Stuart Showalter’s Indiana Law Blog

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This case certainly supports the stereotype.

Cheryl Kay TERPSTRA, Appellant-Petitioner,
v.
Dale TERPSTRA, Appellee-Defendant.

No. 45A04-9107-CV-244.

“Cheryl Kay Terpstra (Mother) appeals from a judgment for Dale Terpstra (Father), modifying a child support order following their marriage dissolution.

We affirm.”

Next time you hear a father complaining about having to pay too much child support and that the children’s mother is nothing but a greedy $%#@& it probably won’t be Dale Terpstra saying it.

“Mother contends insufficient evidence exists to support the finding Father would have the children 50% of the time. She posits while the modified custody agreement provides Father will have the children 50% of the time, he will actually have the children only 28% of the available overnight time.”

The ICSG provide the number of overnights as a presumptive basis of the costs associated with providing support for the children. However, courts are not bound by strict adherence to the Guidelines. “Trial courts must avoid the pitfall of blind adherence to the computation for support without giving careful consideration to the variables which require a flexible application of the guidelines.” Talarico v. Smithson (1991), Ind. App., 579 N.E.2d 671, 673.” Essentially the mother has the children 72% of overnights but only 50% of the total time. Her arguement that it costs her more to provide sleeping accommodations than other support is without merit and was unpersuasive to the court, rightfully so.

“The modification order stipulated the parties have joint legal and physical custody of their three minor children. Father testified the children would be with him approximately 50% of the time. He presented a calendar which highlighted all the days he would have custody of the children. By Father’s calculations, he would have custody of the children over 50% of the days available. He argues during this time food, household goods, clothing, transportation, health care, and recreational expenses will be purchased and consumed.”

“In the agreed modification, the trial court stated ‘[s]ince father has the minor children approximately 50% of the time, the court finds that a deviation from the guidelines is appropriate….’ ”

Interestingly this was an agreed modification. I guess she started reading the Guidelines in only the manner most favourable to her and then decided to appeal. By the time they reached the end of this appeal it appears the justices may have been a bit annoyed with the complete frivolousness of it which was not based upon any standing in law.

It is important to note in the following paragraph that she has not contributed to the support of the children as agreed.

“Mother’s argument ignores the totality of the circumstances in this case. The record reveals because during their marriage Mother and Father agreed to send their children to a Christian school, the original dissolution decree required Mother to pay a portion of that cost. She has never done so. Father paid all tuition and fees to send the oldest child to school and the second oldest to preschool. Father also paid health insurance premiums for the children as well as money directly to the children’s dentist and pediatrician. Additionally, Father is responsible for all transportation for the children between the parties’ households. He seeks no child support contribution from Mother while the children are with him under the modified order despite increased household expenses.”

“Absent an abuse of discretion, we cannot substitute our judgment for that of the trial court. [W]e cannot say the trial court’s award is clearly against the logic and effect of the total facts and circumstances before it. The trial court did not abuse its discretion.”

Affirmed.

CONOVER - CHEZEM and BAKER, JJ., concur.

Mother also had some other arguments that fell flat on their face. Here is one of those.

“Mother contends the trial court erred when it failed to account for Father’s imputed income relating to the automobile provided him through his insurance business.

Father testified he has two vehicles, a business vehicle and a personal vehicle. He runs approximately $250 worth of business expenses for the car used for business through his subchapter S corporation.”

I am surprised she didn’t argue that the office space he leases for his business could actually be used as living accommodations and ask that this duplicated expenses also be imputed as income. The vehicle was not provided to him as an employment benefit to be used in place of him having and maintaining his own vehicle. The court correctly did not count this as a personal benefit and impute it as income.

Cheryl Kay Terpstra is certainly a loser of a parent who makes even the most caring and supporting mothers look like nothing but greedy baby-makers who see fathers as an ATM. Hopefully her character, dominated by laziness and greed, did not have a significant influence on the children.

All parents should be mindful that the purpose of the Indiana Child Support Guidelines is to provide for the support of the children by BOTH parents. There are times when it will be appropriate to raise or lower a child support payment order which may result in a hardship for either or both parents.

Child support payments are not to be a windfall for the receiving parent nor are they to be punitive towards the paying parent. There are remedies within the judicial system to accommodate parents who feel that the children are not being supported. Proper pleading should be used to address these concerns.

