It as been released that the federal government spends $99.8 billion dollars every year on programs – such as child support enforcement and anti-poverty efforts – to support father-absent homes.  This is a conservative estimate; it does not include federal benefit programs for communities, indirect costs related to poor outcomes of children from father-absent homes, and long-term costs in reduced tax income from low-earning single-parent families.

Other videos from the National Fatherhood Association include subjects on Father Absence, Government reducing father absence, and more.

Managing Attorney Jeffrey Feulner and the Men’s Divorce Law Firm is proud to stand behind our motto of Fathers, Families and Fairness.  If you or someone you know is in need of family law assistance contact us today to see how we can help.

From the website:

Fatherlessness is a growing crisis in America, one that undergirds many of the challenges that families are facing. When dads aren’t around, young people are more likely to drop out of school, use drugs, be involved in the criminal justice system, and become young parents themselves.

President Obama grew up without his dad, and has said that being a father is the most important job he has. That’s why the President is joining dads from across the nation in a fatherhood pledge – a pledge that we’ll do everything we can to be there for our children and for young people whose fathers are not around. When you take the President’s Fatherhood Pledge, you’ll receive updates, tips and resources from fatherhood organizations, prominent dads and other supporters of responsible fatherhood around the nation.

Other resources on the site include how to take the fatherhood pledge, resources for fathers such as tips and activities, a blog, and more.  As a father it can be difficult sometimes to find new ideas, or push through tough times.  The Men’s Divorce Law Firm believes in the importance of a father’s role in a child’s life and therefore supports the education of fathers and organizations which promote fatherhood.

Twilight fans are hardly subtle with their crazes, from “Team Edward” to “Team Jacob” t-shirts and more Twlight has swept the nation.  As a result, the radio show “Rollin’ With Nick Cannon” has something worth more than gold (or relationship security, apparently) to these Twilight fans: tickets to a special preview of the new movie “Breaking Dawn” a day before the movie is released in theaters.

But these tickets aren’t given out for free, or even just to “lucky caller number 7,” they want their contestants to work for them.

Playing off of the name, “Breaking Dawn,” the radio hosts are asking people to break the hearts of their significant others on air.  The rules are simple: the participants cannot mention the tickets, indicate they are on air, let their significant other know its for a radio show, and must break the person’s heart.  Co-host Sarah Lee said she wanted to, “hear [their heart] shatter.”

At first, you may think that no one would dare put their significant other through such an ordeal just for some movie tickets.  However, a slew of contestants (mostly women given the subject matter) happily put their boyfriends, fiancees, even husbands on the air and mock (or seriously) broke up with them.

Their website has two clips which you can listen to of the contest in action:

Clip 1

Clip 2

The article on 92.3′s website claims that (in their opinion) the relationship was made stronger from the ordeal.  But we could imagine a discussion might have occurred when the women got home.

The Men’s Divorce Law Firm realizes divorce is a serious issue which should not be taken lightly or encouraged, even in a joking manner, for frivolous reasons.  Because of this we handle all cases our clients bring to us with sensitivity and care in a matter fitting of this difficult issue which many face.  If you find yourself in such a position contact our law firm today to see how we can we can help you and your family law case.

One recent study reveals that fathers are less likely than childless men to die of cardiovascular disease. Led by a Stanford University urologist and tracking nearly 140,000 men, it’s the latest of many scientific studies suggesting that fatherhood improves men’s health.

Another new study, published two weeks ago found that fatherhood lowered testosterone levels in its male participants. This triggered headlines such as “The Testosterone Tradeoff: Hormone Decrease Makes Better Fathers,” “Testosterone Drop Helps Men Do Dad-Duty,” and, provocatively, “Does Being a Father Make You Less of a Man?”

Lucy the dog is almost 3 years-old, and possibly one of the most loved family pets in the world currently.  A mixture of a golden-retriever and poodle this “goldendoodle” was entrusted into the care of Margaret Healy, O’Hanlon’s sister, at the start of the divorce in 2009.  The family’s other dog Lady, came along as well.  It was the sudden, and recent, death of Lady which prompted the feuding between the family over the remaining, cherished, Lucy.

Healy has recently made a court request to become the sole owner of the pup as she has now taken care of it without assistance from the family for just over two years and claims the family never made any attempt to see it.

But, Slaney O’Hanlon, Healy’s 18 year-old niece and daughter of the divorcing couple claims that the dog is actually hers, and her aunt was simply looking after the animal during the divorce proceedings because she was off at school and was unable to keep the dog.  She claims this is her father’s attempt at pulling her into the divorce and the dog is rightfully hers.

The feud escalated here with familial name-calling and public expletives being only part of the equation.  Accusations of dog-napping and other crimes related to the pup fly back and forth between the family.  The whole ordeal prompted Healy to file papers in Brooklyn Supreme Court asking to be affirmed as Lucy’s sole owner and for a restraining order against her niece and McCarthy.

She’s also demanding $500,000 in damages.

Healy said that she initially thought she would only keep Lucy briefly, but as months turned into years, she licensed the dog in her name and formed a strong bond.

