Posts Tagged ‘Family Law’

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Back to School Emergency Cards

Sunday, August 14th, 2011

It’s time for a new school year and that means shopping for school clothes, meeting new teachers, and filling out emergency cards.

The emergency cards can be helpful in telling the school who is authorized to pick your kids up from school if you aren’t able to be there.  And it can help to make sure that your child is not sent home with a stranger pretending to be a relative, or anyone else that you do not want to be around your children.

What these emergency cards can’t do is authorize someone to temporarily take custody of your children if a serious accident happens to you during the school day (or any other time).  if something happens to you, the authorities can only leave your kids with their legal guardian.

So what happens if there isn’t a legal guardian?  The authorities will find someone in the foster care system to take care of your kids until ‘things can be worked out’.  That means that your kids will be with strangers during this emotional and difficult time.  Not with the neighbor who knows them or the parent of their friend from school.

Most parents know they should name a guardian for their kids in their Will, but a Will only becomes meaningful after your death, and even then it may take days or weeks to find the document and get it entered with the court.  What about in the meantime?  And what if you are injured and in a hospital instead of deceased?

In Virginia, you can draft something called a ‘standby guardianship’ which tells everyone who YOU want to have custody of your children if you are not able to take care of them yourself.

This important document should be drafted by every parent and reviewed on at least an annual basis to make sure that it contains your current wishes.  There may have been a change in your life, and there may have also been a change in the life of the neighbor or friend you had named before.  You should also make sure that your babysitter knows how to find a copy of this document, and a copy should be given to the school as well as the person named in your document.

We all have busy lives and we forget to do some things.  As you are filling out the emergency cards for school this year, take a minute and review your standby guardian designation to make sure it is still valid.  And if you don’t have a standby guardian for your minor children, now is the time to get this important document!

If you have any questions about this or any other legal subject, please feel free to give us a call at 757-234-4650 or visit our website at http://www.BeaversLaw.com.

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Posted in Children, Estate Planning, Family Law, General Information, Guardian | No Comments »

Do you have a ‘special needs’ child?

Sunday, May 22nd, 2011

Most of us know that each child is special and unique, but in this case I’m talking about a child that has ‘special needs’.

These special needs can run the gamut from being mildly allergic to milk to being unable to care for themselves at all.

When the child is under the age of 18, the parent can make decisions for the child without question so long as they have not been removed as the legal guardian of the child.

But what happens when that child reaches the age of majority?  In most states, a person is presumed to be able to make their own decisions when they reach the age of 18.

If your child’s special need is to not drink milk, this is probably ok.  The child probably knows to stay away from foods that have negative consequences.  But what about a child that is not able to take care of his or her own self?

If the now-adult child is capable of understanding what it means, he or she can execute a power of attorney giving the parent (or someone else) the authority to act or make decisions on behalf of the child.  If the child is not capable of understanding what it means, the courts may need to step in to authorize someone to take actions on behalf of the child.  This person is usually called a ‘guardian’ or ‘conservator’.

As a parent, you also want to make sure that your young child is cared for in case something should happen to you.  While this is important for all parents, it is even more important for parents of special needs children who may not be able to successfully transition to the care of others in the case of an emergency.

There are also a number of financial and legal planning activities that the parents of a special needs child should know about in order to make the best decisions for the entire family.

If you have a special needs child, you probably already have a number of specialists working with you on your child’s medical and educational plans.  You should also consider having someone work with you on your child’s legal plan.

To Learn more about Kristina Beavers, Attorney at Law visit the website at www.BeaversLaw.com

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Posted in Children, Estate Planning, General Information, Special Needs | No Comments »

Hampton Office !

Friday, May 20th, 2011

We have just opened a new satellite office to better serve our clients in the Hampton area.

Our Hampton office is in the Peninsula Town Center with an address of:

Kristina Beavers, Attorney at Law

4410 Claiborne Sq, Suite 334

Hampton, VA 23666

You can use the same phone number of 757-234-4650 to access us at either office (don’t you just love technology!)

To learn more about Kristina Beavers, Attorney at Law, check out our website at www.BeaversLaw.com

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When does the obligation to pay child support end?

Saturday, March 19th, 2011

The easy answer to this question is….when the court said it ends.

Support for your children is more than a moral obligation, it is also a legal obligation that is described in an order of the court.  The court order will tell you how much the child support payment will be and when it should be paid (for example, $400 a month to be paid on the first of each month).

The court order will also tell you when the obligation to pay child support will end.  Generally in Virginia, child support is paid until the child reaches the age of 18, or the age of 19 if the child is still a full-time student in high-school.

Sometimes the parents will come to an agreement that child support should be paid while the child is enrolled in college or any other type of education.  This is often done through negotiations during a divorce process and the courts will generally include the child support obligation in the final decree of divorce.

There are also situations where the child might have a special need so that everyone agrees that the child support should be paid for a longer period, or even for the life of the child.

The important thing to remember is to read the court order!

Just because your child has reached his or her 18th birthday does not necessarily mean that your obligation to pay support has ended.

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Posted in Children, Family Law, Support | No Comments »

The basics of child support

Saturday, March 5th, 2011

The Commonwealth of Virginia has determined that the legal parents of a child are responsible for supporting that child.  The Commonwealth also believes that a child should share in the lifestyle of the parents.  What this means is that a family with a monthly gross income of $1,000 per month will pay much less than a family with a monthly gross income of $8,000.

Virginia makes the determination of child support very easy.  Section 20-108.2 of the Code of Virginia actually has numbers which serve as the presumed amount that should be paid in child support.  Parents can argue that they should be allowed to deviate from these figures, but this is where the discussion needs to start.

To use this ‘chart’ to determine child support, you first take the gross income of the mother and the gross income of the father and add them together to get the gross income of the family.  Gross income is the amount before any deductions are taken for taxes, garnishments etc.  In the case of military personnel, the gross income includes any amounts for BAH, BAS etc.  You go down the far left column of this chart until you come to the row that holds the value of the gross income of the family (they rows are in $50 increments, so if your income is between rows, you might need to do a little adjusting).  Now that you have the correct row, you go across that row to the column that indicates the number of children.  Note that the support for two children is not double the amount for one child.

As an example, if Dad has a gross income of $3,000 per month and Mom has a gross income of $1,000 per month, the family income is $4,000 per month so you go to the row for $4,0o0.  Assuming there are two children, you go to the column for two children and the presumed correct child support amount is $861 per month.   This is the amount that the parents together should be providing for the support of the child.

Since our example has Dad making $3,000 out of the family gross income of $4,000 he makes 3/4 (or 75%) of the family income and Mom makes 1/4 (or 25%) of the family income.

You take the number in the table, $861 per month and multiply that by 3/4 to get an amount of $645.75 that is the responsibility of Dad and 1/4 of $861 to get the amount of $215.25 which is the responsibility of Mom.

If the kids are living with Dad, Mom will pay Dad $215.25 per month.  If the kids are living with Mom, Dad will pay Mom $645.75 per month.  Of course, if the family is all living together, there is really no need to even consider this!

There might be other adjustments to these figures, but this always the starting point, and when you go to court you always need to have the guideline numbers available for the judge to review.

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Posted in Children, Family Law, Support | No Comments »

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