insights, news and announcements for our members, colleagues and community
DeKalb Volunteer Lawyers Foundation (DVLF) presented the program at the DeKalb Bar Association October luncheon, celebrating more than thirty years of the alliance between the DeKalb Bar Association and DVLF to serve the courts, the bar and residents of DeKalb…
by Daniel DeWoskin
Trial Attorney
atlantatrial.com
In general, I am the type of person who can separate the views of others from who they are as people. This is important for everyone, but especially for lawyers. I engage in this exercise routinely with clients and opposing counsel, whose personal views on any given subject may be the opposite of my own. Even in the case when we are not able to see eye-to-eye, we can always respect one another’s right to have a different opinion.
Phil McCurdy
Law Office of W. Phillip McCurdy, LLC
It has been said that criminal attorneys deal with bad people behaving at their very best whereas family lawyers deal with good people behaving at their very worst. While there resides a certain element of truth in the statement, it grossly oversimplifies the family practitioner’s experience. The more accurate statement is that in family law, clients will exhibit every possible facet of their personality, good and bad, during the progress of their case.
Impaired individuals present special challenges as clients, which challenges cannot be responsibly whitewashed or ignored by their lawyer.
Mary Lewis, Esq.
marylewislaw.com
More and more of my clients are being turned away by doctors when seeking treatment for injuries incurred in automobile collisions. What seems to be a growing trend for doctors’ groups adopting blanket policies against treating patients injured in automobile collisions is creating a real problem for these patients who genuinely need treatment and are having increasing difficulty finding it. For the doctors turning them away, it does not appear to matter the nature of the injuries sustained, the specialty of the medical group, whether or not the patient was a long-time patient of the practice, or whether or not litigation is involved. Nor does it seem to matter whether the patient has health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid or PeachCare, which would cover the cost of the treatments sought. Based on my personal observations, the problem is widespread and not limited to a few areas of practice. My clients have encountered it when seeking care from orthopedic, neurologic, surgical, physical therapy, general, and pediatric practices.
by Andy Flink
Trainer Mediator
Flink Consulting, LLC
At the start of every mediation I’m always thinking (and of course hoping) that we’ll walk out of the room with a full agreement. While this doesn’t always happen and partial agreements are the next best option, there are reasons why we may end up with no agreement at all.
Some mediations reach impasse in the first 15 minutes, others in the last 15 minutes after 10 hours of negotiating. Sometimes it’s obvious as to why there is no agreement, other times it isn’t so clear. What causes all of our hard work to unravel? Why did a done deal all of a sudden fall apart? There are many reasons why cases don’t settle, but here are the ones I see the most often that typically send mediations into a tailspin:
By: Jessica Reece
HHCM Family Law
Individuals going through a divorce often think of it as a private concern between two adults. But when a court is looking at custody issues, and determining what is best for the children involved, the net may be cast wider than the immediate, nuclear family and many clients are not aware their personal lives could be so evaluated in open court and need to be advised accordingly early-on in the case.
The standard for custody pursuant to Georgia law is what is in the best interest of the child. Pursuant to statute, the judge may “take into consideration all the circumstances of the case . . . to look to and determine solely what is for the best interest of the child and what will best promote the child’s welfare and happiness.” OCGA Sec. 19-9-3. This term “circumstances” is read very broadly and includes more than the bond between parent and child or how many soccer games and parent teacher conferences each parent attends each year.
By Heather Durham Nadler
Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from Ms. Nadler’s recent presentation at “Current Financial Topics in Family Law.” For a complete copy of the article, “Special Needs Trusts, Elder Care and Disability In the Arena of Family Law,” please contact the author at heather@heathernadlerlaw.com or the DBA newsletter editor at jreece@hhcmfamilylaw.com.
Going through a divorce can undoubtedly be one of the most traumatic experiences one faces in a lifetime and divorce unfortunately touches, either directly or indirectly, the vast majority of today’s families. When an individual with a disability is involved, whether that individual is one of the parties to the divorce proceeding or is the child of the parties, the trauma can become even greater.
When facing a divorce, parents with disabilities can be left worrying how they will provide for their children. Spouses with disabilities are fearful of how and if they will ever be able to become self-supporting. Parents are left with confusion as to how to view the funds of a child with a disability when determining support obligations.
A Special Needs Trust (SNT) can be a valuable tool in assisting special needs families who are facing a divorce.