Newsletter
A Child Advocacy Company
Bringing Support to Parents
Building Strength to Children
Bringing Support to Parents
Building Strength to Children
Disclaimer: BS Kids LLC legal research and information has been prepared for educational and informational purposes only. This material is not legal
advice or legal opinions on any specific matters. Transmission of the information is not intended to create and receipt does not constitute a
lawyer-client relationship between BS Kids LLC , the author of the information and any other legal publisher. Customers of BS Kids should not act upon
this information without seeking professional counsel. The opinions expressed in the material presented to BS Kids clientele is based on information
found in legal publications. BS Kids LLC, 6 Mackinac Court, Pooler, Ga. 31322 (912) 988-1001 or 781-756-1214.
advice or legal opinions on any specific matters. Transmission of the information is not intended to create and receipt does not constitute a
lawyer-client relationship between BS Kids LLC , the author of the information and any other legal publisher. Customers of BS Kids should not act upon
this information without seeking professional counsel. The opinions expressed in the material presented to BS Kids clientele is based on information
found in legal publications. BS Kids LLC, 6 Mackinac Court, Pooler, Ga. 31322 (912) 988-1001 or 781-756-1214.
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Winter 2008
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BS KIDS BEAT VOLUME 12 FALL 2010 BS KIDS It’s Fall again and thankfully the election is over with. There were many surprises in New Hampshire, as well as Massachusetts – one state going red, one state staying blue. This should make for an interesting Legislative year ahead. BS KIDS will be introducing a new program after the first of the year. We are proud to introduce * THE KIDS DIVORCE SUPPORT GROUP*. The focus of the program is to explain to children about the divorce and separation process, that it’s okay to express their feelings, that there are many different types of families today, that there are other children who also share similar feelings, and also teaching a more effective way to deal with family problems, by building self esteem and engaging with other children. The program is designed for any child aged eight (8) years old to seventeen (17) years old. Going through changes is especially difficult for any child, but when their family breaks up, it’s devastating. We will be posting locations in the very near future. If you or someone you know is interested in this group, please contact us at bskidsco@yahoo.com or at (781) 756-1214. We wish you and your family the happiest of holidays this season. May 2011 be the best year ever for everyone! Happy Holidays WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH FAMILY LAW The Court system is experiencing tremendous strain and therefore has reduced their hours across the state of New Hampshire. Be sure to check with your local Court for their new times and closing. They have already introduced three (3) additional furlough days for 2011. Additionally, many Courts are restricting their hours to close afternoons and/or open later. While in today’s economy things of this nature are somewhat inevitable, it just means that it will now take longer to not only get into Court, but also to get an order from the Court. If you should need to seek Court intervention, we would strongly recommend that you consider Mediation. For more information, please contact us. LEGISLATIVE UPDATES With the advent of the recent elections, not too much has happened in the Legislature. I do know (although the ruling has not been published yet), that HB 139: Relative to the determination of Parental Rights and Responsibilities failed to pass Interim Study by a vote of 10-6, in the Child and Family Law Committee. Additionally, there has been a few new Legislative Service Requests (LSR’s) for 2011. Those of particular interest are below. Now that the elections are over with, I’m not sure if all of the Prime Sponsors got re- elected, so we will have an update at the end of this month on our website. 2011 LEGISLATIVE SERVICE REQUESTS 2011-H-0028-R Relative to the suspension of drivers' licenses for failure to make child support payments. Prime Sponsor: Laura Pantelakos 2011-H-0081-R Relative to parental rights. Providing that parents have certain rights unless they commit an act that amounts to forfeiture. Prime Sponsor: Daniel Itse 2011-H-0083-R Relating to the authority of the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Providing that laws shall be superior to rules promulgated by the court. Prime Sponsor: Daniel Itse 2011-H-0087-R Petition on behalf of Timothy Dupont. Prime Sponsor: Lars Christiansen 2011-H-0100-R Establishing a judicial performance review commission. Prime Sponsor: Robert Rowe 2011-H-0128-R Relative to appointments and reappointments of marital masters. Prime Sponsor: Robert Rowe 2011-H-0191-R Relative to grounds for modification of parental rights and responsibilities. Prime Sponsor: Carolyn Gargasz. NEWS An interesting article recently appeared discussing recent Marriage Statistics (see article below): Are Marriage Statistics Divorced from Reality? By Belinda Luscombe Do half of all marriages really end in divorce? It's probably the most often quoted statistic about modern love, and it's a total buzz kill, in line with saying that half of all new shoes will give you hammertoes or that 50% of babies will grow up to be ugly. Now the divorce stat is coming under scrutiny — and not just because of its unromanticity. "It's a very murky statistic," says Jennifer Baker, director of the marriage- and family-therapy programs at Forest Institute, a postgraduate psychology school in Springfield, Mo. She's often erroneously credited with arriving at the 50% figure; it was around long before she used it. Figuring out divorce rates is tricky. Not all states collect marital data, and the numbers change dramatically depending on the methods and sources that are used. In the end, the best that researchers can do is look for trends within a specific group or cohort (say, all people who married in the 1980s) and project what will happen. As Baker says, "It's very difficult to know, if a couple gets married today, whether they'll still be married in 40 years." But in an upbeat new guide to marriage, For Better, Tara Parker-Pope, a New York Times reporter (and divorcée), devotes a chapter to debunking the 50% stat, at least among the subset of the population that reads books like hers. Since the 1970s, when more women started going to college and delaying marriage, "marital stability appears to be improving each decade," she writes. For example, about 23% of college graduates who married in the '70s split within 10 years. For those who wed in the '90s, the rate dropped to 16%. According to research at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, one of the clearest predictors of whether wedding vows will stick is the age of the people saying them. Take the '80s: a full 81% of college graduates who got hitched in