BAINS LAW FIRM

Summer is the time to have fun in the sun, take vacations and generally try to relax. But for divorced and separated parents, Summer often brings its own unique set of challenges. With the kids out of school, a variety of complications may arise from agreeing to allowing the children to participate in sports, music, religious camps, to finding child care while a parent has to work, to negotiating time for extended vacations, and everything in between. Below are some tips th

Many times when you find out someone close to you is getting divorced, you begin to feel concerned for them and invariably it leads to many questions on what to do next. Our natural reaction is to support them when they are going through this difficult time. How can I help? What do I say? What can I do? Divorce can be very difficult, not only for the family involved, but for those close family and friends as well. Unless you are an attorney don’t offer legal advice or strateg

Kids these days are more active than ever before. Between increased school workloads, various after school clubs, extracurricular activities and sports, it’s astounding how busy (and often cluttered) children's lives have become. While all of these activities may look good on a college application or a job resume as the children get older, the fact is extracurriculars and sports are vital to providing children of any age some sense of normalcy as their parents go through a

1. Educate Yourself About the Process Before filing for any family law action, such as divorce (or Legal Separation and Committed Intimate Relationship) educate yourself about that process. This can be beneficial when you decide to move forward. Consulting with an attorney may be helpful. In addition to seeking legal advice, reading other materials may also be useful. Be selective, as there is a lot of inapplicable and misinformation online. As divorce laws vary from state t

Traditionally, Divorce filings spike dramatically upward in the month of January. In some years, the amount of new Divorce filings are up in January by almost 33% over any other month in the year. Many attorneys see a surge in new Divorce clients in January. In fact, the first Monday of the month is often referred to as "Divorce Monday" by Family Law Attorneys, and the entire month of January, as "Divorce Month." This dramatic increase in January Divorce is also consisten

In Washington State, when a party to a divorce is ordered to pay support (also known as maintenance, or alimony) to a former spouse, that payment is tax deductible. This means the party paying support ("payor") receives a tax benefit for the amount paid and the party receiving support ("payee") must pay taxes as earned income. However, the current tax system is about to undergo a big change. Currently, divorce settlement is often reached when the parties agree to larger pa

Washington State recognizes Committed Intimate Relationships (previously referred to as: Meretricious Relationships). There is no specific definition of what constitutes a Committed Intimate Relationship, instead the Court will consider relevant factors that have been developed over the years to determine if such a relationship exists. The bottom line when considering the factors is that the more marriage-like the relationship, the more likely a Court is to consider it a Com

For victims of Sexual Assault, Internet trolling of their social media is often commonplace. Postings from Facebook, Instagram, and other social media sites are often used against the victim as the matter heads to Court. Social media may be used to undermine the victim’s credibility, and to otherwise cast doubt about their claims of sexual assault. Caution should be taken whenever using social media, as even when a post is deleted from an account, it may be accessible somewhe

When spouses seeking a divorce are over fifty years old, it is often called “Gray Divorce”. According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, the number of Gray Divorces has roughly doubled since 1990. For those over 50 years old, about 10 out of every 1,000 married individual end up divorced. For those over 65 years old, divorce rates have nearly tripled. At this later stage in life, a divorce can present unique issues and tremendous risk. Often, Gray Divorcees can b

Use of Social Media in Family Law: Divorce, Child Custody, Parenting Plan, Protection Orders, Parenting Issues,