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Generally, a case involving children revolves around the other parent being fit or unfit for getting custody of the child. Mate Check also handles military divorce cases, and uses the regulations lay out by military law in matters pertaining to cheating, being unfaithful or having affairs. During the course of the divorce proceedings, when the behavior of the other parent is being scrutinized, it may be possible to prove their negligence by showing how he/she leaves children home alone, or consumes alcohol while children are in the car. When the court is deciding on granting custody of children in a contested custody battle, the court often ponders over the recommendations of custody evaluators as well as the guardians appointed by the court, to safeguard the best interest of the child. The other spouse may also have child pornography pictures on their computer (see Spouse and Child Porn page). Crucial inputs are needed from the private investigators to prove these. Family law investigators also need to scrutinize financial data and the division of property. This is because most people tend to be dishonest about their financial status and show that they are poor by transferring assets or hiding them. It is, however, important to procure a fair division of property. Once the divorce decree is signed in court, only a time span of six months is available to reopen the decree for an error in material facts, or even attempt to file a case of fraud under rule 60(c ) to reopen divorce proceedings. But these allegations have to be proved in court on the basis of all that the private investigator is able to collect. This is actually the only chance, after this it is a chance lost forever. The divorce investigators or private detective must gather the necessary information needed by the attorney to prove the misrepresentations made by the other spouse in the financial affidavit submitted in the court. This is evidence enough to win the case as deserved. When dealing in financial matters in a divorce settlement, the hiring of a forensic accountant is also recommended, so that financial data and other matters are handled appropriately. In matters relating to domestic relationships it is imperative to hire a divorce investigator or private detective to gather all the evidence needed for the divorce investigations.

DIVORCE INVESTIGATION

If you suspect that your spouse is cheating on you, you can hire the services of a private detective who would work as a divorce detective. A private eye can use a number of techniques to substantiate claims of infidelity. The evidence that the divorce investigator collects, can include photographs, video clippings, hotel bills, interrogation of witnesses, recorded conversations and computer files. These findings by the private investigator would form a crucial part of the divorce investigations. In at-fault divorce states, a spouse who files for divorce on grounds of marital misconduct is typically awarded a larger proportion of the marital property.

In no-fault divorce states, community property has to be divided equally between husband and wife. In some cases, however, a spouse might attempt to conceal assets to avoid having them split into two. A private detective can investigate finances and discover hidden assets like private bank accounts, undisclosed income, travellers' cheques, false payments, retirement accounts and others. A divorce investigation may also be necessary to prove how a spouse squandered marital property and there must not be rewarded half of what is left. The divorce investigator can gather evidence for the same.

DIVORCE INFORMATION

Divorce is defined as the legal dissolution of a marriage. Divorce can be of two types: absolute divorce and limited divorce.

ABSOLUTE DIVORCE

The most common type of divorce that we see everyday is legally termed absolute divorce. This type of divorce entails a complete dissolution of a marriage. The legal grounds for an absolute divorce are determined by the laws of respective states. Typically absolute divorce can be granted on grounds of marital misconduct (at-fault) or simply because a couple just cannot get along (no-fault).The distinction between at-fault divorce and no-fault divorce can have a significant impact on the outcome of the legal proceedings.

.At-fault Divorce-This type of divorce can be granted when one spouse sues for divorce on grounds of transgression by his partner. Grounds for at-fault divorce include cruelty (inflicting needless physical or emotional pain), adultery, abandonment, lengthy imprisonment, and the inability or unwillingness to consummate a marriage. However, all states do not offer at-fault divorce. In those states where at-fault divorce is granted, if the spouse can prove the fault of the other, he will be awarded a greater proportion of the community property or larger alimony payments.

.NO-fault Divorce-This term is used for any divorce where the spouse who files for divorce is not required to prove misconduct on the part of the other partner.

A no-fault divorce is generally filed on grounds of incompatibility or irreconcilable differences. No-fault divorce is granted by all states, though some states require a separation period before granting such a divorce. No-fault divorces still involve legal battles over property division, child custody, child support, and alimony.

LIMITED DIVORCE

Limited Divorce is another name for legal separation. This is granted in situations where absolute divorce is not desirable, and implies that spouses no longer live together, but remain married to each other. Sometimes couples decide to separate legally for a trial period in order to decide whether divorce is actually the best solution to their marital problems. In certain states, couples are required to separate for a few months before a no-fault divorce is granted to them. Nonetheless, a legal separation also involves many steps that are necessary for absolute divorce. An informal trial separation has become common in many troubled marriages, but it requires mutual cooperation for creating a suitable working arrangement.

