In a perfect world, having a child would always be a joyous event, with expectant parents eagerly anticipating the arrival of their baby. For some, however, the circumstances of a pregnancy are less storybook and more soap opera. When a man believes he is not a baby’s biological father, or when a mother is trying to keep a baby from its father, the consequent paternity dispute can be extremely painful and difficult for all involved. If paternity is not established, however, the child may ultimately be the one who suffers.
Paternity is defined as the quality or state of being a father. A mother, father, or child each has the right to establish paternity depending on the individual desires of the parties involved. For more information about general paternity matters please see the paternity page on our website.
In the modern day and age, many couples choose to start a family and have children without getting married. While some states allow paternity to be established without a formal court action, in Alabama, children born to unwed parents do not automatically have a legal father without a court paternity action establishing the identity of the father, whether agreed or contested.
When paternity is agreed upon by the parents, signing an Affidavit of Paternity is a relatively routine matter, and if necessary, child support and custody can be involved in the same proceeding. When paternity is disputed, however, the process can be much more complex, requiring court appearances and compelled DNA testing. But there are many important reasons to establish paternity despite the stress that may be involved. According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, establishing paternity has the at least the following benefits:
Establishing paternity can be a sensitive matter, especially when paternity is yet unknown or contested. If you live in Arab or the Huntsville-Decatur area and need assistance with a paternity issue, please contact Lana Hawkins at Hawkins Law LLC to speak with an experienced Alabama family law attorney.
According to the Alabama Department of Human Resources, there are currently more than 6,000 children in foster care in Alabama. Of these, 1,820 are waiting to be adopted. Sadly for many of these children, an eventual reunion with their biological parents is not a safe or viable option. In certain cases in which a child cannot return to his or her birth family, foster parents may decide to legally adopt a child who has been placed in their care. Other times, people considering adoption may reach out to a child in the foster care system, rather than going through a private adoption agency.
According to the most recent data, 58 percent of children adopted in Alabama were adopted by their foster parents. Perhaps surprisingly, this compares with 40 percent adopted by non-relatives and only 2 percent adopted by relatives. This statistical breakdown alone shows the essential role foster parents play in providing permanency and overall stability for children in need of a home.
The North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) encourages state and federal agencies to set adoption assistance rates equal to foster care rates, thus ensuring that foster parents have an incentive to adopt. Also, adoption assistance has been made more readily available due to the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, which passed in 2008.
The Act eliminates birth parent income as an eligibility factor for adoption assistance, which means many more Alabama children qualify for federal assistance than in the past. Starting at the end of 2009, all special needs children age 16 and over and children in care for five years or more (and their siblings) became eligible for support, and each year younger children are phased in for federal support. Right now, in 2012, children 12 and older qualify for adoption assistance, so long as they have special needs and meet other requirements. In 2018, federal adoption support will be given to all children with special needs who meet the eligibility criteria.
At Hawkins Law LLC, we have extensive experience guiding clients through the adoption process, identifying state and federal support that may be available to adopting families. If you are a foster parent considering adoption, or if you have questions about adopting a child in Alabama, please contact Lana Hawkins at Hawkins Law LLC to speak with an experienced family law and adoption attorney.
With the poor economy and many people out of work, debts and bills often go unpaid simply because there is not enough money to make ends meet. Unfortunately, child support payments often fall into this category of neglected obligations. In other cases, a parent may ignore his or her responsibility to pay child support out of anger toward an ex-spouse, begrudging money even though it is for the care of the child.
Regardless of the reason child support has not been paid, once a court establishes the order requiring a non-custodial parent to make payments to a custodial parent, nothing short of a court-approved modification or extreme circumstances can relieve the obligation. Late payments, underpayments, and, of course, zero payments, all constitute failure to follow the order. When this happens the state, through its Child Support Enforcement Division, provides methods to collect the unpaid support amounts, including:
In addition to these methods of enforcement, the state may also attempt garnishments, federal prosecution, criminal non-support, and IRS full collection. The state may also suspend or revoke personal and/or professional licenses, including a person’s driver’s license.
If you seek to enforce a child support order in Alabama, or if you have questions about child support and other issues accompanying divorce, contact Lana Hawkins, at Hawkins Law LLC for sound legal advice from an experienced family law attorney.
Tax time is upon us. Most people don’t look forward to organizing a year’s worth of income and expenses, but for some couples, especially those facing or going through a divorce, the process can be particularly complex, both financially and emotionally. This month, the IRS announced that more innocent spouses will qualify for relief if it is discovered that the other spouse, with whom they filed a joint income tax return, did not properly report household earnings.
Innocent spouse relief eliminates your “responsibility for paying tax, interest, and penalties if your spouse (or former spouse) improperly reported items or omitted items on your tax return.” The notice, effective immediately, revises the threshold requirements for requesting equitable relief and revises the factors used by the IRS in evaluating requests for relief. According to the IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman, “These improvements should dramatically enhance our process to make it fairer for victimized taxpayers facing difficult situations.” The threshold conditions for receiving innocent spouse relief are as follows:
The notice clarifies that no one factor or a majority of factors necessarily controls the determination of whether relief should be granted. Therefore, relief may still be appropriate even if a number of factors weigh against relief. For example, actual knowledge of an understatement or deficiency will not be weighed more heavily than other factors, as it was in the past. Furthermore, if the spouse requesting relief was abused or restricted from household financial information, and thus unable to challenge the treatment of items on the joint tax return for fear of retaliation, the abuse or financial control will weigh in favor of relief even if the requesting spouse had reason to know of the understatement or deficiency.