If you have any questions about child support payment modification please feel free to contact me.  New Guideline rules went into effect at the beginning of this year.

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Indiana Custodial Rights Advocates

©2010 Stuart Showalter, LLC. Permission is granted to all non-commercial entities to reproduce this article in it’s entirety with credit given.

Be it through lack on insight and intelligence or simply the reactionary nature of people the masses often seek a solution retrospectively rather than prospectively. That is, most people choose to face a problem after it has happened rather than take the effort to prevent the problem. Think of the people who change their lifestyle after having a heart attack.

This is not unlike politics and law. Every misapplication of a law or all the interpretations provided by higher courts can be predicted and avoided through proper wording of the law. What usually happens though is that those who craft the laws seek only to have the language accomplish their goal. Such is our child solicitation law that makes it a felony for any parent to advise his or her child under the age of 16 to wait and have sex after marriage. Sure it accomplished the admirable and intended goal of making it illegal for a person to ask a child to have sex with him or her at some time in the future, when the child is of age to consent, but it went too far. The law applies to everyone not just those seeking sexual satisfaction from a child.

So where is the link to term limits? Legislators, like judges, are not experts in every area of the law. I write child custody laws because that is my area of expertise. I advise legislators on the application, effect and possible unintended consequences of language in child custody bills. I am aware of how the Indiana Court of Appeals of Supreme Court has opined on the statutes. Some of the statutes I know verbatim. This is the area of law in which I specialize and it didn’t happen quickly.

Recently, I spent nearly an hour on a teleconference with legislators and a staff attorney taking questions and advising them about the language to be used in a child custody bill. This included a Senator who authored the bill and another who had some concerns about the language. I have had numerous meetings with both senators in the past. Yet still, it took detailed explanations to get the exact language we needed.

Sometimes it takes nearly a full term to bring a legislator from the position of not considering supporting a bill to the point of wanting to sign on as a co-sponsor. The Indiana General Assembly has 150 members. In addition there are the auxiliary figures who play an influential role in drafting legislation and building support. I do not have the time to meet with and explain the long and detailed history of child custody law to each of them every few years.

To make the wisest or best decisions legislators need to be fully informed and aware of the consequences of the legislation they are asked to vote on. It would not be practical or logical to remove those legislators who I have spent years educating or others who have gained the necessary knowledge and experience in a particular area and who are now best positioned to make those decisions from the process.

I see term limits as another knee-jerk reaction to the uninformed, unintelligent and lazy electorate who fails to meet their obligation to elect the best qualified candidates and instead insist on remaining uninformed, unintelligent and lazy.

Term limits are already in place. It is called an election. Get informed and use it.

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Indiana Custodial Rights Advocates

©2010 Stuart Showalter, LLC. Permission is granted to all non-commercial entities to reproduce this article in it’s entirety with credit given.

Lately I have been receiving more complaints, requests for advice or just other concerns about the discipline or treatment of the children of blended families. Primarily the concern is the treatment of a noncustodial parent’s prior children [NCP] as compared to that of the subsequent children of a new family.

That is to say this is how a NCP treats his or her visiting children different from that of the subsequent residential children of the household and if so is this justified. I have found that opinions on this differ widely as do the reasons.

It is not my intention here to provide a blanket procedure or rule for parents to follow when providing discipline or rules for children of blended families. Rather, I want to express some varying ways in which these families handle the situation and allow you to consider these for your own family.

Here are some opinions by others also. Michael G Connor: Parenting in Blended Families. 

Cathy Meyer: Child Discipline in the Blended Family. 

Shirley Cress Dudley: Discipline in the Blended Family.

It is important that children have consistency in discipline and expectations. For this reason both natural parents need to communicate with each other about what those are. It may be very likely that you won’t agree on this which could be one of the reasons you are divorced to begin with. However, it is still necessary to know what the other parent expects so that your rules or discipline may include consideration of that.

The other children in the household must also be made aware of the rules and expectations and the residential household of their visiting sibling. If you choose to adopt the rules of the residential household of your visiting then there will be a difference in the way the children in your household are treated. Age or maturity will be a consideration in how this is explained to the children.

One difference that I personally employ and have found common among others is that the visiting children are not responsible for such tasks as household chores or cleaning up their messes. I am not saying that if the child purposely makes a mess that he or she shouldn’t have to clean that surface. What this means is that the child should not have to clean up after regular usage of games, toys, etc. The child should understand that it is proper to clean up after one’s self but that you want to spend time with the child not having the child spend time cleaning up.

