Category Archives: Opinion

divorce, General Legal, Marriage, Opinion

What NOT to bring to the Attorney’s Office…

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The initial appointment with the lawyer is always nerve-wracking.

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You should be prepared and be on time. Bring financial records, receipts, tax returns, screen shots of texts, phone records, and recordings.  Bring yourself, perhaps a trusted friend or family member, a form of payment and even an internet-provided checklist of what to ask the attorney.

However, unless requested otherwise, do not bring….

  • Do not bring your Child. It’s not appropriate.
  • Do not bring your Spouse.
  • Do not bring 5 banker’s boxes of information. It’s too much.

Matthew Thompson is a Family Law Attorney in Mississippi and recommends you not bring these things to you first appointment.

Follow the blog:#BowTieLawyer Visit the website: #Thompson Law Firm  You may also contact Matthew with your family law matter or question at (601) 850-8000 or Matthew@bowtielawyer.ms

Child Custody, divorce, General Legal, Marriage, Opinion

When is Perjury allowed?!?

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I hear this often. “I don’t lie to my kids.”

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This is said shortly after one party disclosed the dirty details to the child regarding the other parent.  Followed by the statement, “they have the right to know.”

  1. They do not have the Right nor need to Know.
  2. This is never appropriate. Never. Never to a young child. What about when….? No. Never.

But what about that parent, with their righteous indignation, who says, “I do NOT lie to my child?”  My response?  “What about the Tooth Fairy?

I get a blank stare.

We lie to our children all the time  A LiveScience.com article stated it better, “Parents Lie to Children Surprisingly Often.”  This article concluded that parent’s lie to protect their child and lie to preserve some semblance of innocence and childhood for their children. These are all good things.

The Tooth Fairy question gets that indignant parent every time. There is no good reason to “tell all” about the other parent’s misdeeds.  You should be telling them that “mommy” loves them very much. When the kids are older they will realize the truth and appreciate you all the more for allowing them to have a childhood and to love their other parent, even if the other parent did not deserve it.

Back to the title. When is Perjury allowed? It’s Not. It was just click bait.

Matthew Thompson is a Child Custody Attorney in Mississippi and believes sometimes lying to your children is in their best interests.

Follow the blog:#BowTieLawyer Visit the website: #Thompson Law Firm  You may also contact Matthew with your family law matter or question at (601) 850-8000 or Matthew@bowtielawyer.ms

divorce, General Legal, Opinion

When “NO FAULT” becomes “YO’ FAULT”

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While Mississippi is technically not a true “No Fault” state, there are provisions for an Irreconcilable Differences divorce.  (commonly referred to as “No Fault”)

However, sometimes that agreement to a No Fault divorce doesn’t stick.  The parties, after getting over the initial shock of divorce, decide they will be adults and agree.  They think they can agree to the divorce and resolve their differences.   After all, they did manage to get along for most of 9 years, have two kids and bought a house.  What could go wrong?   They even searched online and looked at divorceyourself.com.

The No Fault agreement gets derailed when the Husband realizes he will have to pay 20% of his income towards child support, plus health insurance and alimony. He realizes it’s a lot of money. The Wife gets squirrely when she realizes that her half of the retirement account is consumed by balancing the equity in the house, or that the money she gets cannot be realized without significant tax consequences.

Parties to a divorce don’t realize child support is until 21 in Mississippi.  They don’t know the types of custody, or what each type means.  They agree to things that they cannot legally agree  to and fail to consider the consequences.

Finally, one party is convinced to see an attorney  and when they do they realize the consequences of what they were about to agree to and back out, the other side becomes angry and un-agrees too.  All of a sudden a simple divorce becomes complicated, expensive and adversarial.

Want to keep your situation from going from No Fault to Yo’ Fault? Have an assessment with an attorney that practices family law, keep the peace, and be smart.

Matthew Thompson is a family law attorney that can handle your divorce whether it’s your fault, their fault, or somebody else’s fault.

Follow the blog: BowTieLawyer    

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divorce, General Legal, Opinion

The Hardest Advice to Take is…

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I give advice everyday. Actually, I sell advice. 

 
Routinely, what I tell people is common sense. It’s the same advice your wise parent or grandparent would give you, but often it’s hard advice to follow. 

I’ve counseled persons to stop doing things that are harmful to themselves and their case. Don’t hang out with the shady crowd. Stop using alcohol if you have alcohol problems. Start going to church or stop doing things you shouldn’t be doing.  I tell people what they don’t want to hear. 

The hardest advice to take is to stop doing whatever lead to the circumstance where you needed legal help. 

www.bowtielawyer.ms

divorce, General Legal, Opinion

Don’ t Pull Tricks

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Lawyers have a bad reputation. Some deservedly so.

But a good rule of thumb is to not pull tricks.

I was representing a client when they called in a panic around noon during the week. The alarm was going off at the house.  I told them to call the police and go check on the house.

The police responded and cleared the home. Upon inspection, my client discovered the back door was kicked in, the phone lines cut and just about everything that could be moved was, including the dishwasher.

