Divorced Dads Tips: The Winning Argument in Family Court – Part 2

DISCLAIMER: The following is NOT legal advice, nor is it a substitute for legal advice. If you are in Family Court you will need legal advice, so please see a lawyer.

Winning the argument when you’re a divorced dad in Family Court is not easy. But it can be done. I know, because I have done it, and have taught others how to do it too. Here’s some of what I teach dads like you.

In my last article, I began sharing with you the nine principles from Gerry Spence’s book, How To Argue and Win Every Time, and putting them into terms that apply to divorced dads in Family Court battles.

Every divorced dad needs to learn these tools in order to prepare himself to make the most polished sales pitch to the Family Court judge.

I’ll recap the first five, then move on to the last four principles.

One: Everyone is capable of making the winning argument.

Two: Winning is getting what we want and helping others get what they want.

Three: Learn that words are a weapon and can be used hastily in combat.

Four: Know that there is a biological advantage of delivering the truth.

Five: Assault is not argument.

Moving along, let’s take a look at number six: Use fear as an ally in public speaking or in argument.

It can be scary to be a divorced dad, facing the unfamiliar territory of family court. Don’t let the fear cripple you. Instead, convert the energy of the fear and channel it into a positive result. Take your stage fright and convert it into positive energy by using mental conditioning, preparation, and rehearsal.

Don’t walk into Family Court with no clue of what you will say or do. Rehearse by standing in front of a mirror or getting a group of friends together to listen to your pitch.

Learning to overcome those natural fears and anxieties means finding divorced dads who have had success. I suggest coming to our weekly calls to learn many ways to succeed in getting others to recognize your important role in your child’s life. While it’s not a substitute for legal advice, it is a great way to augment that with practical advice from the perspective of fathers who have already had success in Family Court.

In the meantime here’s the next principle…

Number Seven: Let emotions show and do not discourage passion.

While you argue your case in family court, stay respectful but do not be afraid to be passionate. You are not fighting for your kids, but waging peace on their behalf. Do so with honesty and peace, and passion. LOSE your anger.

Number Eight: Don’t be blinded by brilliance.

In other words, do not get caught up in your own rhetoric. If you get overconfident, you will lose track of where you are going, and you will ultimately lose your argument because you have lost the ability to remain objective.

Number Nine: Know that the enemy is not the person with whom we are engaged in a failing argument, but the lack of vision within ourselves.

A divorced dad’s only real enemy is not his ex-wife, the Family Court or even the Judge. The real enemy is your lack of vision within yourself. Stay focused. Never lose hold of the confidence that you can make a winning argument in Family Court.

During my divorce, I wished for a divorce roadmap. That’s why we created a weekly telewebcast, to help men like yourself.

If you’ve lost in Family Court, don’t give up. There is always hope. You’ve likely lost because you didn’t understand that winning requires effectively “waging peace” for your children.

If you base your game plan and strategies upon those of successful fathers, you will improve your chances of success immeasurably. You need help from dads who have done what you are trying to do.

Danny Guspie Executive Director of Fathers Resources International can help you learn the successful strategies of fathers who have won in Family Court. Join us on our weekly calls at http://www.DivorcedDadWeekly.com where we will share with you what has worked for many successful divorced dads.

Lead Poisoning Threatens Pregnant Women

The dangers of lead paint and lead poisoning include a broad range of mental disorders and chronic disabilities. But lead paint and lead poisoning is especially dangerous for women, who run the risk of passing dangerous lead exposure on to developing fetuses while pregnant. Here are some ways that women can experience a safe pregnancy free from the effects of lead poisoning:

Clean Up!

Cleanliness is next to godliness…and can help pregnant women escape the dangers of toxic lead exposure. Pregnant women should clean the house when they see the presence of chipping paint or dust – both of which can contain lead particles. Cover chipping paint in your home with duct tape, plastic or contact paper, and vacuum dust whenever possible. A wet cloth will help wash down painted and dusty surfaces, protecting you from lead particles and their potential dangers to you and your fetus.
Hand-washing, while common-sense, is not practiced enough, so be sure to wash up after interacting with soil, which might contain lead toxins, and before preparing food or eating. Wear garden gloves and wash up after dusting or mopping to prevent cross-contamination with your food or water.

