Jacksonville Divorce Lawyer Blog

Time Magazine has taken a look at some celebrities, historical figures and just plain folks who became known for multiple marriages and, therefore, multiple divorces. Here is the Time list of the Top 10:

Elizabeth Taylor – The death of Taylor’s fourth husband, Eddie Fisher, happened in September, which caused many publications to review her long record of marriages and divorces. Taylor had eight marriages, eight divorces and seven husbands – she wed and divorced Richard Burton twice.

Mickey Rooney – Rooney also hit the eight-marriage mark, but has been married to his last wife for the past 32 years, so just seven divorces for the octogenarian actor.

Larry King – Something must be magical about the number eight, because that’s how many times King has been married as well. Earlier this year, he filed for divorce number eight, but that was eventually called off.

Zsa Zsa Gabor – Her famous quote – “I’m a great housekeeper. Every time I get a divorce, I keep the house” – is also a wry commentary on her nine marriages, seven of which ended in divorce and one was annulled.

Robert Evans – The famously quirky movie producer married seven times. One marriage was annulled after only nine days; the other six marriages ended in divorce.

Lana Turner – This mid-20th century screen siren married and divorced seven times. Her longest marriage lasted just four years.

Rex Harrison – The English actor who played the part of Henry VIII emulated the British monarch in another way – each had six wives.

Henry VIII – If divorce had been condoned in the 16th century, two of Henry VIII’s six wives might have kept their heads.

The Wife of Bath – Married five times, she was the authority on marriage in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

Linda Wolfe – Current holder of the Guinness Book of World Records for being the most-married living person, this 65-year-old Indiana woman has been married 23 times. Her longest marriage was seven years; her shortest was 36 hours.

A new study from the University of Michigan has found that spouses who withdraw from conflict create a damaging effect on the longevity of a marriage, thereby increasing the risk for divorce.

The Early Years of Marriage Project is an ongoing study of 373 married couples interviewed four times a year from 1986 until 2002, beginning during the first year of marriage. At the end of the study, 46 percent of the couples had divorced.

Researchers found that whether or not couples reported conflict during the first year of marriage had no affect on if they remained married by year 16. However, they did find that those couples that used constructive strategies to deal with conflict had lower divorce rates.

The study found that the risk of divorce is higher when one spouse fights fairly and the other spouse withdraws. Researchers said that this is because the spouse who deals with conflicts in a constructive way – listening to the other spouse’s point of view and calmly discussing the problem – may see a partner’s withdrawal as a lack of investment in the relationship.

Overall, the husbands who were part of the study reported using more constructive behaviors and fewer destructive behaviors than wives during the first years of marriage. However, over time, wives became less likely to engage in destructive behaviors – yelling and withdrawing – while the husbands’ behaviors stayed the same.

A story at CNN Living reveals that this generation of marrieds may bring back the days of low divorce rates and marrying for life, having learned from their divorced parents that staying married takes dedication, patience and, yes, just plain work.

This unromanticized view of marriage may be what the most divorced generation has wrought, say relationship experts. They report that many children of divorce tend to approach relationships cautiously and do their homework on what makes a successful relationship before taking that trip down the aisle.

According to divorce statistics, the risk of divorce is 50 percent higher if one spouse has divorced parents and 200 percent higher if both spouses come from divorced parents. And children of divorce are also 50 percent more likely to marry another child of divorce.

However, marriage researchers say that children of divorce usually fall into two distinct camps when it comes to their own relationships: they either avoid them altogether, or become determined to make their own marriages endure.

An anthropologist who works for Match.com, a popular online dating service, says that children of divorce are more likely to avoid toxic relationships and are more resilient. She said they also take more time to decide whether or not marriage will work for them, marrying later in life than average. And studies show that those who marry later in life are at less risk for divorce.

A Florida state law that banned gay men and lesbians from adoption has been struck down by the Florida 3rd District Court of Appeals in a unanimous decision that upheld a trial court ruling that the ban was unconstitutional because it violates equal protection under the law.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist said the state would cease enforcement of the ban immediately.

The case that brought the new ruling involved a gay foster parent, Martin Gill, who wished to adopt two boys who were placed in his care by the Department of Children and Families after they were removed from their home because of neglect. At the time, Florida law allowed gay men and lesbians to serve as foster parents and guardians.

