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The first edition is out - in which we announce a new member to the team and why we posted a picture of a Civil War General on Facebook a little over a week ago.
Please, check it out and subscribe - it's going to be a bi-monthly thing.
The subscription link is at the bottom of the newsletter, you can't miss it - it's bracketed by Fall colors.
Thanks!
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MAILCHI.MP
Halligan LLC's Newsletter
Thought we’d simply post with this simple note: You know how airline safety talks always say ‘Put your oxygen mask on first before helping those around you’?
Well, it works that way in life too .....
WASHINGTONPOST.COM
The pandemic proves we all should know ‘psychological first aid.’ Here are the basics.
Have you seen this yet?
If not, highly recommend that you do.
We know, very - very - few people are going to cancel their Facebook accounts; fewer still are going to drop Twitter/Instagram/Snapchat/TikTok/LinkedIn and everything else social media related based on this documentary or anything else.
That's unrealistic and, as the interviewees in the film (almost all of them helped to create social media as we know it today) clearly state: chemically, especially in the age of COV19, we need the connection(s).
Watch it to know how social media has evolved to 'mine us.' How the recommendation engines work. How you are pigeonholed.
With Social Media, knowledge is everything.
We're working on a piece - blog or Op-ed, we haven't decided yet - that ties all this in with a recent, much read, viral piece on divorce in the United States. Look for it soon.
We'll leave you with this quote: "false information makes the companies more than the truth . . . because the truth is boring."
WIRED.COM
Hate Social Media? You’ll Love This Documentary
It's Wednesday, September 9th and a perfect 'weather as metaphor' day.
One-hundred over the weekend, thirty and snowing last night, seventies by Friday, mid-eighties from thereon for a week or so.
We all assumed it'd stay warm/hot for awhile, many of us made plans based on that very reasonable assumption - even though we live in a state infamous or renown (depending on the season and one's viewpoint) for wildly gesticulating weather.
If you didn't check the weather Sunday evening or while doing your Labor Day stuff Monday, you were caught by surprise. Unpleasantly so.
Sometimes, in our business, we're called on to be the meteorologist. To give the head's up that something is looming down the road, take the surprise out of it, readjust assumptions and expectations . . . and let you know what it looks like after the storm.
That's how law firms that deal with family law day after day work. You don't want to know, much less experience, what law firms that dabble in it do.
Coming this week - an in-depth article about rising divorce rates in the U.S. that's not about the data, but where it's from ... and why we're posting a picture of a Civil War general.
More COVID divorce numbers from a pretty somber source.
This, by the way, is excellent (and what we find to be true every day right now):
". . . if a couple already struggled with communication and support, or had other serious (acknowledged or unacknowledged) problems, the added stress brought about by the pandemic likely accentuated these pre-existing issues. Or at least, these couples may have struggled to engage in the necessary partner support that would help their relationship during this difficult time."
We know it's hard but the courts are accessible and waiting for 'normalcy' to return is, really, untenable.
PSYCHOLOGYTODAY.COM
It's Not Your Imagination: Divorce Rates Are Surging
This, unfortunately, promises to be in the news for months, if not years.
Kelly Clarkson's divorce - which seemed to be amicable since it was filed last June - is now intertwined with her business interests . . . which, of course, are/were also her husband and father-in-law's interests.
In many ways, this is fairly typical in a divorce where a family business is involved. It complicates an already complicated situation and adds an extra layer of emotions in an already emotional matter.
Have to say, though, that the father-in-law's attorneys are not helping anything with this line in their complaint:
"Starstruck developed Clarkson into a mega superstar. [...] Despite Starstruck's hard work and dedication, Clarkson has decided she is going to stop paying Starstruck for what is contractually owed."
Not a sentence written with a thought to an amicable settlement.
The thing to take from this is simple: if there is a family business involved - in any way - in an upcoming divorce, it is NEVER too early to talk to an attorney.
PEOPLE.COM
Kelly Clarkson Sued by Father-in-Law's Management Company amid Split from Brandon Blackstock
Another divorce in the time of COVID article (good one, too).
Really like how the author's family law attorney (and friend) refers to divorce as 'family restructuring.'
And absolutely agree with this: "A lot of families are going to need restructuring by the time this is over. They probably needed it before."
NYTIMES.COM
Opinion | Considering a Coronavirus Divorce? You’re in Good Company
Just this: be good to one another.