Craft With Care

Ceramic and other pottery may have its appeal, but with lead paint posing a very real threat to your fetus, it may be a good idea to avoid ceramic crafts until after your pregnancy. If you must interact with lead-containing pottery or paint during your pregnancy, be sure to wash your hands well afterwards and wear protective clothing. Solder is a bad idea while pregnant, so hand the soldering iron off to another crafty woman during your pregnancy. Change your clothing after working with lead-filled crafts materials and be sure to wash them away from other family members’ garments.

Take Care At Work

Occupational exposure to lead is dangerous for men and women, but pregnant women run the additional risk of lead contamination to their unborn children. If you work with soldering irons, welding materials, lead-based paint, common construction site chemicals and items, or work in a factory setting, you may be putting your fetus at risk. Ask your employer about a transfer to a lower-risk area of the factory, and be sure to wash hands often. Put your work clothing in a separate hamper and wash it separately from other family’s garments. Keep lead-exposed shoes outside of the house and be sure to vacuum well if they go into the house. Educate yourself about the hazards of lead exposure and be certain to talk to your doctor about how your prenatal care can reflect your concern about lead poisoning and lead exposure.

Seek Legal Advice for Exposure

If you have been exposed to lead paint or other lead at work or at home, consult a doctor and then a lawyer. An experienced lead poisoning attorney can help you recover money for the injury, pain and suffering caused by toxic lead paint exposure that affects the health of you and your baby.

Visit www.LegalView.com to learn about a variety of legal topics, legal information and jury verdicts on these related topics.

Slip and Fall Case Makes it to Supreme Court

Slip and fall cases may seem like straightforward personal injury lawsuits, but the underlying case is often more complex than may meet the eye. A 2005 law suit, which made it all the way to the New York State Supreme Court, exhibits both the severity of slip and fall injuries and the potential complexity of these personal injury law suits.

Negligent Mail Delivery?

The case in question is Barbara Dolan v. U.S. Postal Service. In the case in question, plaintiff Dolan sued the U.S. Postal Service for wrist and back injuries sustained after a slip and fall on her front porch. Dolan claimed that she slipped on mail that was placed on her porch instead of being properly placed in her mailbox. Dolan litigated her case in the lower New York courts and fought all the way up to the New York State Supreme Court, but was defeated by the government, who claimed that it was not liable for negligent mail delivery. However, Dolan’s lawyer successfully argued that since different courts have interpreted the definition of “mail delivery” differently, the nation’s highest court should rectify the discrepancies and hear the case at the Supreme Court level. The Supreme Court found 7 to 1 for plaintiff Dolan, setting a precedent in a different field related to whether the government should be responsible for so-called “negligent transmission”.

Lessons Learned

Whatever the outcome of Dolan’s case, the fact that it reached the highest court of the land is notable in and of itself. The severity of the plaintiff’s slip and fall injury – so severe that her husband claimed she could not perform her conjugal duties and filed a complaint in the New York courts – is just the tip of the iceberg of injury that exists in slip and fall cases. From traumatic brain injury to concussions to contusions to lasting spinal harm, slip and fall injuries are a serious concern and threaten the health and welfare of employees, customers and regular citizens all over the country.

If You Have Been Injured

Know your rights if you have sustained a slip and fall injury. Notify the owner of the premises or the manager of the business in which you were injured as soon as possible after the fall. Document your medical visits and take photographs of the injury if possible. Seek medical attention immediately to determine whether you have suffered injury. If the store, business or property owner refuses to compensate you for your slip and fall related injuries, contact an experienced personal injury lawyer. Your personal injury attorney can help you recover the damages and compensation you deserve after a slip and fall injury. This can include, but is not limited to, attorney’s fees, medical bills, lost wages, and other benefits.

Your case may well settle before it reaches its first jury trial. Not every trial will make it to the Supreme Court and have the chance to set precedent and affect future cases. But each slip and fall injury suit filed represents a citizen standing up for his or her right to compensation for their injuries due to the negligence of a property owner or business. Talk to a personal injury lawyer to determine if you have a valid claim before filing your slip and fall suit.

