Portland Family Law And Estate Planning Blog

When you think of child support, you might only think of the regularly occurring payments that go to your ex to pay for your child's needs. While these are a major chunk of what you will pay, there might be others too. For example, many child support orders require that both parents cover uninsured medical costs for the children.

Uninsured medical costs include co-pays and other expenses that come out-of-pocket for the medical care your children need. In order for you to have to help pay for these expenses, they have to be necessary and reasonable. This means your ex can't decide that your child needs a procedure that isn't really necessary and then demand that you pay for it.

Your loved one likely chose you as executor of his or her estate because of the level of trust between the two of you. After all, it is a serious duty to carry out the final wishes of someone and to oversee the process that closes any open ends that person left behind. However, you may have realized immediately that along with the great honor of being estate executor comes a tremendous amount of responsibility and risk.

Unless you have previous experience handling the final affairs of someone who has recently died, you may not know where to begin. You may have to determine which are the priorities and how to avoid mistakes that could leave you liable. It is not as simple as reading the will and passing out the assets, and many executors find it is in their best interests to seek professional guidance for the task.

With the holiday season right around the corner, it might be troubling to contemplate the need to file for divorce. For some people, there isn't any time to waste on getting things started. For others, it might be possible to hold off until after the holidays. Both options have some pros and cons. You have to decide which is necessary in your case.

If you are a victim of domestic violence, your safety obviously needs to come first. Getting out, seeking a restraining order and filing for divorce are likely your priorities. You don't have to think about much else to decide that now is the time to act.

A guardianship is a very important tool for parents who are worried about what is going to happen to their children if both parents pass away. This is a frightening prospect for many parents, but it is one that shouldn't be ignored. Here are a few points to remember about guardianships:

When you name a guardian for your children, you must consider each child individually. Some parents might find it necessary to name one guardian for a child but have a different one for another child. Think about whether the guardian will be able to handle the situation of taking on multiple children. If you don't have someone who can care for all your children, it might necessary to split the caregiving responsibilities.