WASHINGTONPOST.COM
A viral photo showed former NBA star Delonte West homeless. Mark Cuban found him and picked him up.
"Right before the pandemic, things were actually the best that they’d been in a while. But quarantine was a pressure cooker."
A variation on a story we're hearing over and over right now.
Spoiler alert: the 'self-care' is worth it.
THECUT.COM
‘My Divorce Is Cheap. But Self-Care Is Costing Me Thousands.’
Sometimes, an artist - any kind of artist - channels all the feelings from an ongoing divorce into a work of art . . . and sometimes, though rarely, that artist gains the insights that allow them to explain it all.
This is one of those instances. If you're involved in a divorce or are about to be, Tom Petty's insights are pure platinum.
NYTIMES.COM
The Raw Roots of Tom Petty’s ‘Wildflowers,’ Revealed at Last
Remember our post about Daniel Bard - way back in July? Out of baseball for 7 years after getting the 'yips' and not able to throw a strike, he became the mental skills coach of the Rockies and in the process he figured himself out.
Well, he was just named Comeback Player of the Year.
Fantastic . . . here's what he had to say back in July when he was added to the Rockies' schedule:
“You have to adjust your perspective on what’s going on, it makes that feeling a really positive thing where it helps you, or a really negative thing where it crushes you.”
“It wasn’t something I learned overnight, it’s taken practice. It’s taken a lot of intentional work on my part, but hopefully this proves to anybody out there that’s struggling with anything that it can be done.”
This goes with a lot more than baseball.
BOSTONGLOBE.COM
After 7 years out of MLB, ex-Red Sox Daniel Bard wins NL Comeback Player of the Year - The Boston Globe
This has it all - a COVID custody issue between an US citizen and a Brit.
Is it okay to change a custody schedule to accommodate one parent's work schedule? Is it okay for the children to fly right now? And what if the other parent objects on both grounds?
Take the 'famous people' out of this and you have a fairly typical COVID custody question like the ones we see almost everyday.
We're pretty sure neither Heidi nor Seal are going to call us, but you can.
INDEPENDENT.CO.UK
Heidi Klum claims Seal is preventing her from flying kids to Germany
No truer words . . . we do everything we can to help our clients get there, it's better for everyone for so many reasons.
But, you have to be ready. From the article: "You are too angry to get a divorce right now. If you mediate or litigate, you will spend more on attorneys than you can afford to pay. There will be nothing left for the kids. Please go see a therapist and address your anger issues before you begin proceedings for a divorce.'"
MONEY.USNEWS.COM
Why an Uncontested Divorce Makes Financial Sense
This is a question we get asked a lot. The answer depends on more than a few factors, though in our experience if you have to ask the question, you already have the answer.
Here's how Amy answered - we have to agree with her on this one.
DENVERPOST.COM
Ask Amy: Must divorced couples remain friends?
The very best for a Happy, Healthy New Year!
Here's to 2021 and a return to some 'normalcy.' It won't happen at midnight, it might not happen in January, but it WILL happen.
Until then, be well.
Happy New Year from all of us at Halligan LLC . . . see you on the other side!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Our very best to our clients, friends, staff, former clients, and everyone else who in any way helped us get to a very different Holiday season.
Wishing you the very best, and great good health.
Be Well.
Kelly Clarkson is going through a divorce and normally, in the usual celebrity breakup, would be in and out of the news fairly quickly.
And we wouldn't be posting about it.
But, unfortunately for Kelly, her divorce is a mini-lesson in almost everything we do. What looked like an amicable, relatively fast settlement has devolved into a series of law suits all tied, in one way or another, to the divorce.
Actually, they all arose with the divorce. You see, Kelly Clarkson has a very profitable business: Kelly Clarkson.
It became a family business when she married one of her agents and her father-in-law owned the firm representing her.
It got complicated quickly. Kelly claimed her husband and father-in-law's firm 'withheld' money owed her for performances and her TV show. They claim she owes them commissions.
One thing that has not, and will not going forward, help this at all is the sentence in her in-law's claim that his company is responsible for all her success.
This is everything we see in so many divorces. There are also custody issues (children from prior marriages) along with complex business issues.
This is where we would work with financial experts to sort it all out.
We'll be following this well into the New Year, there's so much to learn from this.
VULTURE.COM
Kelly Clarkson on Her Divorce: ‘Definitely Didn’t See Anything Coming’
A friend of ours spent last Wednesday in an Emergency room (he's fine). He had just had a physical a week earlier, everything was good but his doctor adjusted a medication and added a new one.