Use www.LegalView.com to locate other information on these topics as well as to learn how to locate the closest traumatic brain injury lawyer or auto accident attorney. 

Children Who Suffer Whiplash Injury – The Forgotten Injured.

Despite a Swedish study in 1995 that suggested that the risk of whiplash in children is as high as two-thirds of the likelihood of an adult suffering the condition, less than 2% of whiplash literature is actually devoted to children.

Considering that the strength of a six year old’s spine is only around 25% of the strength of an adult’s, clinical research begs the question as to why more children are not admitted with whiplash injuries.

The answer may lie in factors such as seating in cars. Children tend to ride in the back seats of cars, which are known to be generally safer than the front seats. The back seats also have reduced elasticity and smaller backrests, designed specifically to minimise the potential for injury in low-speed rear impact crashes. Children also are proven to have a greater range of spinal motion and generally also have less history of injuries or degenerative diseases which can adversely affect the outcome of a rear impact and any injuries incurred.

In October, a study was conducted using 105 children under the age of 17; each of whom had been involved in a low impact collision. They were each interviewed and assessed at intervals according to the severity of their injuries:- the most severe cases were interviewed 2 weeks after they received their injuries, with further assessments scheduled at further 2 week intervals. Less severe cases were initially interviewed 5 days post injury. 39% of these children were sitting in the front seat at the time of impact and 61% were rear-seat passengers and, of these, 50% were involved in rear impact collisions, 32% were involved in head on collisions and 18% were in side-on impacts.

49 out of 105 of the patients were recorded with whiplash injuries, with 47% of these being over the age of 12. Forty of these were ‘Grade 1’ or severe cases and took an average of 19.7 days to recover, with the rest reaching a comfortable state in 6.4 days. The main conclusion of the report focused on the age of the children and states that the risk of whiplash injury increases as a child reaches puberty, probably as a result of the physiological changes that the child is undergoing.

Children also rank alongside women as being more likely to suffer whiplash injury than men which seems to be due to their size. Being shorter, they can often be closer to the airbag and, in an impact, this can exaggerate the movement of the neck. Size can also mean that they may have less securely fitted restraints.

In the past, children involved in accidents of this nature have been too often overlooked, both statistically and by the world of insurance; a number of insurance companies have refused to pay for the treatment of children who have received whiplash and whiplash associated disorders, bur personal injury specialist firms have been persistent, setting precedents that should ensure that children are no longer the ‘forgotten injured’ of these unfortunate and often debilitating accidents.

Whiplash is the term used to describe a soft tissue injury to the neck when you are involved in a car accident. The pain can last for a matter of days or in more severe cases a number of years. However, only a minor percentage of whiplash injuries result in long term injuries with most people making a full recovery. The important point is to make sure you are treated by professional medical staff as soon as possible.

For further information, please visit our website at http://www.1stclaims.co.uk

1stclaims.co.uk is run by a non-practising Personal Injury Solicitor with over 14 years personal injury claims experience. We use this first hand knowledge of the Personal Injury Claim system to hand select the very best personal injury solicitors for you. We want you to be handled professionally and to receive the best possible service. We handle a wide range of claims including whiplash claims.

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Additional Personal Injury Information for Consumers

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Traumatic Brain Injury and Hearing

Because the inner ear is directly connected to the central nervous system in humans, it may not be surprising that hearing problems are common after a traumatic brain injury. Tinnitus, a ringing, roaring or buzzing in the ears, and hearing loss are two of the most widely reported side effects of a TBI. Other hearing-related problems that can stem from brain damage include hyperacusis, in which normal situations seem unbearably loud; difficulty filtering one set of sounds from background noise, such as a conversation in a crowded restaurant; or auditory agnosia (also called pure word deafness), in which the patient is simply unable to recognize the meanings of certain sounds.

