Rhode Island Divorce Tips by Attorney Chris Pearsall

A Dangerous Trend in Rhode Island Divorces? RI Family Court may not be helping you!

If you are thinking about handling your Rhode Island Divorce completely on your own before the Rhode Island Family Court, think again!!!!

At first I saw a trend that I was in favor of.  I saw more and more people filing their own divorces and representing themselves.

I have supported a person's right to do this because I know that many people don't have thousands of dollars to hire a lawyer to represent them.  I can understand and appreciate the economics of the situation.

However, this trend has spiralled out of control from people representing themselves because they can't afford to hire an attorney to those with a strong income stream filing their own divorces without even getting legal advice from a lawyer because they don't want to pay any money at all to know their rights.  

However, it is one thing to simply bypass hiring attorneys because you couldn't pay the retainer fee and hourly rate and completely another thing to avoid getting good solid legal advice at all even when you can afford it.

Am I offended for myself?  Not at all.  What worries me is that I see more and more people going through their divorces "on a wing and a prayer" without knowing their options and legal alternatives are.

In a divorce there are laws that apply to everyone and there are some laws that may just apply to you and your situation.  

There are some instances in which you may only have one chance to do something in your divorce to protect yourself.  If you don't say the right thing or do the right thing and miss that golden opportunity to appeal or file a Petition for Certiorari to the Rhode Island Supreme Court then. . . well . . let's not just say it . . . you're screwed!  

People have criticized me for my "down to earth language" rather than using large words, legal ease or "proper" wording for an attorney.  I certainly respect their right to have their opinion.

I grew up with hardworking parents and grandparents.  They struggled to get where they were and it is perhaps only by sheer tenaciousness that I am a lawyer today.  Yet I put my pants on one leg at a time just like secretaries, firemen, doctors, sanitation workers, etc... and I help those who come to me as affordably as I can.  I don't sugarcoat things.  I'm a proper gentleman but I tell things like they are. . . truthfully and realistically.

Can you do your divorce on your own?  Yes, you can!  Should you do it without good solid legal advice?  Absolutely not!  

What I'm seeing though is blowing my mind.  I'm seeing people who make $150,000 per year avoid getting good solid legal advice to get through their divorce intelligently and in an informed manner at a cost of only $145 in some cases and only $650 in others.

If a layperson has handled their own divorce and told you that it is easy and you can do your own divorce then I'll be happy to show you a person who made at least 2 to 5 critical errors that are most likely going to come back to haunt them.

I'll be forthright.  I don't like seeing this trend of people thinking divorce is simple and easy.   People are believing that they can do it themselves as simple as connecting the dots by going to a website called LegalZoom or CompleteCase or any other website professing to have a complete solution for uncontested divorces.

There is NO one size fits all agreement or advice system. Every couple's lives, property, circumstances, children, and financial situation are ALWAYS different!

Without the advice of a live person, namely a real, experienced attorney licensed in the State of Rhode Island who knows about divorce and family law to listen AND hear what has gone on in YOUR life and properly advises you on all aspects of your divorce, including your rights, alternatives, and each actions consequences.  

If you try to do this all yourself and let the court "lead" you through a few blanket questions, then you are playing with dynamite and 19 or so out of 20 times it is going to explode and blow your hand off!  That is a fairly good analogy to use here.

There is perhaps nothing harder than to have someone come to me later and beg me to help them and tell them what they can do only to have me to go through all the facts and information and I have to tell them that they had their chance but they blew it and there is absolutely nothing that can be done legally for them now because they didn't act wisely when they went through their divorce and failed to get good solid legal advice.

It's your choice to go with this trend or not.  As I've told my wife, it is our children's undeniable right to screw up their own lives because they didn't want to get solid legal advice so things are done right.

There is a reason that I chose to focus my law practice on Rhode Island divorce and family law as the one area of law I would practice despite the fact that there are easily hundreds of areas of law I could practice in.  I could spend a lifetime practicing just divorce law in Rhode Island and still not know everything.

There is a reason lawyers exist.  We exist because it isn't simple.  Law is complex and always changing.  While I advocate a person's right to represent themselves, it has been my hope that people would do so in an informed manner.  That's not what I'm seeing though.  I'm seeing haphazard people who just want to save a buck and it genuinely saddens me.

Our rights are precious in this country.  Ignorance of their value does a disservice to the men and women who have given their lives to insure that we have these rights today.

