Not too many things can generate more legal battles than the custody over a child or religion.  When you put religion in the middle of child custody issues, you have a potential powder keg.  In this show, Leh and Todd interview Latrese Cooper.  She recently published an article breaking down this sticky situation.  She shares how Courts have dealt with disagreements between parents and under which religion are children raised.

What the heck is a Marital Balance Sheet and why should you care?  If you are going through a divorce that involves assets and debts that are being divided, you will want to care, unless you really don't care about getting a fair division of assets.  In this show, Leh and Todd talk to Ryan Shafer, one of the divorce lawyers at Meriwether & Tharp.  We have a conversation about this tool and how helpful it is in divorce cases to really determine what is fair when dividing up assets.   

Many times, people think that winning a Court case is entirely dependent on the lawyer they hire.  What many do not realize is that there are little things you can do to help you win your case before you ever enter the Courtroom.  In this show, Robin Love, one of our divorce lawyers, joins Leh and Todd to break down 3 simple strategies that people can employ to put themselves into a winning position in their case.  

All too often, we fall prey to our emotions and let a difficult situation go from bad to worse.  You start off with good intentions.  You sit down with your loved one to have a conversation about something important or that is bothering you, but by the time you finish the two of you are yelling at each other.  This goes on for several months and the next thing you know, the two of you are talking about a divorce.   In today’s show, Leh and Todd talk about things you can do to make sure that does NOT happen.  Wish you could learn when to recognize that a conversation has taken a wrong turn?  Want to know how to even start a difficult conversation?  Listen in to learn about some powerful skills that anyone can learn to engage in a difficult conversation without it de-volving into a heated argument.  If more people learned these skills, Leh and Todd would find themselves out of a job. 

Diane Dierks joins Leh & Todd to share her years of experience in co-parenting and parenting coordination.  Diane runs the Parenting classes for all of Gwinnett and DeKalb Counties in Georgia (two of the five biggest counties in the state).  She explains the difference between co-parenting counseling and parenting coordination, which is something that lawyers and judges get confused about quite often.   In addition, she also gives some wonderful advice to parents on how to handle some challenging questions from children while still maintaining a positive co-parenting relationship.  She answered some hard questions, such as:  when a child asks a personal question about the divorce, how do you handle it without pulling the child into the middle of the case; and when a child appears to be struggling with the other parent, how do you respond in a way that teaches healthy values and coping skills?

In this show, Todd Orston and Leh Meriwether invited Laurie Dyke back onto the show to challenge her on how to calculate marital interests in situations involving separate property.     The show was packed full of great conversation, and more importantly, good information on how to work through tricky situations surrounding a fair division of a parties assets in a divorce when separate property is involved.  Here is a list of just some of the questions we answered during the show: What is the difference between marital and separate property? How do you break out the marital portion of a pre-marital retirement account? Is there any marital interest in a pre-marital IRA that is worth less at the time of divorce than it was at the time of marriage and if so, how would you calculate it? Is there a marital component to stock options that were granted before the marriage and if so, how would you calculate them? At what point is a pre-marital piece of real estate convert to marital property? If a spouse contributes blood, sweat and tears to a pre-marital home, does that create a marital interest in the property? If a husband enters the marriage with a business, how do you calculate the marital interest in the business if the business grows during the marriage?   Laurie is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF) and a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).  She testifies regularly as an expert witness in Court, but prefers to help lawyers and parties settle their cases by breaking down challenging financial issues in a divorce or similar family law matter.

In this show Leh and Todd talk with forensic accountant Laurie Dyke.  She peals back the mystery behind the Child Support Calculator and gives insight into how it works. Then she breaks down how to properly determine the income that goes into the Calculator.  With high income  or self-employed people, there can be challenges.  Laurie explains how she works with attorneys to determine the proper "income" to include on a Child Support Worksheet.

In this show, Todd and Leh are joined by Lisa Marie Chambers.  Lisa Marie breaks down what mediation is and how to use it to settle your case.  Mediation is a very positive, cost effective way to settle any litigation, but it is especially effective to settle a divorce of child custody dispute.  She also shares many useful tips to make sure you walk out of mediation with a winning agreement.

What many do not realize is that divorce has many potential legal challenges.  When you are in the middle of an emotional fight, you can quickly find yourself doing something that you really should not be doing.  In today's show, criminal defense attorney Jay Apt joins Leh and Todd in studio to discuss many potential criminal pitfalls in a divorce case.  We discuss audio and video recordings, computer invasion of privacy, family violence, assault, stalking and what it means to make a "Terroristic Threat"

Attorney Kristal Holmes joins Leh and Todd in studio to discuss what parents should do when there is no "I Do."  What rights do fathers have when their child is born out of wedlock in Georgia?  What can a mother do to get child support when a child is born out of wedlock.  Can she get any help?  What should father's do to secure their rights to see their children.  How does the court determine custody in these situations?