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During the Thanksgiving weekend, many people travel to visit family members. In fact, according to AAA, an estimated 43.6 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home over the Thanksgiving period.

Whether this involves a short trip or long-distance travel from one state to another, the number of holiday travelers means more people on the road. Those celebrating the holiday and the four-day weekend are also likely to go out shopping or partying over the holidays, which also contributes to more drivers on the road.Unfortunately, an increase in traffic means a potential increase in the risk of accidents. Our Highland injury lawyers are concerned about the dangers presented by Thanksgiving holiday travel and urge all drivers to take extra care to be safe during the long weekend.

Risks of Accidents During Thanksgiving Holiday Travel
The National Safety Counsel (NSC) has released a comprehensive report called Thanksgiving Holiday Period Traffic Fatality Estimate, 2012. This report considered the increased risk of accidents from 6:00 PM Wednesday November 21, 2012 to 11:59 Sunday November 25, 2012. This 4.5 day period is defined by the NSC as the Thanksgiving weekend period.

According to the NSC:

  • The estimated number of non-fatal disabling injuries likely to result from car crashes during the holiday period is 48,300. However, this estimate is inexact and the data indicates that the number of non-fatal disabling injuries could range between 41,100 and 56,500.
  • When evaluating crash data from 2005 to 2010, the average number of deaths due to traffic accidents over the Thanksgiving weekend was 9.8 percent higher than the average number of traffic deaths during non-holiday weekend periods.
  • In 2010, 13.76 percent of the traffic deaths in the month of November took place during the Thanksgiving period.
  • From 2005 to 2010, 15.3 percent of traffic fatalities in November occurred over Thanksgiving.

While these statistics are determined without an objective method of measuring how much travel increases over Thanksgiving, they do suggest that there is an increase in the risk of a traffic crash occurring during the holiday weekend.

Protecting Yourself From Traffic Crash Injuries During Holiday Travel
Staying safe while traveling over the holidays should be a top priority. To minimize your risk of being involved in a crash, consider these tips:

  • Leave plenty of time to get to your destination so you can drive at a safe speed without worrying about being late. Don’t forget to take into account that you’re likely to encounter more traffic.
  • Avoid areas you suspect will be congested, such as shopping malls during Black Friday. Parking lot accidents represent a significant percentage of crashes over the Thanksgiving holiday.
  • Refrain from driving when you are tired, distracted or drunk. Drowsy driving, driving while on a cell phone or otherwise distracted, and driving while intoxicated can significantly increase the risk of an auto accident.

By keeping these tips in mind and following safe driving practices, you can hopefully stay safe over the holiday season.
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In an eastern Indiana community, outside of Fort Wayne, law enforcement officials have made a series of arrests for possession, manufacturing, sale and distribution of methamphetamine.Our Hammond divorce lawyers might not take particular note of that, but for the fact that one of the individuals arrested during a traffic stop had her two-year-old child in the vehicle. That child was subsequently taken into the custody of Indiana Child Protective Services, and then ultimately released to another family member.

Parents who have either been recently arrested or convicted of drug-related or other criminal charges may face a host of challenges when working to regain custody of their child. Custody isn’t always taken after an arrest, but it can be, particularly if it’s determined the child was at some risk or there is nowhere else for him or her to go while the parent is in custody. Child-endangering charges can also cause havoc with child-custody agreements.

Individuals grappling with this situation need a family law attorney who understands what is necessary to protect your parental rights.

As a general rule, courts are loathe to separate parents and children. It is generally not seen in the best interest of the child, even when the conditions of the home or the background of the parent is less than idea.

That said, the court, in acting in the best interests of the child, is going to look at the following:

  • The parents’ wishes;
  • The age and sex of the child;
  • The child’s relationship with his or her parents, siblings and extended family members;
  • The child’s adjustment to home, school and community;
  • Whether there is a history of domestic violence;
  • The parents’ mental, physical and emotional health;
  • The parents’ ability to financially care for their child.

No one aspect will necessarily decide a case definitively, but a drug arrest could certainly hurt your case. At the very least, it may take longer to prove to the court that you are, in fact, a fit parent, capable of providing a stable and loving environment for your child to thrive.

You may find that certain requirements you must meet in order to regain custody of your child may also be mandated by the criminal court judge. However, it often shows initiative and reflects favorably if you do it on your own without prompting. For example, if you enroll yourself in a drug treatment program that requires regular drug testing – before you are court-ordered to do so – it may show you are serious about getting clean and getting your kids back.

