Online Service Helps Divorced Parents Keep Children's Schedules Straight

I recently read an article about Our Family Wizard, that was recommended in LinkedIn's American Divorce Group. The Indy Star's recent article describes a family going through divorce that uses the website to keep track of each parent's visitation days and schedules. Here's an excert from "Online Service Helps Divorced Parents Keep Children's Schedules Straight":

"Our Family Wizard.com allows parents to input their schedules, coordinate days and swap visitation days.

The Web site is court-ordered in 35 states, because the records on the site are time- and date- stamped, and communications are backed up by an electronic breadcrumb trail. Expenses can be logged, and there's even a journal on the site." Continue reading »

Online Service Helps Divorced Parents Keep Children's Schedules Straight

eNewsletter Alert Recap

(via) eNewsletter November 12, 2009

Have you missed recent eNewsletter Alerts? Check out our recap to see all of Amaral & Associates, P.C.'s past Alerts on:

• Divorce Mediation
• Mortgage Workouts
• Child Support Guidelines
• Homesteads
• Trusts for Children
• Compensation for Personal Injuries
• Auto Accidents
• Estate Planning With a "Living Trust"
• Doing Business as a "Limited Liability Company (LLC)"
• Wills
• Powers of Attorney, Health Care Proxies and Living Wills
• Buying/Selling a Home
• What You Should Know if You are Arrested

Read our past eNewsletter Alerts»

eNewsletter Alert Recap

Law Practice Management Tip of the Week

(via) Lawyer's e-Journal
Tip of the Week: Marketing Using Twitter

This week's tip from the Masachusetts Bar Association's Lawyer's e-Journal features some of the benefits of using Twitter:

Twitter was the "it" kid on the block when it got started and up until this year. Then statistics came out that pointed to the fact that most Twitter accounts registered were NOT being used on a regular basis and a majority of the "tweets" come from a minority of tweeters (Twitter lingo). Add to that, many legal business and marketing gurus didn't know exactly how Twitter could help market a law firm and if they did make a claim that it was beneficial, they didn't have hard numbers to prove it.

Then last month, Google and Bing revitalized Twitter as a marketing tool. In their usual epic battle of Microsoft vs. Google, Microsoft's new Bing search engine struck a deal with Twitter to start indexing their site. In the same day, Google made the same announcement that it will now start to index Twitter.

What does that all mean for legal marketing?

It means that individual tweets can now show up as searches in Google or Bing. So if you tweet something about your particular substantive area of law, there is a possibility that it will get picked up by Google and Bing and if relevant enough to a user's search terms, it will show in the search results.

If you haven't started using twitter yet, now is as good a time as any to start and I predict that many more firms will start to see direct results from their twittering over time. Tweet about your practice or the law. Tweet your blog posts. Retweet other interesting posts. Just start tweeting.

Don't forget to follow me, @Ed_Amaral!

Law Practice Management Tip of the Week

Massachusetts Alimony Reform

I recently started reading local attorney, Steven Ballard's Massachusetts Divorce & Family Law Blog and found an interesting post on alimony reform from about a month ago.

In "Alimony Reform and the Business of Divorce", Steven questions the alimony reform and gives a good description about the current controversy over the competing Massachusetts alimony bills, and a potential conflict of interest involving Senator Cynthia Creem.

It's a little long, but a worthwhile read for those interested.

Massachusetts Alimony Reform

Child Custody, Joint Custody & Shared Custody

I thought I would share this website I found through LinkedIn's American Divorce Group.

Child Custody, Joint Custody and Shared Custody has a lot of useful information and resources regarding custory related issues. The website also has some videos on preparing for your child custody case.

Don't forget to check out their blog on joint custody, shared custody and co-parenting!

Child Custody, Joint Custody & Shared Custody

Law Practice Management Tip of the Week

(via) Lawyer's e-Journal
Tip of the Week: Remotely Access the Superior Court’s electronic docket

I thought I'd pass along this week's tip from the Masachusetts Bar Association's Lawyer's e-Journal about accessing the Superior Court's docket online:

Get the most up-to-the-minute information about your state litigation cases by using the Superior Court's electronic docket. All lawyers in the commonwealth can sign up for free access to the Superior Court Docket. This Web site is invaluable for checking the docket for your cases, including filing deadlines, hearing dates, a list of docketed pleadings, and for doing research on parties, including other cases in which they may be involved. In some cases, you can also read the court order on motions.

Law Practice Management Tip of the Week

Parenting After Divorce

I've blogged a few times on collaborative divorce and the effect of the economy on divorce (see my posts on Amaral & Associates, P.C. in The Boston Herald and Recession Keeps Divorce On Ice), but I recently came across a few different family law related blogs that covered some interesting divorce stories.

The Modern Woman's Divorce Guide, The Georgia Father's Rights and Children & Divorce all feature a different perspective on life after divorce, and offer some worthwhile advice when it comes to the divorce process.

One of The Modern Woman's Divorce Guide's recent posts had some encouraging tips for women coping with divorce. Check out "A Silver Lining for Divorce" for their top 5 tips that you can do during your divorce!

And for the father's version of divorce tips, check out The Georgia Father's Rights Blog post on "The Top 10 Things Divorce Dads Need to Realize". The Georgia Father's Rights Blog also has another blog, Children & Divorce that features several newspaper articles about single parent homes and child custody. Be sure to read their post on "Single Parents Create Happy New Homes" for tips on making your house a home for children after divorce!

What are some of your favorite family law blogs?

Parenting After Divorce