Seek Supportive, Experienced Divorce Representation
If you are facing divorce and all of the potentially complex legal and financial issues that come with it, please contact Lana Hawkins, Attorney at Law, at Hawkins Law LLC for advice and counsel from an experienced Alabama divorce attorney.
Grandparent visitation rights legislation is a difficult issue because some parents are clearly justified in denying a grandparent’s access to a grandchild, as in cases of present or past abuse, while other parents simply may not want to maintain a relationship with a child’s grandparent.
Several states have enacted and upheld grandparent visitation laws, permitting grandparents to spend time with their grandchildren even against the wishes of the children’s parents. Alabama is not one of those states. In June, the Alabama Supreme Court struck down the state’s grandparent visitation law, ruling that it unconstitutionally violated the right of fit parents to decide whether their children should see their grandparents.
Grandparents Visitation Law Struck Down in Alabama
As reported by the Associated Press, Alabama Associate Justice Tom Parker, writing for the majority, said the case was about “when a state may impinge upon the fundamental right of a fit, natural parent to decide which associations are in the best interests of his or her children.” He went on to write, “The law is unconstitutional because the state overstepped its bounds with the law.” The case arose out of a dispute in Jefferson County, in which a couple used the law to sue for visitation with their grandchildren. The couple had a falling out with their son and daughter-in-law after a bad business deal, and they were no longer allowed to see their grandchildren as a result. A trial court granted grandparents’ visitation, but the decision was reversed on appeal. The appellate court upheld the constitutionality of the law, however, while the Alabama Supreme Court struck down the law entirely when the case came before it.
The Alabama ruling follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s take on the issue in Troxel v. Granville, an 11-year-old decision that held competent parents’ wishes must get top priority when grandparents sue for visitation with their grandchildren. Because of recent state decisions and legislation, which vary significantly from state to state – for example, Tennessee passed its grandparents’ rights law in the same week Alabama struck its law down – many courts and legislatures hope the U.S. Supreme Court will revisit and clarify its stance on the matter.
Seek Experienced, Compassionate Family Law Counsel
If you have a child visitation concern as a parent or grandparent, please contact Lana Hawkins, Attorney at Law, at Hawkins Law LLC, for advice and representation from an experienced Alabama family law attorney.
The case of an 8-year-old Ohio boy taken from his mother’s home because he weighs more than 200 pounds has renewed a legal and social debate of whether parents should lose custody if a child is severely obese. As reported by many news sources, the boy was placed in foster care in October after case workers said his mother was not doing enough to control his weight, risking development of diseases such as diabetes, asthma, and high blood pressure. According to government growth charts, most 8-year-old boys weigh about 60 pounds.
Approximately 12.5 million U.S. children and teens are obese, and Alabama is the second most obese state in the nation after Mississippi. One analysis asserts that Alabama may surpass Mississippi as the most obese state within two years. According to experts, one way to combat the obesity problem is to start the fight sooner by targeting obesity in children, which essentially means taking issue with parents. Dr. David Ludwig, an obesity expert at Children’s Hospital Boston argued in an opinion piece ran by the American Medical Association, “State intervention may serve the best interests of many children with life-threatening obesity, comprising the only realistic way to control harmful behaviors.”
As reported by the Associated Press, Ludwig described a case in which a 12-year-old girl weighing 400 pounds, and suffering from diabetes, cholesterol problems, high blood pressure, and sleep apnea, was placed in foster care upon state intervention. After a year of receiving three meals a day, a snack or two, and moderate physical activity, she lost 130 pounds and her diabetes and apnea disappeared.
Loss of child custody is a devastating prospect for most parents, but in light of these cases, loss of custody is a distinct possibility if a child’s life is in danger because of extreme obesity.
Seek Experienced, Compassionate Family Law Counsel
If you have a child custody concern or are involved in a child custody dispute, please contact Lana Hawkins, Attorney at Law, at Hawkins Law LLC, for advice and representation from an experienced Alabama family law attorney.
In the last post, we discussed how to protect one’s assets immediately following the decision to divorce. In this post, we will talk about preemptively protecting one’s assets before walking down the aisle–or, entering into a prenuptial agreement.
No matter how many or what type of assets a couple has acquired during marriage, deciding who gets what can get complicated. However, couples who have amassed a lot of property may find themselves in a property division dispute for a long time after the divorce.
