Latest from Brown Family Law Blog - Page 2

Doing business in the midst of a pandemic is unchartered territory

 Despite the difficulties and concerns brought on by Covid-19, it remains each attorney’s primary ethical duty to protect the interests of their client. This essentially means to stay in regular and frequent contact with your clients and not let anything fall through the cracks.

 Under the current circumstances, we at Brown Personal Injury Law as well as Brown Family Law Group recognize this duty includes an obligation that attorneys be “technologically competent” such that they can effectively communicate with our clients to achieve our clients’ objectives.

 For these reasons,
Continue Reading COMMUNICATION IS ALWAYS KEY, ESPECIALLY DURING A PANDEMIC

Adult Children and Legal Documents

Here’s a question that most parents don’t often consider: With adult children heading off to college and/or into the workplace, what legal documents do I need?

Upon reaching his or her 18th birthday, your child is legally an adult in Arizona and in most states. This means that you no longer have the right to make certain decisions that you always have made before and obtain information on your child’s condition. Yes, this means that as soon as your child turns 18, you no longer have dominion over them.

So let’s say – heaven forbid
Continue Reading WHAT LEGAL DOCUMENTS DO MY ADULT CHILDREN NEED?

Adult Children and Legal Documents

Here’s a question that most parents don’t often consider: With adult children heading off to college and/or into the workplace, what legal documents do I need?

 Upon reaching his or her 18th birthday, your child is legally an adult in Arizona and in most states. This means that you no longer have the right to make certain decisions that you always have made before and obtain information on your child’s condition. Yes, this means that as soon as your child turns 18, you no longer have dominion over them.

 So let’s say – heaven forbid
Continue Reading What legal documents do my adult children need?

Arizona’s minimum limit for auto insurance liability increased effective July 1, 2020. Senate Bill 1087 was passed by the Arizona legislature on May 27, 2019 and then signed into law by Governor Ducey on Friday, June 7th, 2019.

Prior to July 1, 2020, Arizona’s minimum limits of liability required by the state of Arizona was $15,000/$30,000/$10,000. 



The new limits that will take effect on July 1st, 2020 will be $25,000/$50,000/$15,000. This means the minimum amount of coverage that a person is required to carry will increase and this is a good thing.



The first two numbers represent your
Continue Reading ARIZONA CAR INSURANCE MINIMUM LIMITS INCREASED ON JULY 1, 2020

Arizona’s minimum limit for auto insurance liability will increase effective July 1st, 2020. Senate Bill 1087 was passed by the Arizona legislature on May 27, 2019 and then signed into law by Governor Ducey on Friday, June 7th, 2019.

 Prior to July 1, 2020, Arizona’s minimum limits of liability required by the state of Arizona was $15,000/$30,000/$10,000. 

 The new limits that will take effect on July 1st, 2020 will be $25,000/$50,000/$15,000. This means the minimum amount of coverage that a person is required to carry will increase and this is a good thing.

 The first two numbers represent your “Bodily
Continue Reading Car Insurance Minimum Limits Increasing on July 1, 2020

With full disclosure that I am not a tax attorney and I do not give tax advice, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused some changes that may allow individuals that are suffering financial hardship to make withdrawals or loans from their retirement accounts.

When the U.S. Congress passed the Coronavirus Relief & Economic Security Act (CARES Act) on March 27, 2020, it intended to assist Americans with financial relief to assist them during the COVID-19 pandemic. One area of the CARES Act set down new rules regarding withdrawals and/or loans from retirement accounts.

The CARES Act relaxed rules on loans or
Continue Reading NEW RULES REGARDING RETIREMENT WITHDRAWALS/LOANS DUE TO COVID-19

Small changes coming in April 2020 to ALL child support with potentially HUGE results!

For all child support payors and recipients of child support, there are changes coming this April. The Superior Court sent out a notice to all employers last month that effective April 1, 2020 the monthly handling fee for the Clearinghouse will increase from $5.00 to $8.00 per month. This means that the handling fee for collecting and distributing monthly child support payments will automatically change, even if you have not been back to court in some time.

So what this mean for you?

  • Assuming the employer


Continue Reading CHANGES TO ALL CHILD SUPPORT IN APRIL 2020

Spousal maintenance is probably one of the hardest areas to give advice in family law. Unlike child support, which can be mathematically calculated down to the penny, spousal maintenance is based on a number of factors and considerations, some certain and some subjective. The age of the parties, income differences, years of marriage, education, health of parties and lifestyle during marriage are some, but not all, of the factors that a judge would have to look at and consider.

