equity. Equity is the amount the house is worth minus what is owed on the mortgage, but it might not always be split equally. For example, prenuptial agreements, premarital assets and improvements made could all affect equity and how it is split.
People who are considering a divorce might want to speak to an attorney first about their financial situation. Wisconsin is a community property state, but there may still be flexibility in how property division is approached that is not exactly 50/50. A person might be able to discuss their own goals and concerns with an attorney who may then make suggestions about how realistic those goals are and what strategies might be best. An attorney may also help keep a person focused on financial security rather than trying to punish or appease a former spouse.
Facebook Postings Could be Evidence in Divorce
Divorce is often a very contentious and stressful experience. Parties can look for any advantage they can get and a Facebook faux pas can have major consequences.
Depending on your privacy settings, not everyone who can read your Facebook is your “friend.” As more and more people use social media, we are seeing a growing trend in Wisconsin and across the country with more electronic postings from the internet coming into courts of law as evidence in civil cases like divorce and in criminal matters.
On September 10, the New York State Bar Association issued an ethics opinion that permitted using Facebook evidence so long as no trickery or fraud was used in obtaining it. Last year, a Wisconsin court of appeals upheld using a defendant’s Myspace page as evidence against him.
The sort of evidence that you can get from social media web sites is the sort of evidence that you used to need a private investigator to get. Now people are more than willing to share their secrets to complete strangers over the internet. Examples of self-damaging Facebook posts are plentiful. They range from a fugitive commenting on the great weather where she was hiding, to a parent claiming to be too poor to pay child support and then showing off a newly bought luxury car in Facebook photos.
People tend to write things on Facebook they would never say aloud and post pictures they would not want everyone to see. Facebook is a great outlet for expression, but some people should take more care with what they post on Facebook. Facebook postings have come back to haunt some people in court.
Sources:
St. Petersburg Times (TampaBay.com): Facebook flubs make for salacious legal cases; Stephanie Hayes, 10/15/2010.
State v. Trusty, 776 N.W.2d 287 (Wis. App. 2009)
Wisconsin man Suspected of Killing pet Cats During Divorce
Divorce is a very stressful experience and people going through a divorce can often do things that come back to haunt them. A Wisconsin man is now facing charges of felony mistreatment of animals after allegedly shooting the pet cats he shared with his ex-wife while their divorce was pending.
His ex-wife had filed for divorce in January 2009, but the couple continued to live together for about five more months. In June 2009 she moved away from the family residence when the home environment became hostile. According to the criminal complaint, when she returned to the marital home and asked about the pet cats, her ex-husband told her he shot the cats and buried them in a compost pile.
The couple’s divorce became final in December 2009. The ex-wife did not report the killings until March 2010. Even thought over a year has elapsed since the alleged cat shootings; the ex-husband is now facing charges that carry a maximum of three years, six months in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Divorce is a very trying time for all parties involved and emotions can get the best of any of us. In this case, the ex-husband had expressed doubt about paying the bills, and did not think he had money to pay for feeding the cats. He also stated he had problems sleeping because of the noise the cats were making. He was experiencing true problems in this divorce, but he reacted to the problems in a way that has caused serious legal consequences.
When a divorce is pending, everything that the couple does is eventually going to be viewed under the magnifying glass of the law. Couples should avoid impulsive and hasty actions like destroying something the other spouse wants in the divorce. When the parties have legitimate concerns while a divorce is pending, they are usually better served by bringing the issues to the attention of their attorneys and the family law court, not by taking matters into their own hands.
Source: The Janesville Gazette: Janesville man suspected of killing pet cats; Ted Sullivan, 10/26/2010
Can Facebook and Social Media Lead to Divorce?
The power social media has to connect people is undeniable. Social media makes it quick and easy to reconnect with an old friend or classmate. However, social media is playing an increasing role in causing marital discord and even leading to divorce. Recently, National Public Radio had an interesting piece on the power of social media to drive couples apart.
Social media is driving married couples apart in two key ways. Social media increases the opportunity for infidelity, and it serves to reduce a person’s inhibitions when it comes to approaching another person.
Opportunity:
Opportunity is a major predictor of infidelity. The more opportunity a person has to cheat, the more likely he or she is to cheat. Social media sites like Facebook and Myspace increase opportunity tremendously. While finding someone used to take digging through a phone book, and often an out of town directory, it now takes only minutes, if not seconds, to do a quick search to find an old lover or a new crush.
Reduced Inhibitions:
In the past, if you found a person interesting and wanted to say hello, you would have to either approach the person in person, or make a phone call. Tara Fritsch, a marriage therapist, was interviewed for the NPR story. She explained how social media reduces inhibitions quite well. She said, “Twenty years ago, if you really thought a co-worker was interesting, and later on that evening you thought of them and wanted to say, ‘Hey, how you doing?’ Then you would have to ask yourself, ‘Is it really appropriate to call them at home? What if their spouse answers? What am I thinking about?'”
Social media erodes those mental barriers. Sending a Facebook message, a text or an e-mail can feel quite innocent. But, as we are finding out, things can escalate quite quickly. People who do not intend to have an affair at first can quickly find themselves in one. Research has shown that people communicating in an online environment can often fall for each other within a week. According to Bob Rosenwein of Lehigh University, “When you don’t have nonverbal communication, the likelihood of being able to disclose at a deeper level is greater, because there’s less inhibition. So it’s going to feel like a more intimate relationship.”
Preventing Social Media From Leading to Divorce or Separation:
The NPR story included some great tips from therapists for keeping marriages free from Facebook interference including:
Source: National Public Radio: Can Social Media Break Up A Marriage?; Jennifer Ludden, 11/2/2010
Real Estate Slump Presents Divorce Complications
When a married couple divorces, the property they own must be divided between the two spouses. Who gets the marital home has traditionally been one of the most contested property division issues in a divorce. Traditionally, the value of a home increases over time and therefore the home would have a large amount of equity that had been built up over the course of the marriage.