Likewise, the family court may at some point require you to get and keep a job in order to get your child back. But if you can do this before the court has to tell you to do it, it may improve your chances.

If you have another relative, such as a parent or grandparent, who is fighting you for custody of your child, it may make your battle more challenging. But again, the state courts recognize that the bond between a parent and child is important, and if it’s possible to maintain it while keeping the child safe, the court will strive to do this.

Still, you need an attorney on your side who will advocate for your best interests and those of your children, who need you.
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Texting and driving could cost you. We’re talking about your car insurance.

According to FOX Business, your insurance company is keeping an eye on states that enact texting and driving bans. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), you’re close to 25 times more likely to get into a car accident if you’re texting behind the wheel. Insurance companies are using this scare as a reason to increase premiums.Our Highland injury lawyers have talked about distracted driving a number of times. It’s no different from talking on a phone or texting behind the wheel — both are dangerous. In the state of Alabama, drivers are allowed to talk on their phone while driving, but they’re prohibited from text messaging behind the wheel. The problem with this is that it’s tough for law enforcement officers to determine if a driver was dialing a number to call (legal) or composing a text message (illegal).

To help find solutions to enforcement challenges, officials with the NHTSA recently sponsored a pilot program, dishing out more than $500,000, to push different enforcement efforts on this dangerous driving behavior in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

“While it is relatively easier for law enforcement to determine illegal handheld cell phone use by observing the position of the phone at the driver’s ear, the dangerous practice of texting while driving is often not as obvious,” said David Strickland, Administrator for the NHTSA.

Insurance companies are keeping an eye on what drivers are doing behind the wheel. While these companies aren’t typically first in line to help to compensate you after an accident, they sure are first in line to tack on extra charges for your coverage.

There are more than 3,000 people who are killed each year in an accident with a distracted driver. Unfortunately, officials believe that this number is actually much higher as drivers are not likely to admit when they were distracted during an accident.

Insurance companies already use traffic citations as evidence for hiking up a driver’s rates. Consider a drunk driving charge: Insurance companies are likely to double, even triple, your premium if you are convicted of an alcohol-related driving violation.

Point System in Indiana:

-Two-Point Violations: Exceeding the speed limit (less than 15 mph over the speed limit), not using your headlights and not having your turn signals or brake lights work properly.

-Four-Point Violations: Making illegal U-turns, making unsafe lane movements and exceeding the speed limit (between 16 and 25 mph over).

-Six-Point Violations: Speeding (over 26 mph over the speed limit), tailgating and neglecting to yield or stop.

-Eight-Point Violations: Speed contest on road, neglecting to yield to an emergency vehicle or driving on an extended driver’s license.

An at-fault driver’s record behind the wheel may also become an issue when seeking damages in a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit.
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More and more frequently, couples are choosing to live together, buy homes and have children without first getting married.Our Highland divorce lawyers know that while divorce cases tend to be fairly straightforward under state law, those who simply cohabit or have a domestic partnership tend to have a tougher time securing their rightful belonings. That’s because Indiana outlawed common law marriage back in 1958, and the state’s constitution expressly bars recognition of same-sex marriages.

There is the principal of per lex loci celebrationis, which essentially allows common law marriages recognized in other states to be recognized in Indiana, but Indiana residents themselves aren’t afforded this protection. (This is all addressed in IC 31-11-8-5 and IC 31-11-8-0.3, which states marriages are void unless they are accompanied by legal proceedings.)

That’s why these cases require an attorney with proven experience in this realm.

Our firm has handled countless cases for individuals who were not married, and yet shared property, debts or children.

This is what was at issue in Reed v. Parrish. Although this case was out of Alaska, and divorce laws can vary greatly from state-to-state, the same basic principles apply.

In this case, the couple had been in a relationship together for a dozen years and had three children together, yet never married. They resided in a home that was legally owned by the man. The pair separated and, pursuant to a domestic violence protection order, the woman remained in the home with the children while the man paid the mortgage.

The superior court in this case determined the pair were living in a domestic partnership, and had sought to acquire property as though they were married. It’s worth noting that the state of Indiana does not recognize such a union as valid.

The court then evenly distributed the property, but omitted the mortgage payments. The man appealed, arguing the court failed to properly credit him for his mortgage payments made after the pair had separated.

The superior court’s decision was recently affirmed by the state supreme court.

Because Indiana doesn’t have these kinds of protections in place for individuals who are not married, there are a few options couples might consider while they are still together to protect their asset later. One is a property agreement. This can be a legally binding contract that stipulates ownership or joint ownership at the time of purchase.