Other parents choose to treat all children the same while accounting for age. This may reduce sibling conflict and be best for all involved. This is going to have to be a case-by-case decision that best accommodates the circumstances of the family.

There is another possible dynamic to this situation besides the parties that are already mentioned. You may have a new spouse or partner also in the household. The other children may be previous children of your new spouse or partner. Those children are going to be accustomed to a particular existing style. You have had a way that you parent your child. There may be a conflict in parenting styles that must be resolved between the both of you before being applied to the children.

Having a non residential child visiting who brings a different standard into the situation is going to make it more difficult. There is no right or wrong to resolving this. The best I can offer though is that there must be consistency. Whatever you choose it must be applied on a consistent basis. If you have a new partner then you both must support the rules and discipline as applied by each other.

In a family created through two adults with children from previous relationships each adult must have authority to enforce the rules and instill discipline on an equal basis regardless of biological connection. This also applies to visiting children. Failure to have equal authority over all of your children will result in a power conflict. You can expect the children to detect and manipulate that situation which will only create problems in the relationship between you and your spouse.

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Indiana Custodial Rights Advocates

©2010 Stuart Showalter, LLC. Permission is granted to all non-commercial entities to reproduce this article in it’s entirety with credit given.

Child pornography laws have become so expansive that they now include prohibitions against adults portraying a person under the age of 18 appearing in the nude or simulated images. To the horror of some parents criminal charges have been brought against themselves for possession of photos so innocent as a girl who is two years of age sitting in a tub full of bubbles but having a breast fully exposed.

Now this absurdity of a well-intentioned law written by people without the insight or acumen to include safeguard provisions against such misapplication may be used against those charged with the duty to protect airline passengers. The Transportation Safety Administration [TSA] has been using scanning machines that allow security officers to see through outer and inner garments of the people walking through the machine. The “millimeter wave” (MMW) technology bounces radio-frequency waves off people to construct a 3-D image within a few seconds.

This has brought about the ire of some civil libertarians who contend that “seeing” through someones clothing without probable cause is a search as described in the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This argument, although valid, is not likely to stand, as whenever the government wants to do away with liberty the causes of security and safety are championed and the dull-minded populace and judges embrace it. However, the TSA counters that passengers are given the option of a traditional pat-down search.

The scanner operates in much the same way as a x-ray machine sees through your skin to the bone. Just as is done with x-rays a photographic image is produced. Unlike x-rays though the scanner produces a real-time video image on a monitor that is viewed by the security officers.

Likely you have heard of the recent attempt of a Nigerian born Muslim extremist to detonate a chemical reactant explosive that was strapped to his leg while on a jet bound for Detroit. This is the type of surreptitious activity that these scanners would reveal. The problem for the TSA is that to be effective everyone must be scanned.

Gone are the days when profiling was an effective tool as interceding security threats. Anyone who recalls the Vietnam war knows that children were used to deliver bombs to US soldiers. Children have been used in military action prior to and since that time. Even on the streets of our US cities and towns children as young as ten years of age are packing firearms and being used as drug couriers.

These scanners which are installed at at least six US airports cannot effectively prevent explosive materials from being carried onto airplanes unless each person passing through the security checkpoint has passed through the body scanner. As the monitors on these scanners show video images of the breast or pubic region of young girls walking through or the photographic like image of a young boys penis the United States Government is producing and possessing child pornography.

Most alarming though is that a parent who encourages or induces a child to pass through these body scanners to produce the naked image of the children’s bodies have assisted in the production of child pornography. Don’t think that the pedophiles producing this child pornography are going to get arrested for it. Do something the government doesn’t like and see if you don’t get arrested at an airport checkpoint. My advice to anyone considering taking a minor through an airport security check; take the train.

Your tax dollars, hard at work, establishing the worlds largest child-porn network.

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Indiana Custodial Rights Advocates

©2010 Stuart Showalter, LLC. Permission is granted to all non-commercial entities to reproduce this article in it’s entirety with credit given.

The Indiana Senate Judiciary Committee met Wednesday 06 January 2010 to hear public testimony on Senate Bill 0163. The bill is sponsored by committee chairman Bray and was based upon the work of the Indiana Department of Child Services, Child Support Bureau.

