Legal

People ask whether a California “Easy Divorce” is possible. Sure it is - when both parties will work together to expedite the process. A California “Easy Divorce” will not be completed when the husband or the wife wants to dispute any of the issues. Just like other states, California has set rules that have to be followed before you can get a divorce. This fact is unavoidable.

Clients ask, how is it possible for one spouse to impede a California “Easy Divorce″? They can do so by arguing about issues, such as grounds for divorce under circumstances where grounds are required to be agreed on, or by choosing to dispute issues such as (a) what property to divide, (b) who the children will live with & how custodial time will be divided, or (c) how to determine if alimony ought to be given the situation.

All issues that have to be addressed prior to getting a California divorce can also be argued about. So, if you or your spouse wants to delay & halt an “Easy Divorce”, it can be done.

Then again, these issues could also be stipulated upon. If both parties need to agree to a California divorce, you must have agreed on all of the outstanding issues and enter into the California “Easy Divorce”. Therefore the number one matter that you need to determine should be whether each of you want to agree to work out a California “Easy Divorce”.

When both parties have agreed that you are going to negotiate a California “Easy Divorce”, you or your spouse will be required to ascertain the way to get all of the court papers completed and filed. One easy way to do this is to retain just one attorney to represent you and your spouse in order to write up all the court papers. Many clients do not want to work with just one lawyer and need to have independent legal guidance from a separately retained lawyer. However, it is likewise very common to engage two attorneys and have one of them complete all of the California divorce court papers that you and your spouse require, and then arrange to have the other lawyer agree upon them.

One more method for you to obtain a California “Easy Divorce″ would be to review and utilize one of the internet services to prepare all of the documents on your behalf. You can pick out an internet service from those available and they can prepare the court papers required for a California Easy Divorce. If you use such a divorce service, be sure you and your spouse will be getting divorce forms pertinent for California.

There are three different types of internet services out on the net. If you decide you want to use an internet service to prepare your California Easy Divorce, you are going to need to engage one of these services.

One type of internet service will mail to you the legal forms for a California divorce. The legal forms should arrive with complete with instructions for how to fill them in, however, you will be required to fill them out yourself.

Another type of service is an internet service “complete forms preparation″ company. That category of company asks that you fill out questionnaires with respect to your family. Then, this particular type of internet service will actually fill out the pertinent California divorce legal forms for you and your spouse and forward them to you with instructions explaining how to submit them.

Another of internet service is a “complete” service and sometimes can be offered by a law firm. This form of internet service is going to mandate that you and your spouse prepare questionnaires, in order to complete the required documents, then they will acquire the signatures required from both parties, and then the service will actually file the legal paperwork that you need. This category of divorce service is almost always significantly more pricy than the other two since the parties shall actually remit the filing fees to the company and they will file the divorce forms.

With the other types of internet services you can hire for your divorce, the parties docket all of the legal papers themselves and they will have to pay the California Divorce filing fees on your own.

Divorce Attorney Jean Mahserjian makes it easier to make it through your divorce by providing you with the information you need to understand the divorce process. To download free excerpts from her books, visit: millenniumdivorce.com Divorce Help.

Ronald E. Hudkins, U.S. Army, SFC, Military Police Corps. (Retired) and President of American Industry Maintenance (AIM), LLC at AssetProtectNow.com addresses the importance of estate planning regardless of age.

Young people just starting out in life may think that estate planning is not a high priority. However, according to a leading expert in the field, it’s never too early to consider how vital this step is to prudent financial planning. Ronald Hudkins of AssetProtectNow.com offers advice on the subject.

“When just starting out, perhaps there are more worries about the immediate needs,” Hudkins said. “Eventually, goals blossom into actually preparing for the future and a comfortable living standard. The idea of immortality is more the thought than any possibility of death. With the longer life spans enjoyed in these modern days, there just may be some benign measure of reality there. However, writing a will is not just a concern for seniors, the young and everyone in between; it is a legal matter, which must be an important part of financial planning.”

The state probate process is one solid reason to complete a will, according to Hudkins. In rough terms, as much as 6% of an individual’s total (gross) assets (or more) go to probate fees and associated costs.

