Kansas Family and Divorce

Blogging from my local coffee shop!!!

Well, I thought I would put my money where my mouth is. I have been blogging this morning from one of my favorite coffee shops, The Bluestem Bristro Whenever I have court in Manhattan, Kansas, I almost always make time to stop by with my wonderful 14" iBook and do a little surfing and emailing. So today, I decided to use that wonderful program MarsEdit and do some posting to my blog. See, even those of us in Kansas can do what they do on the coast. We can drink our favorite coffee and blog.

State could pull in reins on Eminent Domain Law

Kansas lawmakers might act in the next regular session to give the public greater say in property ownership. This comes from a statement made by Sen. Kay O'Connor to The Johnson County Sun.

Justices uphold California domestic Partner law

Gays and lesbians won a major legal victory when the California Supreme Court let stand a new law granting registered domestic partners many of the same rights and protections of heterosexual marriages. FOR ENTIRE STORY --->

OPEN BLOG FRIDAY!!!!

Friday will once again be your opportunity to ask any question you want concerning family and divorce law issues in Kansas. Post your question in the comment section or send me an email.

Anyone for a cup of coffee

This is an idea that I also have been kicking around since I first saw the concept offered by Legal Grind.  Legal grind actually offers legal services in a coffee shop owned by a lawyer.  Matthew Homann mentioned something similar on his blog today.  It would work like this.  For one hour, say between the hour of 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., one day a week you go to your local shop, sit down and buy the coffee for that hour.  You also offer to visit with anyone about your area of law, offering to answer questions.  As Matt states, "absolutely, frickin' brilliant."  It is a great idea. You get to enjoy a cup of coffee with someone, provide a service and enjoy good company.

US Supreme Court Rules on Restraining Order Lawsuit

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that police cannot be sued for how they enforce restraining orders, ending a lawsuit by a Colorado woman. She claimed police did not do enough to prevent her estranged husband from killing her three young daughters. Gonzales did not have a constitutional right to police enforcement of the court order against her husband.

Getting Greedy May Backfire

There is a concept know as "the pig rule."  As summarized in a judicial opinion, the rule is: "When a party is not content to accept that to which he or she is entitled, but instead overreaches to get more than that which is due, the party is in violation of the pig rule."  Pigs are greedy, which is good for the farmer.  The pig is greedy, the farmer can send it to market sooner and in the end, the pig meets its reward at the slaughterhouse.  The same can be said for a party who overreaches in seeking ex parte temporary orders.  If any misrepresentations are made in getting the temporary orders, the result may be an award of attorney fees to the other party and permanent lost creditability with the court for both client and counsel.  This is so even if the misrepresentation was innocently made through some miscommunication between client and counsel.  Counsel may be forced to make corrective disclosures to the court, even if that would be detrimental to the client. 

Testing new Program MarsEdit

Just wanted to test a program that Kevin O'Keefe at lexBlog suggested at a Webinar. MarsEdit is a blog posting program that enables one to post to a blog without opening any other program. Works great so far.

Taxes and Divorce Top Ten List

As the list states, seek out a tax professional.  I am a domestic attorney, not a tax professional and I don't give tax advise.  However, Ullman & Allen Family Law Forum provided a great taxes and divorce top ten list sometime back.  Since each one of the items on the list may affect you in a divorce, please go and check it out.

Directions to My Office from Google Map

I was playing with Google map today and come up with the two images below.  One is a satellite view.  This is way cool and I know, it is off subject.