You also have the option of separation agreements. These are essentially contracts that are negotiated prior to separation that spell out how property and assets may be divided in the event of a split.

The bottom line is that if you don’t have a marriage license with the spouse from whom you’re separating, you’re going to need an experienced family law attorney in order to ensure your rights and property are protected.
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In just a few days, on November 4th, we’re going to get an extra hour of sleep. Unfortunately, with it will come an increased risk of traffic accidents through the remainder of the year.

Because our mornings are going to start later with the end of Daylight Savings Time, many of us are going to be making our evening commutes in the dark. It’s not just the drivers that are going to be affected. It’s also the evening pedestrians and bicyclists that are at serious risks, too.Our Highland personal injury attorneys understand that accidents during this time of the year are much more likely. The weather is deteriorating and November is also the deadliest month of the year for traffic crashes involving deer.

Risks of Deer Accidents:

-Indiana is ranked the 8th most dangerous state for these kinds of accidents.

-October, November and December are the most dangerous months.

-There are more than 1 million deer-car accidents every year.

-About 200 people are killed, 10,000 are injured and vehicle damage results in close to $1 billion annually.

-About 60 percent of the people who are killed in these accidents are not wearing a seat belt when the accident happens.

Most of the crashes resulting in serious or fatal injuries occur when the driver loses control of the vehicle and drives off the road or into oncoming traffic. Even when dealing with your own car insurance company, talking with an attorney can best help you protect your rights and can help you to gain the compensation that you deserve.

Your chance of hitting a deer in the next 12 months is 1 in 160, according to Wane.com. Another common problem we’re going to have to deal with out there are the risks associated with winter driving.

Winter Weather Safe Driving Tips, from the Indiana Department of Transportation:

-Check weather and traffic reports before heading out.

-Make sure your windshield is clear of snow and ice before starting.

-Be on the lookout for black ice. Be cautious when driving through intersections, bridges, off-ramps and shady areas. These are all hot spots for black ice.

-Leave early and allow yourself plenty of time to get where you need to be to avoid rushing.

-Keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel as visibility may be reduced because of weather conditions.

-Go slow, even if you have a vehicle that is 4-wheel drive. With more powerful vehicles, you may be able to take off faster, but you’re more than likely not able to slow down any faster.

-When you know you’re going to brake — brake early and brake slowly!

-Be cautious when traveling near snow plows. Allow them plenty of room when passing.
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Halloween is a holiday that our little ghosts and goblins look forward to all year long. It’s not only a time for our children to dress up in spooky costumes, but it’s also a time they get to carouse the neighborhood for sweet treats.

Unfortunately, Halloween can be a little tricky from a child-safety standpoint. Your child is more likely to be injured, and even killed, in a pedestrian accident during Halloween than during any other night of the year. To help to keep our kiddies safe, our Highland personal injury attorneys are here with some safe Halloween tips from the Indiana State Police.Keeping Costumes Safe:

-Make sure that costumes are short to prevent any trip and fall accidents.

-Try to use face makeup instead of a full face mask. A mask can obstruct your child’s line of sight. This makes it difficult to safely cross the street and tough to go up and down stairs safely.

-Make sure that children’s costumes are light colors. Try putting reflective tape on their costumes to help to make them more visible to drivers passing by.

While Trick-or-Treating:

-Make sure that older children trick-or-treat with friends. Never allow them to trick-or-treat alone. Always accompany young children and everyone should travel in a group.

-Make sure that everyone has a safe route. Never trick-or-treat in neighborhoods that are dark or have dangerous roads.

-Make sure children know to only approach homes that have outdoor lights on.

-Always walk on sidewalks and on driveways. You never want to cut across someone’s front yard.

-Try to start trick-or-treating early. Avoid trick-or-treating after the sun sets and when it gets dark. Motorists are less likely to see you when it’s dark out.

-Give all children flashlights so that they can see where they are going and so that drivers can see them better.

-If your community has designated trick-or-treating hours, make sure that you and your family follow them.

Handling the Goods:

-Make sure children know not to try out any of their candy before they get home or before a parent can look over it.

-Make sure that parents check out all of the candy in a well-lit place.

-Only consume candies that are unopened and are in their original wrappers. Toss out anything that is homemade, is in a different package or just look suspicious.