“The last thing someone would want to do is lose control of their assets to the court system,” Hudkins said. “Unfortunately, putting off what you know needs to be done now – planning and implementing an estate plan – could result in just that.”

Asset distribution laws vary from state-to-state, but generally a married person’s possessions go first to the spouse and children, should there be any.

“If you are single, then most often your possessions would be passed to your parents, if they are still alive,” Hudkins said. “Should your parents be deceased, then the order of succession is usually to the siblings (brothers, sisters), then to other living family (relatives) and finally, to the state. The state is highly capable of absorbing and liquidating assets.

“By no means is it being said that various wills are the answer to a complete estate plan. A will alone, specifically will not control who gets ‘joint property’ (such as a home you and a spouse purchased together), or possibly, bank and brokerage accounts and 401(k)s or IRAs (Individual Retirement Accounts) for which you have designated a beneficiary.”

Simply put, a last will and testament is the main piece of a basic estate plan that does not require a substantial amount of legal fees for its creation.

“Putting together a well-thought-out plan that provides for you during incapacity as well as after your death is essential,” Hudkins said. “Talk to an estate planning attorney about other legal documents such as a Medical Power of Attorney (proxy) for Health Care, a Living Will (Health Care Declaration), and a Durable Power of Attorney for Financial Affairs.

“You are never too young to need a will. If you end up in a hospital in a coma, you need someone in a position to make personal, medical and financial decisions for you. Should you have an untimely death, the key to planning ahead is to have a written plan so your wishes will be carried out exactly as you so designate. Without a written plan, there is probate, family feuds, extended agonies and other unpleasant possibilities.”

About Ronald E. Hudkins

Ronald Hudkins is a retired military police enlisted member who was assigned as a staff researcher. He was responsible for compiling, writing or conducting reports, studies, statistics, reviews, plans, inspections, lessons and numerous other tasks deemed essential to operational efforts. His actions allowed superior, peer and subordinate commands, their designated leaders and staffs make vital and logical decisions. The ability to identify, analyze and propose solutions is a trait he still exercises. For additional asset protection and estate planning needs he suggests his Web site: AssetProtectNow.com AssetProtectNow.com

Once you have chosen the attorney who suits your needs, you mush be anxious to know how to get the best result with him.

The lawyer that you have chosen might be an expert in his area but you need to cooperate with him so that he can deliver you the optimum result.

Here are a few points that you should take care for a successful handling of the case.

First thing you should remember is, you should make sure that the attorney comes up to your expectations. You should figure out his style of working and try to be comfortable with it.

It is you who will be working and cooperating with him till that case lasts. You are very important for your attorney. Try to provide the best possible information to your lawyer.

If you have an idea how long your case can last, you can keep a record of any significant change, development or milestone achieved till date.

This way you can evaluate him and also suggest him something so that you both can come up with maximum results.

You should be always ready to provide any information that he asks you for.

Never hide any information from your lawyer regarding the case. This can cost you a lot and result in your defeat also.

You must provide him with all the relevant documents so that he can prepare you case well.

Do not forget to update the information of your lawyer regarding the case. Make sure you deliver him all the necessary information that is new and unknown to him.

These were some of the things you should always take care of.

lawyerucla.com” >Lawyer Advice - How To Get Optimum Results With Your Lawyer?

Sarbanes Oxley Act, commonly known as SOX or SarbOx, is the single most important piece of legislation approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and the senate in 2002.The law affects corporate boards, financial disclosure and the general practice of public accounting. It sets new accountability standards and criminal penalties for corporate management.

The quantity of money a business spends complying with the SOX Act depends on the extent of its current procedures, organization, and technology. Analysts complain that it is difficult to estimate the total cost. The 2004 statistics show that a typical corporation spends $4.6 million in 2004 on Sarbanes Oxley, plus an additional 38 percent for future audits.

Sarbanes Oxley law imposes expensive compliance burdens on small and mid-size companies. The act makes audit and accounting practices highly expensive. The requirement of SOX has about double the cost audits, which is generally around 2.5 percent or more of a small firm’s annual revenue. Big companies can afford to such high costs, but they are much harder for a small company to digest. This affects them negatively in developing and flourishing. While SOX has made problem, it has also created opportunities.