DCS director Judge James Payne and Cynthia Longest, Deputy Director of the Child Support Bureau were the first to speak. This made my job much easier as their extensive testimony prepared the committee members for the issues I would speak about.

The bill primarily would mandate that casinos and horse racing facilities check the bureaus database for delinquent child support payment obligors before paying large jackpot winners. Figures discussed range from $600 to $2500.

The bill would also add gaming employees to the list of other licensed professionals who could have there licenses or permits revoked, suspended or not renewed for having a child support arrears.

There was one area of concern for me in the bill which was the definition of delinquent. The bill provides that anyone who owes at least $2000 in back support or a cumulative amount equal to three months is considered delinquent. In many paternity cases and some divorces support orders are not issued until after the final hearing. At that point a support arrears may be set that easily exceeds those amounts considered to be delinquent. I propose that for the purpose of licensing issues that the delinquent amounts apply to after the most recent support order.

I do feel that there are adequate safeguards in place in this bill that would prevent mistakenly intercepted winnings from being paid out to the custodial parent and that licensing issues would only go into effect if a parent failed to cooperate or ignored the notice of possible suspension.

“We do not believe that a parent who’s having difficulty paying child support should be out gambling,” said Stuart Showalter, with Indiana Shared Parenting, a group that advocates for equal joint custody.

The bill is expected to be amended slightly and be prepared for a vote by the committee next week. If the bill passes out of committee it will go to the Senate floor for a vote. Keep updated on all Indiana child support and custody bills here.

Also next week our joint legal custody upon signing of a paternity affidavit bill is expected to receive a hearing. Please check this blawg frequently for updated information on the 2010 Indiana General Assembly.

You may be read more about this and leave comments in the Associated Press article appearing in the New York Times, Miami Herald, USA Today or the Seattle Times.

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Indiana Custodial Rights Advocates

©2010 Stuart Showalter, LLC. Permission is granted to all non-commercial entities to reproduce this article in it’s entirety with credit given.

Members of the Indiana Custodial Rights Advocates and Indiana Shared parenting gathered at the Indiana State House Tuesday for the opening day of the second session of the 116th General Assembly. This session is known as a short session since it does not involve a budget. As time is limited to just about 10 weeks the greatest challenge will be getting hearings on the bills submitted. The list of submitted bills may be seen here.

The day started at 9:00am with legislators beginning to arrive around that time. We quickly met with or made arrangements for members to see their local legislators. We were able to meet with Rep. Phyllis Pond and discuss joint legal custody initiatives with her.

Matthew Barnes, State Director of the Capitol Commission, led a session of prayer by various legislators.  Lunch then followed which featured sandwiches provided by Chick-fil-A4.

The House convened just after the 1:30 scheduled time followed by the Senate. Throughout the day I was able to exchange pleasantries with numerous legislators. I met formally with Senator Boots to discuss SB0070 which he introduced for me. I also met with Senator Greg Taylor who has introduced Senate Bill 0153 and SB154 for me.

I met briefly with Representative Summers to discuss alternatives to incarceration for child support payment arrearages and also joint legal custody initiatives. Summers asked me to send information to her and to schedule a meeting with her to discuss these issues.

I was unable to coordinate time with Senator Steele to discuss SB0061 which came out of the ICCSAC interim session meetings. I will try to do that Wednesday. Also on Wednesday is the hearing for SB0163 in which I will be testifying. SB163 would mandate that casinos and other wagering facilities would be required to intercept winnings of people who have a child support arrearage and send any winnings up to that amount to the state child support collection bureau.

The bill would also allow for the suspension or revocation of state gaming licenses or permits for persons with a support arrearage who refuse to make arrangements to pay the arrears or agree to an income withholding order. The bill also has a provision that bars the state from charging to reinstate a drivers license after it has been suspended for child support payment arrears.

InCRA supports the bill because we feel that if a parent doesn’t believe that he or she can afford to pay support then he or she should not be gambling.

If you would like to participate in any part of the legislative process or simply meet your legislators please contact me.

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Indiana Custodial Rights Advocates

©2010 Stuart Showalter, LLC. Permission is granted to all non-commercial entities to reproduce this article in it’s entirety with credit given.

No soliloquy on marriage would be complete without that comedic one-liner; You know, the leading cause of divorce is marriage.

