It was what some judges call a Harley-Davidson divorce. There were bikes, trucks, cars, ATVs, snowmobiles and even a mobile home marooned out on the back lot. Some of the trucks were salvage, knee-deep in piles of their own rust, but the cream of the crop was worth going to the mat for.
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I recently met a wonderful group of librarians at the Lincoln Park Branch of the Greeley public libraries - I was doing a training for Colorado Legal Services about online materials for unrepresented litigants. I rounded out the day by going to Legal Night at Our Lady of Peace Church. Wonderful program put on by the Colorado Lawyers' Committee.
Some of the latest resources available for the public are:
The video on Sealing Court Records is especially popular with people hoping to boost their chances of employment. You can hear my voice on the last one, where I am providing the audio track as a duet with Connie Talmage of the Colorado Lawyer's Committee. This week I mediated a case in which one parent had filed a motion to modify parenting time. The motion was pursuant to Section 14-10-129 of the Colorado Revised Statutes. When I worked for the courts, I saw so many people download forms and file motions that referred to statutes. They sometimes showed no hint that they had ever read the law that would determine the outcome of their motions. I began thinking that it should be easier to see what a State of Colorado statute actually says. Fortunately, both parents in the case I mediated this week each had a skilled attorney to help them with the law. For everyone who does not have an attorney, I have made a very brief video that will help you find a specific State of Colorado statute, such as Section 14-10-129 C.R.S. Only a lawyer can explain the meaning of a statute in the context of your particular circumstances. However, having access to the statutory language may help make better sense of what your lawyer is saying, or just plain help, if you don't have access to a lawyer.
I'd like people know as much as possible about the mediation and arbitration services that I offer. I include references to some of the Colorado statutes about arbitration and mediation in the pages of this website. My purpose in posting this video is to help my non-lawyer visitors find these statutes. I don't put the actual words of the statutes here, just in case they change and become out of date. By making a fresh search for the law each time you want to see it, you have a better chance of being up to date on your understanding of the law. She was a victim of recent domestic violence with some teeth missing. When she came in for her first status conference she was terrified that he would be there. Beyond that, she was confused about what was happening in her divorce case. She could not tell one case from another, and there were evidently others: many others besides the divorce.
When I began as a Family Court Facilitator in 2001, the word “dissolution” did not spell check in Microsoft Word. You can legitimately dissolve a marriage, but a "dilution of marriage" does not quite work, even when correctly spelled.
Dissolution of Marriage is not a phrase that gets much everyday use by people who really just want a divorce. Over the years, I listened to and loved the creative variations that my non-lawyer customers came up with for dissolution. Real people can be really emotive and precise about what is on their minds. People do try to master the legalese in their divorce. Sometimes they come up with made-up words like “delation of marriage,” but more often they cut straight to the point, and ask for a “deletion of marriage.” It is not a far stretch from “dilution of marriage” to speak of a “delusion of marriage,” and I heard that several times. Most pointedly sad was the woman who came in for a “desolation of marriage.” This was sad for her loss of a relationship that she did not want to end, but additionally sad for the extra trauma piled-on by a difficult to understand legal system. I am someone who thinks family matters should be resolved outside of the courts whenever possible. I'm certainly not anti-lawyer, but I just don’t think that the in-court technical legal system is the right fit for many family cases. That is why I am choosing to provide divorce mediation and private arbitration. It is also my intention to put as much useful information on this website as I can. I’ll do it for anyone who cares to read it, and I’ll use the plainest English that I can find. |
Simon SaysThis is an outlet for new information, and the occasional reflection upon a decade in Colorado's Courts. Archives
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