September 2010 Archives

A farmer looking for driftwood along the Chattooga River in LaFayette called police after finding a human jawbone, according to an Associated Press article published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Investigators determined it to be the remains of missing 911 dispatcher Theresa Parker.

Theresa Parker had disappeared in 2007 but a jury still managed to convict her husband, former LaFayette police officer Sam Parker, of her murder last year. He is currently serving a life sentence for the crime.

Obviously no one goes into a marriage wanting a divorce, even if the statistics don't exactly guarantee a lifelong commitment. But the odds of divorce are much higher for the children of divorce, regardless of their desire for a relationship "until death," CNN reported. Georgia newlyweds Cory and Zulema Green are both products of broken homes and hope they don't follow in their parents' footsteps.

Zulema Green, now an attorney herself, said her mother had been divorced three times by the time she was 12. But she expressed optimism that she won't make the same mistakes:

"I figured I can get married. I can do it right."

The contentious, high-profile divorce of writer Frank McCourt and his estranged wife Jamie McCourt has now turned to the issue of who will own the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, according to an anonymous source who spoke with the Associated Press.

Jamie McCourt claims she deserves part ownership of the team, while Frank McCourt said he is the sole owner of the struggling Dodgers; but it may be decided in mediation, according to the source.

As in California, divorcing Georgia couples also have the option to resolve disputes via mediation, in which both sides try to agree on a compromise outside the courtroom but with their Georgia family law attorneys by their sides.

If you marry a nuclear engineer instead of a dancer, are you more or less likely to call an Atlanta divorce attorney? Does it even make a difference? This question was put to the test in a new study breaking down divorce rates by occupation, The Washington Post reported.

Conducted by Radford University professor Michael Aamodt, it will be published in an upcoming edition of the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology. The professor's prior research mostly centered around the personalities of cops, including one study in which he discredited the myth that police officers have a higher-than-average suicide rate.

Actor Morgan Freeman and now ex-wife Myrna Colley-Lee have finalized their divorce in Mississippi, the Associated Press reported. The divorce decree was entered on Sept. 15 but the terms of the divorce are sealed, Morgan Freeman's attorney, William R. Wright, told AP reporters:

"It was done without a trial. Everybody is glad it's over."

In fact most divorces never make it to trial and are resolved out of court, as any Georgia family law attorney would attest. Spouses typically either negotiate directly with the help of their attorneys, go through mediation, arbitration or through a collaborative family law process, as FindLaw explains.

New revelations following the murder-suicide by Fayetteville husband Edward Shaw in a Sandy Springs parking lot gives a chilling new meaning to the phrase, "Until death do us part." Detectives have learned that the couple was in the process of a divorce, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The tragic incident, which happened last Saturday, is one of countless tragedies in which a divorce or custody dispute has led to violence.

If you believe the partner you're divorcing or battling over custody rights might be violent, it's always best to tell your Atlanta divorce lawyer before things get out of hand.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the city's wealthy Rollins family, which has built Rollins Inc. into one of the country's largest pest-control companies, has unexpectedly suffered several public meltdowns.  

While the Rollinses became one of Atlanta's wealthiest and most philanthropic families, they largely maintained a low profile.

So it came as a shock to many when news that Ruth M. Rollins hired an Atlanta divorce attorney and split from husband Gary Rollins last month. And just a year after 98-year-old matriarch Grace Crum Rollins died, family members have begun fighting bitterly over the family's fortune.

Celebrity gossip site TMZ reported that Orlando Magic basketball phenom Dwight Howard is in the cross hairs of ex-girlfriend and baby mama Royce Reed. She claims he regularly misses scheduled visitations with their 2-year-old son and has asked the court to appoint someone to "watch over him" whenever he has custody of his son.

Royce Reed also claims Dwight Howard regularly misses visitations; it doesn't take a Georgia family law attorney to know that missing scheduled visitations does not help your case when revisiting custody terms.

More specifically, she is asking that the court appoint a guardian (on the professional basketball player's dime, of course) to make sure he keeps his schedule straight and generally does what he's supposed to do.

More individuals are pursuing divorce, child custody and other family law actions without the help of Atlanta divorce lawyers, according to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But it's not always the best route.

One such individual, Billy Williams, said he spent $7,000 on lawyer's fees for his divorce but was broke and decided to represent himself for the custody of his 13-year-old son. He said Cobb County Superior Judge Lark Ingram interrupted him multiple times for not following proper court procedures.

Kendra Beebe, who was stabbed about 25 times in her Southern California home, admitted in testimony that she lied about unauthorized trips outside the U.S. with her children, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

The testimony came during the attempted murder trial of ex-boyfriend Shelley Mathew Malil, an actor most famous for his supporting role in the Steve Carrell film "The 40 Year Old Virgin." Prosecutors said he was angry with Kendra Beebe over another man.

Atlanta-based musician Usher told People Magazine that despite his recent divorce from Tameka Foster, he doesn't consider the marriage a failure. He said he "appreciate[s] the relationship for what it was" and loves his ex-wife as the mother of his two children, 3-year-old Usher V and 2-year-old Naviyd.

It's rare that a high-profile celebrity divorce is cast in such a mature and drama-free light. Although only their Atlanta divorce lawyers can know for sure if the divorce was truly amicable.

The fact that Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers are having a lackluster season despite a hefty $95.4 million team payroll (10th highest in the league according to ESPN), the biggest liability for the team is the ugly divorce of its co-owners, Jamie and Frank McCourt.

While we've been hearing accusations and insults from either side for a while now, USA Today and other major news sources reported that the McCourt divorce is just now underway. The stakes are high, since both parties claim ownership of the storied baseball franchise.

The Dodgers franchise has been valued at anywhere from $750 million to $1.5 billion, a fortune unheard of to most Atlanta divorce lawyers with respect to marital property.