that decade at age 26 or older were still married 20 years later. Only 65% of college grads who said I do before their 26th birthday made it that far. But just 49% of those who married young and did so without a degree lasted 20 years, a cohort that Parker-Pope spends little time discussing. Instead she contends that the 50% stat is a myth that persists because it's something of a political Swiss Army knife, handy for any number of agendas. Social conservatives use it to call for more marriage-friendly policies, while liberals find it handy to press for funding for programs that help single moms. Moreover, Parker-Pope argues, all the talk about grim marriage stats becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. "It makes us ambivalent and more vulnerable to giving up when problems occur," she writes. Perhaps, but there may still be truth to it. Penn State sociologist Paul Amato, in a thorough new report on interpreting divorce data, writes that the half-of-all-marriages-end-badly figure still "appears to be reasonably accurate." What seems most clear is that less-educated, lower-income couples split up more often than college grads and may be doing so in higher numbers than before. "The people who are most likely to get divorced have the least resources to deal with its impact, particularly on children," says Amato. Talk about buzz kill. Another interesting article talked about a group of New Hampshire attorney’s suing the state claiming that the Courts closures were unconstitutional. The Court has dismissed the case; however, it’s interesting to see the attorney’s position (see below): Judicial budget in court By Maddie Hanna Lawyers to file suit over cuts to system In what they say is a last resort to force the state to restore $6 million to a backlogged and understaffed court system's budget, a group of lawyers will sue the state today, arguing that budget cuts have denied the public access to justice. Concord attorney and former state Supreme Court justice Chuck Douglas said the state has underfunded the court system to the point where it's no longer abiding by the state Constitution, which guarantees people the right to a trial by jury and prompt access to justice. Across the state, civil jury trials and small claims cases have been canceled or delayed as courts struggle with staff shortages, judicial vacancies and furlough days - reductions that have occurred as a result of legislative cuts, Douglas said."The other $6 billion of state spending is not, for the most part, based on anything in the Constitution," Douglas said yesterday. "And for those of us who still believe in the Constitution, you've got to fund the system of justice if people are going to be able to resolve disputes in a timely manner," he added. The lawsuit includes four plaintiffs whose cases were affected by court delays: a nine-year-old lead poisoning lawsuit, a parental custody and visitation case, a medical malpractice lawsuit on behalf of a man who died five years ago, and a slip-and-fall case that settled out of court after the plaintiff was told it would be another year before he could go to trial. Douglas said he will file the lawsuit this morning in Merrimack County Superior Court. "We're really left with no other vehicle but to bring it forward in this county where the state (government) is located," Douglas said. He hopes to get a hearing within a few months on a request for temporary relief and said the state could restore money to compensate for $4 million in cuts made in the past six months by drawing from its surplus. Court spokeswoman Laura Kiernan declined to comment on Douglas's lawsuit when contacted by a reporter yesterday. But court officials have repeatedly decried the cuts from the Legislature, which they say have reduced the judicial branch's budget by $10.5 million over the past four years. The governor's office has responded by saying it was the judicial branch's choice to cut jury trials rather than make other reductions, and Lynch spokesman Colin Manning made that argument again yesterday. He also said that despite cutting state spending by 7 percent, the state had increased the court system's funding by 2.6 percent. "We worked hard to balance the budget, to close a $300 million shortfall, and get a significant surplus of over $60 million," Manning said. "The use of that surplus would take legislative action. "What we think is the courts could have made better decisions in balancing their budget," he said. But Douglas said Manning "was not giving the full picture." After appropriating money to the judicial branch, Douglas said, the state ordered cuts for the next two years and added a $1.2 million expense for a new contract for court bailiffs. In the current two-year budget cycle, Douglas said the court system has lost $6 million, whether through cuts or appropriations the state has ordered be paid back or lapsed. "It's a give with one hand, take with another," he said. "They apparently think there is a room filled with money somewhere over there in the Supreme Court basement." Court employees have taken 14 unpaid furlough days, Douglas said, "and you wouldn't do that if you had the money." Asked whether it was appropriate to ask a judge to decide a case that would affect the budget for the judicial branch, Douglas cited what he called "the rule of necessity." "You still have a dispute, someone has to decide, and we have no mechanism to bring a judge in from Kansas, so it has to be a judge here in New Hampshire," Douglas said. GET INVOLVED There are many ways to get involved this holiday season. Now more then ever food pantry’s are sparse, as well as the need for volunteers for meals on wheels programs. While we realize that *free time* is a luxury these days, why not take a few hours out of your busy day and help those who really need help this season! To learn more about opportunities in your area, go to your local yellow pages and check under social service agencies and/or your local papers. Tis the season to give back and now is an excellent time to start! E-MAIL ALERTS If you are interested in getting alerts from BS KIDS regarding news, legislative activity or getting involved opportunities, please sign up on our website at www.bskids.net COMMENTS/SUGGESTIONS BS KIDS is looking to include areas of interest to our readers. If there is a topic or area of concern that you would like to learn more about, please let us know. You can e-mail us at info@bskids.net or call 781-756-1214. Disclaimer: BS Kids LLC legal research and information has been prepared for educational and informational purposes only. This material is not legal advice or legal opinions on any specific matters. Transmission of the information is not intended to create and receipt does not constitute a lawyer-client relationship between BS Kids LLC, the author of the information and any other legal publisher. Customers of BS Kids should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel. The opinions expressed in the material presented to BS Kids clientele are based on information found in legal publications. BS Kids LLC, 78 Canterberry Court, Hudson, NH 03051 781-756-1214. |