Thursday, June 7, 2012
MANILA -- In addition to the freedom of information (FOI) and reproductive health (RH) bills, the House of Representatives will also prioritize the divorce bill when sessions resume on July 23.
"I mentioned the divorce bill because that is a very important social bill at this time but we will give it our best shot," Feliciano Belmonte Jr. told reporters Wednesday night.
"I myself am in favor of it, especially that I'm already widowed. Well, anyway, yes I think we have to put those on the agenda," he added.
In July of 2010, Gabriela party-list Representatives Luzviminda Ilagan and Emmi de Jesus filed a House bill introducing divorce in the Philippines. It is pending in the House committee on revision of laws.
Ilagan said earlier that while the divorce bill may not be acceptable to the Catholic Church, it is a much needed measure for many women as well as men trapped in violent, abusive and irreparable marriages.
At least two House leaders, however, expressed opposition against the divorce bill at this early stage.
Deputy Speaker Jesus Crispin Remulla, for one, said "we should just make annulment easier and less expensive first before divorce is passed."
Cavite Representative Joseph Emilio Abaya, for his part, said that he will not support the measure because of faith and upbringing.
"I'm sure when the Speaker says priority, he most likely means priority in debates not necessary passage," he added.
Meanwhile, Belmonte vowed that both the RH and FOI bills will reach voting for third reading approval in the third regular session.
Earlier, House committee on public information chairman Ben Evardone said that the FOI bill will be in the front burner after the State of the Nation Address of President Benigno Aquino III. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)
Source: www.sunstar.com.ph
Craig Seldin: Choosing the Right Divorce Lawyer is Essential - YAHOO!
Finding an exceptional divorce attorney can be determined by a variety of criteria, as noted by one CNBC report. Craig Seldin, a respected family law and divorce attorney in Texas, believes these factors change from case to case when compared with the needs and personality of the client.
Houston, TX (PRWEB) June 07, 2012
A recent article from CNBC reminds Americans that divorce can be a very costly and very damaging event. While the goal for all couples seeking a divorce should be to resolve the problems with as little conflict as possible, the article claims that much of this is determined by the overall skill of a hired attorney. The writer places an importance on careful selection of representation, as these individuals not only help one get the divorce, but they also determine how complicated their future will be. For Craig Seldin, a divorce attorney serving the Houston area, lawyers that work for one person may not adequately fit the needs of another client and therefore should be judged on a case by case basis.The article cites that for many people, divorce is a very expensive process. Some are fortunate enough to attain an uncontested divorce with a small $500 fee, but for those living in upscale areas such as New York City or Los Angeles, the price of a divorce can exceed hundreds of thousands of dollars. Not only are legal fees expensive during the process, but the outcome of the trial, if needed, may cause long lasting costs well after the divorce.
For the matter of cost, it is important to find a lawyer who can conduct business expeditiously and yet get along with the client’s personality. In matters of divorce it is highly important to find a lawyer with a balanced temperament. In the article, New York attorney, Michael P. Mossberg says, “You are looking for a lawyer who won’t want to fight, because the more you fight, the more it will cost you.” Other tips include finding representation that has a great support staff, does not make outlandish promises and is recommended by friends and family.
While these tips may help one achieve a less damaging divorce, Craig Seldin believes that a client should also keep in mind what they want to get out of the settlement. He states, “The client should determine the attorney’s ability to achieve good results in property division as a separate criterion from results obtained in matters pertaining to the children, such as custody and access.”
In other words, if one wants to keep their house or their children, he or she must find a lawyer that has success in those specific areas.
In every situation, both the attorneys in the article and Craig Seldin believe that less conflict is good. If an attorney has a reputation of heightening conflict, it is suggested to move on to the next candidate. It is most likely that these attorneys will draw out a case into a very costly and exhausting situation.