For specific divorce advice that may be appropriate for your situation, please contact a divorce lawyer today. Attorneys, who form part of our national network, are well-versed in divorce procedures and can ensure that you get a fair settlement.

ANNULMENT

Besides divorce, another option available for dissolving a marriage is revoking it by annulment. A legal annulment is similar in some ways to a Catholic annulment in that it implies that the marriage was not found to be valid in the first place. Therefore the marriage must be treated as though it never existed in the first place. Various jurisdictions have diverse acceptable grounds for annulment, but typically include the following:

.Misrepresentation-An example of this situation where a spouse lies about an existing marriage in order to enter into a new marriage relationship (bigamy)

.Concealment-Instances of this include non-disclosure of sexually transmitted diseases, conviction for felony, or drug addiction

.Misunderstanding-A typical example being that one party thinking that the other party wanted children while he/she did not.

.Non-consummation of the Marriage-This refers to the refusal or inability of one partner to engage in sexual intercourse with the other after marriage.

Other Divorce Issues

Alimony

About Alimony

Another issue to be resolved in a divorce is whether or not one spouse is to receive alimony. If one spouse earns significantly more than the other, he or she may be ordered to pay alimony. These payments help to support the other spouse after divorce or during separation. There are three main types of alimony:

Permanent Alimony - This type of alimony is awarded after a divorce and consists of recurring payments that may change or end if the receiving party remarries.

Temporary Alimony - During divorce proceedings or separation, ongoing payments may be awarded. Temporary alimony can include money for divorce costs and daily living, and it is paid until the court has made a determination on permanent alimony.

Lump Sum Alimony - This form of alimony is paid all at once. Only some states allow lump sum alimony payment.

Although most alimony payments are made from the husband to the wife, in instances where the husband is a homemaker and caretaker of the children, the wife will be required to pay alimony. Individual states have different laws regarding alimony. In some, marital misconduct (in an at-fault divorce) may be taken into consideration when determining alimony payments. Other states observe a no-fault alimony policy. If you are not sure what the law is in your state, a divorce lawyer from our national network can help.

Alimony and Child Support

While child support payments are often made to provide financial assistance to the ex-spouse with custody of the children, sometimes alimony is used for this purpose instead. Child support is neither tax deductible for the payer nor taxed as income for the recipient. Alimony, on the other hand, is usually structured so that the payments are deductible by the payer and treated as gross income by the payee. For some, this arrangement may be more beneficial for tax purposes. When settling a divorce involving children, the parties generally decide how to structure child support and/or alimony payments so that taxes are reduced.

Alimony Recapture Calculators

Because alimony payments are frequently tax deductible, the government has a way of making sure alimony is not being used to disguise property settlements. If alimony payments decline by more than $15,000 dollars over the first three years, the payer will be subject to alimony recapture. This means that a portion of claimed tax deductions have to be repaid. In order to avoid recapture, you can either use an alimony calculator to figure out an appropriate payment structure or consult a knowledgeable divorce lawyer.

If you are going through a divorce and are concerned about alimony payments, contact an experienced divorce attorney today for legal and financial advice.

Child Custody Investigation

Not to be confused with a court-ordered child custody evaluation, in some cases one parent may hire an investigator to gather evidence to demonstrate that the parent with custody is unfit. Conditions that might render a parent unfit include physical or mental abuse, drug addiction, alcoholism, and exposing children to danger or an unhealthy environment. Once a child custody private eye has accumulated sufficient evidence, a parent can petition to care for the children.

An experienced divorce detective can catch cheating spouses. Contact a family lawyer in your area for advice on how to proceed with a divorce investigation.

Child Custody

Child Custody Issues

Divorce can be especially hard on children. As a result, it is important to resolve child custody issues as soon as possible. Determining what types of custody and/or visitation rights are appropriate can be difficult, and consulting a family law attorney can aid compliance with child custody laws.

Child Custody Rights

There are four types of child custody:

Legal Custody - The right of a parent to make decisions about a child's upbringing

Physical Custody - The right of a parent to have the child live with him or her

Sole Custody - One parent has both legal and physical custody of a child

Joint Custody - Both parents share legal custody, physical custody, or both

If either parent is unable to care for a child, a grandparent or other relative may be awarded custody.

For more detailed information on the types of child custody and how custody is determined, contact a family lawyer today.

Child Visitation Rights

Those parents who are not awarded physical custody of their children may be entitled to visitation rights. There are three types of child visitation:

Reasonable Visitation - This form of child visitation involves reasonable times and places that are determined by both parents.

Fixed Visitation - The court orders times and places for child visitation.

Supervised Visitation - An adult supervisor must be present during visitation.