On New Years Day this year I ran a 5K event titled “What was I Thinking?” which was titled that for good reason. It was windy and 12 degrees. It made me think about what I have heard from many of my divorcing clients; “What was I thinking?” Marriage had been on my mind lately anyway.

I recently had the opportunity to discuss marriage with one of my girl friends. Actually, the most important one. She is the one whom I’ve had a relationship with like no other. We have complete trust in each other, have told each other our most intimate secrets which have never been revealed to any other and we don’t know how or why we came to be so connected.

At some point we discussed what the pinnacle of our relationship could be. We decided we would rule nothing out and let the relationship take its own course. So, eventually we could get married and have children if that is where it flowed. From there that seemed to be the direction we were heading.

Then practicality entered the scene. That is one of the things I found most attractive about her; fun-loving, spontaneous, ambitious, thoughtful and practical. There were many things to consider for us that the usual couple wouldn’t face. A substantial chronological age difference and opposition from parents were only two.

There were also many reasons why, at a different time and place, we would be ideal. Some of these reminded me of a few things in one of the many books I have about marriage, divorce and custody. So, I went back and read through that again. I also gave some thought to traditions, mores and philosophical motivations for marriage.

I in no way intend for this post to be a complete checklist or evaluation for potential newlyweds but as the title says, it is just some thoughts on marriage. I get into some of those in future posts.

I was married once. I tried my best to keep it intact but she eventually forced what was best but also what I didn’t want to face. It simply was not healthy for my son to face the violence she committed against him and witness it against me, have to beg for her attention and to have a mother who he would never know if she would be home that night. She eventually abandoned us one day and went to live with one of her boyfriends.

It took some coaxing and help from extended family but she did eventually start taking our son with her for some visitation time. She then became extremely interested in having custody of our son once she hired a lawyer and filed for divorce. It was around that time that her recollection that I must have been the one committing acts of domestic violence became clear to her. So, that background is there for you to consider when reading my thoughts here.

My first thought is that no one is required to get married. Sure, the majority of people do. But are the majority getting married for some extrinsic reason such as familial expectations or religious mandates? Your mother likely first clued you into to these invalid reasons when she asked you during one of your risky youthful pleasures, “If everyone else jumped off a bridge would you?”

There should only be two people who decide to get married. Some cultures leave the decision to the parents of the bride and groom to be, which does have some merit, but I believe the two people who intend to marry should be the ones to make that decision. A baby in the womb is not a valid reason to get married. You may think differently but these are my thoughts.

My reason is that there are many happily unmarried parents providing a stable family for the children while at the same time there are likely more unhappily married parents providing an unhealthy relationship environment for their children.

Conversely there can be many people who decide for you to not got married. These are the ones most people in lust ignore. If the advice of family and friends in not to get married then pay very close attention. Few of them are having sexual relations with your intended spouse which may give them a clearer perspective.

Some people may still base their motivation for marriage of religious foundations that say it is improper for persons to live as man and wife or bear children outside the covenant of marriage. However, religions have always been malleable to the forces of society as that is how they maintain adherents and thus power. Society in large part no longer considers pre-marital relations a taboo and religion must adapt itself to this concept or lose the so-called faithful. So let’s stick to the relevant factors of the parties involved.

Before getting married you should think about the most annoying characteristic of your future mate. If you can’t think of one now it is only because you are lovestruck. Ask your friends for help. Now imagine this most annoying trait getting worse and becoming more annoying over the years. Make sure you can live with that without intentionally placing yourself at the mercy of mob enforcers making you pay up. My point is that you cannot change what you don’t like about your partner. You must be able to live with the good and the bad.

Make sure you listen to each other. I don’t mean try to placate your partner by pretending to listen attentively while he or she rants. My dear friend and I couldn’t stop talking to or listening to each other, sometimes throughout the night. But we heard each other. We genuinely were interested in knowing the thoughts of the other; fears, wishes, experiences and desires. For months we did not go through any 12 hour period without talking to each other in person or, on the rare occasions I left town, by phone. Our conversations have always been uninhibited. If you can’t do this then reconsider getting married.

This one is so cliche but here goes anyway. Beauty is only skin deep. Of course that all depends on what you consider beautiful. A little girl friend recently went up to another chick saying I wanted her phone number. I, of course, didn’t but that is one of our juvenile ways of just messing with each other. However, the girl was quite a hottie with all the make-up and cute little garments that snugged her shapely body in all the right places. Always a red-flag to me. So, it was no surprise to me when my girl friend comes back and says, “Uh, she is a b@#$%” My dear friend, on the other hand, has a smile and look about her that accentuates her natural physical beauty which is only surpassed by her inner beauty.

