Nothing Says the Holidays Like Divorce. After All, It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!

The holidays are a time when families get together. The reality is that’s not always a Hallmark Card moment. It could instead be a bubbling punch bowl of stress just waiting to end up on someone. Given how highly charged this time of year can be for dysfunctional but married couples, it should be no surprise many spouses decide they’ve had enough during the holidays.

New Year is a time for resolutions and self-improvement. That can mean divorcing a spouse and starting all over again. While others talk about losing physical weight, your goal is losing all that emotional weight holding you back. Life is too short to live with a spouse you don’t love.

Once you’ve decided you’re getting divorced, all the irritations, nonsense, and mind games your spouse plays may roll off your back. You’ve reached the point where you’ve had enough, and the end is near. It’s a just a matter of time before you exit your marital house of horrors.

What You Do Next Depends on Your Situation

What you do and who you tell depends on your circumstances. If you have small children, you may not want their holiday memories mixed with your announcement the two of you are calling it quits. The holidays are stressful enough.

How you communicate your desire to divorce depends on your spouse and relationship. Divorcing couples can be remarkably caring about each other one minute and get extreme the next -- where physical abuse occurs. Whether your marital exit is calm and controlled or you’re in an ejection seat leaving the exploding jet that’s your marriage, you need to decide which path is right for you.

So, while you’re making a good show at holiday parties at friends’ and relatives’ homes, your mind can be elsewhere, planning what you need to do to make your divorce a reality.  Here are the important questions to ask and answer.

Where are Your Financial Records?

Unless you have few assets to split between the two of you, these records are critical. They tell the story of how much wealth you have, how much debt you owe, and who during the divorce process may be responsible for what. This can include bank and investment statements, retirement accounts, insurance policies, and cryptocurrency. Start organizing these records and copying them.

What are Your Tangible Assets?

What things do you and your spouse own? It may include vehicles, jewelry, furniture, real estate, and the family dog. NJ law requires they be divided or credited equitably during a divorce. If you and your spouse can’t figure that out, the lawyers, mediator, arbitrator, or a Judge will do it for you

How Will Your Spouse and You Resolve Your Conflicts?

Even if you think the process will go smoothly, you may hit rough patches on the divorce road, and there may be issues where your spouse refuses to compromise. Usually, divorces initially start through negotiation. If that only gets you so far, we will recommend mediation. If all else fails, the parties can give up control of the outcome and have an arbitrator or a Judge decide

What are Your Spouse’s and Your Priorities?

You can’t always get what you want, but you should get what you need. Ideally, both sides will be prepared to compromise, and each side has their priorities. When it comes to dividing wealth, it may be done in many ways, at least one of which should be mutually acceptable. There’s normally a certain amount of trading, whether one kind of asset goes to one spouse, another for the other, and child custody can be split, too. Or not.

What’s Best for Your Children?

The court ordinarily will presume having both parents in their children’s  lives is best. If you have serious reservations about your spouse’s ability to parent, the facts need to be extreme for a judge to deny a parent any parenting time with  a child. How child custody is handled during your divorce is based on their best interests, not on what you or your spouse want.

Contact Kingston Law Group – Attorneys You Can Trust With Your Legal Matters

Divorce requires many steps. It’s not the time to hire an attorney who will learn the ropes by working on your case. Kingston Law Group are experienced divorce attorneys who’ve helped many people just like you for more than 50 years.

If you’re serious about divorce and decided to take that step, contact us at 609-683-7400 or write to us online to schedule an initial divorce law consultation. The first consultation is handled at a reduced rate.  We accept major credit cards and offer appointments from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, or pre-arranged evening appointment times.

Kingston Law Group represents people in family law in Princeton NJ,  Central New Jersey including , Kingston, New Brunswick, Lawrenceville, and Mercer NJ.

Call us today. You will be glad you did.

And Happy Holidays!!

May the Federal Government Require Your Employer to Mandate That You Get a COVID-19 Vaccine or Get Fired? We Don’t Know Yet!

November was a busy month for federal government agencies, courts, employers, and attorneys involved in the issue of mandatory COVID-19 vaccines for employees. At stake is a novel approach to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates put together by the Biden administration. Not surprisingly, the proposal spawned numerous lawsuits challenging it. A federal appeals court ruled it couldn’t go forward until further review and that the opponents of mandated workplace vaccinations were likely to prevail. 

Wide-Ranging Workplace Safety Order Could Impact Employers With a Hundred or More Employees

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued on November 5 an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) involving employers with at least 100 employees. Under this order, employers would need to start a mandatory vaccine policy or weekly testing and a mask policy. 

They’d also be required to provide paid time off to workers to receive the vaccine and recover from side effects. Unvaccinated employees would also need to wear a mask when in contact with coworkers. If an employer fails to comply, OSHA could issue a citation for $13,653 per violation and up to $136,532 if a violation is repeated or considered willful.

Federal Appeals Court Decision Prevents Rule from Going Into Effect

The rule technically took effect when it was published in the Federal Register, but a day later a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit prevented it from going forward. The many arguments against it in actions in federal courts across the country include:

• No federal statute authorizes the proposed actions explicitly and the executive branch is overstepping its authority through OSHA
• It violates the Commerce Clause of the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution (which allows federal regulation of interstate commerce) because there’s no specific connection between COVID and interstate commerce
• Regulation of public health and safety powers are granted to the states
• At this point, with most of the U.S. population vaccinated, there’s no “grave danger” to justify this level of regulation
• The administrative and financial costs on employers are too high, as are the possible penalties 

Three days after the Biden Administration announced the ETS, the Fifth Circuit (which covers appeals from federal courts in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas) issued an order staying the mandate pending further action. The court order stated there’s “cause to believe there are grave statutory and constitutional issues with the Mandate.” The Department of Labor was told to respond and those opposing could reply the next day.

Since the ETS is stayed and the order applies nationwide, employers need not comply. The court could lift the stay, then employers may need to act. Or maybe not. Because no matter how the appeals court finally rules, the outcome will be appealed by the losing side to the US Supreme Court and rule enforcement may be stayed until the Justices issue a final decision. Even if the ETS is eventually ruled valid, it may be months before it impacts workers.

Is Your Employer Unfairly Forcing You to be Vaccinated? Ignoring Your Disability-Related Concerns?

Contact our Kingston law offices with questions or concerns about your employer’s vaccination policy and how it may affect you. You may reach us through email (hisaacs@kingstonlawgroup.com), or by calling us at 609-683-7400.

We can schedule a reduced fee initial consultation. We can speak on the phone, through a Zoom teleconference, or in person if in fact you are vaccinated against Covid-19. We accept credit card payments and our appointments are generally from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., from Monday to Friday. We can schedule evening appointments during the work week ahead of time.

We will listen to your facts, explain the law, and outline your best avenues to achieve social and economic justice. Contact us today. You’ll be glad you did.