ABOUT:
Skilled in Texas State Law and respected by his legal colleagues, Craig Seldin is an exceptional and versatile attorney serving the Houston area. He maintains close focus on his client’s needs and while he works to achieve results in a progressive manner, he strives to avoid costly practices. He has vast experience in family law and divorce, in addition to bankruptcy, business law, immigration law, criminal defense and several other practice areas.
To learn more about Craig Seldin’s practice visit http://www.craigseldin.net.
Cliff Stein
Reputation Changer LLC
800-269-7984
Email Information
Source: news.yahoo.com
Bethenny Frankel on those divorce rumors - ClickOnDetroit.com
Newly minted talk show host Bethenny Frankel is using her latest platform to shoot down rumors that her marriage to Jason Hoppy is on the rocks.
On Monday's premiere, the reality show star addresses the divorce buzz that's been swirling as she moderates a "men's panel" segment featuring Kevin Nealon, D.L. Hughley and Mike Catherwood, reports Us Weekly.
When Catherwood asks how things are at home, the 41-year-old former "Real Housewives of New York City" cast member offers a frank response.
"The real question is ... I hate to be the guy who deals with the elephant in the room. How are you doing?" Catherwood says. "I'm hearing the 'D' word, divorce thrown around a lot."
"Oh, I forgot. Yes, I've seen a divorce lawyer. My husband's seen a divorce lawyer," Frankel jokes before replying with more seriousness.
"It's Hollywood," she says. "I have not seen a divorce lawyer. My husband hasn't seen a divorce lawyer."
Viewers can expect to see her "put it all out there" on the show, Frankel adds. "The truth is ... I'm in a good marriage. We have issues. We are not perfect. We work on it everyday. We're committed."
Her show "Bethenny" debuts June 11 on Fox in select markets.
Source: www.clickondetroit.com
Avoid Divorce, Make a Date With Financial Planner - CNBC
With a wedding coming up, you'd think Jay Buerck would be obsessing about the usual details: Writing vows, choosing appetizers, or figuring out seating charts to accommodate challenging relatives.
But what worries the 29-year-old St. Louis marketing professional isn't any of those things: It's money.
Not that he and his bride-to-be Liz Downey won't have enough; they earn comfortable salaries. What really freaks him out is the inherent challenge of joining two people's finances.
"Money is the reason why many people get divorced," says Buerck. "I have a buddy who got married and didn't tell his wife about the extent of his debt, and they had a rough go of it when he came clean. That's something I want to try and avoid."
The couple has already taken steps to prepare their finances. That's a smart strategy, according to financial experts, especially now that U.S. couples are waiting longer to marry, and many people have thousands of dollars in student loans and credit card debt by the time they take their vows.
Money causes more arguments than other typical flashpoints, according to a recent survey by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Harris Interactive.
A full 27 percent of respondents said their spats started over money, more than problems with kids (16 percent) or chores (13 percent).
Couples who lock horns over finances at least once a week are 30 percent more likely to get divorced, according to a 2009 study by researchers at Utah State University,
"I probably spend 15 percent of my time with couples actually talking about money, and the other 85 percent talking about personal issues," says Chris Kimball, a certified financial planner in Lakewood, Washington, who also has a Masters of Divinity degree.
"It all ties into money. It's a very powerful thing that can do great things in people's lives, or can really mess them up."
Shockingly, nearly one-half of all people have lied to their significant other about money, according to an April poll by Self Magazine and Today.com.
And a survey conducted this spring by CreditCards.com revealed that 6 million Americans have hidden financial accounts from their spouses or live-in partners.
The deception isn't usually malicious. Often it's prompted by guilt and embarrassment about spending. Compounding the problem is that financial behavior is very deeply set, and can't be altered easily.
So where do couples go wrong, when it comes to money -- and how can they make it right?
Have the Money Talk
Only 43 percent of couples talked about money before marriage, according to a May 2010 survey conducted for American Express.
