Holidays Archives - Lonich Patton Ehrlich Policastri

This coming Monday, January 19, 2015, has been marked as “blue Monday” or the unhappiest day of the year. Experts predict the following factors contribute to blue Monday: weather conditions, debt level, time since the holidays, time since failing our new year’s resolutions, low motivational levels, and the feeling of a need to take action. On a similar note, every January also experiences a noticeable increase in the number of individuals seeking divorce advice and ultimately filing for divorce. The president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers says the number of divorce filings is one-third more than normal, starting in January and continuing until early March. Like blue Monday, this trend is rather melancholy but makes sense for a couple of reasons.

First, an unhappy spouse may want to wait until the new year to file for divorce in order to avoid the associated social stigma. Most spouses probably do not want to explain why their spouse was served with divorce papers right before the holidays, a time traditionally for family. Additionally, waiting until January avoids “ruining” Christmas for the children and keeps the status quo until the children return to school.

Further, a new year comes with new year’s resolutions, most of which are aimed at achieving personal happiness. If a spouse is in an unhappy marriage, then a divorce may be an appealing option.

Lastly, it may be logistically easier to wait to file until the holidays are over. This may streamline the divorce process, making it more likely that the divorce will be finalized before the end of the year. Courts often experience backlog during the holiday season, as spouses rush to finalize their divorce before January for tax purposes (they want to file as single for the new year).

Whatever the reason, if you are in an unhappy marriage right now, you are probably not alone. On a positive note, many spouses have completely different and new lives in front of them after divorce. Hence, January is also the busiest time of the year for online dating websites, which experience a similar 38% increase in registrations from December through February. According to a study published in the National Academy of Sciences, around one-third of American marriages now begin online and are less likely to end in divorce than those who did not meet online.

If you are considering filing for divorce at any time of the year, the Certified Family Law Specialists at Lonich Patton Ehrlich Policastri have decades of experience handling complex family law matters. Please contact the Certified Family Law Specialists at Lonich Patton Ehrlich Policastri for further information. Please remember that each individual situation is unique and results discussed in this post are not a guarantee of future results. While this post may include legal issues, it is not legal advice. Use of this site does not create an attorney-client relationship.

December is a holy time of the year, encompassing the celebration of many religious holidays and spiritually significant days. December may also, unfortunately, be the time of year that religious differences arise between ex-spouses, which may not have been present during marriage. When parents have divergent religious beliefs, it may be difficult to come to a visitation agreement during the holidays.

The general rule is that the custodial parent has the authority to make decisions relating to their child’s religious upbringing. For example, a Jewish father who is the custodial parent has the right to raise his child as Jewish and to celebrate any related religious holidays, such as Chanukah, with the child. At divorce, this may raise some concerns if the parents do not agree on what religion to raise their child. Courts will not prohibit the noncustodial parent from discussing religion with the child or from involving the child in his or her religious activities, in the absence of a showing that the child will be harmed.

Further, courts are unwilling to get involved in religious disputes between parents because of the potential for interference with the First Amendment’s guarantee that the government shall not prohibit the free exercise of religion. Thus, courts will never make any ruling based solely on religion. Courts will, however, uphold child custody visitation agreements between the parents that concern religious issues.

If religious differences may become an issue during or after divorce, it is important that you and your ex-spouse discuss the importance of all religious holidays and how they will be incorporated into your visitation schedule. Parents will usually alternate custody between holidays each year, but this is not always the case if one parent values certain holidays more than others, or if parents of different faiths want to celebrate holidays that fall on the same day. Whatever you and your spouse agree on with regards to the custody schedule, it should be determined well in advance and with the child’s best interests in mind. Additionally, any custody agreement should detail exactly what will happen in these situations.

The Certified Family Law Specialists at Lonich Patton Ehrlich Policastri have decades of experience handling complex family law matters. If you have any questions about your child custody visitation schedule, please contact the Certified Family Law Specialists at Lonich Patton Ehrlich Policastri for further information. Please remember that each individual situation is unique and results discussed in this post are not a guarantee of future results. While this post may include legal issues, it is not legal advice. Use of this site does not create an attorney-client relationship.

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