Athens-Clarke County, Georgia child support lawyer

The Georgia Department of Human Resources, Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) helps children by enforcing parental duties to pay financial support. All Georgia families have access to OCSS services, like help with locating non-custodial parents, confirming paternity, establishing and enforcing child support and medical support orders, and collecting and distributing payments. The Courts in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia cannot order parents to pay for college. But, parents may agree to pay child support beyond the age of 18 or to pay for college expenses. Seek the assistance of an experienced Athens-Clarke County, Georgia child support lawyer. Certain states charge interest on past due child support obligations. Interest can be applied to unpaid support at the rate set by state statute. In the these states, judgment interest typically is decided in child support cases in the same manner it is in other civil judgments. States that charge interest generally start its accrual on the day the relevant child support payment becomes due and unpaid. A state's decision to award interest is based on important public policy decisions. Many states consider that the award of interest encourages obligors to pay their child support payments on time. Interest also gives the child a measure of compensation for the loss caused because of the tardiness of the child support payments. To know if you are eligible for interest on past due child support in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia, contact a Athens-Clarke County, Georgia child support lawyer.

---------------------------------Athens GA Divorce Lawyer - Athens GA Uncontested Divorce - Contested Divorce AttorneyOur family law firm handles cases in Athens, Georgia. Our Georgia divorce lawyers represent clients in Athens and the Athens-Clarke County area.

Athens-Clarke County, Georgia Child Custody lawyer

There are different ways to work out a child custody arrangement. The spouses do not always have to let the court fix the schedule. Rotating custody, although not common, works perfectly if the spouses reside within five to ten miles of each other. In rotating custody, one parent keeps the child for a predetermined period of time, then the other spouse keeps the child for the same amount of time. Supervised visitation is sometimes ordered by the court if the court deems that the secondary parent might be a danger to the child. The court may also order supervised visitation if there is reason to believe that one spouse (the parent getting supervised visitation) may leave the state or the country with the minor child against the wishes of the other spouse. The court can award the custody of the child to a third-party when the third-party has sought custody. The third-party is generally the grandparent or other close relative. If a marriage has many children, a court has the authority to separate the children and split the custody between parents in accord with the best interest of each particular child. Usually, however, the best interests of a child will be to reside with that child's siblings, because of emotional support reasons. When deciding the home in which to place the child, the court works hard to arrive at a decision in "the best interests of the child." A decision in "the best interests of the child" requires considering the desires of the child's parents, the desires of the child, and the child's relationship with each of the parents, siblings, other persons who may substantially affect the child's best interests, the child's comfort in his home, school, and community, and the mental and physical health of the involved individuals. An experienced Athens-Clarke County, Georgia child custody lawyer can help you get child custody in a divorce.

---------------------------------Athens GA Divorce Lawyer - Athens GA Uncontested Divorce - Contested Divorce AttorneyOur family law firm handles cases in Athens, Georgia. Our Georgia divorce lawyers represent clients in Athens and the Athens-Clarke County area.

Athens-Clarke County, Georgia spousal support lawyer

If spousal support is ordered because of an injury to the recipient party, the spousal support may be temporary or permanent in nature. Although spousal support is usually awarded to the wife, the husband may also request the court for spousal support if his wife makes much more than he does. A seasoned Athens-Clarke County, Georgia spousal support lawyer will ensure that you are awarded adequate spousal support. Spousal support may be in cash payments or other forms. It may be in the form of disbursements from a retirement account, a transfer of an entire retirement account, transfer of the marital home or some other property or any other form of payment either agreed upon by the spouses or ordered by the court. Spousal support can take many different forms, from a lump sum payment to lifetime payments or payments for a short period of time. When the court considers the facts at hand, it will determine the type of alimony. Spousal support is also known as alimony. Alimony is ordered by the judge and depends on numerous different things, like the standard of living, whether the recipient requires the spousal support payments, if the payor can afford to pay the spousal support, and other things. Different states have different tests for determining spousal support. Some states are “no fault” states, and will not grant spousal support because of an injury to one spouse is caused by the other.

---------------------------------Athens GA Divorce Lawyer - Athens GA Uncontested Divorce - Contested Divorce AttorneyOur family law firm handles cases in Athens, Georgia. Our Georgia divorce lawyers represent clients in Athens and the Athens-Clarke County area.

Alimony in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia

Alimony may be awarded to a spouse unless that spouse is guilty of desertion or adultery. When deciding alimony, the court will consider marital conduct, participation each spouse had to the marital estate; the length of the marriage; the future financial resources of each party; the age and health of each party; the future earning capacity of each spouse; the net worth of each party’s separate property; the standard of living sustained during the marriage; and rehabilitative time one spouse may need to gain employment. Alimony in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia may be either "rehabilitative" or "permanent". Alimony is money for support awarded to a party by the other party. Alimony may be for a short or long time. Generally alimony is awarded by the judge only when a long term marriage ends. The other party should be able to pay alimony if the court is to grant alimony to the other spouse. Alimony may also be awarded short-term before a final divorce decree is given. Alimony, also called “spousal support” or “maintenance,” is meant to help a lower-earning spouse make it through the divorce and to start a new single life. Depending on the duration of the marriage and the degree to which one spouse was financially dependent on the other, support can last for a long time.