A private nonprofit adoption services agency under contract with the state reported to the DCF that Gill’s home was a suitable environment for the boys and that he met all the requirements for adoption, but recommended against it because of the existing Florida law banning gay adoption.

Gill sued and was represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. The trial court ruled that the ban was unconstitutional, and the DCF appealed the ruling to the district court.
In the appeals court ruling, Judge Cindy S. Lederman wrote, "It is difficult to see any rational basis in utilizing homosexual persons as foster parents or guardians on a temporary or permanent basis, while imposing a blanket prohibition on adoption by those same persons."

If you are married to a dancer or choreographer, you may want to have the number of a good divorce lawyer handy. A new study that looks at divorce rates of certain occupations found that dancers have the highest divorce rate at 43.1 percent. If your main objective is to never get a divorce, consider marrying an engineer.

The study, conducted by Michael Aamodt, a professor at Radford University and consultant for DCI Consulting Group in Washington, D.C., was published in the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology. Aamodt started out to research the personalities of law enforcement officers, but found statistics on domestic lives by occupation hard to come by until he asked the Census Bureau to parse their data based on divorce and separation rates for 449 job categories.

The top three occupations with high divorce rates include the aforementioned dancers and choreographers, bartenders (38.4 percent) and massage therapists (38.2 percent). Also included in the top ten were casino workers, telephone operators, nurses and home health aides.

The occupations with the lowest divorce rates included three types of engineers, optometrists, clergy and podiatrists.

Aamodt said that the study probably raises more questions than it answers, since it does not reveal whether it’s the occupation that leads to divorce, or whether those drawn to a particular occupation are more disposed to be in unstable relationships.

Robert Lamarche has become the fourth gay Floridian to adopt a child as the 1977 Florida law prohibiting adoption by gay men and lesbians remains under review by a Miami appeals court, according to a story in the Palm Beach Post.

Lamarche, who works at a private adoption agency in Fort Lauderdale, was approved as an adoptive parent by Broward County juvenile court Judge Hope Bristol, who said that Lamarche’s adoption of a teenage boy he has fostered for two years is in the minor’s best interest. She also wrote that the 1977 Florida law is unconstitutional, and the state is not objecting to her ruling.

Lamarche, who has a master’s degree in social work, met his adopted son four years ago, when the boy was 11 and had been moved from foster home to foster home as the result of abuse and neglect. After two years of watching the boy being moved around, Lamarche was given permission to serve as a formal mentor.

Broward attorney Robert Lynn, who has served as volunteer guardian for the boy, testified that the child had suffered at previous foster homes, but seemed to thrive with Lamarche, a licensed foster parent, and his partner. The Post quoted Lynn as saying, “The home was safe and secure...The child was very happy in the home...Lamarche and the child had developed a very good bond...He knew Lamarche was gay and he approved of the placement.”

Aside from all the negative emotions, divorce is essentially a business transaction – a division of assets – unless, of course, children are involved. Then it is even more important to get the money part right.

Forewarned is forearmed. Here are some of the most common money mistakes made in divorce:

Taking an offer just to get it over. Since you will be making financial decisions that will determine your financial future, take the time to get it right. Consult with a financial professional so that you understand all the financial impacts of the settlement and do not always assume that an “equal” share is a fair share.

Not knowing your expenses. You and your ex will be maintaining separate residences after the divorce, so you need to figure out what your monthly expenses will be to enable you to do so. Be sure to take into account annual maintenance for your car, home or other expenses that can negatively impact a budget if it is unplanned.

Using your attorney as the middleman. Your divorce attorney is there to help you obtain the best possible outcome for your case. Using him or her to act as the go-between because you do not wish to communicate with your soon-to-be ex is a waste of money times two because if you are doing this, your spouse is also.

If you must get a divorce, be sure it is a smart one. Contact our Jacksonville family law firm for more information.

An article at the Huffington Post by Visa senior director Jason Alderman, who heads up that company’s financial literacy initiative, provides some good advice on dealing with the financial challenges of divorce.

