Reprise: 8.05’s Worth Their Weight in Gold
July 17, 2014 § 2 Comments
Judge Fair of the COA called 8.05’s the “gold standard” of financial proof in chancery court. Yet, quite often what we are given is either fool’s gold or pure lead.
Stop fiddling around and get serious about your client’s financial statements.
Here’s just about everything I can offer to help …
FIVE MORE TIPS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE RULE 8.05 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
March 14, 2011 § 6 Comments
I posted here ten tips for more effective financial statements.
Here are a handful more to use in your quest for financial statement perfection:
- Number the pages. It saves the fumbling around as the witness and the court are trying to orient themselves to your questioning. And use the page numbers in questioning the witness: “Ms. Smith, look with me at page 3, line 6.” That’s a lot clearer and easier for a witness to follow than asking “Now you say you spend $200 a month on clothes for yourself; how did you come up with that?”
- Add or delete categories to meet your needs. Your client spends $65 a month buying yarn and other materials to feed her knitting habit. Why not replace an unused catergory like “Transportation (other than automobile)” with “Hobby Expenses.” It would be a whole lot clearer than lumping it in with household expenses or something else, and will make it easier for your nervous client to understand while testifying.
- Don’t list a deduction as “mandatory” when it is not. Deductions required by law, such as taxes and social security are excluded from adjusted gross income for calculation of child support. Voluntary contributions, such as 401(k) deductions, health insurance premiums, and the like are not excluded from income. When you list voluntary deductions as “mandatory,” you are at worst planting false information in the record, and at best confusing the record. Your client does not know the distinction. This is part of practicing law: advising your client how to properly fill out his or her 8.05.
- Attach a current pay stub. Pay stubs are a marvelous source of information. Quite often clients (and attorneys, I am sad to report) miscalculate income. A current pay stub, preferably with year-to-date (YTD) info is a great tool to check the income figures. Pay stubs also show the true amounts of overtime, bonuses, deductions for insurance and other items, andd retirement contributions.
- Tailor your 8.05 to the case you are trying. In a divorce case, you can have one column of figures showing your client’s current expenses, one showing the household expenses before the separation (to show standard of living), and a third column showing her anticipated expenses following the divorce. In a modification case, add a column on both the income and expense side showing what your client’s income and expenses were at the time of the judgment you are seeking to modify.
Of all the documents you admit into evidence at trial, the 8.05 is the one that the judge will study the closest and spend the most time poring over. Make it a workhorse for your case.
R.I.P. Henry Palmer
July 16, 2014 § 2 Comments
Of Meridian.
A great lawyer, jurist, and dear, dear friend for whom I had the greatest trust and respect. A major loss. God bless Jan, Hap, Gil, and David.
Chukfi Ahila Bok
July 11, 2014 § Leave a comment
Chukfi Ahila Bok, Choctaw for Dancing Rabbit Creek, was the subject of the “Scene in Mississippi” earlier today. I actually thought someone would guess it right away, since Dancing Rabbit Creek is arguably the most famous creek in Mississippi.
The photos show the National Historical Landmark site of the Choctaw gathering place where the infamous Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was imposed on the Choctaw people in 1830. The site, in SW Noxubee County, is on the US National Register of Historic places, and has been designated a Mississippi landmark. It is now used primarily as a cemetery. The bottom photo should have been a clue, since it shows Choctaw stickball implements on the tombstone.
Under the treaty, the Choctaws agreed to give up their remaining fertile lands in Mississippi and Alabama in return for scrub lands in Oklahoma. Any Choctaws who chose to remain were granted citizenship, the first Native Americans granted that privilege.
This monument is at the site.
The site is not easy to find. You will need a good map or GPS. There’s no cell phone service, so the Google Maps app on your cell phone will not get you there. Also, after several miles of paved roads, you’ll find yourself on dirt roads, some of which pass through bottoms that look like they would wash out in a hard rain, so you might prefer to get there in a truck or SUV.
Family Law CLE
June 27, 2014 § Leave a comment
As I’ve said before, I’m not in the business of promoting anybody’s products or services. I am, however, in the business of trying my best to improve chancery practice in Mississippi.
One of the best ways to improve your family law practice is to attend Professor Debbie Bell’s CLE seminar every year. I do, without fail, and I find it to be the most instructive, useful seminar on Mississippi family law that you can attend. The program focuses on key family law cases over the past year, with emphasis on how they impact your practice. I guarantee that you will come away with a set of case material that you will use through the year in your practice, as well as several ideas that will help you with cases you are handling right now.
For more info, or to register, go to www.msfamilylaw.com.
This year’s dates and locations:
Friday, July 18, 2014, at Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in Jackson.
Friday, July 25, 2014, at Oxford Conference Center in Oxford.
Friday, August 1, 2014, at Imperial Palace in Biloxi.
The Better Chancery Practice Blog 