---------------------------------Athens GA Divorce Lawyer - Athens GA Uncontested Divorce - Contested Divorce AttorneyOur family law firm handles cases in Athens, Georgia. Our Georgia divorce lawyers represent clients in Athens and the Athens-Clarke County area.

Alimony Payments in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia

Divorce proceedings are complicated. Any error you do can affect the outcome. Firstly, you must be ready for a time consuming battle. Be warned, your spouse may fight bitterly. You should be ready. Expect the worst reaction from your spouse. Do not have totally unrealistic expectations or demands of what you will gain from the divorce. Make your demands reasonable and don’t expect that you’ll get everything.. The key in approaching divorces is to have realistic expectations, focus on problem solving and do everything you can to help your own case.
In Georgia, you can request that fault should be considered in deciding alimony payments. You can make this argument even if you have filed for divorce on the basis of fault. If the higher-earning spouse is guilty of adultery, was abusive, or is for some other reason at fault for the divorce, the support payment may be increased. If there’s only a certain amount of support that your errant spouse can afford, the court will not order an unrealistically exorbitant payment. Generally, the spouse who gets support has payments reduced because of fault. Alimony payments in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia are of three types:
• Permanent alimony - the paying party continues making the payments until death or till the spouse receiving payments married again.
• Temporary alimony – the alimony payments are made for a short interval of time to help the receiving party to stand alone once again.
• Rehabilitative alimony – is given to to enable a spouse with lower employability or earning ability become adjusted to a new single life.

---------------------------------Athens GA Divorce Lawyer - Athens GA Uncontested Divorce - Contested Divorce AttorneyOur family law firm handles cases in Athens, Georgia. Our Georgia divorce lawyers represent clients in Athens and the Athens-Clarke County area.

Athens-Clarke County, Georgia Divorce Settlement

With a Athens-Clarke County, Georgia divorce settlement, the spouses can keep the properties and liabilities each one wants, and offset the inequitable distribution with another asset or a property that can be easily distributed between the two parties such as a savings account, which is much easier to divide than a retirement account. Also, tax consequences should be considered when working up a settlement. It is possible that one party is in a better position to pay taxes on a certain property, and would therefore take that property. If the case should go to litigation instead, the judge may give the other party that particular asset, and that party may end up losing the asset due of tax complications. An uncontested divorce is perhaps the best form of divorce if you are looking for a divorce. An uncontested divorce is the least expensive kind of divorce you can get. In an uncontested divorce, both parties work together to agree on the terms of the divorce, and file court papers cooperatively to obtain the divorce. The spouses may never have to appear in court and there is no formal trial. All you need to do is file court forms and a “marital settlement agreement”. In a divorce settlement, because the parties reached the agreement, they are more likely to abide by the agreement, rather than a court order awarding issues to the party that did not want certain issues. This in turn keeps the parties out of court to litigate a noncompliance after the entry of the final judgment.

---------------------------------Athens GA Divorce Lawyer - Athens GA Uncontested Divorce - Contested Divorce AttorneyOur family law firm handles cases in Athens, Georgia. Our Georgia divorce lawyers represent clients in Athens and the Athens-Clarke County area.

Divorce in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia

All divorce lawsuits in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia should go through some kind of court proceeding. Even if both spouses agree about how to divide their property and handle custody, visitation, and support issues, a judge will still have to grant the divorce. In most states, divorce cases, contested and no-fault are dealt by a special court generally called “family court,” “domestic relations court,” or “divorce court.” These courts generally deal with only family-related lawsuits such as divorce, child custody and support, and even, adoption. Divorce in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia is stressful for both spouses and the children. When there are children from the marriage, the stakes are higher. Divorce in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia has tax implications. If you receive spousal support, you must report it as taxable income. If you are paying spousal support, you can deduct it. If you are granted alimony, you must plan for the likely tax impact of the income. Unlike an employer, your earlier spouse won’t hold back any taxes from your support payment. You must deduct spousal support payments on your income tax return, but not child support or property distributions. You can, also, make spousal support payments nontaxable and nondeductible if goes both ways and you both agree by stating as much in the marital settlement agreement. You should consider doing this if the spouse receiving support is in a higher tax bracket than the making spouse or if the paying spouse doesn’t need the tax deduction and the receiving spouse doesn’t want to report the income.

---------------------------------Athens GA Divorce Lawyer - Athens GA Uncontested Divorce - Contested Divorce AttorneyOur family law firm handles cases in Athens, Georgia. Our Georgia divorce lawyers represent clients in Athens and the Athens-Clarke County area.