I have attended countless spousal maintenance seminars over the years which have presented a panel of judges and well-respected practitioners that
Continue Reading WHAT IS A FAIR AMOUNT AND LENGTH OF SPOUSAL MAINTENANCE?

Close to half of the people in the United States who are 55 or older have failed to properly plan what is become of them or their estate if they are incapacitated or die. A recent study of 3,000 Americans 55 years of age or older by Merrill Lynch and AgeWave has found that nearly half (45%) have no Will and only 18% have a Will and the other two crucial documents that they and their family needs in the event of incapacitating illness or injury.

A Will is a legal document that directs how your assets are to be
Continue Reading POOR ESTATE PLANNING CAN HARM YOU AND FAMILY MEMBERS

In December of 2106, the Arizona Supreme Court set up a Task Force to review and revise the family law rules used here in our state. After many months of hard work and several revisions, the new family law rules were approved and, for the most part, are applied in all family law cases after January 1, 2019. A recent article in the Arizona Attorney magazine noted: “The new rules are (completely) re-styled, (modestly) rearranged, and (occasssionally) changed substantively.” All in all, the Task Force made the new Family Law Rules “reasonable and readable for those that use them, including
Continue Reading 2019 REVISIONS TO ARIZONA’S FAMILY LAW RULES

Under the recently enacted changes to the Federal tax laws, spousal maintenance (formerly “alimony”) ordered by a dissolution (divorce) decree or agreement executed after Dec. 31, 2018, will no longer be deductible by the payer and will be tax free to the recipient. Apparently the supporters of this particular change in our historic handling of support payments believed that this concept was in some way a Federal subsidy supporting divorces.

In the entire three plus decades that I have practiced law, the person who traditionally paid spousal maintenance had been able to legally deduct this from his/her income when filing
Continue Reading TAX DEDUCTIBILITY OF SPOUSAL MAINTENANCE IS CHANGING

For years, the biggest stumbling block to you family members to avoid a probate action in court after you pass was the family home. Or any real estate for that matter.

However, since the relatively recent invention of a beneficiary deed, also ominously known as a transfer on death deed, there is now a legal and clever way to pass on your real estate to loved ones after death. And the best part, it allows your loved ones to skip the ugly process of probate.

Probate court can be a drawn out and costly affair where the court decides who
Continue Reading LOOKING FOR A SIMPLE WAY TO PASS ON YOUR REAL ESTATE TO LOVED ONES AFTER YOU ARE GONE? 

In a recent article, Maricopa County Bar Association President Norma C. Izzo wrote the following comment:

“The legal profession exists largely, if not exclusively, because of conflict. Unlike many other professions in which conflict may arise at intermittent times during one’s career, an attorney’s role is almost exclusively grounded in conflict – managing, mitigating, and overcoming conflicts.”

While I do concur with these sentiments, I am quick to always remind clients and prospective clients that conflict does not equate to rudeness, violence or skulduggery. Sadly, in our times of political derisiveness and tweeted one-line zingers, wholeheartedly profound observation advocating assertively.
Continue Reading CIVILITY IN THE FACE OF CONFLICT

Lawyers typically charge for their services three different ways: a flat fee basis, contingent fee basis, or an hourly rate basis.

Flat fee charges at Brown Family Law Group, PLC are generally for routine matters such as wills, deeds, corporation and limited liability company formation, powers of attorney and living wills.

If the hourly basis is used, a deposit is often requested at the outset to retain or lock in the attorney’s services. This is how family law cases – divorces, child support, custody, contempt. paternity actions – are mostly handled. The amount of the deposit will vary depending on
Continue Reading ATTORNEY FEES

After practicing family/divorce law for more than 30 years, I have stopped saying that “I’ve seen everything” as the foolishness and sometimes stupidity of people in divorce court is never ending. Probably the most disconcerting is witnessing people that are self-destructive.

Here are a number of ways that clients truly can ruin their divorce cases:

1. Lie or play games with your lawyer.

If you aren’t honest with the lawyer, how can you expect that they can help you? Let a lawyer make representations that aren’t true and the lawyer won’t be the one the Judge is mad at. After
Continue Reading YOUR DIVORCE: SURE-FIRE WAYS TO MESS THINGS UP