Celebrity blogs and magazines have been keeping us up-to-date on Kelsey and Camille Grammer’s reportedly messy divorce, which was finalized in February. Eight months later, it has been announced that Grammer and his ex-wife are close to reaching a property settlement that both agree is fair. Kelsey and Camille had no prenuptial agreement, despite the fact that Mr. Grammer was making $1.6 million dollars an episode on “Frasier” at the time the couple were married. Thus, under California law, Camille is entitled to half of the estimated $100 million estate they accumulated over the course of their 13-year marriage. Divvying up this fortune with no prenup was likely not an easy task.
A prenuptial agreement is a contract between two people who are about to be wed that spells out how assets will be distributed in the event of divorce or death. It is wise to have a prenup if you fall into any of these categories:
While talking to your soon-to-be spouse about a prenup may be difficult, remember that a marriage is a financial union, as well as an emotional one. Accordingly the financial security and protection provided by a prenup may work to strengthen, rather than weaken, your relationship.
If you are getting married and considering a prenup, or if you are getting divorced and have questions about property division, please contact Lana Hawkins, Attorney at Law, at Hawkins Law LLC, for advice and representation from an experienced Alabama family law attorney.
Divorce is expensive, and with about half of all marriages ending in divorce, perhaps it is an expense we should plan and save for, like going to college or buying a home. Of course, few people enter into a marriage with such a pessimistic view, and many consider even a prenuptial agreement to be a slap in the face of romance. Therefore, when couples decide to divorce, they often find themselves facing significant financial issues while dealing with a flux of emotions.
Below are a few smart financial strategies that may be taken immediately before or after untying the knot that can make a big difference in easing the financial burden of divorce:
We understand that you must make many difficult decisions upon divorce, and many of them may seem more important than money. However, being proactive about protecting your finances and your credit rating can make all the difference in securing the best future for you and your family.
Seek Experienced, Supportive Divorce Representation
If you are considering divorce and have questions or concerns about accompanying issues, such as dividing assets and debt, please contact Lana Hawkins, Attorney at Law, at Hawkins Law LLC, for advice and representation from an experienced Alabama divorce attorney.
Earlier this year Senator Cam Ward proposed Senate Bill 18, which proposes that Alabama adopt the Uniform Collaborative Law Act, which would provide divorcing couples with another method of resolution to their divorce. In this month’s blog we will discuss the collaborative divorce process.
What is a Collaborative Divorce?
Collaborative practice is a process in which both parties to a dispute and their attorneys commit to resolving a conflict using a cooperative rather than adversarial approach. An alternative form of dispute resolution, this allows the parties to avoid going to court to have a judge decide the issue. Instead, collaborative practice relies on the commitment of the parties and their attorneys to exercise honesty, cooperation, professionalism, and integrity in working toward the future well-being of both parties and, if there are children involved, the family. Non-adversarial participation allows the attorneys to use analysis and reasoning to solve problems, generate solutions, and create a positive context for settlement.
In collaborative practice, the parties are each represented by their own legal counsel who takes an active participatory role. Each attorney agrees that if the collaborative process fails to bring a resolution, the attorney will not represent the client in an adversarial proceeding. The parties are therefore committed to the success of the process, without the prospect of going to trial as a “fallback” position. The process is privileged and confidential, and communications during the process cannot later be used at trial, thereby encouraging the parties to be candid with each other.
How Successful is the Collaborative Process?
According to a survey of 502 divorces conducted by the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals, 87 percent of the reported cases were resolved, 3 percent reconciled, and only 10 percent ended without a resolution.
Not every divorce can be resolved using the collaborative process, and not every divorce requires litigation. An experienced Alabama family law attorney can help you determine which process is the preferred method for your circumstances.
If you have questions regarding the collaborative divorce process or would like to explore whether the collaborative option is appropriate for your divorce, contact Lana Hawkins, Attorney at Law, at Hawkins Law LLC, for advice and representation from an experienced Alabama divorce attorney.
When spouses file joint tax returns, each spouse may be liable for the tax debt of the other. If the tax return is filed fraudulently, both taxpayers may be on the hook for the proper amount, as well as interest and penalties assessed by the IRS.
What if one spouse was not aware that the other was filing taxes fraudulently? After all, it is not uncommon for one spouse to “do the taxes” in the family, and the other spouse merely signs. The IRS does acknowledge the existence of the “innocent spouse” and exempts such a spouse from responsibility for the debt. However, the spouse claiming innocence must be able to show either lack of knowledge or lack of participation in the fraudulent scheme, or prove that he or she was somehow coerced into signing the tax return.
Historically, innocent spouse status had to be claimed within two years of the commencement of the collection action by the IRS. This statute of limitations often worked against ex-spouses, who may have been a signatory on the joint return in question but since divorced. It is not likely for the ex-spouse to even know about a collection action initiated by the IRS against the former spouse until the two-year time limit has already passed, and a tax bill has come due.
To resolve this inequity among divorced spouses, as well as abused spouses and others who are married but having their spouse’s tax dealings hidden from them, the IRS in July rescinded the two-year rule.
If you were denied innocent spouse status in the past, or if you have other questions regarding taxation and other financial issues in your divorce, contact Lana Hawkins, Attorney at Law, at Hawkins Law LLC, a family law attorney in Arab, Alabama experienced in the impact of taxation, finances and other matters on divorce.