Stevens Firm - July 2019

Stevens Firm - July 2019

What Matters Most

THE StevensFirm, P.A. Family Law Center

349 E. Main Street, Suite 200, Spartanburg, SC 29302 • www.SCFamilyLaw.com • (864) 598-9172 July 2019

Summer Jobs

As most of you know, we have a lot of kids — like, SIX of them — so, as you can imagine, the subject of summer jobs gets a lot of attention in our household. The oldest child (Tory) has officially left the nest and is (happily for us) employed full time. The youngest is only 9 (and a half!), so his “summer jobs” usually mean a more frequent schedule of chores around the house and helping to care for our family’s four animals. Child labor laws currently prohibit more formal employment. The four in between the oldest and the youngest are all 17 years old or 19 years old (two of each), and the list of their jobs has always been interesting. They’ve worked in food and beverage jobs, babysitting jobs, summer camp counselor jobs, school research positions, valet driver jobs, pet sitting jobs, office runner jobs, and file clerk jobs. This summer, two of the teens are even helping out some elderly neighbors with household jobs and dog- walking, while one of the 17-year-olds has three jobs at last count. Ben and I were certainly raised to use our summers as prime earning times when we could put the long daylight hours to good use and put some money aside for the future. It makes us both so proud that some of that has rubbed off on the children. And, if we do say so ourselves, they’ve made some great choices with their jobs, while Ben and I spent our early summers shoveling chicken poop (Ben’s favorite story to tell when the kids gripe about

their jobs) and filing monotonous medical records in a cramped file room with no windows for eight hours a day (longest summer of my life!). However, I saw the post shown in this article recently that put the words “summer job” in a little different perspective for me. It had been a particularly long week, and I had spent the majority of it listening as various people involved in family court litigation fought with each other over how much time each person would have during the summer break, when this post jumped off a screen at me. Often in our child custody cases, summer break

division is one of those decisions some people make willy-nilly, and some people will fight tooth-and-nail over. So, when I saw this post, it hit me like a ton of bricks — both personally and professionally. Personally, this year is our 10th summer with our youngest child, and our 18th summer with our two remaining high schoolers. Our “18 summers” are already behind us with our three oldest children. Where has the time gone?! This summer it’s our sincere wish that all of our friends, family, and clients (present, former, and potential) make wonderful memories regardless of what stage of life you are in with your children and regardless of whether a separation or divorce has ever touched your life. Our best summer jobs should always be loving our children, our friends, and our families and spending as much time with them as possible while we have them with us. These are the days, folks, and even when they are long, the years are oh-so-short. Happy Summer!

–Jenny Stevens

Reminder About Our Firm’s Communication Policy Our promise to you is that while we are working on your case, we don’t take inbound phone calls, faxes, or emails. Our Senior Partner, Ben Stevens, takes no unscheduled inbound phone calls, as we have found this makes him much more productive and enables him to focus on getting your case resolved faster. You can always call our office at (864) 598-9172 and schedule an in-person or phone appointment with any of our attorneys, usually within 24–48 hours. We believe this approach is much better than the endless game of phone tag played by most businesses today. Email is also an efficient way to communicate with us, but please

be advised that emails are not typically checked more than twice per day. If you need something quickly, don’t email — call our office and speak with one of our assistants, who will be happy to help you. Disclaimer: This publication is intended to educate the general public about family law issues. It is not intended to be legal advice. Every case is different. The information in this newsletter may be freely copied and distributed so long as the newsletter is copied in its entirety and proper credit is attributed to “The Stevens Firm, P.A. — Family Law Center (SCFamilyLaw.com).”

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New FREE Report Available for Download!

Firm Updates

Our Associate, Mackenzie Ruroede, spent several days in Chicago last month attending the elite American Association of Matrimonial Lawyers National Institute for Family Law Associates. This program, attended by our Managing Partner Jenny R. Stevens and our Senior Associate Jonathan Lounsberry in years past, is a comprehensive training

At The Stevens Firm, we believe in keeping our clients and potential clients up to date on everything they need to know about Family Law in South Carolina. Even if they don’t have an active case in the family court system, families are complicated, and knowledge is power. This month, we’ve

program specifically developed for associates of AAML Fellows. They cover topics like how to deeply analyze tax returns and corporate statements, the basics of business valuation and assessing retirement assets in divorce, and how best to prepare for family court trials and work with experts during a family court case. Our own Senior Partner, and AAML Vice President, Ben Stevens was invited again to teach at the Institute and will be mentoring several attendees from around the nation. Mackenzie was already a brilliant attorney before attending the Institute, but we know it will bring that extra star-quality to all of her cases with all she’s learned from the rock star AAML faculty at this year’s program. Making the Move How to Settle Your Kids Into a New Home Post-Divorce created a brand-new FREE report which is available for download called “6 Mistakes Commonly Made in South Carolina Divorces.”

Visit this site to get your copy today, and feel free to share with your friends or family who may need it: http://bit.ly/6-mistakes-sc-divorce

About 40 million Americans haul their families and belongings to new homes each year, and over 32 million of them make the big move during so-called “Peak Moving Season,” which runs April through September and reaches its most hectic during the summer months. According to census >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4

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