But lack of disclosure about your financial issues -- maybe you're struggling with $100,000 in student debt, or maybe you filed for bankruptcy at some point -- isn't really any different from lying. Be up front about your financial situation, have the "money talk" long before the big day, and tackle any challenges as a couple.
"My significant other didn't tell me about the money problems we were having, and then one day we had no credit left and had lost pretty much everything," says Holli Rovenger, an author and speaker in Greenville, South Carolina. "If we'd worked together, maybe our finances wouldn't have spiraled out of control."
Minor money differences can be overcome as long as you have the basics covered: You have your daily needs met, you're bringing in more than you're paying out, and you're able to build a nest egg for the future. But once overspending and debt enter the picture, all bets are off.
"I was always a black-belt shopper, and hated to miss a sale," says Jenny Triplett, an entrepreneur in Powder Springs, Georgia, who's been married to husband Rufus Triplett for 22 years. "I'd have bags full of new clothes in the closet, and only bring them out one piece at a time. But eventually we came to a compromise, and I got my spending under control."
That's exactly the right template for resolving money disputes, planners advise. Even with differing money styles, if both partners take strides toward the middle and agree on broad outlines of a budget, it could prevent countless disputes.
Consider Getting Financial Adviser
Money is such an emotional issue that it could be difficult for couples to untangle all the knots on their own. A trained third party can help you figure out the core issues, and mutually agree on a financial plan.
"I've had clients yelling at each other in the parking lot, who came into the conference room and then wouldn't say a word to each other for the first hour," says Kimball. "But eventually we were able to work through it. Talking to someone can help air these financial issues in a safe environment." The website of the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education has a searchable database of trained financial counselors.
Being On the Same Page
It's helpful to have basic guidelines in place that will keep you on the same page. For instance, purchases under a certain dollar amount can be left to each spouse's discretion, while larger ones should to be cleared with your partner.
Some couples might be comfortable pooling all of their money, and others may not; neither is the "right" choice, but that should be decided explicitly.
"Understanding your partner's values on money is so very important," says Andi Wrenn, a financial counselor in Boston with a master's in marriage and family therapy. "Talk about how they learned money management, and what they plan to do in the future with the money they have and earn. Not often do people marry that are from exactly the same background."
That certainly applies to Jay Buerck and his bride-to-be. She's traditionally been more of a budgeter, and he's more laissez faire when it comes to counting pennies. But since they set up a joint account and moved in together, finances have "actually become less stressful," he says. "It's all about being open and honest."
(The author is a Reuters contributor. The opinions expressed are his own.)
Source: www.cnbc.com
Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth matrimonial commitment ahoy - The economic choice
Miley Cyrus and her Australian partner, Liam Hemsworth are now betrothed to one another sealed with a rather nice 19th century engagement ring.
The couple have enjoyed an on off relationship since they met and fell in love on the film-set set of ‘The Last Song‘ back in 2009.
Hunger Games Actor, Liam Hemsworth has publicly received the thumbs up from his future father-in-law, Billy Ray Cyrus who is told People Magazine that he is delighted at the news.
Miley, who shot to fame in Disney Channel hit television series Hannah Montana, has been spotted looking pleased as punch and beaming an awful lot since the engagement and if Liam’s tweets of the engagement ring are anything to go by it looks as if the future Mrs Hemsworth has more than one reason to celebrate.
A simple betrothal band has divided opinion in the media as to whether or not the offending item of jewellery is tasteful or just bling and should such rings be flaunted in a time of economic crisis.
The rising cost of precious metals also affects the viability for the average man on the street to purchase an engagement ring let alone one which will compete with that presented to Miley Cyrus.
In Greece women are now selling their engagement and wedding rings to pay for giving birth in hospital and the price of wedding ring may not even cover it.
The engagement between a 19 year old actress and a 22 year old actor has raised questions in the press over how long a teen marriage can last and why is such a union being devalued by the couple themselves who appear to be flaunting their opulence but one must remember what it was like to be young, naive and in love.