In addition to the non-custodial parent being awarded visitation rights, there has been precedent for grandparents being awarded child visitation. This issue is still hotly debated in the legal community.

If you or someone you love is going through a child custody battle, you may want to contact a divorce attorney for more information.

Child Support

About Child Support

Child support is defined as a payment made from one parent to the other for support of their children after a divorce or separation. Child support payments are usually made from the parent who does not have custody of the children to the parent who does. When a married couple has children, the husband is automatically deemed the father and may be required to pay child support after divorce. In cases involving children out of wedlock, paternity must be established before child support can be imposed.

Determination of Child Support

The amount of child support paid is usually based on the incomes of both parents and how much time the children spend with each parent. For instance, if the mother earns less money than the father and the children spend more time with her, the father will generally pay more child support. However, it is important to remember that this will not always be the case, and that the courts determine the amount of child support awarded on a case-by-case basis (within certain child support guidelines). There are several factors the court takes into consideration when determining child support. These include:

Income of Parent Without Custody - The court will take into account how much this parent makes and how much he or she can afford to pay.

Income of Parent with Custody - The court will take how much this parent makes into account and how much further support is needed to take care of the children.

Needs of Children - These can include healthcare, education, and other special needs.

Standard of Living Before Divorce - This applies only to the children. The court takes the parents' standard of living into account when determining alimony awards.

While each state has it own specific child support laws, you can obtain a child support calculator that should give you a rough approximation of expected payments. If you need legal advice on child support issues like paternity, enforcement, and recovery, please contact an experienced family lawyer today.

Paternity

About Paternity

Since fathers often pay child, it may be important to establish paternity. Fathers that may be required to pay child support include:

Acknowledged Father - The biological father of children born to unmarried parents.

Presumed Father - There are four conditions in which a man can be presumed to be the father of a child:

The man was married to the mother of a child when it was conceived or born.

The man attempted to marry the mother of a child when it was conceived or born.

The man married the mother of the child after it was born and agreed to have his name put on the birth certificate or agreed to support the child.

The man welcomed the child into his home after it was born and considered the child as his own.

Equitable Father - A father who is not the biological or adoptive father of a child, but who has a close relationship with the child that is encouraged by the biological parents.

Unwed Father- A man who does not marry the woman who bears his child.

In most cases paternity is presumed under the law; however, there are many instances in which it needs to be legally established. One way to establish paternity is for the man to sign a form acknowledging that he is the father. This gives the mother the right to collect child support, but it also gives the father some child custody rights. It is important to fully understand the legal ramifications of establishing paternity before having any papers signed. Once established, paternity is difficult to change. If a man refuses to sign a voluntary paternity acknowledgment, a paternity test can be administered.

DNA Paternity Testing

A paternity test can be used to determine if a man is the biological father of a child. DNA testing may be necessary to establish the paternity of an unwed father who refuses voluntary acknowledgement. In this case, the paternity test is usually requested by mother trying to collect child support.

A DNA paternity test can also be used to show that a certain man is not the biological father of a child. This type of paternity testing might be requested if an ex-husband believes that he did not beget the children he is supporting financially. In some cases, a woman may request a paternity test to show that a man is not the biological father in a child custody battle.

DNA paternity tests are most often performed using buccal (cheek) swabs or blood samples from the man and child. While not essential, tissue samples from the mother can aid the identification process. DNA testing can also be performed using other samples of tissue like hair, semen, and skin. In some cases paternity may need to be established before birth, and there are ways this can be accomplished as well.

If you are interested in learning more about child support and paternity testing, you may want to contact a family law attorney for more information.

SECOND VERSION OF A DIVORCE INVESTIGATION

FAMILY LAW INVESTIGATION

The filing of a case in court pertaining to divorce or child custody brings out personal and private matters in the open as evidence has to be gathered and presented in court. Divorce investigators are hired by both parties to collect evidence that support the claims of each party, and they work on the guidelines provided by the attorney who initiates the legal proceedings in court. Mate Check has the expertise to handle military divorce cases as well using the regulations outlined by military law pertaining to infidelity or a partner cheating on his spouse. Divorce proceedings involve extensive scrutiny of parental behavior whether or not he or she is fit to get custody of the child. The parent must not have any record of negligence, that is, ever leaving small children alone at home, drunk driving with children in the car, never have any child pornography images on the computer(see our Spouse and Child Porn page), to be able to win a contested custody battle. The divorce investigators have to collect substantive evidence for this. It is the duty of the court to safeguard the best interests of the child and provide for his security. Therefore it ponders over the recommendations made by custody evaluators as well as the guardians appointed by the court. Evidence that the private investigators have to collect includes financial data and property details. This is primarily because partners often do not want to part with half the assets that they have built. A convenient way out of this is hiding assets or transferring them. If any fraudulent measures are adopted by a partner, but not discovered by the partner till after the divorce decree is signed in court, he/she has six months to reopen the divorce proceedings for a case of fraud under rule 60(c) or for an error in material facts. After six months it may be a chance lost forever, therefore it is imperative that the divorce investigator gathers all the relevant information so that the attorney may prove the case in favor of the grieved party. The hiring of a forensic accountant to delve into financial details is particularly beneficial.

