I found a new blog recently that I hope to follow and see what happens. It’s written by a father of a 22-yr old daughter who he has not known since she was a week old. She recently reached out to him and he now documents his journey and feelings of being an absentee father.
Last week, voters in Maine struck down a law voted on by their legislature and signed into law by their governor, granting same-sex couples equal rights under the law. This is very disappointing and as I’ve said before, perhaps the rights of the minority should not be placed in the hands of the majority. If this was the case, we would still have segregation of schools, no voting rights for blacks and women and we’d still prohibit interracial marriages.
I came across a paper by Jeffrey Lax and Justin Phillips, “Gay Rights in the States: Public Opinion and Policy Responsiveness,” published recently in the American Political Science Review. Here is a chart from that paper illustrating the support for same-sex marriage by varying age groups (click to enlarge):
What this tells us is that in 15-20 years, when the more tolerant 18-29 yr olds become the average age group, same-sex couples will have equality. This gives me hope but it sure is a long time to wait.
Over 90% of divorces ends up with both parties agreeing to sign a Separation Agreement and agreeing to jointly file for divorce. That means that over 90% of divorces ends up being uncontested divorces. Yet, 90% of divorces do not start off as uncontested divorces. There are many reason for this but a major reason, I suspect, has to do with the attorneys involved.
I’ve noticed that the first thing most divorce attorneys do when a new client gets retained is start to prepare a Complaint for Divorce. A Complaint for Divorce starts the process of a contested divorce (as oppose to a Joint Petition for Divorce that starts the process of an uncontested divorce). There could be many reasons why a divorce attorney might choose to initiate a contested divorce. It might be because after their consultation with the client, they realize that the other party to the marriage would never agree to come in and sign a Joint Petition and divorce together. Maybe because they want the element of surprise by filing for divorce first. Or it could be because divorce attorneys make more money litigating contested divorces because most charge by the hour (I do not).
When practicing divorce law, it’s best to remember:
Keeping these things in mind, the right way to file for divorce is first trying to get the parties to come to an agreement and see if there’s a way to file a Joint Petition for Divorce. Even if it doesn’t seem possible at first or the client doesn’t want to – it is the job of the attorney to find a way and to counsel the client in what’s best. In my practice, over 90% of my divorce filings are Joint Petitions for Divorce (uncontested). They don’t all come to me uncontested, but taking a bit of time and effort, it’s surprising how couples can come together and agree to disagree.
