Disclaimer (sticky post)

Disclaimer

 

This blog is written and published by Jan M. McCray Flemmons for educational purposes only, i.e. to give information and a general understanding of Florida family law, not to provide specific legal advice.  The information provided by this blawg should not be used as a substitute for legal advice from a licensed attorney in your state.  Jan M. McCray Flemmons is licensed to practice law in the State of Florida only.

 

Your use of this blawg does not establish an attorney-client relationship between you and Jan M. McCray Flemmons. Such an attorney-client relationship can only be established by execution of a contract for legal services between Jan M. McCray Flemmons, P.L., and a prospective client.

 

Some material contained in this blawg is general in nature and may not reflect the current laws of the State of Florida. The author of this blawg does not necessarily support the views expressed in all articles contained herein and cannot guarantee their accuracy.

 

The inclusion of material from identified sources is for educational purposes only and is not intended to infringe on the copyrights of the identified sources.

Easy Estate Planning for Young Professionals

Join us on Thursday, June 24, 2010, at 6:30 p.m. Jan M. McCray Flemmons, Esquire, will present an overview of the estate planning process by educating attendees about the importance of wills, trusts, living wills, health care directives, and other documents to young professionals. You’ve worked hard to get where you are today. Don’t lose it all because you failed to plan for life’s inevitable ups and downs. Attendees are invited to ask relevant questions during a Q&A session after the presentation.

Graciously co-hosted by Laura Lott Harris and Lott’s Furniture! As a bonus, get a sneak peak at their upcoming Saturday Sale on June 29, 2010! Lott’s Furniture is located at 1112 S. 14th Street, Fernandina Beach (904) 261-6333.

Networking begins at 6:30 p.m. Jan will begin her overview around 7 p.m. Afterwards, stick around for more socializing and networking, so bring plenty of business cards! Complimentary adult beverages and light snacks will be provided.

On behalf of the Young Professionals Council of Nassau County www.ypcnassau.com!
YPC events are open to anyone between the ages of 21-40, living or working in Nassau County.

Nominated for Chamber’s 2009 Biz Leader of the Year

Pleased to announce that I’ve been nominated to receive the Amelia Island Fernandina Beach Yulee Chamber of Commerce’s 2009 Business Leader of the Year award.  The award is given in recognition of exceptional leadership in our community.  The award winners will be announced on April 15, 2010, at Business After Hours at the Hampton Inn & Suites Amelia Island Historic Harbor Front Hotel (that’s a mouthful–makes me less self-conscious about my lengthy name!).

Jan weighs in on social media and divorce in recent Naples Daily News article!

Jan was recently interview by Aisling Swift, a journalist for the Naples Daily News.  Aisling was covering a case wherein arguably explicit social media postings were introduced in a child custody case.  Read her full article, Accusations of Inappropriate Pictures Show How the Internet is Changing Divorces.

Getting married or know someone who is?

See me at the Wedding Expo @ Amelia Island Golf Club Sun 1/10 1-4 pm! Prizes and goodies galore!

Avoiding Conflicts Between Your Advance Healthcare Directive and Organ Donation Directive

            If you have or are thinking about obtaining an advanced healthcare directive, an organ donation directive, or both, this information is vital!  An advanced healthcare directive indicates which specific treatments are not desired at the end of your life—whether it be CPR, ventilators, or other life sustaining equipment.  People often think of an advance directive as an indication of when to “pull the plug.”  An organ donation directive indicates your desires about the donation of your organs and/or tissues upon your death.  Individuals may become organ donors in the State of Florida by 1) legally executing a Uniform Donor Card, 2) adding “organ donor” to your driver’s license, 3) legally executing a living will, or 4) obtaining an advance healthcare directive.

             A conflict between your advance healthcare directive and your organ donation directive may occur when you are, for all intents and purposes, dead (i.e. cardiac death or brain dead), but your body still functions so that your organs could be donated.  If you have experienced cardiac death or brain death, your organs are still functioning and may be donated.  However, if you have executed an advance healthcare directive, life sustaining procedures will cease upon your death, and organ death will soon follow.  Because of relatively quick organ death, the time to harvest your organs into a new recipient is extremely (if not impossibly) small.  Therefore, your advance healthcare directive essentially cancels out your organ donation directive because it has become impossible to keep the organs healthy long enough to place them in a recipient.

 To avoid this conflict, contact my office at 904-321-0987 so we can draft your documents to preserve and prioritize your end of life wishes.

Downfalls of Social Networking

Everyone has heard about the benefits of social networking: connecting with old friends, keeping in touch with current friends, making new friends, searching for a new job, meeting new business prospects, meeting new friends who share a mutual interest, promoting yourself or your business, promoting a charity event, etc.