It is advisable that businesses use compliance projects to streamline their processes with the help of business process reengineering efforts. There are many services which help you evaluate the typical cost of complying with the Sarbanes Oxley Act in the United States. Most of them provide a handy standard computation sheet on their websites, which you can use to work out your own costs of SOX compliance. You can also purchase the spreadsheet at a small charge.

e-SarbanesOxley.com Sarbanes Oxley provides detailed information on Sarbanes Oxley, Sarbanes Oxley Act, Sarbanes Oxley Compliance, Sarbanes Oxley Act Of 2002 and more. Sarbanes Oxley is affiliated with e-offerincompromise.com Offer In Compromise Help.

Civil Partnership Act 2004

The Civil Partnership Act 2004 came into force on the 5 December 2005 providing a long overdue legal recognition of same sex couples′ rights. Same sex couples now finally have largely the same legal rights as that of heterosexual married couples. However, there does appear to be 2 areas where the legal rights of civil partners and married couples differ.

Dissolution

The grounds for dissolving a civil partnership are the same as those for dissolving a marriage with one exception - adultery is not a ground for dissolution in a civil partnership unlike in marriage cases.

Pre-Partnership Agreements

Pre-nuptial agreements have been available for many years but it would seem that only the most wealthily couples who intend to marry avail themselves of this agreement, and it there appears to be little encouragement from legal forums to use them.

Conversely, with the introduction of Civil Partnerships, much emphasis has been placed on entering into a Pre-Partnership Agreement.
The Pre-Partnership agreement has been extant for many years now. Previously referred to as ‘Cohabitation agreements’ it was considered a useful document to have where couples - both same sex and heterosexual - decided to live together. More often than not however, people never knew of the existence of such a document, as is probably the case today.
With the introduction of civil partnership rights, much emphasis has been placed on having such an agreement. The document should be entered into prior to registering the partnership, and is designed to deal with how the couple wish to deal with financial issues in the event that the partnership is dissolved.

The Law Society of England and Wales has argued in its literature that whilst Pre-Partnership Agreements - like pre-nuptial agreements - are not legally binding, with the courts usually deciding to split assets 50/50 on divorce pre-partnership agreements ought to be considered as the law will treat civil partnerships in the same manner as divorce.
(Pre-Partnership/Cohabitation Contract and Pre-marital agreements are available to download from the

Do you plan meetings or conferences in Canada or Mexico that U.S. citizens attend? If so, you may soon have a tough time picking the perfect location for your next meeting or conference when a new effort by the Department of Homeland Security is implemented in December 2006. Called the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (or WHTI referred to as “Wheaty”), this effort requires all travelers entering or exiting the U.S. from the Caribbean, Bermuda, Panama, Mexico and Canada to have a valid passport or other secure travel documentation. Beginning in December 2007, the requirement extends to all land border crossings.

Changes may be coming to WHTI – several senators have filed WHTI–related pieces of legislation that may extend the 2007 date. At the World Travel and Tourism Summit in Washington, D.C. on April 11, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff spoke about an alternate to the passport called the People Access Security Service or PASS system. This would allow travelers to satisfy the WHTI mandate with something more convenient and cost-effective than a passport – a type of identification card similar to a driver’s license. There are also plans to combine all individual traveler programs into one global enrollment system.

It is not clear what the future holds for WHTI and border security concerns, but it is something that planners need to keep in mind while selecting site locations. When the changes do go into effect, be sure to let your attendees know what the new requirements are and any changes that may occur.
For more information on WHTI, visit the Department of Homeland Security.

Michelle Issing, is one of the co-owners of Designing Events, a premier global provider of planning, management and marketing services for events, meetings and conferences.

Designing Events publishes three monthly online newsletters. They contain valuable conference and meeting information. designingevents.com/contact/inquire-handler-newsletter.asp Click here to sign up for the Designing Events monthly eNewsletter.

To learn more about Designing Events’ services, visit designingevents.com/ designingevents.com

Rhode Island DUI Law

Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is illegal in the state of Rhode Island. Rhode Island is one of the toughest states on the East coast in terms of DUI penalties. You may face steep fines, jail time, and other penalties that make DUI a serious offense. You will also face the loss of your driving privileges, making it difficult for you to maintain employment or get to medical appointments, classes, religious services, and other obligations. Because DUI is such a serious offense, it is important that you have a Rhode Island DUI attorney to represent you. A skilled Rhode Island DUI lawyer has the experience and knowledge needed to defend your case and obtain the best possible outcome.

