Sandra Bullock and the rights of a step-mom

America’s sweetheart and Academy Award winner Sandra Bullock reportedly is having marriage trouble because of her husband Jesse James’ admission of infidelity.  I am sure this story will be covered widely for many more weeks to come.

What is interesting to me is her rights to her step children, if we assume that she wants to have a relationship with them. She has helped her husband Jesse James’ case for child custody for having provided a stable home for the children, and Divorce Magazine has written about how Sandra Bullock relishes her role as a mother to her step children.

Interestingly, in her recent Oscar acceptance speech for her role in the movie Blind Side, she said the award is “… for the moms that take care of the babies and children no matter where they come from. These moms and parents never get thanks.” I have to think that she included herself and her step children in that message.

I believe the law as it stands does not favor step parents. That the biological parents’ rights would allow them to determine whether a step parent can get to be with the step children. It’s complicated, that’s for sure. In some ways, step parents are like grand parents, they are very much on the fringe in situations like these, no matter how much time, money and love has been put into raising the children. And, may I add that some step parents choose to have the step children as their children, while some biological parents didn’t.

What is in the best interst of the children get more and more difficult to determine as parents go through mulitple divorces. How many sets of parents and grand parents can a child have and spend quality time with? And how often would these children be split up because they have different fathers. How many people have to be brought to the negotiation table to settle cases like this. And, are our divorce court judges, lawyers, fianncial advisors equipped to deal with this? I don’t envy any one of them involved in cases like this.

A bit more details on the new Ontario Divorce Process

Ontario’s Attorney General Chris Bentley announced this week some much-anticipated changes to the province’s divorce process.  The changes are to make the divorce process quicker, cheaper and more peaceful.  The details are still to come.  We look forward to hearing more details.

Here are some points about the new process:

• will allow greater access to legal advice earlier in the divorce process
• will come into effect March 1, 2010
• to be implemented in two pilot jurisdictions: Brampton and Milton, and then eventually throughout the province
• no new public funding – all funds will come from a pool of $150 million previously earmarked for Ontario’s Legal Aid program

Click here to find out more: http://www.divorcemag.com/articles/Divorce_News/snapshot-ontario-changes-divorce-process.shtml

Martha Chan is the co-owner and V.P. Marketing of Divorce Marketing Group and Divorce Magazine.

Ontario Attorney General: divorce to become quicker and cheaper

The Ontario Government is taking steps to make the divorce process quicker, cheaper and more civilized. Read about it here: http://divorcemag.com/articles/Divorce_News/ontario-changes-divorce-process.shtml. Details are to be released tomorrow.

We’re pleased to see this development. When a divorce is simple, uncontested and/or has no major obstacles to resolution, anything that promotes fair and speedy resolution is good for individuals, families, and taxpayers. At Divorce Marketing Group and Divorce Magazine, we’ve always advocated for a more peaceful and humane divorce process. We see this as a smart step in the right direction.

We invite everyone — individuals, lawyers, divorce professionals and all others — to review the news update and let us know what you think. We’ll be posting updates after details on the specific changes are released tomorrow on www.DivorceMagazine.com.

Martha Chan is the co-owner and V.P. Marketing of Divorce Marketing Group and Divorce Magazine.

Should 50/50 custody be made the starting point for a divorce?

I am interested in knowing what you think about this topic: Should the law be such that 50/50 custody between parents is the starting point for a divorce settlement and it will be adjusted based on circumstances, such as abuse, work schedule etc. 

Please cast your vote here: http://www.divorcemag.com/survey/quickpoll.shtml 

I want to publish this in the next Divorce Magazine.  Who knows, we maybe able to change the law.  Thank you.

I have posted this question with my Linkedin groups and am getting interesting comments.  You can look them up here: http://bit.ly/43O35r

Martha Chan is the co-owner and V.P. Marketing of Divorce Marketing Group and Divorce Magazine.