Miley Cyrus - by Angela George
Image by Angela George [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
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Tags: Engagement, Hannah Montana, Hunger Games, Liam Hemsworth, Miley Cyrus
Source: www.economicvoice.com
Apple vs. Google: Mobile divorce approaching - ZDNet
Apple is likely to push Google Maps out of the way next week at its WWDC powwow in what’s a long march toward nixing the search giant—friend now mobile foe—as a default service provider.
The longer war between Apple and Google will revolve around courting developers.
Flurry’s Peter Farago sums it up:
This month, the world’s two largest mobile app platform providers, Apple and Google, enter what is arguably the most critical month of the year for each company, when each hosts their annual developer conference, the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) and Google I/O. While engaged in a multi-year platform war, their success largely depends on innovation provided for their platforms by the third party developer community. If the developer community embraces one platform over the other, developers will build the software that infinitely extends the value of the consumer experience, giving a platform a meaningful edge.
Bottom line: Developers will follow the money. With Apple developers garner more app revenue—folks pay for iOS apps, but Android versions are often free. Google will have to push its iOS wares through the app store. Any built-in service will eventually get the boot.
Related: With 3D maps, Google looks to ‘magic’ to fend off Apple | Google Maps heading to new directions (pictures) | Google announces full offline mapping mode for Android smartphones | 
Today, Apple’s ongoing effort to replace Google Maps and other services has little to no financial hit. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster noted:
Media reports continue to suggest that Apple will replace Google Maps with its own solution in iOS 6. While the immediate financial impact to Google is minimal, we believe the move would suggest a clear strategy on Apple’s part to minimize Google on iOS. Moving forward, we expect a continued tug-of-war between Apple and Google. We believe Google is likely to push more of its apps through the App Store, including Chrome, while Apple will continue to innovate around discovery on the iPhone through Siri.
Financially, Munster reckons that iOS will only provide 2 percent (about $4.5 billion) of Google’s total revenue in 2012. Of that sum, Google gets $500 million from mobile display ads and $4 billion from search. It’s likely iOS is the largest portion of Google’s search revenue. If Apple nixes Google Maps it won’t break the bank.
A few thoughts:
- If Apple replaces Google services users aren’t likely to notice.
- These moves by Apple to replace Google services will probably lead up to nixing search. If Google is replaced as an iOS default search that will be the ultimate test case for users.
- Developer loyalty appears to be with iOS based on Flurry data. Indeed, most apps go iOS first and then Android.
- Siri may be the wild card. What happens if Siri excludes Google results over time?
- It’s unclear that Google can cut it in the App Store framework. Google has multiple free apps, but its biggest ones check in as No. 70 on the charts and below.
Source: www.zdnet.com
Is Philippines ready for a divorce law? - ABS-CBN
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines remains the only nation in the world that does not have a law legalizing divorce. Is the country ready for such a law?
Gabriela Party Rep. Luz Ilagan believes that it is time that the country moves forward and help couples who can no longer live together.
Ilagan and and fellow lawmaker Emmi de Jesus have filed a House bill introducing divorce in the Philippines that is now with the House committee on revision of laws.
She said they are now waiting for the committee to schedule hearings to ask the sponsors and resource persons to explain the pros and cons of the proposed legislation.
House Speaker Sonny Belmonte on Wednesday said the divorce bill will be among the priority measures that will be tackled when Congress opens its 3rd regular session in late July.
Belmonte said he is supporting the enactment of a divorce law in the country.
Ilagan, in an interview with radio dzMM Thursday, said the country is ready for a divorce law.
PH only country without divorce
"We are ready and we are the only country left now. Two years ago, we still had Malta," she said.
"But when Malta had a referendum last year, na kahit iyung presidente nila was reluctant to grant divorce, noong makita niya iyung results ng kanilang referendum ay pumayag. Kaya ang Philippines na lang ang natitirang bansa na walang divorce," she said.
