Tuesday, January 25, 2011

BARRISTERS BALL

DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE BARRISTER'S BALL ON SATURDAY!

NEW SELF SUPPORT RESERVE

The self-support reserve in the Child Support Worksheets has changed.

As you may know, the self-support reserve is calculated at 125% of the federal poverty level.

HHS published in the Federal Register last week the new 2011 HHS Poverty Guidelines, which say that the poverty level for this year is $10,890. Multiplied by 125% and divided by 12 months makes the new self-support reserve $1,134 per month (a whopping $6 increase!). I'

There have also been some changes to tax withholding--income tax withholding increased and FICA decreased.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Second Saturday

Second Saturday workshop: What Women Need to Know About Divorce

The workshop is co-presented by a lawyer, financial planner, mediator and counselor. Its purpose is to educate women in transition so they can make informed decisions about how they want to proceed. Participants will get general information about processes, legal requirements and how to interact effectively with professionals.

8:00 am - 8:30 am registration, 8:30 am program begins, 12:30 pm or 1:00 pm program will finish. February workshop: Saturday February 12, 2011.

Location: Heart Connections, 305 West 16th Street, Vancouver, WA 98660.

Contact person to RSVP: Lynne Smith (360) 213-1801.

Cost: $45. Scholarships are available for low-income participants.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

MOCK TRIAL

It’s that time of year again! Jennifer Snider and Teresa Foster are looking for attorneys who would like to volunteer to rate the teams at Mock Trial.

The tournament will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, February 23 and 24, 2011. The rounds will start at the following times:

Wednesday: 12:30pm 2:45pm 5:00pm
Thursday: 12:30pm 2:45pm 5:00pm

The trials are held at the Clark County Courthouse. Raters need to assemble for each round in the first floor jury assembly room. They should arrive a few minutes early to get room assignments and score sheets. The Bar Association will provide food. Each round lasts about 2 hours (some additional time may be needed to score the rounds or in the event we are running behind).

If you are interested in volunteering please contact Jennifer Snider,
jens@j-slaw.com or Teresa Foster, tfoster@mbavancouverlaw.com

Thanks for volunteering!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Future FLS Meetings

The Family Law Section has continued to have large turnouts at their monthly meetings!

On February 10 we will have Landon Poppleton, PhD speak about parenting coordinators. As some of you know, parenting coordinators are just starting to be used here and are quickly becoming a hot trend.

On March 10 we have Phil Margolin scheduled to speak about his interesting writing career, his system for writing a novel, and sources for some of his ideas.

On April 14 Joshua Foreman from King County will speak to the group about his specialty of the law and his theory for how to win a custody case.

The monthly meetings are every second Thursday of the month. We have social time from 11:30 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. and then a presentation from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. The meetings are typically held at Tommy O’s in downtown Vancouver and cost $13.00 for lunch. If you are a member of the CCBA and FLS the CLE credit costs $5.00. For nonmembers, the CLE credit costs $10.00.