Child custody is an important issue in Georgia. Unless the parties can set aside their emotions and work together peacefully, it is unlikely that a 50/50 parenting plan will be successful. Many judges are skeptical about a parent who has previously been uninvolved wanting an award of equal parenting time. Too often it appears that a request for equal parenting time is motivated by a desire to punish the other parent or to avoid paying child support. Even with equal parenting time, child support can be ordered if the parents’ income is disparate. The impact on the child or children should be considered in developing an equal parenting situation. Finally, every divorcing parent must be aware that their child will have an adjustment period at each transition between parents.

The hot housing market is causing problems for some would-be bankruptcy filers. A reason people are having difficulty filing chapter 7 bankruptcy is caused by the increase in housing values. The price of real estate is increasing. This can be bad news for Georgia debtors. The exemption for a single homeowner in Georgia is $21,500, meaning a single person’s home can not have equity of more than $21,500. The exemption is doubled for a married couple.

A child born in the United States is a citizen and shouldn’t be deported even if the mother is deported. If a spouse gets deported then the citizen spouse should automatically receive custody. A layer of protection for the citizen spouse would be to have the educational tiebreaker to choose what school the child attends. A Court may be reluctant to give primary custody of a child to a party who is in the US illegally because living with a parent who could be deported at any time is not in the best interests of the child.

We help people get a name change. Georgia law allows people to change their name. Getting a name change makes people more happy with themselves and more confident. Many famous people and celebrities of all types have gotten a name change. We file all the required paperwork with the court to convince a judge that the name change should be approved.

Under Georgia law, same sex divorces are the same as opposite sex divorces. The United States Supreme Court legalized gay marriage nationally in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644 (2015). Spousal support, division of property, child custody, child support, and Georgia residency requirements are just a few of the issues that might need to be addressed when filing for divorce, and the law is the same regardless of the genders of the married spouses.

Six recent QDRO questions that we answer include: What Retirement Plans Require a QDRO? What is a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (“QDRO”)? Why do I need an Annual Benefit Statement for a QDRO? Are Retirement Assets Joint Property? Is a QDRO a complicated document? When both spouses have nearly equal retirement benefits, does that change anything for the QDRO?

A Qualified Domestic Relations Order (a QDRO) is the mechanism created under law to transfer money out of a retirement account, either a 401(k) or a pension. A QDRO should be drafted correctly or it will be rejected. The QDRO should be referenced in the settlement agreement or mediated agreement and the agreement should state how the retirement account is to be apportioned using exact figures (either specific dollar amounts or percentages) or a date certain upon which to value the retirement account.

The Coronavirus pandemic is affecting just about every aspect of daily life in Georgia and around the United States. Its impact extends to the federal, state, and local governments. Bankruptcy courts, out of necessity, are changing, modifying and adjusting their rules because of COVID-19.

A Qualified Domestic Relations Order (a “QDRO”) is utilized to apportion retirement benefits in the state of Georgia. A QDRO must be used to divide a 401(k) and a pension. That is the only way to divide these retirement accounts when you get divorced. Each pension or 401(k) requires its own separate QDRO. A judge from the court that granted the divorce must approve of the QDRO. If a party doesn't cooperate in providing information for the QDRO, that party can be sanctioned by the court.

Many divorces are uncontested, but some are contested and have issues that need to be negotiated by the parties involved or decided by a judge. Child custody is based on the best interests of the child. Child support in Georgia is done with the child support calculator. Alimony is based on various factors. Length of marriage, incomes, job and career possibilities, and education are just some of the variables considered when looking at alimony.

Many lawsuits are filed every day in Georgia. Many of these legal actions involve the non-payment of debt. If you file bankruptcy, you can eliminate the debt you are being sued on. Many people get served with law suits and then contact a bankruptcy lawyer. If we file either a chapter 7 or chapter 13 bankruptcy, we can eliminate the debt and make the lawsuit "go away."

Paternity is determined with a blood test or a buccal swab. A DNA test is highly accurate and can determine the likelihood of paternity to 99.99 percent. The DNA test will confirm or disprove if you are the child’s father. In fact, it can exclude the father with 100% accuracy. DNA is a unique genetic "fingerprint." A baby takes half of each parent’s DNA, so the baby is a shared mix of its mother’s and father’s DNA.