Back in high school I once woke up next to a girl and practically said “Who are you?”. I soon realized that the reason she spent an hour in the bathroom in the mornings wasn’t an intestinal issue. I don’t think this reflected much on her character but just goes to show that looks can deceive.

However, there are men and women alike out there that spend significant amounts of time and money in an attempt to improve their physical appearance in cosmetic ways. I believe this is usually to accommodate some intrinsic deficiency. Physical appearance is the means by which we nearly all first notice one another. It should not be the factor upon which a long-term relationship is built though. Physical acts shouldn’t either but I will delve into that arena in a more in-depth post later.

I cannot deny that money is a factor in marriage if for no other reason than it will be if there is a divorce. But, first let me take you back to the beginning. Keep money in mind when choosing a partner. That’s right. Consider the financial viability of your potential spouse and forget what the Beatles said. I have enough experience with couples to know a few certain truths. One is that financial despair is not healthy for a relationship or raising children. It is the fantasy of romantic lore.

Make sure that you choose a partner who can be a productive contributer to the partnership. This can be through deeds or earning ability. Don’t rely upon existing wealth though. That can fade and once depleted so may the reason for marriage in the first place. It could be a fun ride but at some point it will come to an end.

Existing wealth may prompt the thought of a pre-nuptial agreement. Some attorneys advise it as a matter of course no different than advising a client to have a will. I believe it should be a cause for concern though. It says to me from the beginning I do not expect the marriage to last.

With the benefit of hindsight I would have drafted a pre-nuptial agreement before I got married. I thought marriage was for life and assumed that when someone makes a sworn oath to do something for life that, just as I did, she would affirm that commitment. However, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Her motivation for marriage and child birth was purely financial. After I failed to comply with her $5,000 cash payment demand for the birth of our son she wanted no additional children with me.

Knowing I would have sought a pre-nuptial agreement tells me I should have doubted her commitment to marriage. Upon consideration of the warnings of others, including her brother, I would not have married her. But, I was young and lovestruck at the time. Eventually it cost me a few hundred thousand dollars in lost wealth. The greatest value from the relationship though is my son which has made all the pain and torment worth it.

This brings me to my closing thought. As women are more often becoming primary earners and the wealthier party going into marriage based upon prior marital settlements this applies to both genders. When considering marriage take a photo of your potential spouse and place it on one side of a table. Next, place your car keys, house keys and bank records along with other financial instruments on the other side. Then decide which you can live without.

If you chose the photo of your potential spouse, friends and family don’t object, those annoying habits don’t bother you, you have complete openness in conversation and you have relieved yourself of any sexual desires before making this assessment then go forth and get married.

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Indiana Custodial Rights Advocates

©2010 Stuart Showalter, LLC. Permission is granted to all non-commercial entities to reproduce this article in it’s entirety with credit given.

Unbundled Legal Services is a somewhat new concept that is gaining more acceptance. Unbundled is essentially an ala carte method of providing legal services. This allows clients to more actively participate in their legal proceedings and often save substantial amounts of money. There is more to unbundling than just saving money however.

Instead of handing over all responsibility to an attorney unbundling allows for clients to only use the necessary services of an attorney. Many pro se litigants are quite capable of doing their paperwork and even presenting a case on their own when seeking a child support payment modification.

These litigants may need an attorney on the day of a child custody determination hearing when there will be multiple witnesses and numerous pieces of documentary evidence presented. Others will need an attorney at every courtroom appearance and to prepare specific motions, called ghostwriting, that require citation to caselaw but can easily handle a motion to continue based upon a previously scheduled outpatient surgery that day.

There is a side-effect to unbundling in child custody cases. Because it almost inevitably results in more contact between spouses in a divorce, it also sets a pattern for both of them built around sitting down and working out the issues between them, rather than relying on someone else to do it for them. Parents working together is nearly always better for the children.

Other services may include appearing with you for a deposition/police interview, establishing legal strategy, providing advice about alternatives to litigation and planning negotiations. Your coach or attorney may also provide other services such as interviewing your potential witnesses, other attorney and expert referrals, role playing to simulate courtroom action and searching public databases for information beneficial or damaging to your case.

