Hattiesburg Divorce Lawyer » Tim

The People’s Law School

Tim — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:26:32 +0000

Sorry for the short notice on this, but I just found out myself.

The Jackson, MS Clarion Ledger reports that “The People’s Law School” will be held tomorrow, February 28, at my alma matter, Mississippi College School of Law.

The three-hour session will focus on women’s and children’s issues such as domestic violence, child support, divorce, and guardianships.

This event is free to the public. Please call LaVerne Edney for more details at (601) 948-3101

This is a great opportunity to learn a lot in a short amount of time.

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We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Programming . . .

Tim — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:53:22 +0000

While this blog is to be educational and informative for you, the reader, it is also part of the marketing efforts for my law firm. As such, I’m going to change the name of the blog to Hattiesburg Divorce Lawyer, and I’ll change the blog’s URL to something similar.

This change should be transparent for you because I’ll redirect this URL to the new domain.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

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“The Court Finds You In Contempt”

Tim — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:00:00 +0000

You’ve seen it before on TV or in the movies. A judge finds someone in contempt and throws that person in jail. This is the only way that a person in a civil case can wind up in jail, and if you violate a court’s order concerning child custody, visitation, etc., you could be found in contempt.

The Mississippi Court of Appeals recently elaborated on contempt. There are actually two types—civil and contempt. Civil contempt is when you are jailed until you comply with the court’s order. For example, when you hear about a reporter being jailed because he wouldn’t reveal his sources when a judge orders him to do so, that is civil contempt. It is said that the contemnor holds the keys to his jail cell because all that has to be done is comply with the order and you will be out of jail.

Criminal contempt is a little more complicated. There are actually two types, direct and constructive. Direct criminal contempt occurs when one, through one’s actions or words, insults or embarrasses the court.

Constructive criminal contempt occurs outside of court, and therefore, there are due process requirements that must be met. (For example, a hearing to show cause why the alleged contemnor should not be found in contempt). If you violate the court’s order regarding some aspect of your divorce, you are subject to being found in constructive criminal contempt.

With both types of criminal contempt, a judge may order you to serve time in jail as punishment for the contemptuous words or actions.

Bottom line—don’t get the judge upset.

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Military Divorce Revisited

Tim — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:00:51 +0000

Hattiesburg is home to Camp Shelby. As such, lawyers here in town often have the opportunity to represent military personnel or their spouses in a divorce. I have previously written about military divorce, but focused on the 20-20-20 Rule. Now I’d like to look more broadly at military retirement benefits in a divorce.

A federal law, the Uniformed Services Former Spouses Protection Act, permits states to consider military retirement as marital property, and, indeed, Mississippi does so. The USFSPA allows a state court to have jurisdiction over the retirement benefits only if the servicemember is domiciled or resides there, or consents to the jurisdiction.

It is important to note that even if retirement benefits are awarded to a spouse, that spouse may not be directly paid by the military unless the couple was married for at least ten years of the member’s service. Even then, there is a cap on the benefit that can be received—50% for one spouse, and 65% for all former spouses.

On the other hand, if the couple was married for less than ten years of the member’s term of service, then payment of the benefit must come from the member spouse. While this can lead to more “uncertainty” regarding the payment, there is an upside to this. The 50% cap that is imposed through direct payment does not apply to payments received from the member spouse.

There are other benefits to consider as well, including disability benefits and survivor benefits. Those are topics for another day.

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Firearms and Domestic Violence

Tim — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 02:23:34 +0000

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its opinion in United States v. Hayes. This decision dealt with a provision of the Gun Control Act of 1968 that makes it a crime for someone who has been convicted of a felony or “a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” to own a firearm.

At issue was what exactly was “a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence”? Must the crime that triggers the ban require, as one of its essential elements, that it be against a spouse (or other applicable relation), or is it sufficient that the crime was committed against such a relation?

Let me put that in plain English for you. In Mississippi, the crime of assault is defined as causing, or attempting to cause, serious bodily injury to another. That statute has a special provision for when the assault is committed against a spouse, girlfriend, boyfriend, etc. The Supreme Court today considered whether someone was convicted of assault against their spouse, but not under the subsection specifying the domestic relationship, would the federal law banning them from possessing a firearm apply.

The Court decided that it would. It is not necessary for the “predicate misdemeanor” to require the commission to be against the domestic relation. It is enough that the victim was a spouse (or live-in partner, etc.).

I don’t know enough about the Gun Control Act to have an opinion. I’m a life member of the NRA, so I definitely support the private right to bear arms. I’m generally against “zero tolerance” laws. In my opinion, a person convicted of an act of domestic violence should have their right to bear arms suspended for a temporary time. However, I believe that you should be able to have the right reinstated after a period of “good behavior.”

In the words of Bill O’Reilly, “What say you?”

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