Slaney O’Hanlon countered that a chip implanted in Lucy names her as the owner. She argues that she was barred from checking on her pet because Healy’s husband represents her dad in the divorce action.

She has until next month to file a counterclaim.

Dealing with pets in divorce raises interesting legal questions for family law courts.  Despite the love and affection people feel for their pets being very real and tangible, as seen in the case of the O’Hanlon’s, for the courts it is an odd tension between custody and property when it comes to who gets the animal in a divorce.

According to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, attorneys have seen a 23 percent jump in pet custody cases. Harvard even has a course teaching animal law. Issues can range from visitation rights to how vet bills are split. Another consideration is how long treatment should be kept to maintain life before putting an animal to sleep. But the biggest battles are for which spouse gets custody.

Courts are beginning to really consider what is best for the pet in divorce, looking at which parent is more stable, and even dividing time between the owners.  The love of a family pet is not something to be discounted, especially in divorce.

Billy Gundelfinger, a divorce attorney in Johannsburg, South Africa said arguments about the family pet could literally make or break a divorce settlement.

“I’ve had cases where that was the straw that broke the camel’s back, where they’ve settled the residency of the children, they’ve settled the finances, the antiques and the paintings, the cars and the holiday homes, and then they fight over the pet — and one of them says the whole deal is off, we’re going to court,” he told a local newspaper.

If you are looking at divorcing, with or without pets, contact Orlando lawyer Jeffrey Feulner and the Men’s Divorce Law Firm today.

“We know quite a lot about how important fathers are in general for a child’s development. Over the last decade, for example, that it’s mainly mother that interacts with children and that’s how they develop, and that’s the important bit, that’s changed. We know fathers are important,” Richard Fletcher, the leader of the Fathers and Families Research Program at the University of Newcastle in Australia, told ABC News.

The percentage of fathers who live seperately from their children has doubled in the past 50 years, but dads also tend to spend more than twice the amount of time with their children than they did in the 1960′s, according to a study released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.

Australian researchers watched film of 30 dads while they roughhoused with their children, usually through a game where the child would try to remove a sock from their father’s foot, to see what effect it might have on children.

“Rough and tumble play between fathers and their young children is part of their development, shaping their children’s brain so that their children develop the ability to manage emotions and thinking and physical action altogether,” said Fletcher. “This is a key developmental stage for children in that preschool area between the ages of about two and a half and five. That’s when children learn to put all those things together.”

Although boys were more likely to encourage the start of roughhousing with their dads, researchers did not see a significant difference between boys and girls once the play started. But for the kids, it’s not just play.

“When you look at fathers and their young children playing, you can see that for the child, it’s not just a game. They obviously enjoy it and they’re giggling, we know that’s true, but when you watch the video, you can see that child is concentrating really hard … I think the excitement is related to the achievement that’s involved,” Fletcher told ABC News. “It’s not about a spoiled child not wanting to lose, I think that child is really striving for the achievement of succeeding.”

The researchers believe that the most important aspect of this play is that it gives children a sense of achievement when they ‘defeat’ a more powerful adult, building their self-confidence and concentration. However, fathers who resist their children, can also teach them the life lesson that, in life, you don’t always win. The act of a stronger adult holding back that strength also helps to build trust between father and child.

These kinds of lessons can be crucial in child developmental stages as they begin to build their outlook on the world. “We think it has implications for children’s resilience. So, if parents want their children to grow up and not get into drugs and not get into trouble, if they want them to do well academically, than this is probably a good thing to do,” said Fletcher. “We did find a correlation so that the dad’s whose play was much better coordinated according to our measures, those children had less problems.”

Fletcher admits that more research needs to be done, but he is hopeful that his team will eventually be able to help fathers know how to best interact with their child in their formative periods to ensure them a successful future. “It’s a new area, but we’re excited about the possibilities,” said Fletcher.

Orlando Attorney Jeffrey Feulner and the Men’s Divorce Law Firm realize the importance of the role a father plays in the development of his children.  If you are a father and a family law matter is keeping you from you children contact us today.

We’ve mentioned Japan before to talk about the antiquated ideals on child custody and the country’s struggle to join other modern nations and international laws.  However, one area which they seem to be far ahead of other countries is how they are changing their perceptions of divorce.  It’s becoming a common custom in Japan to partake in a “Divorce Ceremony” at the closure of one’s marriage.  It’s a ritualized, celebratory, undertaking that has nearly tripled in frequency since the earthquake in March.

According to Reuters, in the wake of all of the tragedy, many couples took a close look at their lives and decided to move in another direction — namely, away from one another. However, instead of mourning the break-up of the marriage — on top of everything else — the couples are celebrating.

The ceremony involves a number of things resembling the wedding: rings, a couple, friends, and family.  But, there are a few key differences.

Firstly the dress.  Many divorcing women choose to wear bright, not somber, colors like yellow.  There are even designers such as Akiue Go, who give their clothing divorce-specific attention.  Akiue says, “I designed this dress so the woman’s back looks the most beautiful when she turns around and walks away.”

