Holiday time

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukka !!!!

Christmas visitation - almost done

During the last three days I have been involve in multiple fights, in various cases, about Christmas visitation. What a pain in the you know what! Why can't parents be sane and not try to use their children as pawns? Whether you win the battle or lose the battle there is one sure fact: the children lose big.

Sometimes the gloves have to come off

The practice of law is ideally a professional, courteous job. Attorneys are supposed to show respect for the court, each other, and the legal system. Above all we are supposed to have respect for fairness and justice. You are probably thinking this sounds a bit gimpy. Just the same, I like to believe I am doing something noble.

But every now and then, I come up against a lawyer that does not believe in these principles. I do my best to ignore it and remain courteous and respectful. But that doesn’t mean I can ignore unprofessional behavior forever. And at that time, the gloves come off. I can be as mean and aggressive as anyone out there.

It’s not necessarily a good thing. And I will never learn to like it.

Here comes the holidays - and a run of visitation battles

When the holidays come around an annual struggle takes place. This struggle will determine which days the children will spend with each parent during the holidays. Everyone wants christmas. A frequent compromise is as follows: the children spend christmas eve with one parent, until 10 am on christmas day. Then the children go to the other parent for the rest of the weekend.

Everyone wants to appear generous and offer the children to the other parent for New Years. But if you think about it, New Years is an adult holiday. Parents tend to find sitters for their children on New Years. So this is a pretty transparent strategy.

This is also the time of year parents jockey with each other to look like they are complying with visitation - without giving up too much. If only everyone can be sane, holidays would not be so complex.