Rhode Island DUI Arrest and Prosecution

Rhode Island has strong policies for enforcement in place to catch drivers who are driving while under the influence or while having a BAC of 0.09% or more. There are many patrols in place and law enforcement officers may use field sobriety testing, videotaping, and other techniques to gather evidence. If you have a skilled Rhode Island DUI lawyer representing you, there is a good chance the lawyer can review the procedures used and attempt to show that they deviated from the standards set forth in the law. For example, sobriety tests must be administered in a standardized way. If your attorney can show that the arresting officer deviated from the standards in any way, you may win your case.

If you are arrested for a DUI offense in Rhode Island, you will be prosecuted in one of two ways. The first way is under the traditional theory that alcohol physical or mentally impaired your ability to safely operate a motor vehicle in your control. Under this theory, the prosecutor must show that alcohol impaired your ability to operate your vehicle. He prosecutor may introduce evidence such as your driving patterns, failure to perform well on sobriety tests, appearance, and any chemical test results that were obtained. The second means of prosecution is under the “per se” laws of Rhode Island. In this type of case, the prosecutor is not at all concerned with your level of impairment, if any, at the time of your arrest. The per se case is based entirely on the results of the chemical testing you submitted to at the time of your arrest. The prosecutor will introduce the results of this test to show that you drove a vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration level of 0.08% or greater, which violates the per saw laws of the state.

Rhode Island DUI Criminal Penalties

In Rhode Island, there is a look-back of 5 years when determining how an offense will be charged. This means that if you have prior DUI convictions within 5 years of your most recent arrest, you’ll be charged with a second or subsequent offense. If your prior convictions are more than 5 years before your most recent arrest, you will be charged with a first offense. There are a number of penalties available in DUI cases and they vary based on the number of prior offenses and other specific circumstances. There also enhanced penalties for driving with an extreme blood alcohol level. The fines for a DUI in Rhode Island are $100 for a first offense and $400 for second and subsequent offenses. A first offense has no jail time penalty because it is considered a civil offense. A second offense has a penalty of 10 days in jail and a third offense within a 10 year period has a penalty of one year in jail. For first offenders, ten hours of community service are mandatory and the court may impose a penalty of up to 60 hours. Home confinement and mandatory attendance at a Victim Impact Panel may be imposed at the discretion of the court. The enhanced penalties for driving with a BAC of 0.15% or greater are a $500 fine for a first offense and a $1,000 fine for a subsequent offense, 6 months in jail for a second offense and three years in jail for a third offense, and 20 hours of mandatory community service for first offenders. These penalties have a great potential to impact your life in a negative way so it is important that you contact a Rhode Island DUI lawyer immediately after your arrest to help preserve your rights and have the best possible chance of having a successful outcome in your case.

Rhode Island Driving Penalties

Rhode Island is a member state in the Interstate Driver’s License Compact. This means information about your Rhode Island DUI offense may be shared with your home state or prior offenses from your home state may be found and count against you as prior offenses in Rhode Island. If you are convicted of driving under the influence in Rhode Island, you face the loss of your license for a period of time to be determined based on the number of prior offenses and the severity of your most recent offense. Losing your driving privileges can make it difficult for you to participate in your normal daily activities, so hiring a Rhode Island DUI attorney is one of the best things you can do to protect yourself and have a chance of winning your case.

Visit our dui-attorney-search.com/states_pages/RI.htm Rhode Island DUI Attorney website and fill out a free case evaluation today.

Tom Nelson retired from the military almost twenty years ago. In that time, Nelson has spent many years living and working overseas. “If my VA ID is fraudulently used by someone in the States, one: it could take me months to find out the theft has occurred and two: if it did happen God knows how long it would require to fix it from overseas”, Nelson told the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

On May 22 Nelson and 26.5 million U.S. veterans awoke to the news their personal information including name, address and social security number had been stolen from the home of a Department of Veteran Affairs’ employee.

Why the employee took this highly sensitive information home is anyone’s guess and according to the FBI the computer disc containing this information was subsequently recovered. What infuriated veterans however wasn’t the actual theft but that the theft went unreported for two weeks.

