Movie Friday--The Paper Chase

The reason I became an attorney, it's hard to imagine that my late brother took his 10 year old sister to see this film.  But nothing about my brother was typical.

A music video about kids and divorce

In a new music video for "When You Love Someone," up-and-coming singer-songwriter James TW explores just how heartbreaking it can be to find out your parents are splitting up.

The 18-year-old British crooner wrote the song after learning that the parents of a young drumming student he taught were getting divorced. 

"The first thing I thought was how are they going to explain it to him in a positive way and one where he would understand," he said in a statement to HuffPost. "I wanted there to be a song that he could listen to which would make him feel better about everything that was going on.”

Movie Friday-Erin Brockovich

Erin Brockovich (2000)


 Julia Roberts does an Academy Award-winning turn as the real-life paralegal and sassy single mom whose dogged investigation into a suspicious real estate case turns up a pattern of illegal dumping of highly toxic hexa­valent chromium and one of the heftiest class action suits in U.S. history. Albert Finney portrays her boss, Ed Masry

4-Year-Old Takes Newly Divorced Mom On Valentine's Day Date

When you're a recently divorced mom, Valentine's Day is about as bearable as nails on a chalkboard. 

So when 4-year-old Max found out that his newly divorced mom, Emma Schofield,had no date for the big day, he was determined to be the best Valentine he could be for her.

During a trip to the grocery store this past weekend, Max slipped a few presents into his mom's shopping cart.

"My son told me to close my eyes, which I kept partially open to see what he was up to," Schofield, who lives in England, explained in a Facebook post, adding that she watched Max pick out a Valentine's card and teddy bear for her. "My eyes welled up as we continued to shop."

Then, on the big day, Max asked his mom if he could take her out on a date to Pizza Express, a nearby Italian restaurant, and offered to pay for the dinner with a jar of pennies he'd been saving for months.

"Of course, I was the designated [chauffeur]," Schofield explained on the Spotted Newton Abbot Facebook page.

At the restaurant, Schofield enjoyed a three-course meal with her incredibly charming date.

"We had this wonderful meal and Max's manners were impeccable," Schofield told Yahoo News. "He was ordering things and being so polite."

At the end of the meal, as Max was preparing to pay the bill, a waitress approached their table in tears. She and her coworkers were so touched by Max and Schofield's date that they offered their meal free of charge.

"This extremely kind gesture left me crying with happiness and holding onto my son with pure joy!" Schofield wrote on Facebook.

Julie Clifford, the manager at Pizza Express, said that the restaurant staff could see how much Max cared about his date.

"He clearly wanted to create a special moment for her," Clifford told Yahoo News. "And I'm only too glad that we could assist."

Movie Friday-Inherit the Wind

Two grand old lions of the screen, Spencer Tracy and Frederic March, play two grand old lions of the law, Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan, as they grapple in the historic 1925 Scopes “monkey trial” in backwoods Dayton, Tenn.

The film, adapted from a 1955 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, is a fictionalized account, and the characters’ names are changed, however slightly (Tracy’s Darrow is Henry Drummond, and March’s Bryan is Matthew Harrison Brady)

.But much of the courtroom testimony was taken straight from the trial transcript. Nor have Americans evolved much; 80 years later a federal judge in Pennsylvania was forced to rule on “intelligent design.”

10 Financial Mistakes to Avoid in Divorce

The two things that people worry about most in divorce are their money and their kids. Unfortunately, worrying about money doesn't prevent those same people from making enormous financial mistakes in divorce.

Here are a list of the top financial mistakes people make in divorce. If know them, you can (hopefully) avoid making them yourself.

1. Not taking the time to do an accurate post-divorce budget BEFORE you settle! Doing a budget is a hassle. Roughly two thirds of Americans don't make (let alone follow!) a budget. But trying to settle your divorce case without making a budget is like trying to drive from Texas to New York without a map. You can do it, but you are probably going to get lost a lot along the way.

2. Not insisting on getting all of your (and your spouse's) financial documents. No one likes to spend days digging up and organizing old financial documents. But nothing causes people to make more divorce money mistakes than not getting the financial documents that show whether their budget and balance sheet are accurate reports of their financial situation, or simply creative fiction.

3. Not getting assets valued. Getting your house appraised or your spouse's pension valued when you are getting a divorce is a hassle. It takes time and costs money. But the only way to really know what your house is worth is to sell it, or get it appraised. The only way to know what a pension is worth is to get it valued. If you choose not to do either, that is fine. Just know that, without having accurate asset values, you really have no idea how much either you or your spouse is getting in your divorce settlement.

4. Not looking at (and understanding!) all of your financial documents. It is not enough to get the financial documents that show the state of your family's finances. You actually have to read them and understand them. If going over numbers makes your head spin and your eyes glaze over, all I can say is: You're going to have to suck it up and learn. Or risk getting screwed. It's up to you.

5. Relying on your lawyer to do everything. Lawyers know the law, but they are not accountants or financial planners. If your finances are complicated, if you own multiple businesses, or have lots of different investments, you may need to either consult with a divorce financial planner, or hire a divorce attorney who has a strong financial background. No matter who you hire, you are also going to have to carefully review your financial documents yourself. No one will be able to spot financial inconsistencies better than you will.

6. Not understanding how taxes will affect your support and settlement. There is no way you can know how much your divorce settlement is really worth without understanding how taxes will affect that settlement. Taxes affect the value of the property you are receiving, and the amount of support you will actually receive or pay. Unless you want to be surprised with an enormous tax bill after your divorce, you would be wise to make sure you know the tax implications of your settlement before you get divorced.

7. Forgetting about the long term. Negotiating a support agreement that will allow you to live after the divorce is critical. But, unless you are going to be getting support for the rest of your life, you have to plan for the time when your support runs out. Regardless of whether you are receiving or paying support, you also need to clearly lock down the exact terms of support in your divorce judgment. Knowing how long you will have to pay (or will receive) support, whether the support amount is modifiable, and whether support can be extended for any reason is key to everyone's long term financial security.

8. Not thinking about insurance. Lots of different types of insurance can affect your divorce settlement. The biggest are health and life insurance. Not including the cost of health insurance in your post-divorce budget can leave you with a gaping hole you can't fill. Life insurance is critical for securing child support. If you are paying support and you die, what is going to happen to your kids? If you are receiving support and your spouse dies, how are you going to support your kids?

9. Sacrificing your own financial security for your children. We all want the best for our kids. We all want to shield our children as much as possible from the ravages of divorce. But there is a reason that flight attendants tell you that, if the oxygen masks come down in the plane, you should put your own mask on first before you put a mask on your kid. You are not doing your kids any favors if you negotiate a settlement that requires you and your ex to keep your kids in private school or expensive extracurricular activities if doing so means you can't pay the mortgage.

10. Making settlement decisions out of exhaustion. Divorce is a marathon, not a sprint. Unfortunately, for most people, the most significant settlement negotiations occur at the end of the case, after you have spent months or years fighting with your spouse. By the time you get to the end, you are tired. So you give in and agree to a settlement just to be done. By the time you realize you have just made a huge financial mistake, it is too late to fix it.

• Karen CovyDivorce Attorney and Life Advisor.

Movie (OK--TV) Friday-Ally McBeal

For a bit of a change, Netflix has Ally McBeal a quirky, funny and sometimes sweet legal drama.  It's got a great musical soundtrack as well.  It's set in Boston, so there's are great shots of the city.