With Florida’s current economy, the financial challenges of divorce are many, including dealing with unemployment, underwater mortgages, investment accounts that have lost value and affordable health insurance. He offers the following tips to help divorcing couples in Florida:

Seek out good advice. Getting a Florida divorce with a do-it-yourself kit is not a good idea, even if your assets are few. Hiring an attorney that specializes in divorce can help you avoid problems down the road. You should also consider speaking with a financial planner for advice on how to divide property and assets so you can both afford to set up separate households.

Keep an eye on your credit. Close joint credit card accounts and open up new ones in your own name. This is especially important if one spouse is careless with money or if the divorce is acrimonious and there’s a chance one spouse may run up credit card bills to ruin the other spouse’s credit. Check your credit reports before, during and after the divorce to be sure you know about all outstanding debts and to ensure the reports accurately reflect the debt that you are responsible for after the divorce.

Thousands of Florida children are impacted every year by divorce, and according to research from relationship skills training organization PAIRS Foundation, children of divorce are three times more likely to have problems in school and five times more likely to commit a crime.

Child and adolescent psychologist Dr. Jennifer Hartstein offers three tips for effective co-parenting to stop trouble before it begins:

1. Respect each other. You do not have to like each other, but you do need to exhibit respect and positive ways of resolving conflict to present a good model of that behavior for your children. Speaking negatively about each other creates resentment and anger in your children.

2. Do not put your children in the middle. Do not put your children in the position of being the messenger between mom and dad, and especially do not ask them to take sides in any disagreement you may be having with your ex. You are the adults, and you need to learn how to communicate with each other in an adult fashion.

3. Communicate with each other. Children naturally pit one parent against each other in order to gain more freedom or special treats. The best cure for this is to agree to maintain a consistent approach to your child rearing in each home, and keep the rules the same in each place. Keeping the lines of communication open between the two of you will make each of you better parents.

The effort of one parent to turn a child against the other parent has become known as “Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS)”, a disorder first identified by psychiatrist Dr. Richard A Gardner in the 1980s in association with the growth in child custody litigation.

Dr. Gardner, who was a clinical professor in Columbia University’s Division of Child Psychiatry, was a consistent advocate for fathers in custody battles. Later research done into PAS has shown that a child’s alienation from one parent is usually the result of systemic dysfunction within a family that begins well before divorce.

Whether PAS is a true medical disorder is still being debated, but any divorce lawyer will tell you that parental alienation does exist, and it is an unfortunate circumstance for both children and the target parent. So how can you tell if your child is at risk for parental alienation? Here are some widely recognized risk factors:

• One parent threatens to abduct the children.
• A parent withholds or interferes with visitation.
• A parent falsely accuses the other parent of child abuse.
• One parent is routinely late in dropping off or returning the children.
• One parent has a diagnosed mental disorder.
• A child’s relationship with one parent suddenly changes dramatically – child refuses to visit, says they “hate” the parent, etc.

If you feel you have been the victim of parental alienation, contact our Jacksonville family law firm.

A recent poll conducted by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) reveals that prenuptial agreements have increased in popularity over the past five years, especially among women.

Approximately 73 percent of matrimonial lawyers polled said they have seen an increase in requests for prenuptial agreements; 52 percent said they have experienced an increase in women making the request.

The poll also found that 36 percent of attorneys surveyed said they had seen an increase in the inclusion of pensions and retirement benefits in prenuptial agreements, signaling a shifting change in the importance of how these assets are viewed in light of the current economy.

As noted by AAML president Marlene Eskind Moses, prenups are becoming more recognized as a good way to protect assets, especially for those marrying for the second, third or fourth time and for those marrying later in life who have accrued significant assets.

In addition, she noted, some of the new prenup activity can be attributed to the bad economy, which has made people more acutely aware of their financial condition and what could happen to it in the event of a divorce. Women, especially, want the additional security that prenups provide to ensure they do not become impoverished as the result of a divorce.

Few things can disrupt a carefully planned financial future like a divorce. So how do you prepare yourself financially for an impending divorce?

