Recent family-related news included tips on handling your marital relationship while in lockdown, a look at how the pandemic impacts on the legal concept of living “separate and apart”, helpful hints on managing your relationship with your ex after your divorce has been finalized, a look at grandparents’ expanded role during the pandemic, a Hague Convention case being heard in Costa Rica and the United States, how to make a wise decision about the future of the marital home during your divorce, statistics indicating that the rate of divorce declined in Japan during the time of the corona virus and a couple decides that co-parenting a puppy might be the right thing to do.
Missing the Partner You See 24/7 Jessica Grose, The New York Times, July 8, 2020 The author wrote: “One night last week I looked up from my phone, turned to my husband in bed and said, “Why do I feel like I miss you even though you’re in my face 24/7?” This article gives the reader tips on how to feel connected when you have nowhere to go.
What Qualifies as Living Separate and Apart in a Chicago Divorce? Jessica C. Marshall, The National Law Review, July 24, 2020 “One of the divorce topics we have been asked about recently involves the Illinois requirements for living separate and apart. With Shelter in Place moving into new phases, many individuals are finding that they do not want to remain married to their same spouse during the second wave of pandemic shutdowns. However, there is a lot of information out there regarding separation.” This article seeks to clarify Illinois law in this area.
How to Manage Interactions With Your Ex After Divorce Elizabeth Cohen, Ph.D., Psychology Today, August 10, 2020 While the monumental moment of divorce may signify the end of a lot of hard work and negotiating, it is not the end of your relationship with your ex-partner… If you share children or pets, your ex will be in your life way past the signing of the divorce documents… Life post-divorce is complicated, but following the four steps in this article may make the future easier to manage.
Working families enlist grandparents to help with the kids Leanne Italie, AP news, August 20, 2020 Whether students are learning at school or at home, or are not yet school age, more grandparents have jumped into daily caregiver roles. Many are happily working without pay, for the love of family, while others have accepted offers of money from their frazzled, eternally grateful adult children.
Mothers: Family Court Deny You Custody Of Your Child? Travel To Costa Rica. Patricia Fersch, Forbes magazine, August 26, 2020 This attorney traveled to Costa Rica to assist a father for whom she had litigated custody of his then six year old son in the United States against claims of child sexual abuse made by the child’s mother and won in court here only to find the mother and child (after an exhaustive search) had violated a court order to return the child to the father and traveled with the child to Costa Rica. This article tells of the harrowing legal journey.
Parenting in Front of a Live Audience of In-laws Christen Madrazo, The New York Times, August 27, 2020 “The thing about moving in with your parents as a married adult is that, while your partner is still your partner, you’re not still you… It’s like you suddenly spiral, kaleidoscopically, into all the parts of you from all the years before…”
Deciding Who Gets to Live in the Family Home During a Divorce Rhonda Kaysen, The New York Times, August 29, 2020 The author advises that in terms of deciding on the fate of a family home, a long-term plan for separate lives is the wisest choice for all parties… Once you have a better sense of your long-term goals, try to reach a temporary agreement for how to weather this transition period.
Japanese divorce rate drops nearly 10% during coronavirus stay-at-home time Scott Wilson, SoraNews24, September 1, 2020 … the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has recently released the divorce statistics from January to June of this year. There were a total of 100,122 divorces during that period, which may sound like a lot, but it’s actually 10,923 fewer than the same period last year… It seems as though there was a “corona divorce” effect, but rather than corona increasing divorces, it’s actually ended up decreasing them… some experts believe this is not the end of the story.
We Didn’t Want to Co-Parent a Puppy Chloe Caldwell, The New York Times, September 3, 2020 “Getting a pandemic puppy seemed like a bad idea for a blended family… My husband and I had a big ‘no’ to a new puppy, while her mom had a big ‘yes’…”