However, the economic downturn has had a profound impact on family law. Once robust retirement accounts are worth a fraction of their past value and many spouses have been laid off. Each change in the economy changes how couples need to structure divorce settlements, but the collapse of the real estate market has been an especially difficult issue.
The real-estate bubble has burst and this has changed the way many divorcing couples view their marital homes. With real estate inventory piling up on the market, there is no guarantee that a home would sell in a timely fashion or at a profit. Many homes are worth less than the amount owed on the mortgage and there is no guarantee that a short sale will be successful.
With many homes now seen as a liability instead of an asset, property division is becoming a more complex issue. Divorces that would have been uncontested divorces in the past are now turning into contested divorces. If you are considering or going through a divorce in these difficult economic times, it is important to consult with experienced family law attorney who takes a detailed approach regarding marital property division.
Source: The Star-Ledger, “Today’s real estate market calls for dire divorce decisions,” Sarah Portlock, 12/5/2010
Is Reading Your Spouse’s E-Mail a Felony?
In the past, we have written about the impact that social media and E-mail are having in family law cases. It is now very common for divorce cases to involve some evidence obtained from e-mail, Facebook or other internet services. E-mail evidence was recently used in a Michigan divorce, but now the man who obtained that E-mail evidence is facing criminal charges for doing so.
Leon Walker suspected his wife was carrying on an affair. His wife was then on her third marriage and he suspected she was involved with her second husband. Knowing that her second husband had been arrested for domestic violence in the past, and suspecting his wife was taking their 3-year-old daughter along on liaisons with her second husband, Mr. Walker logged into his wife’s Gmail account using the laptop they shared.
His wife found out he accessed her e-mail account when messages between her and her second husband appeared as evidence of infidelity in their divorce, which was finalized earlier this month. His wife and prosecutors believe that Mr. Walker, a computer technician, illegally hacked into her e-mail account. Leon Walker contends he accessed her e-mail account with her permission before, and that she kept the password in a notebook next to the computer they shared.
Prosecutors are now charging Leon Walker for obtaining the e-mail evidence of infidelity for use in his divorce case. They are charging him with a felony for violating a computer misuse statute that is generally reserved for charging identity thieves and people who hack into business computer systems. It is very rare for this sort of statute to be used to charge an individual for reading his or her spouse’s e-mail.
Sources:
ABC News, “Husband in Hot Water: Man Faces Five Years in Prison for Snooping Through Wife’s E-Mails,” Chris Bury and Bret Hovell, 12/28/2010
Chicago Tribune, “Man to fight charges he hacked into wife’s e-mails,” 12/30/2010
Nebraska Bill Would Let Divorce Judge Require Marriage Counseling
According to statistics from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services Division of Public Health, the divorce rate in Wisconsin in 2009 was 2.9 percent. That was lower than the national rate of 3.4 percent, but means that 16,705 marriages ended in the state that year. While most agree that some marriages are too strained or abusive to save, some people connect the rise in divorce in the U.S. with social problems. Some politicians seek to make it more difficult for people to get divorced, on the theory that the public benefits from more couples staying together.
A legislator in Nebraska is one such politician. According to an article in the Omaha World-Herald, State Senator Tony Fulton is sponsoring a bill that would give judges the power to require divorcing couples with children to go to marriage counseling before granting them a divorce. The bill would also authorize judges to take any other actions the judge believes to be in the best interests of the couple and their children. The article does not go into detail about what those “other actions” might include.
Sen. Fulton said that he believes that discouraging divorce benefits society and the individuals in the marriage. High rates of divorce and broken families in Omaha have led to increased violence in that city, he said.
The bill would also give judges the power to limit the divorce proceedings to six months, and require counseling for childless couples if one of the spouses says he or she still wants to salvage the marriage.
The World-Herald article quotes a family law attorney in Lincoln who disagreed with the bill. Couples in troubled marriages already make an effort to save their marriages, she said, and people should be as free to end their marriages as they are to start them.
Source: Omaha World-Herald, “Divorce counseling bill introduced,” John Schreier, January 13, 2011
Is there an Oscar winner curse that causes divorce?
The 83rd Academy Awards are just a few short weeks away and many Oscar hopefuls are waiting with great anticipation to learn if they will forever be known as an “Academy Award winner” or simply as a “nominee.” However, some believe winning an Oscar may bring bad news for the winner.
There has been a fair amount of anecdotal evidence of an Oscar winner curse, especially for winners of the Best Actress award. Aside from winning the Academy Award for Best Actress, what do Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Halle Berry, Hilary Swank, Sandra Bullock and Kate Winslet have in common? Their marriages all ended in divorce shortly after the won the award.
A recent study by the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and Carnegie Mellon University studied this phenomenon and statistically confirmed the anecdotal evidence. They found that Best Actress winners had a 63 percent chance of their marriages ending sooner than Best Actress nominees who did not win.
The study looked at the 751 nominees in the Best Actress and Best Actor categories between 1936 and 2010. They found the median marriage of a Best Actress winner lasted only 4.30 years after winning the Oscar. This figure was significantly lower than the 9.51-year marriage duration for nominees who did not win. In contrast, there was no significant difference for Best Actor winners at 11.97 years and Best Actor nominees at 12.66 years.
While the likelihood of there being an Oscar winner curse is very low, the researchers did reach an interesting conclusion. They believe the divorce rate for Best Actress winners is caused by sudden success taking a toll on the longevity of marriage.
Source: Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, “The Oscar Curse? Study Says that Oscar Win for Best Actress Increases the Risk of Divorce,” 1/28/2011