Prepare. Understanding the financial implications of divorce is the first step in becoming properly prepared. In most marriages, one spouse takes on the main responsibility for the couple’s finances. If you are the spouse who is not totally informed about your financial condition, get informed as quickly as possible. Get a full accounting of all your assets and expenses. Collect financial data about your bank accounts, retirement accounts, pension plans, IRAs, 401(k)’s, life insurance policies and other assets as well as your liabilities (credit card debt, mortgages, loans, etc.).

Manage your expectations. When one household becomes two, each spouse must take a realistic approach to financial planning. Chances are very good that you will not enjoy the same lifestyle you had when you were together. Make good financial decisions for you and your children – which may mean that you cannot afford to keep the family home.

Plan. Consider engaging a financial planner to help you figure out how you are going to live now as a single person (or single parent). A financial planner can work with your divorce attorney to figure out how much financial support you will need, or how much you can afford to pay.

Profiled in a recent New York Times story, Allison Brooke Eastman learned another way that debt can devastate. Once her fiancé discovered that she had more than $170,000 in student loan debt, he broke off the engagement.

These days, it is not uncommon for people to bring significant debt to a relationship. And, as illustrated by Ms. Eastman’s story, it is also common for couples to fail to address debt issues prior to entering marriage. An advantage of prenuptial agreements is that they force the discussion so that “unpleasant” issues are brought to the forefront and dealt with prior to marriage.

People who bring debt to a marriage – whether it is one or both of them in the relationship – should decide how that debt will be treated during the marriage as well as in the case of a divorce. From a legal standpoint, it is likely that any debt one spouse brings to a marriage would remain his or hers alone after a divorce. But would the other spouse be entitled to a “refund” of monies he or she spent to pay down the other’s debt? What if the debt-ridden spouse becomes incapacitated and can no longer work – or wants to quit their job to stay home and take care of the children? How is the debt paid then? These are all valid questions that can and should be addressed as part of a prenuptial agreement discussion.

Although it is still considered culturally taboo, one in four Japanese marriages end in divorce. To make it more palatable, the Japanese have devised a ritual that is growing in popularity as a symbolic way to end a marriage and find closure: the divorce ceremony.

As outlined at CNN.com, a Japanese divorce ceremony is similar to a wedding ceremony, but with a decidedly different outcome. It begins with the couple being pulled through the streets in separate rickshaws, with friends and family walking behind them. The ride ends at a “purposely shabby storefront” that has the words “Refresh” and “Divorce” written on the outside.

The couple and spouse enter, and a master of the ceremony gives a short speech about how the couple has grown apart and decided to end their marriage. He invites everyone to say farewell. Then the couple smashes the soon-to-be ex-wife’s wedding ring with a hammer painted green like a frog (which in Japanese culture symbolizes change). A short reception follows, with the couple sitting back-to-back at separate tables. Party favors are chopsticks – because it is two things you can pull apart easily. After the ceremony, the couple bows to each other politely and departs to live their separate lives.

If you are getting a divorce in Florida and need professional help and support, contact our Jacksonville family law firm.

Ever since an economic study in 2003 revealed that couples with a daughter are five percent more likely to divorce – and that the risk for divorce goes up with each additional daughter – psychologists have been trying to explain the reason for the phenomenon. Now, one expert says the question being asked has been the wrong one.

According to University of Notre Dame psychology professor Anita E. Kelly, the question is not why men stay in marriages with sons, which has been the way many researchers have approached the “why” behind the statistic. It’s why do women with daughters leave marriages more than women with sons?

After all, Kelly says, divorce statistics show that in 73 percent of failed marriages, it is the wife who leaves the husband. She also said studies have shown that adult sons add more to the daily workload of their parents, while adult daughters lessen the workload.

So her take on the statistic, as outlined in an article in Psychology Today, is that daughters provide their mothers with more and better social and emotional support than sons. In other words, women may be less likely to stay with their husbands because they know that with a girl, they will not be lonely and will have help around the house and decide they do not need their husbands as much.

A new study published in the October issue of the Journal of Family Issues says that when women are the breadwinners in their family, they are almost 40 percent more likely to get a divorce than lower income women.

Researchers at Western Washington University studied 2,500 women who were married between 1979 and 2002 and found that the divorce “tipping point” came when the wife provided at least 60 percent of the household income. WWU sociologist Jay Teachman said that it did not matter whether the couple was rich or poor – it just mattered who earned the most money.