As a non-lawyer litigation coach I encourage my clients to use attorneys who offer unbundling as a way of ensuring adequate courtroom presence while also saving money and keeping them involved with the case. I have a few attorneys around central Indiana that I like to work with.

Unlike in full-service representation unbundling requires a strict understanding of what services are provided and who is responsible for initiating contact. Note that when you are represented by an attorney all court mail goes to the attorney. When using an unbundled service you are your attorney and are responsible for knowing and meeting all deadlines.

With adequate coaching and unbundled attorney services you will have a three person team fighting for your interest that will be better prepared, more effective and cost you much less than letting an attorney do it all for you. Best of all you will be in control of your case with the help of your experts.

If you would like assistance in finding an attorney offering unbundled legal services please contact me.  You may read more about litigation coaching and unbundled legal services here.

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Indiana Custodial Rights Advocates

©2010 Stuart Showalter, LLC. Permission is granted to all non-commercial entities to reproduce this article in it’s entirety with credit given.

You may have seen the infomercials featuring Bob Vila in a warm, comfortable, heated living room. Vila kneels close to a portable heater while a family sits leisurely going about their activities. The message is that this portable heater is safer because of an infrared heating process that eliminates hot spots and that this heater costs less to operate.

I have a background in marketing and advertising. My father has been in the business 50 years and I have helped to write copy (the message in an advertisement) that can turn a negative into a positive. My legal background also allows me to understand how people attempt to shape the ‘truth’ to fit their agenda.

After seeing some of the claims made about this product I decided that it would be fun to order one knowing that it would be returned because it cannot meet the claims made.

I ordered the Gen3 Model 1000 that is supposed to heat a 1000 square foot area with eight foot ceilings. This model has a 1500 watt rating and can operate from any grounded household outlet.

Before we get to the test results let’s first review some of the claims as they appear on the EdenPURE website:

“Typical heating sources like furnaces, fireplaces, corn/fuel/propane burners, and normal space heaters reduce humidity which dries out your skin and sinuses causing bloody noses, and irritated eyes.” I do not doubt this at all. Winter air overall is dried whether it is artificially heated. Some type of humidity system should be used by anyone who experiences those symptoms.

“The EdenPure heating system also heats the room evenly, wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling. Other heating sources heat rooms unevenly with most of the heat ending up near the ceiling.” This was the statement that led to the decision to purchase this product and test it. I am not a physicist by any means but physics is just one of the many subjects I have studied and I, along with nearly everyone else, know that heat rises. Vila suggest that this product defies the laws of physics saying “The result is the heat you need to feel comfortable is now down low where you dwell and you are no longer wasting money heating the ceiling!”

The most spurious claim is that “it pays for itself in a matter of weeks!”

So onto the test. The first test location was a brick three-car garage with ceiling just under eight feet.. Overall square footage is about 700. The walls are insulated with 3.5″ R13 batts. The outdoor temperature starts in the high 40’s and peaks around 52 Fahrenheit. According to the claims made by EdenPure this heater should make this garage very comfortable. The indoor temperature is slightly cooler, nearer the overnight temperature.

The heater is placed in the center of the garage and turned on in mid-morning. For this initial test only a single thermometer was used. The result was that by late afternoon the temperature has risen to 53 degrees.

The second test was in a lapboard siding house also with walls that are insulated with 3.5″ R13 batts and ceiling under eight feet. The footprint is 42 x 23 feet resulting in square footage just under 1000. The outdoor temperature overnight and through the day ranged between 30 and 34 degrees. The temperature in the living room, where the heater was placed, was 46 degrees at the beginning of the test. After three hours of running the heater non-stop there was little overall temperature change in the house.

The living room at chest level was 52 degrees which was achieved somewhat quickly, slightly warmer at the ceiling and significantly cooler on the floor. The hallway was slightly warmer along with the two bedrooms. Further back in the house, on the North side, there was no temperature change in the kitchen or bathroom which both remained around 43 degrees.

For a comparison test a Holmes 1500 Watt ceramic portable space heater purchased at a mass retailer for $24 was used. After the room temperatures had returned to their starting levels the test was ran again using the Holmes heater. The Holmes heater produced hotter air that seemed to blow about the same distance as the EdenPure heater.