The news is shocking yet many veterans groups are not surprised. They point to Congress’ Computer Security Report Card which year after year has given the VA a failing grade. Government auditors also warned of possible security breaches at the agency. Through all of this the VA took no action.

VA Secretary Jim Nicholson’s recent proposal of free credit monitoring for veterans up to one year was shot down by the Bush Administration. According to the Washington Post the decision is based on the opinion of the FBI which stated it had a “high degree of confidence” that thieves had not accessed the files containing the names, Social Security numbers and birth dates of millions of veterans and active-duty military personnel. Hopefully they’re right but for many veterans its now a time of wait and see.

Veterans can however request a credit freeze. Yes it stops the victim from easily opening a new account but a credit freeze is the most effective weapon against identity theft. Checking your account every other day isn’t a bad idea either. For further information and assistance veterans can call 1-800-333-4636 (1-800-FED-INFO).

Peggy Foster, a veteran and VA services asst at the University of Colorado-Boulder, told the Colorado Daily,” It happened to me before and everything was stolen. Now I’m very cautious about giving my information out.”

“The government bombards us with so much in the military. It’s important when you’re a veteran to pay more attention.”

With the glut of information in our 24 /7 world, Ms Foster’s advice applies not only to military personnel but the rest of us as well.

Daryl Campbell’s website fightidtheft.winthemarket.com fightidtheft.winthemarket.com provides free tips,resources, featured articles from experts and up to the minute news concerning identity theft and fraud.

How do most people select their attorney? Probably by word of mouth. Or maybe they have a family member or friend who practices law. This may be a good method in some instances. But what if you don’t know anyone who has used a lawyer, and can you really have confidence in the qualifications of your cousin Vinnie? What if there was a rating system that gave lawyers a numerical rating computed on various factors? Well on June 5th a company just launched a website service that does just that.

The company is called Avvo and their service compiles data from state bar associations and other sources and tries to compute a numeric score between 1 and 10 for nearly every attorney in the country. Avvo was co-founded by Mark Britton, an attorney for 15 years and formerly the top lawyer at Expedia.com. He partnered with Paul Bloom, a veteran of Microsoft’s Consumer Division, and they assembled a team with expertise in law, consumer products, and technology to develop their product.

From the Avvo website, the company′s principles are set forth as follows:

At Avvo, our mission is to help people navigate the complex and confusing legal industry. Choosing a lawyer is an incredibly important decision—yet most people have no idea how to go about doing it, and resources to guide them are scarce.

Avvo is guided by two basic principles:

Focus on the needs of regular people. Many of the resources available today were developed for people who are already legal industry “insiders”—but Avvo was created specifically to help people who know very little about the law and may have no experience choosing a lawyer.Provide information, as well as guidance. We believe that providing open access to information about lawyers, coupled with guidance on how to use that information, is the best way to help people choose the right lawyer. Information is empowering: the more people learn more about attorneys and how to select an attorney, the more comfortable and confident they’ll feel seeking legal help—and we think this will benefit both clients and lawyers.I find these principles to be laudable. Just how does Avvo compute its 10 point rating assessment? That information is proprietary and not disclosed. Their website simply explains:

The Avvo Rating is our assessment of how well a lawyer could handle your legal issue. It is based on data we have collected about hundreds of thousands of lawyers - including their number of years in practice, disciplinary sanctions, and professional achievements. The data comes from multiple sources, including state bar associations, court records, lawyer websites, and information lawyers provide to Avvo. We have created a mathematical model that considers this information and calculates a score on a ten-point scale. The result is called the Avvo Rating.

What has been lawyers’ reaction to the Avvo rating system? Well, you might have guessed it - a class action suit. On June 14th, a Seattle attorney by the name of Steve W. Berman, a managing partner at Hagens, Berman, Sobol, Shapiro in Seattle, filed a class action lawsuit challenging the Avvo rating system. Apparently some lawyers have complained that their Avvo rating is arbitrary, and that the Avvo system in some instances gave convicted felons higher numeric scores than law school deans. Berman’s firm has a history of filing class action lawsuits against technology companies. It’s gone after Apple for its iPod (allegedly too loud), eBay (allegedly a monopoly), Expedia (allegedly too expensive), and Apple, again, for the iPod Nano (allegedly too scratch-prone).

