OBA Annual Meeting

One of my favorite times to be a lawyer is when I get a chance to get together and learn about the developments in the law with other Oklahoma lawyers. The people that are here for the continuing legal education (CLE) classes are the laywers that are developing the future of the practice of law.

This morning I am sitting in the second session of the Technology Track CLE, and listening to Jim Calloway talk about law practice marketing.

Income Calculation Word Problems - Child Support

Hey, I wasn't very excited about math when I was in school. What a loss, because there is so much that math can describe. Of course, in my business the math I use is mostly arithmetic - when I am calculating income for child support. 

Here are two word problems.

Johnny's Problem

Johnny works at the race track as a cashier. He makes $ 14 per hour, and has worked 72, 80, and 74 hours during the last three pay periods. He is paid biweekly and doesn't have any benefits. He also served in the military, and has a military disability rating, so he receives $ 340.00 per month in Veterans Administration Benefits. What is his average gross monthly income?

Katie's Problem

Katie is a stay-at-home mom but she has a business on the side. She makes bows for cheerleaders and does some tailoring for clients across the Oklahoma City Metro with the assistance of two part-time employees.  She had been doing this for two and half years, and for the past year she grossed $ 45,800 and the year before $ 38,700. Her expenses have been the same for each year, at $ 12,000 in wages and employee related expenses, and $ 2,500 in materials, telephone and home office supplies. She also wrote off $ 600.00 in depreciation for each year on her taxes. She is married, and her husband, a police officer, makes $ 36,000 a year.  What is her average gross monthly income?

November/December Uncontested Docket

The Civil Uncontested Dockets for November and December are out for this month at the Cleveland County Courthouse. If you are wanting to set a Motion to Confirm Sheriff Sale, Hearing on Assets, Contempt Hearings, Pauper's Affidavit for costs and filing fees, Name Changes, Application for Issuance of Title, Application for Issuance of ID cards, or waivers of any type, these are the dates that are available.

Judge Schumacher 1:3opm Courtroom 4D

Date
November 12th, 2013
November 19th, 2013
December 3rd, 2013
December 10th, 2013
December 17th, 2013
December 31st, 2013

*These dates are subject to change if the judge is unavailable.

Judge Walkley 1:30PM Courtroom 4A

Date
November 14th, 2013
November 21st, 2013
December 5th, 2013
December 12th, 2013
December 19th, 2013

*These dates are subject to change if the judge is unavailable.

The Flow of Child Support : The Back End

What does a child support computation look like from the back end? A lot like the array of sticky notes on the table in the picture to the right.

In Oklahoma, we have child support guidelines that tell us how to do the math to figure child support. These guidelines are just legal rules on what numbers we put in and how we put them together to figure child support.

For a taste of the guidelines you can review Section 118, 118a-i, and 119. Of course, the guidelines are just rules for what math to use, what really matters is the numbers that we put into them. These input numbers are what we lawyers spend most of the time fighting about.

We will be looking in later posts about how to calculate income and expenses related to child support, but I thought we could start with the computation itself.  You can see the mechanics more clearly in the flow chart below, just click on it to enlarge.

Child Support:

A Flow Chart

Vanity. Definitely my Favorite Sin

At the close of the the 1997 film, Devil's Advocate, Al Pacino, playing Satan, closes with this line:

From the Super Lawyers website

Vanity. Definitely my favorite sin.

There's no surprise that Devil's Advocate was about lawyers. What's funny though is that there is an industry built around exploiting this "sin".

For weeks I have been dodging a really official sounding woman - better to say, saleswoman - calling to congratulate me on being selected to be included in their Super Lawyers list. I didn't know I was up for this honor. Who did this to me! Reveal yourself!

Today, I got a copy of the Oklahoma edition of the Super Lawyers magazine. So I guess they have different magazine for each jurisdiction. (too many super lawyers for just one publication)

I also got the most important part of the Super Lawyers honor in the form of an opportunity to order my own certificate for $ 199 plus $ 16 shipping and handling or $ 259 plus $ 20 shipping and handling for a plaque.

Hey, this isn't just for lawyers. Have you ever been in the newspaper? There is a company out there that will frame your story, and send it to you. I did this once and the plaque is leaning against the wall in the office. Come see it, I'm important and so are you- but I have a plaque.

Norman Child Support Enforcement has left the building!

Effective as of now, the Norman Child Support Enforcement, which had been located on the third floor of the Cleveland County Office Building at 201 South Jones, has left the building.

Norman CSE is now located further down the road at 1000 East Alameda Street, Norman Oklahoma in the Alameda Square shopping center.
 
If you are planning a visit for a Child Support administrative hearing then you now have more options, including better parking, much more convenient access to your tax service at H&R Block, lunch at Tulio's Mexican Food or Pizza Shuttle, and you will be close to the Cat Clinic. I circled the office below in its new location in the Alameda Square shopping center.

Heartless and Malignant Punishment

Mark Twain wrote in The Innocence Abroad:

At certain periods it becomes the dearest ambition of a man to keep a faithful record of his performances in a book; and he dashes at this work with an enthusiasm that imposes on him the notion that keeping a journal is the veriest pastime in the world, and the pleasantest. But if he only lives twenty-one days, he will find out that only those rare natures that are made up of pluck, endurance, devotion to duty for duty's sake, and invincible determination, may hope to venture upon so tremendous an enterprise as the keeping of a journal and not sustain a shameful defeat.

This Blog is a record of my performance, puzzles, and problems from my life's work. That life's work is the practice of Divorce and Family law in Norman, Oklahoma. I've been in the practice of law for almost 10 years, with the vast majority of it grinding the Family Law mill in my own office right off Legacy Trail in Norman.

This is my world from my eyes and my life.

Why Divorce Hacker? I chose the word hacker for its meaning in the programmer subculture of someone who "who combines excellence, playfulness, cleverness and exploration in performed activities" and I am a Divorce Attorney. The practice of Family Law needs more excellence, playfulness and cleverness to make it more rewarding - and since this is my life's work,this is my attempt to bring more such qualities to it.