After three hours of running the heater non-stop there was little overall temperature change in the house. The results were nearly identical as the previous test except that the living room was slightly warmer at 53 degrees. The wall surfaces seemed warmer also but this could be attributable to the heating in the prior test being retained after the air temperature had dropped.

I my many years of life I have lived in homes with steam radiators, oil furnace, natural gas furnace and electric furnace as whole-house heating sources. I have found each to function better than the EdenPure heater. In comparing the cost of heating a similar sized home to 65 degrees using a natural gas heater the EdenPure would cost the same to keep the same house around 50 degrees. This is hardly a cost savings.

In looking at how to turn a negative into a positive Vila shows us a thermal imaging video of the room and points out that there are no “hot spots”. This is what the claim that the EdenPure heats the room evenly is based upon. What you are not told in this advertisement is that no part of the the room is hot. There are no hot spots because the entire room is cool.

Based upon all the miraculous claims made about this heater, such as it can defy the laws of physics, I was left wondering why this heater wasn’t accompanied by a perpetual motion machine that would produce its own electricity to operate it.

My best advice. Save your $397 and use a furnace at much lower cost or get the same or better results from a $24 space heater.

If you think it is too good to be true that a 1500 watt space heater can sufficiently heat an entire house that is because it is. This proves once again the old saying, If it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

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Indiana Custodial Rights Advocates

©2009 Stuart Showalter, LLC. Permission is granted to all non-commercial entities to reproduce this article in it’s entirety with credit given.

Nearly everyday I get a request from someone to provide legal assistance. These requests are usually for child custody and support issues. Family law is my specialty both as a lobbyist and legal instructor and is where I am usually recommended.

I provide guidance on not only what forms to use or how to draft pleadings but also what stressors to expect in the courtroom and coping skills to apply. I also have a substantial collection of cases that clients may read to gain insight into how court’s apply the law and what is and is not successful. I do this for clients whether they are represented by attorneys.

In short, I am a consultant that specializes in maximizing the effectiveness of your time, the court and your attorney if you are represented. For those who are represented, my fees are easily paid for by the savings in attorney fees. Of course you cannot put a price on the cost of losing a custody issue because you were not properly training in the procedure.

What has prompted me to write about this issue today is the matter of financial compensation. I don’t accept one new client per day. This is not because there are not enough legitimate cases out there, there are plenty. The interesting thing is that the vast majority of people who want to use my service simply refuse to pay for it.

In examining this issue let’s first consider what money is. Money is a store of labour. That is it is a medium of exchange for the work done by a person which can be exchanged for the goods or services provided by another. Essentially when you pay for something you are working.

So why then do so many people refuse to “work” to modify custody or child support issues related to their children? There is one conclusion that stands out as obvious; these people aren’t willing to put forth an effort for their children. This leads me to the harsh reality that maybe this is why they don’t have custody to begin with.

There are some people who truly cannot afford to pay me for a full blown child custody battle that can run as high as $2000 through me or $25,000 using an attorney. I wonder though why someone who cannot afford $250 for a simple modification thinks he or she is financially fit enough to provide for the children.

Child support modifications pay for themselves. I used an attorney for my first modification. It took 13 weeks for that to pay for itself. I then did another modification myself which reduced my support to less than 1/3 of what the attorney got it down to.

The modifications that I have helped people obtain usually pay for themselves in about a month, sometimes less. Still, I often hear, “I can’t afford that.” Here is an actual quote that I recently received: “I can not cover any fees….Thanks for your time though”

I am left to wonder why allowing child support arrears to build and facing contempt hearings and potential jail time is what people can afford. It would seem that those people who really care about their children would not want to be in that situation and could afford (work) to see that it doesn’t happen.

When it comes to child support or custody how can someone not afford to be prepared. Having my child support payments set $6000 per year too high was something I could not afford. As an unemployed stay-at-home parent I couldn’t afford not to have it reduced. A year ago I wrote about why now may be the time to seek a child support payment modification. It still applies.

If you don’t mind paying less than the value you will receive please contact me.  But if you want something for nothing just stand on a street corner with a tin cup. I don’t charge based upon supply and demand. I simply charge the least I can afford to live on and then only take the cases that I strongly support. That is why I have an application process for my services.

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Indiana Custodial Rights Advocates

©2009 Stuart Showalter, LLC. Permission is granted to all non-commercial entities to reproduce this article in it’s entirety with credit given.