The rings in the ceremony are not exchanged, nor returned, but destroyed.  The couple holds a mallet together and literally smashes their wedding bands, as a symbolic and literal conclusion to their union.

After all this does the couple walk out of the venue in shame?  Of course not.  There is a buffet for guests, a small party, even some music, dancing or other forms of light entertainment.

While celebrating divorce may seem odd when most hide it from even their closest family members in a mixture of shame and guilt, such ceremonies help the couples deal with the divorce and see it simply as another step in their life, rather than a failure.  Tomoharu Saito and his former wife Miki celebrated their separation days before they were set to file for divorce. Tomoharu was initially surprised at the ease at which they were able to let go, but in the end saw the benefits of the ritual.

“I did not think the ring could be crushed that easily, but it did,” he said.

“I was shocked but at the same time, I feel it helped me make a clean break.”

Some stars in the U.S. such as Jack White have also caught on, holding divorce parties for their family and friends, celebrating the transfer of a marriage to “friendship.”

Orlando lawyer Jeffrey Feulner and the Men’s Divorce Law Firm encourage people to overcome the stressful nature of divorce in their own way.  It’s important to remember to take time out for yourself and your own mental health, be it with a party or just a few hours to one’s self.  If you need help handling the legal aspects of divorce so you can completely move on contact us today.

A recent issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing says that leaving dad out of the prenatal health could be damaging to the whole family. Stressed-out, anxious pregnant women who don’t receive adequate support are linked to less-than-ideal infant health outcomes. The role fathers-to-be play hasn’t been studied nearly as much, but because pregnant women rely on them for support and care, researcher ManSoo Yu says it stands to reason that inattentive expectant fathers may also contribute to poorer infant health.

“When people hear about a pregnancy, they automatically think about women and the baby,” says Yu, an assistant professor in the Public Health Program and the School of Social Work at the University of Missouri. “It’s never about men.”

Yu, the study’s lead author, analyzed 66 low-income Missouri couples, examining how stress and social support impacted men and women differently. To get a better hold on the emotions of both men and women during pregnancy, he administered the Prenatal Psychosocial Profile (PPP) to 132 expectant mothers and fathers. The PPP is typically given only to pregnant women to assess stress, self-esteem and how supportive they feel their partners are.

The Associated Press has recently covered the current state of affairs in the world of Charlie Sheen.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Hank Goldberg on Friday approved a request by Brooke Mueller Sheen to garnish any payments Warner Bros. Television makes to her ex-husband.  This request will withhold $55,000 per month from Sheen’s paychecks automatically.

The former couple was divorced on May 2, about two months after Warner Bros‘ fired Sheen from Two and a Half Men. The actor and the studio have been fighting over payments ever since.

The hefty monthly payments are intended to support the Sheens’ twin sons and were part of a divorce settlement they reached earlier this year.

The actor’s spokesman Larry Solters declined to comment. Brooke Sheen’s attorney did not immediately return a phone message.

Orlando lawyer Jeffrey Feulner and the Men’s Divorce Law Firm are experienced in Family Law Child Support and Florida Alimony.  If you are engaged in a family law matter contact us for our expertise today.

Originally reported on by Kim Carollo, ABC News, growing research suggests that fathers play a huge role in the choices their children make when it comes to food.  The authors acknowledge that the findings don’t necessarily apply to all families, since they only studied a few hundred families in a limited geographic area. Despite that limitation, nutrition experts not involved in the research said the study was very important.

Researchers analyzed the eating-out habits of more than 300 families with children ages 9 to 11 or 13 to 15. They found that how often fathers ate in fast-food and in full-service restaurants influenced how often their children ate in the same places.

“By far the biggest influence on how often children ate out was the number of times fathers did,” said lead author Alex McIntosh, a professor of sociology at Texas A&M University in College Station. “Fathers’ time in and use of fast-food restaurants increased a kid’s likelihood of going to a fast-food restaurant.”

The study found that fathers also influenced how often children ate in fast-food restaurants in other ways. Children whose fathers were more authoritarian were more likely to eat junk food. The children of fathers who believed they didn’t have a lot of control at work and who also placed less value on family meal time were also more likely to eat in fast-food restaurants.

According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2008, 48 percent of the money spent on food went to pay for meals eaten away from home. In 1974, that number was 34 percent. Other studies have linked this increased spending to the rise in obesity nationwide.

“For years, we’ve heard that moms have the biggest impact on their kids’ food choices, but with mothers becoming more involved in the workplace and fathers’ roles becoming more involved in caregiving at home, it’s natural that kids will start to follow their father’s lead, too,” said Karen Ansel, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.

“This study provides an opportunity to remind dads that they also impact how and what their children eat,” said Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis.

While the study doesn’t address the reasons for these associations, experts believe that it has something to do with fathers’ desire to spend more time with their children.

The Men’s Divorce Law Firm has posted before on the benefits of sitting down for dinner as a family, from positive communication to bonding time.  However, more than ever, fathers and mothers need to keep in mind the example they set for their children when it comes to lifelong habits that can affect their overall well-being and health.