Atlanta Divorce Law Group - June 2019

Atlanta Divorce Law Group - June 2019

Is Legitimation What You Need? HEY, DADS! DO YOU HAVE THE PARENTAL RIGHTS YOU THINK YOU DO?

June 2019

The month of June is often filled to the brim with excitement. Amid preparing for several graduations, the first day of summer, and keeping the kids busy while they are home from school, make sure you’re able to set aside time to celebrate one of the best holidays this month: Father’s Day! There are all kinds of fathers in the world, but one characteristic that connects many of them is their love for their children. Unfortunately, if their child was born out of wedlock, there are some legal hoops dads have to jump through in order to ensure their paternal rights are recognized and verified. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 44.9% of all children born in 2017 were born out of wedlock. If you’re a father and you weren’t married to your current or former partner when your child was born, you have no right to custody or visitation rights in the state of Georgia until you get your child legitimized. In addition to your lack of parental rights, without legitimation, your kids will lose out on several rights of their own, such as these: family medical information, inheritance, Social Security benefits for you, and the ability to be placed in the care of your relative in an emergency situation. Contrary to popular belief, signing your child’s birth certificate, paying child support, and even obtaining a paternity test does not give you any legal rights to make decisions regarding your child’s care. In fact, many fathers have the unfortunate experience

of finding out that, even after taking all the proper steps, they are denied the opportunity to see their kids. Here’s the bottom line: Unless a child born outside of marriage is legitimized, the mother has all the authority.

While legitimation is extremely important in these kinds of family dynamics, the process itself isn’t too complex. You’ll have to file a petition with the superior court in the county where the child’s mother lives. Our attorneys recommend having a DNA test done prior to the filing, just to prevent any issues that could arise throughout the process. The petition will state basic information about the child and parents. It will also determine whether or not the father wishes to have the child’s last name changed. After filing, the mother will be served a copy of the petition and will have a designated time to either consent or object. At that point, a hearing is scheduled so a judge can issue an order. In the vast majority of cases, legitimation petitions are granted unless the mother can provide evidence to show that the father is unfit or has waited too long to start the legitimation process. Regardless of the specifics, in the end, your child will be given the opportunity to have an involved father in their life, which is an important aspect of every child’s experience. What’s more, having a close relationship with their dad means that your child will be able to fully celebrate every June when Father’s Day comes around! Let us make this process easier for you — give us a call. “There are all kinds of fathers in the world, but one characteristic that connects many of them is their love for their children.”

atlantadivorcelawgroup.com 678-203-9893

–Sara Khaki

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678-203-9893

By Taking a Break From Your Phone ENJOY YOUR FAMILY TIME

Setting some time aside to be with family is important, but it can be difficult when everyone is always on their cellphones. Constant cellphone use has become a global problem, and the habit is hard to break because we rely on mobile devices heavily for work, school, and keeping in contact with friends and family. Luckily, there are plenty of apps that can reduce how often you’re on your phone and minimize distractions. SIEMPO After you install Siempo on your phone, it will ask which apps are likely to distract you. Once you select them, the app will move those apps away from the home screen and place the important ones, such as the messaging, contacts, email, and calendar apps, on the first screen. You can also designate times for specific apps to be used throughout the day. STAY FOCUSED Stay Focused is like Siempo, but there are some significant differences. You can set times to access certain apps and put the most distracting ones on lock. Stay Focused also has a “strict mode” that prevents you from uninstalling it,

• The divorce appraisal is the same as a mortgage appraisal in terms of confidentiality. No information regarding the appraisal or appraised value is shared with anyone other than the client who ordered the appraisal or their attorney, unless otherwise required by law. As with every other aspect of the divorce proceedings, make sure to follow your attorney’s advice and order the appraisal when they recommend doing so. If you wait until the last minute, you may be charged rush fees, and you want to avoid as many unnecessary fees as possible! So the next time you are ordering a divorce appraisal, be sure to specifically ask your appraiser which form they are going to use. If they say the URAR 1004, you need to insist that they use a GPAR form or you run the risk of presenting an invalid appraisal. If you have any other questions, you can also reach out to me at [email protected]. so be sure to think carefully before activating the lockdown because you won’t have access to those specific apps until the timer runs out. FOREST In the time that Forest takes control of your device for a set time limit, the app starts growing a tree. Once the tree is fully grown, your time is up, and it joins the other trees that were grown during other breaks. If you pick up your phone and try to access an app, Forest will send you a notification asking you if you want to kill your baby tree by giving up. Who says guilt isn’t a good motivator? BESIDES APPS Aside from using these apps, silencing your phone and putting it in another room, leaving it in your car if you’re out at dinner, or keeping it in your purse or back pocket during a social event can also reduce your screen time. Having your phone out of sight and out of reach will keep the temptation of pulling it out at bay. Spending time with your family is crucial, and with these apps and tips, you’ll enjoy each other’s company without too many screen distractions.

A Lesson on Marital Assets by One of Our Concierge Partners NOT ALL HOME APPRAISALS ARE CREATED EQUAL DURING DIVORCE PROCEEDINGS

As William Shakespeare once wrote, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” but if you order the wrong appraisal for your divorce proceedings, it can really stink! Nearly 70% of all divorces involve real estate, and the family home is one of the most heated points of contention. Typically, the home is the largest marital asset and also comes with a strong emotional attachment for the parties involved. Whether you have decided to sell the home and move on or refinance to pay out the equity to your former spouse, you need to know its value — and that is where the appraisal comes in! For most people, their primary concern when they order an appraisal is the value of the home and what impact it will have on their case. They usually aren’t very concerned about how the appraisal report is done, as long as they can use it in court. And while most of us are accustomed to receiving residential mortgage reports on the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report (URAR) 1004 form, it is not intended to be used for valuation matters other than mortgage finance. This simple mistake could cost you time and

money, as the court may choose not to accept the appraisal on this form.

The best solution is to tell the appraiser that you are seeking the valuation for a divorce, and you need to order a General Purpose Appraisal Report (GPAR). Here are a few reasons this form will work best for you: The divorce appraisal sometimes has a retrospective date of value, meaning the appraised value is based upon a date in the past (such as the filing date, marriage date, separation date, or purchase date) rather than today’s date. • Often both the retrospective value and current market value are needed for divorce. The appraiser in a divorce situation may be asked to be an expert witness if the case goes to court, so it may be necessary to include additional research and >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4

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