He said that the generation of women studied entered marriage with certain economic expectations and expected the man to be the primary breadwinner. When that did not happen, the marriage became strained. He said that successful women with higher incomes might also resent a husband who does not “pull his weight” – and that extra hours at the office for women also translates into a higher level of stress.

"When marriages form, there are expectations," Teachman said in a New York Post interview. "So, if you get new information about the relationship, you're likely to think, 'This isn't what I bargained for.'”

The newlywed husband of a Westchester, N.Y. woman who lied about having leukemia to get a free wedding dress and honeymoon has filed for divorce.

Michael O’Connell told the New York Daily News that he is “disgusted and outraged” to discover that his bride, Jessica Vega, lied about having terminal cancer in order to evoke sympathy, not only from him but also from virtual strangers who gave the couple a free wedding and honeymoon, wedding rings and other merchandise and services when a story about them appeared in a local newspaper.

O’Connell said that Vega produced a “phony” letter from a cancer specialist confirming her diagnosis, although when he called the clinic where the letter came from, they told him she had never been a patient there. He also admitted to “slapping the fire” out of his estranged wife when he learned that her leukemia diagnosis was a lie.

The couple has a one-year-old daughter, and O’Connell’s father said his son may seek custody in the divorce. According to the news reports, Vega, who is employed as a chef in Stamford, Connecticut, has refused to admit her story was a ruse.

If you are getting a divorce in Florida and need professional help and support, contact our Jacksonville family law firm.

Two Orlando men charged with felony interference with custody of a child have been sentenced to one day in jail with credit for time served, 100 hours of community service and two years of probation following their entry of a plea of no contest.

Christopher Stokes and Richard Douglas abducted an eight-year-old Orlando boy after his mother told them she believed the child was living on the streets with her estranged husband, the boy’s father.

The men abducted the boy in March from an Orlando area hotel, and then called police an hour later to ask about Florida child custody law. A police dispatcher informed the caller that what they had done was kidnapping, a federal offense, and the caller then hung up.

Believing the call was linked to the abduction case, the dispatcher traced the call back to Stokes and the police then arrested him and Douglas. Officers returned the boy to his father unharmed.

This case provides a quick lesson in the right and wrong way to solve child custody disputes. Violating a court order regarding child custody on your own is never a good idea. If you believe your child is in danger or being harmed, you should contact a child custody attorney immediately, who can petition the court for an emergency hearing to resolve the dispute.

“Gray divorce” – the new term given to divorces that occur after 20 or more years of marriage – is on the rise in the U.S. and Baby Boomers are leading the way, according to a recent article in the Sacramento Bee.

The divorce rate among those born between 1946 and 1964 is triple that of their parents, and most relationship experts agree that the main reason is because of Boomers’ spirit of independence and “make my own way in the world” viewpoint.

Experts also say that divorce is part of the Boomers’ “value system,” having grown up as divorce lost its social stigma and became more prevalent in American society. Boomers, who have always taken the “pursuit of happiness” proviso to an extreme, are finding that once the kids are gone, there is not much tying them to their spouse anymore because interests have diverged.

And, according to one divorce lawyer quoted in the article, “There’s a lot of infidelity in that age range, a lot of infidelity.”

In addition, some experts question whether couples were really meant to be married for 50 or more years. As medical advances continue to add years to our lives, they may also be shortening our marriages.

A new study of relationships has found that if a woman earns more money than a man, both will be more likely to cheat.

Cornell graduate student Christin Munsch studied the results of a national survey, tracking 9,000 people between the ages of 17 and 27. She found that men who make less than their female partners or wives feel a “gender identity threat” that made them more likely to cheat because of feelings of being powerless.

Women who make more than their male partner are also more likely to cheat, the study suggests, because having a higher income may make them feel they have more power to do what they want.

In addition, the study found that infidelity also increases when one partner makes a lot more money than the other, regardless of gender.

A Bloomberg BusinessWeek article on the study quoted a Rutgers anthropologist as saying it makes sense that men who earn a lot more have more opportunities to cheat, since from an evolutionary perspective, women look for mates “who are on top of the pile.”