The mathematical model used to compute the Avvo rating may or may not be flawed. And in some instances some lawyers may object to their rating. But I can’t think for the life of me what the plaintiffs’ theory of recovery in the class action would be. I suppose it would be something along the following:

I am a lawyer, and because I am a lawyer I and am not allowed to be rated by any service whether that service is based on a mathematical model of available data or otherwise. Lawyers cannot be rated on a numerical basis, and consumers are incapable in evaluating whether a particular rating system provides them with meaningful information. Such a rating system inherently provides consumers with misleading information, and since I am a lawyer, if I don′t like my rating I am irreparably harmed, and I can recovery monetary damages from whomever created the rating.

It’s an interesting theory of recovery. But nearly every category of product or service that I can think of I receives ratings in one form or another. Should Zagat’s be careful when it provides numerical ratings for a restaurant’s food, service and decor? Should movie critics be concerned when they give a movie 1 and half stars rather than 5 stars? Should the Automobile Association of America - AAA - worry about a class action suit when it gives a group of lodgings two diamonds as opposed to three. Rating systems give consumers valuable information in comparing two different products or services when they lack first hand information about those products or services. Rating services also provide an incentive for firms to provide the highest quality of services possibly. Do lawyers honestly believe that they are so unique, so different, that the services they provide are so different, that they simply cannot be evaluated on a numerical basis? If they do, they are probably not concerned with providing their clients with quality services in the first place. Wouldn’t a good lawyer want to be rated?

I believe that what is needed is not less services which rate lawyers, but more. What if there were four or five numerical systems which rated attorneys. Then consumers who don’t have a great lawyer in the family would be able to take information from the variety such services, as well as other information, and make the best possible choice. In addition, rating services are particularly important for legal services because lawyers have a monopoly in providing legal services. There is not a totally free market in legal services as the number of those who can provide legal services is restricted by the licensing requirement for lawyers. Only when there is a completely free market are consumers presented with all the information needed to make rational decisions as competing firms have the most incentive to provide that information.

Again, Avvo’s rating system may not be perfect, but they should be commended in attempting to provide consumers with an additional method in selecting an attorney. And Mr. Berman’s class action suit should be condemned by all lawyers. It should be noted that Mr. Berman’s personal rating on the Avvo system achieved a 9.2. I wonder if in the eyes of the public Mr. Berman’s rating will increase or decrease by commencing this questionable class action suit.

I am the publisher of a blog entitled New York Legal Update found at nylegalupdate.com nylegalupdate.com The purpose of New York Legal Update is to cover, to the extent possible, important current developments in both civil and criminal law in New York. Both substantive and procedural developments are covered. Primarily this is accomplished by digesting recent cases in the State appellate courts. When appropriate, decisions of the Federal Courts are also discussed. In addition, however, legislative and regulatory changes are also covered. This service is intended to reach the legal practitioner and members of the general public seeking legal news and information about the legal process. This service is also intended to act as a forum where I and others will comment on legal developments with the intent of advocating for laws and a legal system which are less complex and better serve the interests of society.

There is a huge wait at the Patent Office these days and yes the government is trying to do something about it they are building a 600 million dollar new facility. But the back log continues. Sure you can do a poor man’s patent and send letters back to yourself, initial drawings with dates and keep an official ledger of ideas; yes I do, you should too.

One of the biggest problems now is that once you begin to produce your nifty invention and you start making headway in the market place, well you better get busy and sell, sell, sell because sooner or later the Chinese will copy it, mass produce it and attempt to sell the cheaply made replicas to all your intended markets and other markets around the world. What can you do to protect yourself in reality? Well not much, except when you do get an idea, pitch it, sell it or make those widgets as fast as you can.

Recently, in attending the Automotive Aftermarket Trade Show in Las Vegas, well I was literally blown away to see nearly 10-foot ball fields of knock-off pirated parts on display from foreign manufacturers and they did not seem to care one bit that they had stolen the patents or were pirating their wares. Consider all this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” - Online WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/ Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance in the Online Think Tank and solve the problems of the World; WorldThinkTank.net www.WorldThinkTank.net/