The client called me asking if she should report a robbery.  So, dear reader, you are wondering why is this client calling me? Well, just a few days prior the client’s spouse was served with a complaint for divorce and a request for temporary relief. I informed my client that she had in fact not been “robbed,” but that her husband had hired a local attorney. She asked me if that attorney had called or filed something. No. I could tell by her spouse’s actions who he had hired.

It was discouraging and disheartening, but alas, apparently not illegal.  However, we had a temporary hearing soon thereafter and everything taken that should not have been had to be returned and the damages caused and expenses related to his conduct were reimbursed. It gave no tactical advantage and made the other client and opposing lawyer look like jerks in front of the judge.

Similarly, clients have the option of pulling tricks. Misrepresenting the facts, creating circumstances that make the other party look bad and knowing the other’s dirt may allow for a temporary advantage that could backfire. Also, if you know it’s bad advice, you don’t have to take it.

Matthew Thompson is a Family Law attorney and strives to give good advice and not pull dirty tricks.

Follow the blog: BowTieLawyer Visit the website: Thompson Law Firm

You may also contact Matthew with your family law case, question or concern at (601) 850-8000 or Matthew@wmtlawfirm.com.

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General Legal, Opinion

How to Handle Someone that Bothers You; Are You Married to Oscar the Grouch?

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I hear complaints, gripes and criticisms everyday.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/161094754/oscar-the-grouch-bow-tie

It comes with the territory in helping people navigate emotional landmines involved in Family Law cases. However, I often ask,

“Did you tell him that comment bothered you?”

“No.”

“Why Not?”

“He should know that it bothered me…”

Perhaps he should know that it bothered you, perhaps he does know, or it’s possible he was oblivious.

ob·liv·i·ous (əˈblivēəs/)
adjective
not aware of or not concerned about what is happening around one.

How do you handle it? You tell him that it bothered you.

“Hey, that comment of equating me to Oscar the Grouch hurt my feelings. I did not appreciate it. Cookie Monster, perhaps, but not Oscar.”

Matthew Thompson is a Family Law Attorney in Mississippi and knows that sometimes we are grouches when we should be gracious.

Follow the blog: #BowTieLawyer Visit the website: #Thompson Law Firm You may also contact Matthew with your family law matter or question at (601) 850-8000 or Matthew@bowtielawyer.ms

Crime, divorce, General Legal, Opinion

The Fallout Continues…and there is more to come. Ashley Madison won’t Stop.

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One more post on Ashley Madison and then I am taking a break from the subject.

You can read about the Ashley Madison hack here and what it means and doesn’t mean here.

What is still developing are the ramifications from the hack and the disclosure of private information.

It’s been reported that there have been suicides due to person’s private information being leaked. There have been public admissions of using the site and being the “biggest hypocrite ever.” There have been public denials that the person listed did not create the account or use the account, well maybe they did create it, but it was for curiosity’s sake only. There have also been outright denials of accessing the site and that an impostor created the account.  This did happen, by the way.

There is actually a law in Mississippi which makes it illegal to impersonate another real person online with the intent to threaten, harm, intimidate or defraud another.  The fake accounts may well be actionable if it impersonated a real person.

The other concerning part is that the Impact Team, the hackers responsible for the leak, have indicated they have the content of private messages and pictures shared through the site. There may be more fallout to come.

Matthew Thompson is a Divorce Lawyer in Mississippi and warns you that this story has “legs” and other body parts too!

Follow the blog: #BowTieLawyer Visit the website: #Thompson Law Firm You may also contact Matthew with your family law matter or question at (601) 850-8000 or Matthew@bowtielawyer.ms

 

Crime, divorce, General Legal, Opinion

AshleyMadison; The Naked Truth.

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The List has been leaked. The names have been scoured. More than a few were familiar to you…

AshleyMadison is all the talk, but your name being on the list is not a conviction, at least not yet. It does not even mean you used it.

The site is supposedly anonymous. Meaning anyone could enter a User Name (not their real name), use a Prepaid Gift Card and a dummy (or generic) email address. Reports indicate some did just that. However, some most certainly did not.

Also, just because you were on the list did not mean you had an affair. It means that perhaps you wanted to, intended to, or wanted to have some chat time with a fictional woman.  The man to woman ratio makes it highly unlikely that those users of the site were “successful.”

It also means that some of those listed in all likelihood had affairs and spent money doing so.  In some instances, it’s being reported, thousands of dollars were spent. This is trouble for several reasons. 1) It is circumstantial evidence of an affair, certainly inclination (or infatuation), and 2) spending money on a girlfriend, or boyfriend, is Marital Waste.

It is at best just embarrassing and at worst indicative of family problems in the past and probably some more to come.

Matthew Thompson is a Family Law Attorney in Mississippi and recommends that if you are on the list it’s time to make that call.

Follow the blog: #BowTieLawyer Visit the website: #Thompson Law Firm You may also contact Matthew with your family law matter or question at (601) 850-8000 or Matthew@bowtielawyer.ms