Munsch, who presented her findings at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, pointed out that the increased risks in the study were relatively small, and that other lifestyle factors – like regular religious observance and having a college education – can lower the risks of infidelity.

If you are contemplating a divorce in Florida, contact a Jacksonville divorce attorney to learn about all your options.

A new University of Illinois study of the way child custody evaluators make their decisions says courts that apply a one-size-fits-all model to child custody cases are potentially endangering mothers and children.

The study found that child custody evaluator’s beliefs generally fall into two categories: one category that believes conflict is a natural part of relationships and de-emphasizes the potential for domestic violence, and another category that is more sensitive to the nuances of domestic violence and makes recommendations that prioritize the safety of women and children.

Jennifer Hardesty, a University of Illinois associate professor of human and community development and author of the study, noted that approximately 20 percent of divorces in the U.S. involve child custody disputes that require judicial intervention. Domestic violence allegations are raised in about 75 percent of those cases.

She found that child custody evaluators in general have little formal training in the dynamics of domestic violence, and called for standardized, mandated training for child custody evaluators that would teach them how to discriminate between different kinds of conflict in a divorcing couples’ relationship.

If you are involved in a child custody dispute that may require the services of a child custody evaluator, you need to prepare properly for your evaluation. Contact a Jacksonville child custody lawyer for assistance.

According to an article at WomensENews.org, advocates for women’s financial security say that the new financial overhaul legislation passed last month did nothing to reform a 2005 bankruptcy law they say benefits credit card companies and harms single mothers.

The advocates say that most divorced men who file Chapter 13 bankruptcy are required to repay a portion of their credit card debt, and that this debt is usually prioritized over payments for child support and alimony.

The article said that many divorced women find themselves competing with credit card companies for support payments, and that since those companies have many more collection resources, women often lose.

However, while this may happen, it is not supposed to happen. In fact, under current bankruptcy law, the nonpaying spouse is first in line of any creditors, meaning both alimony and child support payments take precedence over satisfying credit card or other debt. The bankruptcy trustee oversees the payments, not the paying spouse – and the trustee must keep the nonpaying spouse informed of the bankruptcy proceedings.

If your ex has filed for bankruptcy and is in arrears on support payments, that bankruptcy filing will not eliminate the obligation to pay. For back support, you will need to file a proof of claim with the bankruptcy court. Your Florida divorce lawyer can provide you with all the information you need about how bankruptcy affects divorce and support payments.

A New York Times columnist calls it “divorce porn” – married people’s fascination with the lives of the divorced.

In his Family Matters column for the Times, Bruce Feiler commented on the dichotomy of divorce in America these days: while the divorce rate is the lowest it’s been in three decades, a lot of our popular culture seems to be obsessed with divorce.

To wit: the big adult movie of the summer is Eat Pray Love, based on Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestselling novel that chronicles her own journey of discovery after a divorce at age 32. That book sold over five million copies. The sequel, Committed, about her marriage to her second husband, has only sold 200,000 copies.

One of the most popular TV shows – Mad Men – has a divorced couple as two of its main characters. The hottest show on Broadway – Promises, Promises – hinges on infidelity and divorce. And American celebrity culture has served up a heaping helping of “divorce porn” this year via Tiger Woods, John Edwards, Sandra Bullock, Kelsey Grammar, Susan Sarandon, Al Gore and others who have graced the covers of People magazine.

Feiler hypothesizes that fantasies about escaping marriage are common to every couple, and that we seem to have found a cure: rather than going through the pain of an actual divorce ourselves, we can “scratch the itch” by watching others do it.

Women who are over the age of 50 and earning more than $100,000 a year are much more likely to divorce than men of the same age and income category.

A U.S. Census Bureau study – 2009 America’s Families and Living Arrangements – shows that 11.85 percent of American women aged 45-49 and earning over $100,000 a year are divorced, but that number almost doubles to 22.45 percent at age 50-54.

For men of the same age and income bracket, the divorced percentage drops from 8.4 percent for those aged 45-49 to 6.61 percent for those aged 50-54. Also, as men’s income climbs, the divorce rate drops, but for women, it’s the exact opposite – as their income grows, so does their divorce rate.