Popular tools for social networking are Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, WordPress, and LinkedIn. Users of social networking services can often post messages, articles, photos, and videos. And post they are! As a society, we are living our lives out online, by blogging, and posting messages, photos, and video about the events in our daily lives. These social networking tools have become a digital diary—a diary in which we invite, and indeed encourage, the world to view.

While most of the information shared is innocent, some of the information users post can come back to haunt them, depending on who is viewing the users’ content. Generally, anyone with an internet connection can view the information users post. Viewers include individuals you may not have thought about when you posted those pictures of your latest and greatest adventure: future employers, current employers, criminals, parents, loved ones, friends, and attorneys! Today, we will discuss employers, criminals, and attorneys.

Current and Future Employers
One would be naive to believe that employers, both current and future, do not “google” employees. Employers want to know as much as they can about their employees, particularly a potential new employee. When an employer googles your name, the information you have posted on a social networking site is often displayed in the search results. Your employer will see your blog, messages, friends, and photos. Depending on the content of your site, employers can and will dismiss you from employment, or refuse to hire you. Again, depending on your industry, location, and site content, some employers may contact competitors and notify them about your site. The potential damage to your career could be permanent and unending. (Take a minute to google yourself and see what you find!)

Criminals
Criminals of all types troll the internet daily looking for their next victim. Of particular note are the pedophiles and pimps who are baiting their next money maker. Pedophiles and pimps frequently prey on teens who are insecure or lonely and lure them to a meeting wherein the teen may be used for sex or even sold into the sex slave trade. Other criminals scour social networking sites to steal your identity, by using the information you (or your friends) have posted about yourself.

Attorneys
Attorneys, particularly criminal and family law practitioners search the social networking sites. Attorneys may search their own client’s profiles or the profiles of the opposing party. The reason for this is two-fold. First, clients are not always completely honest about the information they are posting about themselves. Second, the information opposing parties post may be damaging to their side of the case. For example, say an individual posts a picture of him/herself giving a small child alcohol. This could be admissible in both criminal and family law cases. The State Attorney will use the information to build a criminal case against the individual and charge the individual with the applicable crimes. A family law attorney may use the same photo to deny the individual visitation or custody of the minor child. A photo with this type of content can be fatal to your case, and an attorney would like to know about them sooner rather than later.

With the above in mind, be aware of what you are posting online and what your friends are posting online about you. If in doubt, leave it out!

Same Sex Marriage in New Hampshire and Maine

This week, the legislatures of both Maine and New Hampshire have approved same-sex marriage bills.  The governor of Maine immediately signed the same sex marriage bill into law.  New Hampshire’s governor has not yet signed the same-sex marriage bill, and has indicated in the past that because New Hampshire recognizes civil unions, a same-sex marriage law is not necessary. 

Source:  http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/06/maine.same.sex.marriage/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Florida holding $28 million in child support payments, is it yours?

Florida’s Department of Revenue is currently sitting on $28 million of paid child support.  The Department of Revenue said the funds have not been distributed because of incorrect information, addresses, etc.  If you are supposed to be receiving child support, but have not received the payments, check with the Department of Revenue to see if they have your money, but are unable to locate you.

Read the full story from the Orlando Sentinel here.

Domestic Violence Prevention Training for Florida’s Law Enforcement Officers

Florida State University’s Institute for Family Violence Studies and Florida’s criminal justice community teamed up to create a training program to reduce the number of officer involved domestic violence incidents.  The course, “Officer-Involved Domestic Violence: A Prevention Curriculum,” is available online at no cost to the officers.  The course, the first of its kind in the United States, can be used as part of their mandatory educational hours to maintain their certification. 

For the complete article, click here.

On a more personal note, as a prior domestic violence victim advocate, I worked on cases wherein the abuser was a law enforcement officer.  Domestic violence cases in particular are problematic for the officers because individuals who have been charged with a domestic violence offense must usually turn over any weapons (including firearms) in their possession.  Obviously, this can be problematic for law enforcement officers (who were usually given a desk job until the case was disposed of).  In my experience, victims of law enforcement abusers were much less likely to partcipate in the prosecution of these charges because the lack of a firearm affected their abusers job or livelihood.  In short, this course which focuses on prevention instead of reaction appears to be a very good way to eliminate this issue before it becomes an issue.

Pimps use social networking sites to recruit minors for prostitution

In the same vein as the sexting article in this bLAWg, pimps are using the social networking sites to befriend and lure minor females into prostitution.  These young women are then rented out on craig’s list or other similar sites.  The girls are also relocated across the country as necessary, beaten and abused in order to force their compliance with their new lifestyle.

For more, click here.