Please make sure you are informed.  It is worth it!

All My Best to those who Represent Themselves Before the Family Court in an Informed Manner,

I am Attorney Christopher A. Pearsall and I am "The Rhode Island Divorce Coach."

 

CALL (401) 632-6976 NOW to get Your Legal Advice Session with an Experienced Rhode Island Lawyer at the reduced rate of $145 for an hour.

Family Court Judge in Hamilton County Ohio Orders Man to Apologize or Go to Jail!

Published:  February 22, 2012
Website:  Cincinnati.com
Author:  Kimball Perry 

Photographer Mark Byron was so bothered by his pending divorce and child visitation issues that he blasted his soon-to-be ex-wife on his personal Facebook page.

That touched off a battle that resulted in a Hamilton County judge ordering Byron jailed for his Facebook rant – and to post on his page an apology to his wife and all of his Facebook friends or go to jail, something free speech experts found troubling.

 

Mark Byron, a local photographer, holds his iPad with a photo of himself and his son. Byron is involved in a divorce suit with his wife, Elizabeth, that has spilled over into Facebook. Due to a post on his Facebook page about his divorce and custody restrictions in November of 2011, a Hamilton County judge is ordering Byron to post an apology to his wife on his Facebook page every day for 30 days. The divorce is not yet final. / The Enquirer/ Liz Dufour

“The idea that a court can say ‘I order you not to post something or to post something’ seems to me to be a First Amendment issue,” Enquirer attorney and free-speech expert Jack Greiner said Tuesday.

Hanni Fakhoury, a staff attorney with the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the rulings are unique and “raise quite a few” free speech issues.

“There haven’t been a lot of cases that have dealt with this particular issue,” he said.

Mark and Elizabeth Byron had a son in July 2010, but their marriage soon became troubled. She accused him of verbally abusing her, threatening her with his fist and threatening to “end” her life.

While Mark Byron, an Over-the-Rhine photographer who has worked freelance assignments for The Enquirer, was exonerated of criminal allegations, a civil protective order was issued instructing him to stay away from his wife.

Mark Byron also argued the same court prevented him from seeing his son. In a Nov. 23, 2011, Facebook posting, he blasted the situation and the judicial system he believed wronged him.

“...if you are an evil, vindictive woman who wants to ruin your husbands life and take your son’s father away from him completely – all you need to do is say that you're scared of your husband or domestic partner...” he wrote on Facebook.

Elizabeth Byron saw it – even though her husband blocked her from viewing his page – and believed it violated a previous protective order by Domestic Relations Court Magistrate Paul Meyers that prevented Mark Byron from doing anything to cause his wife “to suffer physical and/or mental abuse, harassment, annoyance, or bodily injury.”

Magistrates act as quasi-judges and hear the bulk of the cases in Domestic Relations Court. Their work is reviewed by Domestic Relations Court judges, this time by Judge Jon Sieve who signed off on Meyers’ finding.

Sieve said Ohio judicial rules prevent he and Meyers from commenting on a pending case.

Elizabeth Byron, who couldn’t be reached, believed her husband’s Facebook rant violated the court order, said it and the comments about it made by Mark Byron’s Facebook friends embarrassed her. That, she said, violated the previous order from harassing her – even though the post wasn’t addressed to her and she was blocked from viewing it.

“She wasn’t harassed,” Fakhoury said, “because she deliberately sought this out.”

Meyers found Mark Byron in contempt and ordered him jailed for 60 days beginning March 19 – and to post for 30 days on his Facebook an apology to his wife, written by Meyers, if he wanted to avoid jail.

“In a million years I didn’t think he’d be found in contempt,” Elizabeth “Becky” Ford, Mark Byron’s attorney, said.

“He did nothing but vent. She didn’t like what he had to say. That’s what this boils down to.”

Particularly troubling for Greiner and Fakhoury was Meyers’ do-it-or-go-to-jail option for Mark Byron to post the apology. “I didn’t think I had an option,” Byron said.

“The court’s order to compel speech is as much a violation of the Fist Amendment” as suppressing free speech, Greiner said.

Greiner called the difference between a legal order to post the apology and then noting jail could be avoided if it was posted “a distinction without a difference.”

“Forcing someone to speak as punishment for speaking” could violate Mark Byron’s free speech rights, Fakhoury said.

 

Read the Entire Article at Cincinnati.com Judge: Jail for Facebook Rant

 

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