Drivers are asked to be extra careful when driving around town on Halloween night. Kids are going to be out in force. Make sure you travel below the speed limit to help to protect our young ones. Be ready for them. They don’t always understand the risks for injury that are associated with vehicular traffic. Be their saving grace and travel cautiously.

Remember that local schools, communities and churches even offer some safe alternatives to trick-or-treating. These kinds of programs are designed to keep kids off of the street and away from danger.
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National School Bus Safety Week will be taking place this year from October 22nd through the 26th, according to the National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT). This year’s theme is “I see the Driver. The Driver Sees Me.”According to the School Bus Information Clearinghouse, there is no safer way to get a student to and from school than a school bus. Still, we see far too many school bus accidents throughout the country every year. Currently, there are close to 9 billion trips that schools buses take to and from school each and every day. There are close to 500,000 of these buses that transport 25 million kids each and every day.

Our Highland injury attorneys understand that there were nearly 10 kids who were killed in school bus accidents in the country last year. That may not seem like a lot, but when you figure the number of kids who were injured in these accidents, the risk is significant. One of the most dangerous times during a child’s journey to and from school is getting to and from the bus stop. During this week-long safety campaign, parents, teachers and friends are asked to talk with their kids about the importance of getting to and from the bus stop safely. It’s important that we teach our kids how to be safe when getting on and getting off of the bus as well.

Kids are always urged to wear a helmet when riding a bike and to wear a seat belt when riding in your car, so you might be a little bit surprised to learn that there are no seat belts on school buses. Every time a bus accident makes it into the news, the controversy over these requirements, or lack thereof, is brought back to the forefront. The truth of the matter is that conventional school buses are already designed in a way that purports to meet a different federal safety standard, permitting the lack of lap belts.

It’s works under the theory of compartmentalization. We’re talking about the thickly-padded seats that are placed close together and the high backs that they have on them. What this design does is creates a compartment meant to protect passengers in a collision.

But it’s when these kids are walking to and from the bus stop and when they’re waiting for their bus to arrive that we worry the most. These kids are alarmingly close to passing traffic. Talk with your child about the following safety tips to make sure they get to and from their bus stop safely each and every day.

Bus Stop Safety Tips:

-Never allow kids under the age of 10 to walk to the bus alone.

-Always make sure older kids are walking to the bus in pairs or groups, never alone.

-Make sure kids never walk near traffic. Use a sidewalk when one is available.

-Never approach a bus before making eye contact with the driver.

-Look at the driver before crossing the road.

-Never cross the street behind the bus.

-Wait for the bus at least 5 giant steps away from the road.

-Always hold the handrail when getting on and off the bus.
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There has been a lot of buzz recently about the increasing use of so-called “divorce coaches” in Indiana and throughout the country.Our Highland divorce attorneys can most certainly understand the benefit of having someone to help you work through the emotional turmoil of a divorce, as well as help you organize and prepare your finances and other documents.

It must be noted, however, that most of these “coaches” are not lawyers, and a lawyer is the first person you need to meet with if you are thinking of filing for a divorce. This is because a divorce attorney will advise you on, legally, all the things you will need to consider. At the end of the day, divorce is a legal process, and you need to make sure your assets, child custody considerations and your other rights are protected.

Back in the 1990s, we began to see an increase of so-called “life coaches.” These are people who are not necessarily counselors, but they will advise you in areas of relationships and intimacy, hot to handle stress, planning your career, spiritual growth, healthy living, parenting, etc.

Divorce coaching, which didn’t really get a start until the early 2000s, is similar, except the focus is all geared toward the divorce process. In some cases, couples may even choose to work together with a divorce coach – though, again – you have to be careful with this because you don’t want to jeopardize yourself from a legal standpoint by working with your soon-to-be-ex outside the courtroom. Always consult with an attorney before you engage in such sessions.

In some cases, divorce coaches will offer “pre-legal advice.” Generally, this is advertised as a way to help people get organized before a divorce. They help you round up legal documents, tax papers, bank statements, etc. before you see a lawyer. This sounds like a good idea on the surface, but you have to be careful here for two reasons:

1. Your “coach,” not being entirely familiar with the intricate aspects of family law, as spelled out in the Indiana Code, may not know exactly what you need or what someone in your exact circumstances will face. This is what your attorney is for.

2. You don’t want to have to pay twice for the same thing. You know you are going to have to consult with a divorce attorney at some point anyway. Your attorney can be the one to tell you what documents are necessary, and which may be expendable.

