Training Course Syllabus:

Top 9 Current Challenges in Family Law

Get the Latest Updates and Discuss the Most Pressing Challenges in Family Law Practice Today!

Recent economic turmoil and the rapidly evolving cultural definition of "family" are testing the boundaries of family law every day. Are you up to speed on the most efficient techniques of handling upside down mortgages and unmarried "divorces"? Do you know how to equitably distribute and properly record assets that have turned into debts? This cutting-edge seminar offers practical skills to help you keep up with the neck-breaking speed at which the practice is evolving. Register today!

• Family law attorneys around the country have shared the top challenges they are facing in their practice for this course. Our speakers offer the practical solutions to those challenges to help you excel in today's legal environment.
• Get guidance in locating assets and debts, determining their current and future value and managing creditor claims in divorce.
• Review support modification procedure from both sides of the table and find out what tactics work best in your jurisdiction.
• Get solid strategies for protecting clients from false child abuse accusations.
• Discover what proof you must and should have to support or stop interstate relocation.
• Add a new tool to your litigation arsenal - explore the admissibility of divorcing spouses' electronic communications and online activity.
• Find new solutions for limited client representation - and expand your client base to include pro se litigants.
• Clarify the role of Guardians Ad Litem and parenting coordinators in helping you ensure a secure future for the children.
• Understand what works and, more importantly, what doesn't in supporting parenting plan modification requests.

1. FINANCIAL DISCOVERY IN DIVORCE
   9:00 - 9:30, Michael L. Danoff
• Electronic Discovery
• Early Disclosures
• Changing Discovery Procedures
• Locating and Valuing Assets - Complying with Rule 26
• Finding Hidden Assets
• Business and Stock Valuations in a Bear Market (Actual and Average, Fair Value vs. Fair Market Value)
• Calculating Income in a Down Economy (Imputation of Income and Seek-Work Orders)
• Pros and Cons of the Joint Valuation Expert
• Valuing and Dividing Retirement Accounts - QDROs
• How to Account for and Forecast the Declining Value of Assets
• When Assets Become Liabilities
2. EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF DEBTS
   9:30 - 10:15, Christen Hagemann
• Dealing With Negative Home Equity
• Short Sales
• Workouts
• Foreclosures
• Considering the Home as a Debt as Opposed to an Asset
• Handling Creditor Claims
• Impact of New Bankruptcy Laws on Dischargeability of Marital Debt
• The Financial Price of Divorce
• How to Cash Flow Both Households on Less Income
3. SUPPORT DETERMINATION, ENFORCEMENT AND MODIFICATION
   10:30 - 11:15, Christen Hagemann
• Analyzing the "Lifestyle" for Support Payments in a Changing Economy
• Incomes for Support Calculation at Different Levels
• Interstate Establishment and Enforcement of Support
• How to Plan for Adjustments in Support When the Economy Improves
• Upcoming Major Revisions of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA)
• Proof of Cohabitation for Purposes of Support Cessation
• Tax Consequences of Support and Structuring the Payments
4. MILITARY DIVORCE
   11:15 - 12:00, Jessica M. Hess
• Child Support Collection from Military Members
• Military Pension in Divorce
• Dividing the Sign-on Bonus in Divorce
5. FAMILY LAW FOR UNMARRIED COUPLES
   1:00 - 1:45, Jennifer deGraauw
• Same-Sex Marriage in Other States
• Cohabitation Agreements
• Unmarried "Divorce"
• Rights of Unmarried Fathers
• Step-Parent Adoptions
• Same-Sex Partner Custody Battles
6. PRE-NUPTIAL AND CO-HABITATION AGREEMENTS
   1:45 - 2:15, Jessica M. Hess
• Drafting
• Contesting
• Annulments
• Separation Agreements
7. CURRENT ISSUES IN ASSISTED REPRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY (ART)
   2:30 - 3:15, Jennifer deGraauw
• Drafting Surrogacy Contracts
• Litigating Parties' Rights in Surrogacy
• Ownership/Custody of Biological Material in Divorce
• Ownership of Biological Material upon Death of the Donor
8. PEACEFUL DIVORCE RESOLUTION: ADR VS. COLLABORATIVE LAW
   3:15 - 3:45, Jennifer deGraauw
9. CHILDREN IN DIVORCE
   3:45 - 4:30, Michael L. Danoff
• The Role of Guardians Ad Litem and Parenting Coordinators
• Grandparent Visitation
• Defense against Fraudulent Child Abuse Accusations
• Stopping or Defending the Relocation
• What Proof is Needed for Parenting Plan Modification: What Facts are Sufficient or Deficient?
• Interviewing Children Away from Parents in High-Conflict Divorces

Seminar Summary:

This cutting-edge seminar offers practical skills to help you keep up with the neck-breaking speed at which the practice is evolving. (see full course description)

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