She said Italy, where the Vatican City is located, allows divorce. The Vatican, which is technically a sovereign city-state, does not allow divorce.
Current Philippine laws only allow annulment of marriage -- a long, expensive, and painful legal process for estranged couples who no longer want to live together as man and wife.
Not Vegas-style divorce
Ilagan said the conservatives in the Philippines should not compare the proposed legislation with lax laws on divorce in other countries such as the United States.
"May kaibahan, sa Amerika kaya tinatawag natin na divorce Las Vegas-style, puwedeng mag-asawa ngayon, tapos kapag hindi nila type, kahit mababaw lang ang dahilan, puwede na mag-divorce," she said.
"Sa atin naman, Pinoy style, mayroong mga kondisyon. Hindi madali na makuha rin iyung divorce. May mga kundisyon tayong inilagay sa isinusulong nating panukalang batas," she explained.
5 grounds for divorce
Ilagan's bill proposes 5 grounds for divorce.
Couples who want to avail of divorce will need to fulfill at least one of the conditions set forth in the bill, if it becomes law.
According to the measure, couples who may apply for divorce include those who have been separated in fact for 5 years or those already legally separated for 2 years.
"Number 3, is when the couple have the situation na nandoon iyung condition for legal separation such as marital infidelity, abandonment, one of the spouses has been convicted for more than 6 years, and domestic violence," she said. "Ito naman ang mga basis for legal separation. Kung nandiyan iyan, puwede nang mag-file din ng divorce."
Grounds for legal separation may also apply when these same grounds have already caused the irreparable breakdown of the marriage.
In addition, psychological incapacity, causing one's failure to comply with essential marital obligations, and irreconcilable differences causing the irreparable breakdown of the marriage, will also be recognized as grounds for divorce.
Ilagan said under the proposed law, it will be the courts that will determine if couples are qualified to apply for divorce.
"It has to be proven in court, kasi hindi naman just because you filed for a divorce, you automatically get it," she said. "Siyempre ang korte ang magwe-weigh."
Divorce less expensive
She said the proposed divorce process will not be as financially, emotionally, and legally taxing as annulment.
"Mas hindi mahal pero hindi siya murang-mura naman na this will become very, very easy that people will avail of," she said. "Kasi, mayroon pa ring effort, mayroon pa ring proseso na susndin to reconcile."
"There will still be some expenses to be incurred dahil magha-hire ka pa rin ng lawyer pero this will not be as difficult or expensive as annulment," she added.
Ilagan cited data from the Office of the Solicitor General that says in Metro Manila alone, around 800 cases are being filed in courts for legal separation and annulment every month.
"Majority of these (annulment petitioners) are women, and 92% are Catholic. Kailangan talaga, harapin na natin ang problemang ito," she said.
Support from lawmakers
Even as the head of the lower House is supporting the proposal, Ilagan said the Senate is also likely to throw its weight behind a divorce bill.
She cited the cases of 4 senators who either have annulled marriages or are undergoing the process.
They are Senators Francis Escudero, Pia Cayetano, Loren Legarda, and Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III.
Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, during the renewal of her wedding vows last year, also expressed support for divorce to be legalized in the Philippines.
"I think divorce should be available to people who become homicidal at the sight of each other. That's so much better than making each other miserable for the rest of their lives and impacting the lives of their children as well. I've always made known my views since I was RTC (Regional Trial Court) judge," she said.
"I am in favor of a divorce bill provided that grounds for divorce are very strict so that we will not encourage young people to rush into marriage and then rush out by divorce," Santiago said.
"I think the Senate is more open," Ilagan said. "They (senators) have revealed situations na they would be sympathetic to people who would like to have divorce."
"I'm sure marami din naman sa lower House na nakakaintindi. Itong bill na ito, inisip para tugunan ang pangangailangan ng atin mga kababayan," she added.
Source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
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