Phoenix Family Law Blog

It is not uncommon for separating spouses to initially think that they will go through with an uncontested divorce, meaning there will be no disagreement concerning the children, house or the bank accounts. Unfortunately, this often does not come to pass and these well-intentioned spouses end up entering into bitter divorce proceedings.

As mentioned above, these disputes can often erupt over children, finances or perhaps more unique marital property such as the beloved family pet.

Today's post will take a brief look at how the issue of family pets is typically handled by state divorce courts.

Pets are treated as property in the eyes of the law

According to both Steven May and David Pissara, authors of "What About Wally: Co-parenting a Pet with Your Ex," most state courts view dogs, cats and other family pets as they would a sofa, dining room table or DVD player -- as marital property subject to property division.

There is no question that a divorce can take a serious toll on a person's short-term physical health, as they experience elevated levels of stress, anger and even depression. However, what about the toll on a person's long-term physical health?

According to a recent study performed by researchers at the University of Arizona and published in the latest edition of the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science, divorced adults appear to be at an elevated risk of dying younger when compared with their married counterparts.

Specifically, the researchers determined the following:

• Divorced adults were 23 percent more likely to die early than married adults monitored by researchers for an average of 11 years
• The health risks associated with a divorce were comparable to those associated with smoking, drinking, lack of exercise and obesity

"We thought there was some risk," said Professor David Sbarra, one of the study's primary authors. "But we didn't think the risk elevation would be as substantial as other serious public-health risks."

When it comes to New Year's resolutions, the majority of people make somewhat mundane pledges such as vowing to lose weight, quit smoking, learn a new language or perhaps take a long-awaited trip to an exotic location. As it turns out, however, other people are choosing to make far more extraordinary resolutions, including addressing both child custody and paternity concerns.

A recent survey of over 1,000 people by Identigene -- the manufacturer of a DNA paternity test sold in retail stores/pharmacies -- made the following eye-opening findings:

• One out of every five people surveyed knew a close friend or family member who had questioned the paternity of a child at some point
• One out of every ten people surveyed indicated that they were in a scenario in which a paternity test would be necessary/appropriate
• 51 percent of people who stated that they had paternity concerns in the survey indicated that they were planning to address these concerns in 2012, or wanted to address these concerns but didn't know how

The growing prevalence of intercultural and/or interfaith marriages produces a diverse religious and cultural heritage for a couple's children. However, when these intercultural/interfaith marriages end in divorce, each parent will probably want to continue to celebrate their respective traditions with their children. Consequently, child custody and visitation agreements can rapidly become very complex.

Traditional visitation agreements typically spelled out more ordinary items such as who got the kids for Christmas in odd- and even-numbered years. Today's agreements, however, go far beyond just making arrangements for holidays and summer breaks. For example, couples who broke glass under a chuppah and took communion on their wedding day may not want to keep an interfaith household in the wake of their divorce.

It seems that two family law-related questions inevitably accompany the demise of nearly every short-term celebrity marriage: 1) Did the formerly happy couple have a prenuptial agreement in place? or 2) Is the formerly happy couple going to seek a divorce or an annulment?

Regarding this latter question, many people are likely somewhat familiar with the general idea of an annulment, but unsure as to what it actually entails or how it differs from a divorce. Today's post will seek to shed some light on the mystery surrounding annulments.

What is an annulment and how does it differ from a divorce?

If a couple divorces, the law treats it as a marriage that had both a firm beginning and a firm ending. An annulment, on the other end, effectively declares the marriage null and void.

"When a couple gets an annulment, it's as if the marriage never existed to begin with," said Kristin Hofheimer, a Virginia Beach-based divorce attorney.

Child custody cases often turn contentious. But few cases are as bitter as a recent custody case in Jersey City, N.J.

This case featured a battle over who would receive custody of 5-year-old twin girls. Specifically, both the gay couple that was raising the girls and a sister of one of these men who had served as a surrogate for the couple were battling over the children, according to reports.

The case presented unique challenges for the Hudson County Superior Court judge who decided it. The woman, of course, gave birth to the twins, acting as a surrogate for the gay couple through a donor embryo fertilized by one of the men (her brother's partner). The two men at the center of the case, on the other hand, had already been acting as parents to the twin girls.

The judge eventually decided to award full custody to the girls' biological father, meaning one half of the couple already raising them. However, the woman who gave birth to the children did have her parental visitation rights preserved.

In divorce-related news, a recently released report comparing the general marital satisfaction of married couples with children versus married couples without children is generating both conversation and controversy among academics throughout the U.S.

According to the report entitled "Baby Makes Three" -- the most recent installment in the ongoing "State of Our Unions: Marriage in America" series by the National Marriage Project -- married couples without children were generally found to have higher "marital satisfaction" than married couples with children.

However, the report also found that some married couples "can navigate the shoals of parenthood without succumbing to comparatively low levels of marital happiness or high levels of marital instability."

Simply put, the researchers found that some married couples with children are actually quite content and perhaps not more prone to divorce. They arrived at this conclusion by examining data from The Survey of Marital Generosity, the General Social Survey and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.

If you are recently divorced, you are more than likely happy to be free from a marriage that simply wasn't working. However, you are also more than likely adjusting to certain lifestyle changes ranging from the relatively mundane (learning what to do with your free time, adjusting to more household duties, etc. ) to the more significant (adjusting to a visitation schedule, finding a new home, etc.).

In fact, you may have recently experienced a major lifestyle adjustment over the course of the holiday season. Perhaps you are accustomed to spending time with your children on Christmas or traveling as a couple to a favorite exotic destination but ended up spending the holidays alone.

Whatever the circumstances of your situation, the holidays have the potential to be a very emotional time for many divorced spouses. Fortunately, there are options to help make the holiday season more enjoyable - especially for those divorced spouses who are unable to be with their children.

Today's post will take a brief look at some of these options.