June 2011 Archives

Season four of The Real Housewives of Atlanta is set to air in October and Georgia residents are already on the edge of their seats. The Daily Mail reports that the new series will feature a new cast member that is full of drama and controversies -- just what all reality television fans love to see.

Americans may soon love or hate Marlo Hampton. The new Atlanta "housewife" is engaged to NFL player Charles Grant, who used to play football at the University of Georgia. Hampton apparently has a dark past with a long criminal track record, but she says that she is a "better woman" today because of it.

Rene Chantel Frank, 27, is now pregnant with twins and the allegations are that a 17-year-old boy is the father. Perhaps the most shocking part of this story is that Rene Frank is a teacher at Charles Drew High School in Clayton County and the alleged father is a student.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Frank admitted to police officers that she and the teenage boy had sex inside of her parked vehicle numerous times off campus. She is now facing criminal charges for having sex with the minor, including a charge of assault of a person in school.

Doug Hutchison, star of Green Mile and an actor on the television series Lost, is now happily married to model and singer Courtney Stodden. The two had an ordinary wedding in Las Vegas, but there’s still one thing that is slightly less ordinary about their relationship — he’s 51 and she’s 16.

That’s right, there seems to be a significant age difference between the bride and groom. In fact, Fox News reports that Hutchison is four years older than his new father-in-law. Meanwhile, some people are questioning if it’s really legal to get married at the age of 16.

After divorce or legal separation, one party could be entitled to the allowance of alimony payments. Certain sections of the state laws, including O.C.G.A. § 19-6-1, define how the allowance of alimony is to be determined in the state of Georgia, as well as the situations in which alimony is not authorized.

Alimony payments can be awarded to one party as long as it can be established by a preponderance of the evidence that the separation or divorce between the two parties was not caused by adultery or the desertion of the party receiving the alimony payments. In the state of Georgia, courts can award either temporary or permanent alimony to the receiving party.

Christopher Owens of the Atlanta Falcons was named Man of the Year in 2010 for his community work, but now it looks like his good reputation has been ruined due to his ex-girlfriend's allegations of family violence, reports The Atlanta Journal Constitution. Or has it?

Together, Owens and 22-year-old Latia Terry have a 9-month old daughter and now there seems to be some argument over who should have custody of the child and if there needs to be a restraining order in place between the couple. According to court documents filed by Owens' attorneys in Gwinnett County, Terry told Owens that he should "never see his baby again" and that she plans to "ruin him."

Ex-Philadelphia 76ers star Allen Iverson and his wife Tawanna Iverson were the talk of the town last year when the wife decided to end their marriage and file for divorce in Fulton County Superior Court. The Atlanta divorce petition was later dropped and the two reconciled after Iverson quit playing basketball in the NBA.

But now it seems that the Allen Iverson divorce is back on. According to Fox News, Tawanna Iverson re-filed for a divorce on Monday in Fulton County and is now seeking sole custody of their five children. Through the divorce petition, Tawanna is also asking for child support, alimony payments, and her share of the couple’s assets.

If you’re unhappy with a child custody agreement that is currently in place, you can always go to court to modify a child custody arrangement or visitation schedule. The process of child custody modification can be a challenge, but it’s far better than abducting a child or engaging in other criminal behavior to gain more visitation time with the child.

CBS News highlights an extreme case of violence during a child custody exchange, where 25-year-old Christopher Erdman allegedly murdered the mother of his two children earlier this month in the city of Milton. Erdman has actually been accused of shooting the victim, Shannon Lawrence, four times in a parking lot in front of his two kids.

Reproductive rights in the United States include an individual's right to plan a family, terminate a pregnancy, or use contraceptives. An individual's rights when it comes to reproduction will vary from state to state, so it's important to understand the specific laws that apply to your home state and metro area.

Abortion is perhaps the most controversial reproductive rights issue in the United States, where each state enforces its own laws when it comes to abortion rights and parental consent or notification of teen abortion. Pro-choice advocates argue that abortion should be covered within a person's constitutional right to privacy and that a mother should always have the right to terminate her pregnancy. However, pro-life advocates argue that a fetus is a living being at the moment of conception and that the life of an unborn fetus should be protected under the law.

How much child support will you be required to pay to your children? The answer varies and is based on a number of factors. However, calculating monthly child support payments in Georgia is now easier than ever before with the state's Division of Child Support Services (DCSS) downloadable child support calculator.

The latest version of the child support calculator (Version 8.4) was released on January 4, 2011 and runs through Microsoft Excel. The electronic calculators through the Excel files have built-in formulas for child support calculations. These calculations are widely used by judges, attorneys and mediators in the state.

Camp LaPapillon is no ordinary summer camp. The Daily Citizen reports that the camp, which is sponsored by the Family Support Council, has been held annually since 1987 and consists of teen parents who can learn from one another while sharing their feelings and concerns.

Teen parenting is certainly no simple task. At the week-long camp, teens have the opportunity to learn more about the Georgia community resources available to them as parents. The teen parents can also sit through informational sessions on a variety of family law-related subjects that include domestic violence, child support, and child support recovery. Teens can also learn about other topics that include budgeting, work readiness, child development, and car seat safety.

Kim Zolciak will now have to take on the responsibilities associated with caring for a newborn child, as the Real Housewives of Atlanta star just welcomed her first son into the world on May 31. New York Daily News reports that Zolciak's baby boy, Kroy Jagger Biermann, is named after his father. As Atlantans know, father Kroy Biermann is a defensive end for the Atlanta Falcons.

Some people might remember from a Real Housewives of Atlanta episode that Zolciak met her boyfriend at a charity event last August. The two announced their engagement in January, but the new parents are not yet married.

When filing for divorce, it’s best to hire an attorney to do the negotiating when it comes to issues of child custody, visitation, and property division. It’s never a good idea to get violent with a spouse or use threats. In some extreme cases, criminal charges can even be filed when an argument related to a divorce settlement erupts into violence.

The Miami Herald reported that a Fort Launderdale woman was recently convicted of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in Florida after she held a steak knife to her husband’s throat and demanded that he sign divorce papers that would give her the deed to their house. The incident reportedly took place in May 2009 and the defendant Tamara Strulovici was initially charged with attempted murder after the fight. Prosecutors later agreed to drop the attempted murder charge.

Video games are now playing a larger role in marital break-ups than they have in the past. In fact, based on information from Divorce Online, Deseret News reports that men paying more attention to their video games than their spouse is the cause of 15 percent of divorces this year. This number is up from video games being the reason for only 5 percent of divorces last year. What's more is that family lawyers now expect this trend to continue and say that video games will cause even more divorces next year.

Too much time playing video games can cause tension in any relationship, especially if one partner in the relationship feels neglected as a result of the activity. A few specific video games, in particular, have been named as the reason for a divorce. These video games include World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and Halo.