Many relationship experts believe that because marriages today are based more on love and compatibility than economic security, once women are financially secure, they tend to shed mates who no longer meet their emotional needs. As their incomes rise, their priorities change from focusing on food and shelter to finding fulfillment, either in new relationships, work or hobbies. And while studies on happiness show that money doesn’t buy it, money does allow women more freedom to pursue it.

The two adult children of billionaire developer Donald Bren, who is currently ranked #16 on the Forbes list of wealthy Americans with an estimated fortune of $12 billion, are suing their father for not being a part of their lives.

They are asking for retroactive child support in the amount of $400,000 per month for a period of 14 years, for a total of just over $67 million each.

Christie Bren, 22, and David Bren, 18, say that while they did not suffer any economic hardships while growing up, they were emotionally damaged because of the absence of their father, Donald Bren.

Jennifer Gold, Bren’s ex-girlfriend and the mother of Christie and David, sued him in 2003 on behalf of the children, who were minors at the time.

In a Los Angeles courtroom, Donald Bren testified that he had made an agreement with Gold that she would raise the children and he would provide financial support. Bren’s attorneys say that he has paid more than $10 million in child support, as well as college and graduate school expenses.

On Aug. 27, the jury took only three hours to find in favor of Donald Bren, saying he had lived up to his obligations and denying his children any additional access to his fortune beyond what he had already agreed to pay until both reach the age of 25.

If you have a child support issue and need help, contact our Jacksonville family law firm.

A poll conducted by GFK Roper on behalf of the divorce information website Divorce360.com has found that both men and women turn to family and friends first as a source of support while going through a divorce.

The poll was conducted by phone and included more than 1,500 respondents chosen at random. Both men and women were questioned about how and from whom they sought help during their divorce.

Overall, 26 percent of men said they chose family members for support and another 25 percent of men said they leaned on friends. Almost 45 percent of women said they chose family, while 25 percent of women chose friends.

Both male and female respondents said they chose a religious or spiritual figure seven percent of the time. Professional advisers – accountants, lawyers, financial planners – were also chosen seven percent of the time. Therapists were chosen five percent of the time, and support groups four percent of the time.

Therapists interviewed about the survey said that the poll results mirror what happens when most of us face a stressful emotional situation: we turn to those who know us best for support. Family therapists say they often counsel friends and family to respond to a loved one’s divorce without a lot of emotion, but with a show of nonjudgmental support.

If you are getting a divorce in Florida and need professional help and support, contact our Jacksonville family law firm.

A recent article in The Boston Globe profiled another job category created specifically by the Internet: online reputation managers. And even the divorced are hiring them to bury their online divorce records so potential new mates won’t learn more than they need to know when they Google them.

While most people who use online reputation managers are those who want to bury a bad review of their business or find and delete all the party images of themselves on other people’s Facebook pages before job hunting, there are those who need these services for more personal reasons.

One recently divorced woman hired an online reputation manager to remove some painful references to her online divorce records prior to her launching a new dating life online.

Another divorced woman had a restraining order against her husband and was dismayed to find that her address and phone numbers were listed on several online databases, making it easier for him to find her. She enlisted the services of an online reputation management company – ReputationDefender.com – and after six months, her personal information was gone from the Internet.

If you need an Internet savvy divorce lawyer on your side for your upcoming Florida divorce, contact our Jacksonville family law firm.

We all know that viruses cause colds, so we avoid exposure to viruses. But what are some of the common risk factors for divorce?

Lack of support – Constant criticism, lack of respect and failing to provide emotional support to a spouse is a common cause of divorce.

Ill health – When one spouse becomes seriously ill, it sometimes places unbearable strains on a marriage. The idea of “in sickness and health,” is a good one, but the reality is that a healthy person married to a sick person usually becomes a divorced couple.

Addiction – Living with an addict – whether it is drug, alcohol or (very popular these days) sex addiction – puts an insurmountable strain on a marriage. In addition, exposing children to an addict is often reason enough to send a straight spouse straight to divorce court.

Income inequities –Studies have shown that when men are married to women who out earn them, the incidence of divorce is higher.

Marrying young – Getting married at a young age leaves many couples susceptible to the notion that they have “missed out” on many life experiences. And when children come along early in a young marriage, it only compounds the problem.