Ah...I love a good settlement in the domestic relations field. It looks like Brian Urlacher and the mother of one of his kids have gotten things resolved w/o further court intervention. Pick-up/Drop-off disputes, unpaid medical expenses and child support...sounds like my days.

I wonder if I could be the general counsel for the Chicago Bears regarding all domestic relations matters? I'd be doing great between Urlacher, Briggs and now, the Sackman, good old #95 Richard Dent...Here's the article.

And look at that the case is in courtroom 1403 over at 32 W. Randolph w/ Judge Reynolds. Darn I had a case there the other day...I must have missed the fun. Drat!

10 Tips about reverse mortgages.

Saw this piece about two daughters who've been criminally charged for neglecting their ailing mother who subsequently died. Here's a nugget from the article:

Mary Virginia Barry, 84, weighed only 70 pounds when paramedics found her in April in a cluttered bedroom, lying on soiled sheets with ants crawling on her, in the Geneva house she shared with two daughters.

Barry, suffering from cancer and the aftermath of a stroke several years ago, died of pneumonia days later on April 27, and autopsy photos showed her vertebrae visible through numerous bedsores. On Wednesday, her daughters were charged with criminal neglect.

Something to keep in mind...frankly these sort of actions aren't brought frequently enough.

Is it alimony/maintenance?? Important question...if it's alimony then that money is tax deductible by the payor and it's treated as income for the recipient. I.e...big tax consequences.

If alimony is part of a divorce judgment it has to be clearly defined as such:

--Must be paid pursuant to a divorce or separation agreement;
--Parties must live in separate households;
--Payments must be designated to end when the recipient dies;

A recent case dealt with the big question above (Proctor v. IRS). The former husband in a divorce had been ordered to pay part of his disposable pension payments to his former wife as a "property settlement." This payment was not in any way said to NOT be alimony.

Well, the husband tries to claim these payments as tax deductible alimony and guess what, the tax court agreed! A nice little tax burden to the former wife.

My general thoughts are that alimony/maintenance must be defined very clearly because you have both the family law issues but then there are also the tax issues. Further, it's tricky when a person has a pension that's already in payment status. If the former husband were not yet retired then a QDRO would have been entered and clearly that's property division.

Former rock star Britney Spears' child custody problems continued. Her former husband was granted sole custody and her visitation rights were suspended.