The new medication threw him for several loops, he called his doctor, they said, "Go to the emergency room if you still feel this way tomorrow."
He did and he and promptly headed to the emergency room.
That's where our story really starts. He waited five minutes to be admitted, the staff was great, he was put in a room, hooked up to an ECG, blood pressure cuff (BP was off the charts) and waited while the hospital got his medical history. He saw a doctor about an hour later, a curt, no-nonsense doctor who asked him one question, "Is there a history of heart problems in your family?"
"Well," he answered, "my father died of a heart attack but -"
"Right, I'll order tests," and out she went before he could finish his sentence.
Five hours and a dozen tests later, including a CAT scan with dye pumped through his heart and arteries, another doctor came to give him the results.
She was pleasant, conversational, a runner like our friend, and pleased to give him the news that his heart was absolutely perfect.
"So, I guess," she said, "you don't get that from your father."
"Didn't think I did," he answered.
"Why?"
"Because he was a three pack a day smoker and never ran a mile in his life."
"Oh . . . well . . . then why," she stopped, looked through his chart, flipping pages. "What drugs were you just prescribed?" Our friend started to go through it again until the doctor cut him off with, "They gave you that? What were they thinking. Never take it again." That was it, he was home in thirty minutes, and back running the next day.
Here's the thing: doctors and attorneys know what questions to ask . . . but not all of them know how to listen. In this day and age, you don't necessarily have much say in who your doctor is but you certainly do when it comes to your attorney. Make sure yours is listening.
We listen . . . to your whole story.
If this is you, rest assured you're not alone.
Also, rest assured that despite the closures and delays and backlog of trials and everything else you may be reading about, you can still move forward with a divorce . . . now.
BBC.COM
'Covid ended our marriage': The couples who split in the pandemic
We would like to assure our followers, friends, and clients that (a) technology enables us to do most - if not all - of the things our clients need to begin and/or move forward remotely;
and
(b) we will never do this.
BBC News
February 9 at 8:10 PM ·
“I’m here live, I’m not a cat.”
A lawyer in Texas tried to reassure the judge after a Zoom filter mishap had him appear in a virtual court hearing as a worried kitten.
https://bbc.in/2NcDPck
Good article on the latest stats on divorce trends during the pandemic. Also an excellent discussion on the hurdles facing couples that want a divorce under the present court circumstances.
One thing they note and we're happy to see is that mediations are way up.
There are some obstacles out there in moving forward with a divorce but it's nothing we have not only experienced but overcome for our clients.
The one lesson to take from all this is simple - if you want/need a divorce do not wait until 'things get back to normal.' For two reasons - first, courts are backlogged and will be for quite some time, waiting means being all the way in the back; second, who knows what 'normal' will look like?
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/30/at-home/manage-your-divorce-expectations.html
NYTIMES.COM
Manage Your Divorce Expectations
Read this if you have a pet. Read it again if you love your pet and you're thinking about a divorce.
Only three states* have laws recognizing what is best for a pet in awarding custody in a divorce. Colorado isn't there yet.
Custody of a pet is a serious issue in many divorces. It needs to be worked out before asking a court to settle the issue.
Aside those three states, courts look at the pet custody issue purely as a matter of dollars and cents like any other asset of the marriage.
Nobody feels that way about their pets, don't risk it, talk to us.
*Alaska, California, Illinois
#doglover #catlovers #divorce #petcustody
KIPLINGER.COM
Divorce Tips to Avoid a Messy Dog Custody Battle | Kiplinger
We're proud of the team we're building at Halligan LLC and wanted to share with you our enthusiasm about an important one-year milestone. We brought on our first associate, Ms. Jane Michalakes, in February 2020 and she has been making a difference in the lives of our clients every day since! Please add your comments below to join us in celebrating this important anniversary!
You can e-file taxes right now, the IRS will officially accept returns on the 12th and there may be more stimulus payments in the works.
If you're recently divorced or currently in the process you need to carefully - very carefully - plan before you file. Talk to your attorney (that would be us, right?) and we'll coordinate with an accountant.
It's not as simple as plugging numbers and EINs into TurboTax, there are some real choices and changes that need to be made. Not doing so can be quite costly.
#IRS #filingtaxes #divorce
MONEYWISE.COM
Filing Taxes After Divorce
