I love finding free and useful tools on the Internet for my clients and readers.  Here’s a new one with the uplifting name of TwoHappyHomes.Com for divorced and separated parents.  It is free to use but you can buy a premium version to remove advertising for $1.00 a month.

Parents can use the site for planning, organizing and communicating.  There is a place to save contacts and medical information, keep a common calendar of events and schedules, track finances and expenses, store essential documents, and send notes to each other via messaging.

Founder, Traci Whitney, mother of three, said after divorce, “I really thought there would be a good solution available to help us. There wasn’t, and I knew it was something that I could create, and help other people like me.”

Question:

Why does my separation agreement say “in consideration of the sum of ONE DOLLAR ($1.00), to each of the parties in hand paid by the other, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged”?

Answer:

Mere promises are not enforceable by the court.  The court requires something more to have an enforceable contract.  Each party must give something of value to the other.  That is called consideration.

The consideration may be nominal.  “A rose, a hawk, or a peppercorn will suffice.”   Williston on Contracts.

Modern lawyers, many of whom may not even know what a peppercorn is or where to find one, have found it more convenient to make one dollar the consideration.

FindLaw.com reports that searches for “divorce” and related phrases such as “family law” and “child custody” jumped 50 percent – from just over 10,000 in December 2010 to nearly 16,000 in January 2011, and continued to surge through March.  “Divorce” has been the No. 1 searched term on FindLaw.com since February 2010.

FindLaw.com also analyzed divorce filings across the U.S. between 2008 and 2011 with Westlaw, the leading legal research database. The analysis revealed that divorces spike in January, continue to rise and peak in late March.

Reasons for the spike may be due to the stress of holidays, the prospect of spending another year in an unhappy marriage or the economic recovery.  Regardless of the reasons, it looks as though March is replacing January this year as the new Divorce Month.

A study by Benin and Robinson shows:

1.   A high marital satisfaction level for spouses before they have any children.

2.  The first years with children show a peak of satisfaction.

3.  Over time, satisfaction levels fall significantly. The all-time low is achieved during the children’s adolescent years.

4.  The good news:  After the children are launched, marital satisfaction spikes to an all-time high for husbands and wives.

Scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden claim to have identified a divorce gene in females.

Women who inherit this variation of a common gene are, according to the study, less likely to get married and if they do marry, they are 50% more likely to have a troubled relationship.

The gene supposedly affects the way women process oxytocin, which is a natural hormone known to promote feelings of love and maternal affection.

The Maryland Senate passed a bill last night to allow gay marriages in the state by a vote of 25 to 21.  Maryland will join seven other states and the District of Columbia in permitting same sex marriages.

Govenor O’Malley said he would sign the bill into law.

However, the bill provides that the law will not go into effect until all legal challenges are exhausted.  Opponents of the bill appear to have enough signatures for a referendum, which means Maryland residents will vote on the law in the November elections.

Polls indicate that Maryland residents are fairly evenly divided on the issue.

We’re delighted that Maryland Divorce Legal Crier has been selected as a finalist in the Readers Choice Awards for Best Family Law Blog at About.com Single Parents.  You can help us by voting for your favorite here.

A bill has been introduced in the Maryland House of Delegates to extend child support to age 21 if the child is enrolled in college.

A similar bill was defeated last year.

Under current law, a Maryland divorce court cannot order a parent to pay for college, but can enforce an agreement that provides for this.

Do you think the court should make parents pay for their children’s college?

See House Bill # 986.

When I Get It
by Craig Campbell

My ex-wife’s at the door a-knockin’
Lord that woman won’t leave me alone
Same question, where’s my money
Well, honey, you can’t get blood from a stone

When I get it, you get it
Times are tough, get in line and wait
When I get it, you get it
And that’s all you’re gettin’ today, yeah.

Lincoln is one of my heroes.  I’ve quoted him in some of my pleadings.

But who knew he was a divorce lawyer?

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog says that Lincoln and his law partners handled 131 divorces between 1837 and 1861.