Ear Structure and Traumatic Brain Injury

Damage to the ear itself during a traumatic brain injury can cause hearing problems. The inner ear is made of a series of small and delicate membranes and body parts, which can rupture during head trauma. The cochlea, an important spiral-shaped bone inside the ear, may be concussed by a strong blow, causing hearing damage when supporting membranes are torn; patients with cochlear concussions often develop vertigo as well. Another type of membrane damage, perilymphatic fistula, causes hearing loss as well as vertigo and nausea. Surgery may help to correct this type of damage.

Doctors agree that damage to the central nervous system also plays a major role in TBI-related hearing problems, especially those with a cognitive basis. Among many others, a 2005 study by doctors at Haifa University in Israel showed that TBI patients who complained of hearing problems (including tinnitus) had significantly reduced function in a part of the brain that regulates hearing, compared to TBI patients without hearing complaints as well as people without head injuries. A German study from 2004 concluded that post-concussion syndrome led to hearing problems, even a year after the trauma, and that widespread damage to connections between the nerves of the central auditory pathway was probably to blame.

Brain Injury-Related Hearing Loss Takes Toll on Everyday Life

Because hearing loss limits or takes away one of the primary tools humans use to communicate, it has the potential to complicate many of the other side effects of brain damage, particularly cognitive and social problems. For some TBI victims, cognitive issues, such as trouble “finding words,” already interfere with their ability to communicate. And inappropriate behaviors are only exacerbated if the patient genuinely cannot hear what is going on.

If You Suffer From TBI-Related Hearing Problems

Some hearing problems disappear a few weeks after the accident that led to the patient’s brain damage, but others are lifelong afflictions. Some patients may not even notice their hearing problems until they are diagnosed by a doctor or audiologist. TBI experts, including the National Institutes of Health, recommend that patients who have sustained brain damage consult an audiologist, even if it seems like nothing is wrong. You may also wish to contact an experienced TBI attorney to evaluate your potential brain injury lawsuit and help you secure compensation for your injuries.

Visit http://www.LegalView.com for more legal information.

Family Law Updates

The findings of the trial court in an action to increase support payments will not be reversed unless contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence.

Settlement Agreement

If parties to a marital settlement agreement intend, on dissolution, to preclude judicial modification of maintenance as to amount, it may be better practice to do so in clear and express terms in a paragraph separate from that limiting termination of maintenance. While maintenance provisions are modifiable upon a showing of a substantial change in circumstances, property settlement provisions are not, unless a court finds the execution of the settlement agreement was accompanied by some element of fraud, coercion or misrepresentation. Where the agreement contained no provision which specifically precluded modification, the agreement was modifiable. Once an agreement is embodied is embodied in a divorce decree, its terms will not be modified absent fraud, coercion or contrariness to public policy. The power of the court to modify periodic payments of maintenance and child support is not diminished because the amount of payments was fixed by a settlement agreement agreed to by the parties and incorporated in the decree.

Standing

The Department of Public Aid had standing to bring a petition to modify a child support obligation on behalf of a public aid recipients without regard to any assignment of an arrearage to the Department. Illinois Dep’t of Pub. Aid. The filing of a petition to modify a child support obligation is a support services contemplated under the Public Aid Code (305 ILCS 5/10-1 et seq.) providing the department with standing to file a petition. Illinois Dep’t of Pub. Aid.

Support In General

Bankruptcy court determined that the Illinois state court ordered child support debt was nondischargeable; the court found that the debtor waited too long after his divorce and after he assumed the responsibility of support payments to challenge paternity of the child and get retroactive relief, pursuant to 750 ILCS 45/5(a)(1). “Support” is simply a general term that can include educational expenses for a child who has turned 18 but is still in high school, and educational expenses may include room and board, just as the more generic term, support, may include shelter and food; a trial court can award support to disabled unempancipated children, minor or non minor under 750 ILCS 5/513(a)(1), and a kind of support, educational expenses, to non minor children in school under 750 ILCS 5/513(a)(2). In short, if the child has attained majority, the trial court must tern to §513 of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, 750 ILCS 5/513, when deciding whether to award support for that non minor child. Subsection (a) of this section allows for modification of child support orders only upon a showing of substantial change in circumstances, and the burden of proof is on the party who seeks the modification.

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