Kirk A. Wilder P.C.

Do you Know What a Parenting Plan Is? Georgia law requires parenting plans in all custody or visitation cases. The purpose of a parenting plan is to help parents think through and set out how issues of custody and visitation should be decided. There are many requirements about what goes into a parenting plan. If parents are in agreement, they can file a joint plan, but otherwise, each parent must submit a separate proposed parenting plan. The Court will enter a final parentin...g plan order as part of the divorce decree (if married) or legitimation and custody order (if parties are not married). Need legal representation? Contact Kirk Wilder,P.C., Georgia Divorce & Child Custody Attorney. (404) 981-5330

Question: Can I get part of my spouse’s military retirement or civilian pension? Depending on the length and duration of your marriage, you may be entitled to part of your spouse's military retirement or civilian pension. This can be true even if your spouse is not retired yet. In most cases, you cannot begin to receive these benefits until your spouse retires. There are two reasons for a court to give a part of a spouse's military retirement or civilian pension. First, the C...ourt will provide this type of award as a division of marital property" obtained during the marriage. In other words, you are entitled to that portion of your spouse’s retirement that was accumulated during your marriage. In other instances, the Court may provide this type of award as an alimony payment. If there are retirement benefits that need to be divided, you must request your share of these benefits during the divorce process. Once your divorce is final, you are no longer entitled to this award. Need legal representation? Contact Kirk Wilder,P.C., Georgia Divorce & Child Custody Attorney. (404) 981-5330

Question: Can I prevent the custodial parent from moving with my child? Answer: The custodial parent is free to move where he or she wishes within the U.S., as long as it does not negatively affect the relationship between the non-custodial parent and the child. Unless the custody order states otherwise, the parent who is moving must give the other parent 30 days advance written notice. If the non-moving parent believes the move is not in the best interests of the child or the non-custodial parent/child relationship, then the non-custodial parent must immediately file an action for modification of custody or visitation and to prevent relocation. An action to stop relocation of the minor child must be filed within 30 days of notice of the intended move, or your case will be severely weakened.

Did you know you must live in Georgia for six months before you can file for divorce? It is one year if you reside on a military base. If you are not a resident of GA, you can file a divorce against a resident of GA who has lived in the state for at least six months in the county in which you file the divorce.

The Hon. Roxanne Covington and myself at the 20 year Law School Reunion.

Some of our classmates from our 20 year Howard University School of Law Reunion.

We just had our 20 year Reunion and had a wonderful time. The group pictured here are my boys from Law School. We were affectionately known as "The Firm". In order of appearance left to right: Kirk A. Wilder, Lawrence Southall, Dennis Francis, and Richard R Best.

Should I hire an attorney to assist me with my legal matter? There are plenty of forms online and I can save money doing it myself, so why do I need an attorney? This is a very good question. You need to hire an attorney on any legal matter that you are involved in for the following reasons: (i) the matter at hand is personal to you, so you cannot be objective about how to achieve the best legal result, you need someone who can be, (ii) since you do not have formal legal tr...aining, you do not know what the best legal result is, in other words, there may be something in the law that can benefit you that you don't know about, and (iii) the old adage "you get what you pay for" is true. Your legal services may be "free", but you could lose a lot of money on the back end. I once had a client come into my office that was going to enter a Separation Agreement on their own with their spouse. This client just wanted me the review the Agreement and had already signed it before they came to see me. Luckily, the other spouse had not signed yet. Because this client came to see me prior to the other spouse signing the agreement, I was able to save them $200,000.00, because, they did not know the law, and I did. Free services in this instance would have cost the client more than they could have ever imagined. You should always hire an attorney for any legal matter you have. You have too much to lose if you don't, and in most cases, its more than just money.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the familes of the victims of the Washington, DC Navy yard shooting this morning.

Question: My ex-wife has not allowed me to see my son and is in violation of the Court Order that allows visitation, what can I do? You can file a Motion for Contempt and have the Court order that she allow you to see your son. If she is found in contempt of Court for violating the Order, she can be ordered to pay your attorneys fees, be placed in jail, or the Court can even change physical custody from her to you. The Court will likely Order her to comply with the Court Order and pay your attorneys fees first, and if she keeps disobeying the Court Order, then it will consider putting her in jail or changing physical custody.

Question: I have been paying cash to the mother of my children for my child support. She is now lying and saying that I have not been paying any money and Child Support Enforcement is coming after me for the money. Can they do that? Yes they can. You should never pay cash for your child support payments. You must have proof of all payments that you have made just in case the recipient lies about it, as they sometimes do just as it did in the case above. Either get a receipt, pay by check or transfer the money between bank accounts. If you don't have proof of the payments, you could actually pay the support twice. And keep in mind, Courts regularly place people in jail for non-payment of child support.