By Vivian L. Holley, JD, MA, CFLS, MFT Most of us never think about filing a joint tax return as a “right” when we are married. We just do it, especially if we think we can save money filing jointly which is usually the case for a married couple. Sometimes married couples file separately, especially Read More
Family Law Blog
A New Civil Right Almost: The Right to Marry
By Vivian L. Holley, JD, MA, CFLS, MFT On Wednesday, June 26, 2013 the United States Supreme Court announced a pair of decisions which will eventually impact possibly as much as 10% of our population, including hundreds of thousands of children. For now the decisions help same-sex couples who are already married, and also thousands Read More
What Happens if you are a Same-Sex Married Couple in a State that does not Recognize your Marriage?
By Vivian L. Holley, JD, MA, CFLS, MFT The United States Supreme Court stopped short of recognizing a right to marry for same-sex couples in its two decisions of June 26, 2013. While striking down the part of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that did not provide over a 1,000 benefits to validly married Read More
40 + Types of Parents Making up Today’s Modern Families
By Vivian L. Holley, JD, MA, CFLS, MFT For many years I have been interested in all the variations of parents we can have, and I started writing and speaking about this in the early 1990’s. Below is an outline of the “40+ Different Types of Parents Making up Today’s Family” written in 2000 by Read More
Can a Child Have More Than Two Parents?
By Vivian L. Holley, JD, MA, CFLS, MFT Recently I was catching up with my long time friend and private investigator, Wendy, who proudly informed me that all four of her daughter’s mothers endorsed the decision to send their daughter to Tulane. Yes, four mothers! What may seem unusual to many people was perfectly natural Read More
Tax Benefits Possible for Divorcing Same Sex Couples
Tax Benefit for Divorcing Same-Sex Married Couples if Defense of Marriage Act Found Invalid – Part II By Vivian L. Holley, JD, MA, CFLS, MFT and Rebecca Lovell On December 7, 2012, the Supreme Court of the United States decided to hear two cases challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California laws Read More