DIVORCE INVESTIGATION

There are many instances when a person feels that his spouse is cheating on him. If you are reasonably sure of this, it is a good idea to engage a private detective, who if the need arises, can be made the divorce detective. Private detectives who work with extreme caution employ various techniques and evidence gathering measures to show that a spouse is being unfaithful. The divorce investigator will have a collection of photographs, video clippings, and recorded conversations, list of places where each rendezvous took place, hotel bills and computer files from where other secrets might tumble out. The private investigator discreetly interrogates witnesses to substantiate claims of infidelity. All these would form a crucial part of the divorce investigations.

Some states permit filing of at-fault divorce cases. The laws of such states are such that they award a larger proportion of the marital property to the spouse who files a case for divorce on grounds of marital misconduct.

However, states that support no-fault divorce, common property has to be divided equally between husband and wife. There are instances where a spouse conceals financial facts, transfers assets and resort to other measures to possibly avoid the splitting of assets into exactly one half. It is the job of the private investigator to discover hidden assets like private undisclosed bank accounts, unrevealed income, travelers' cheques, false payments, retirement accounts and others.

DIVORCE

DIVORCE INFORMATION

Divorce is defined as the legal dissolution of a marriage. Divorce is of two types-absolute divorce, and limited divorce.

ABSOLUTE DIVORCE

The instances of divorce that we hear about everyday, is a complete dissolution of marriage and is called absolute divorce. The laws that define the legal parameters of absolute divorce vary from state to state. Marital misconduct by one of the partners provides grounds for at-fault divorce, while inability of a couple to get along, becomes the basis for a no-fault divorce. The outcome of the legal proceedings depends to a great extent on the distinction between the two.

AT-FAULT DIVORCE-Marital misconduct, the legal ground for at-fault divorce, encompasses a number of misdemeanors. These include cruelty that is, inflicting physical or emotional pain or both, adultery, abandonment, prolonged imprisonment, and the inability or disinclination to consummate a marriage. However, filing for an at-fault divorce is not permitted in certain states. States that do permit fighting an at-fault divorce also provide that a larger proportion of the assets be granted to the aggrieved spouse, besides a higher amount being fixed as alimony.

NO-FAULT DIVORCE-No-fault divorce if filed on grounds of mutual incompatibility and not due to any misconduct on the part of the partner. It can also be due to irreconcilable differences. This type of divorce is granted in all states, though some states make it mandatory that the couple go through a period of separation for the divorce is granted. Other legal battles for child custody, child support, alimony and property division are part of no-fault divorce as well.

LIMITED DIVORCE

Limited divorce is another name for legal separation, granted in situations where absolute divorce is not desirable, but the couple do not live together but remain married to each other. Faced with marital discord, couples sometimes opt for legal separation on a trial basis so as to be convinced that divorce is the only solution to their problems. Some states require a period of separation as a prerequisite for granting no-fault divorce. Even after that a number of legal tangles have to be ironed out before a divorce can be granted. Many couples resort to trying out an informal trial separation in an attempt to resolve troubled marital relationships, but a mutually acceptable working relationship requires mutual cooperation and understanding.

If you need advice on divorce and you have specific issues, we advise you to visit a divorce lawyer today. As part of our national network we have a team of attorneys well-versed in divorce procedures who will also help you get a fair settlement./

ANNULMENT

Annulment means revoking a marriage or dissolving it. This is another alternative to divorce, and legal annulment is somewhat similar to the Catholic annulment, in that it implies that the marriage was not valid in the first place.

Various jurisdictions have different prerequisites for annulment, but typically, they include the following:

MISREPRESENTATION-This is in case an individual conceals the fact that he is already married and gets married again (bigamy

CONCEALMENT-This refers to non disclosure of sexually transmitted diseases that a person suffers from, drug addiction or felony

NON-CONSUMMATION OF MARRIAGE-When a marriage is not consummated due to the inability or disinclination of one partner

MISUNDERSTANDING- Non communication of wishes, for example, a person thinking that his partner wanted children and he did not.

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