You can eliminate doctor and hospital bills and all kinds of medical debt if you file for bankruptcy. So any debts you have from hospitals, clinics, physicians, etc., can be included in your filing, just like credit card bills and other debts. And whether you file a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13, you can eliminate your medical debt.

Specific QDRO requirements are contained in the law known as ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Under the law, a QDRO must contain the following: the name of each plan involved; the full name and last known mailing address of the participant and the alternate payee; the number of payments or time period to which the order applies; and, the precise dollar amount or exact percentage (or the method of determining the amount of percentage) of the benefit to be paid to the alternate payee.

You can’t have a jury trial in a municipal court in the state of Georgia. And Sandy Springs is no exception. By law, jury trials can only be held in state courts and superior courts. If you want a jury trial you will have to “bind-over” the case to Fulton County State Court, which is in Atlanta. The reason the case would be sent to the Fulton State Court is because Sandy Springs is a city located in Fulton County.

If you are convicted of or plead guilty to a DUI charge in the state of Georgia, the relevant DUI statute, O.C.G.A § 40-6-391, requires “a period of probation of 12 months less any days during which the person is actually incarcerated.” However, it’s possible that the probation can become non-reporting once you have completed all of the conditions of your sentence. Some of the conditions of your sentence can include a risk reduction course and community service, among other things.

What is a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO)? A QDRO is a type of domestic relations order usually issued in divorce cases. During a divorce or legal separation, a QDRO splits a retirement or pension plan by recognizing joint martial ownership interest in retirement accounts was different types.

A qualified domestic relations order, also known as a QDRO, is a special court order that grants a person the right to a portion of the retirement benefits of his or her former spouse who earned them through participation in an employer-sponsored retirement plan. QDROs are typically prepared during or immediately after divorce proceedings. In a QDRO, the person who earned the benefit is called the “participant” and the person who is designated to receive a share of that benefit is called the “alternate payee.” QDROs can award benefits to the alternate payee while the participant is alive, as well as survivor benefits should the participant dies.

A QDRO (pronounced as “qua-dro”) is a type of domestic relations order usually issued in divorce cases. During a divorce or legal separation, a QDRO splits a retirement or pension plan by recognizing joint martial ownership interest in the plan. A QDRO is a difficult document to draft and many people make mistakes when drafting them.

DUI charges in Gwinnett County are handled in many courts. Gwinnett County has municipal courts, also known as city courts, along with a state court and a superior court. Gwinnett County also has a Recorder’s Court.

You can get a DUI simply from the use of legal prescription medications. In fact, it is becoming more and more common. As more people utilize prescription drugs for various physical and mental diagnoses, we are seeing more arrests being made for DUI-drugs. Oftentimes if a police officer suspects that a driver is under the influence of drugs, they will request a blood test. And the results of the blood test will be of great importance to a DUI-drugs charge.

It’s quite common for people to feel a cop was mean to them and was dishonest in some way, particularly when the interaction ends with a DUI arrest. Most police officers, in our experience, are well-trained and professional, but like all professions and careers, there are exceptions. It's not illegal in many circumstances for a cop to lie. As a Sandy Springs DUI lawyer, we analyze your case to determine if the police officer crossed any legal lines.

Failure to maintain lane is a common reason to be stopped by a police officer. The Georgia law for failure to maintain lane is O.C.G.A. 40-6-48. In evaluating whether a stop for failure to maintain lane was proper, we would like to know if the police officer has a video of it. Many DUI arrests involve a failure to maintain lane stop.

Before we assess your “chances in court” when facing a Dunwoody DUI, we’d certainly want to do some investigation. We’d want to scrutinize the police report and watch the video of the stop and arrest, if one exists. That’s a good way of determining what your best options are. Then we can determine what tactics and strategies to utilize in the Dunwoody Municipal Court.

The breath test administered on the street by a law enforcement officer is usually known as an Intoximeter, Alco-Sensor, Preliminary Breath Test (PBT), or Preliminary Alcohol Screening test (PAS). It's usually a hand-held device. An Intoxilyzer, however, is generally a larger machine than an Alco-Sensor and it is usually administered in a jail, at a police station, or at another law enforcement location. The Intoxilyzer test, unlike the Alco-sensor test, is admissible in a Georgia court for the specific alcohol reading.