Cherishing family and friends and celebrating what really matters can be hard to do when Divorce is a thing in your life. Right now, you may feel broken and bitter while everyone else seems to be hopping around with some joyous version of Seasonal Affective Disorder. I know how you feel. Continue reading →
Walking the Line Between Marriage and Divorce: Maintaining Respect for Your Ex—Good Advice for Folks in North Carolina.
By Dana Horlick, Attorney, Woodruff Family Law GroupEven a productive and long-lived marriage can end in divorce. Just ask Jane Seymour and James Keach. The celebrity couple, known for their acting roles and producing, were married for 22 years and separated in 2013. At the end of 2015, Seymour and Keach filed a divorce settlement splitting the assets accumulated over the span of their marriage 50/50. Continue reading →
How to Meet your Resolutions Without Breaking the Bank: A New Year, a New You, and a New Start in the Triad – Part 2 of 2
By Diana Westrick, Legal Assistant, Woodruff Family Law GroupPart Two
Now that you read through yesterday’s Part One of frugally meeting your resolutions, it is time to introduce two more traditional New Year goals. With the help of inspiration from Eva Longoria and Martha Stewart, the resources listed below will be your beginning guide. Continue reading →
How to Meet Your Resolutions without Breaking the Bank: A New Year, a New You, and a New Start in the Triad – Part 1 of 2
By Diana Westrick, Legal Assistant, Woodruff Family Law GroupPart One
We have all heard it before: January 1st represents a blank slate; you can now accomplish everything you put off last year, and the year before, and the year before that. That small voice in your head is convincing you that this year will be different; this time, you will truly make a change. Continue reading →
Paper Angel: A Holiday Lesson on Bullying
By Carolyn Woodruff, JD, CPA, CVAMy husband Dwight prides himself on liking sappy Christmas movies, and he rents a lot of them. Ho-hum, I thought, but I was pleasantly surprised by the many social messages in Paper Angel. The movie starts with Mom (Lynn Brandt) moving far away from Dad with her two children—Sara and Thomas. Sara is younger than Thomas. While the movie doesn’t illustrate domestic violence, Mom has a black eye, and you know what happened. Dad loves nothing but his beer and his sports on television, and while Dad is oblivious to everyone and everything that his narcissistic soul in not entrenched in, Mom quietly gets the two children in the car and escapes with them without any of their belongings. Mom was right to leave. Continue reading →
To Agree or Not to Agree: What are the risks of agreeing to a child custody order without consideration of all the facts?
In court-ordered child custody mediation in North Carolina, agreement is the polar star. Both parents are applauded for entering a parenting agreement. The question is whether agreement is always in the best interests of the child. Certainly, we all want parents to agree, but there are certain times when agreements should be entered into with caution. Certainly, the majority of parenting cases end with the parents agreeing to terms. Quite frankly, many of these parents would have agreed on custodial arrangements for the children, with or without mediation. Such agreements by parents are simply parents putting children first and naturally looking after their offspring. The majority of parents can and do put the children first. Continue reading →
529 Plan as Marital Property in Equitable Distribution
Question: I am a mother from Summerfield. I have been saving for my children’s college, but I am now faced with divorce. My ex-spouse is the owner of the 529 Plan. What happens to the 529 Plan in my divorce? Continue reading →
Part II: Holiday Survival Tips for Divorced Parents
Holiday Survival Tips for Divorced Parents
Part II: Holiday Don’ts
by Carolyn Woodruff
Holiday Survival Tips for Divorced Parents: Part 1
Holiday Survival Tips for Divorced Parents
Part I: Holiday Do’s
by Carolyn Woodruff
Fear is a Huge Factor in Innocent Spouse Relief (Hollimon v. Comm’r)
By: Dana M. Horlick, Attorney, Woodruff Family Law GroupHollimon v. Comm’r, T.C. Memo. 2015-157, 2015 WL 4747779 (2015)
(a) Facts: During their marriage, the parties established and worked for a business providing temporary staffing to hospitals. The wife testified that the husband ran the business and she was an employee. The husband testified that the parties ran the business together. Continue reading →