The other service these individuals offer is sometimes referred to as “hand-holding.” This might actually be one positive service. We know that some amount of venting is normal. But we realize you may not want to pay an attorney for his or her time to listen, and friends and family may be either biased or can’t be the emotional rock you need right now. In these cases, having a neutral third party may be beneficial.

However, you should understand that these are not individuals who necessarily have a degree or certification in therapy or counseling. Their advice is not going to be made on the basis of any medical knowledge and they won’t be able to diagnose or treat you if you do fall into a depression or suffer other health-related issues. Those kind of issues are specifically for a therapist or counselor or your physician, and again, it comes down to whether you want to ultimately end up paying two people for the same service.

And finally, divorce coaches advertise helping you get organized. But again, your Indiana divorce attorney can usually better tell you what it is your going to need to be adequately prepared for your case.

The bottom line is that relying entirely on a “divorce coach” to help you get started may end up costing you more in the long-run.
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There were more than 5,180 reports filed for inadequate nursing home care in the state of Indiana in just the last year!

Sound high? That’s because it absolutely is!

Recent stats with Medicare.gov conclude that the state of Indiana had some of the worst offenders for serious healthcare deficiencies against senior citizens in the nation.

According to ABC 57’s look into South Bend nursing homes, there were dozens of pages of offenses that were noted at the Cardinal Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. In Milton Homes, just right down the road, one of the home’s patients was sexually abused. And a complaint at the same facility alleged a patient didn’t get her meds for more than 10 days. Reporters tried to contact the homes to get their excuses for the inexcusable mishaps, but the homes’ staff was “gone for the day.”Our Highland nursing home abuse attorneys understand that the reports of neglect and abuse in homes across the country have been on the rise in recent years. Homes are trying to take care of more and more patients and aren’t increasing the size of their staff. Not only are they working with a skeleton staff, but many times these staff members aren’t properly trained or are otherwise under-qualified. The state of Indiana comes in 37th in terms of the average quality of care in nursing homes.

Here’s how it all breaks down:

-There are close to 510 nursing homes in the state of Indiana that are certified for Medicaid and Medicare care.

-There are less than 49,320 available beds in these nursing homes.

-At any given moment in time, about 80 percent of these beds are occupied. While this number fluctuates, it doesn’t move by much.

-Only about 15 percent of these homes carry a 5-star rating.

-About a quarter of these homes have a 4-star rating.

-About 20 percent of them come with a 3-star rating.

-Another 20 percent are only ranked with 2 stars.

-Close to 15 percent only have a 1-star rating.

-Believe it or not, 2 percent of our state’s homes have a 0-star rating!

-About 57 percent of Indiana’s nursing homes are owned by not-for-profit organizations.

-Only 2 percent of our state’s nursing homes are operated within a hospital. Most of them (more than 85 percent) don’t offer continuing care.

Before choosing a nursing home for your elderly loved one, we urge you to visit the Indiana Government website. Here you will be able to thumb through Report Cards for all of the nursing homes in the state. This is a system that was created by the Indiana State Department of Health in partnership with the Indiana Association of Homes and Services for the Aging as well as the Indiana Health Care Association.

These report cards are updated every 14 days. Families are urged to check out these report cards and to visit each nursing home in question before making a final decision. Consider cost, consider location, consider staffing and consider these report cards when choosing a home for your elderly loved one.
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In an effort to streamline the way Indiana courts handle contentious child custody cases, the Indiana Supreme Court will convene next month to decide whether to adopt a 33-page set of new guidelines prepared by the Indiana Judicial Conference.The panel, comprised of state trial court judges, was charged with hammering out a plan that would help reduce conflict in the most bitter of child custody battles.

Our Hammond child custody attorneys know that most parents have the best interests of their child at heart – and that’s what the court’s goal is as well. In the majority of cases, parents who may be slightly more amicable will probably be given a plan under Indiana’s “Parenting Time Guidelines.” These are basic principals of the court that hold it’s usually best for the child to have frequent and meaningful contact with each parent.

Under Parenting Time Guidelines, parents are expected to keep civil contact with one another, keep one another apprised of their contact information and should communicate directly with one another – not through the child. Additionally, each parent is allowed to have private communications with the child, and be given reasonable access to the child by telephone at all times. These rules also outline how the courts can break down who transports the child to and from visits, how much time each parent gets with the child and when, how to handle school activities, school records, medical records and decisions regarding holidays.

Failure to comply with the agreement as laid forth can result in a parent being held in contempt of court and potentially facing criminal penalties under Indiana Code 35-42-3-4, kidnapping.

Of course, it rarely comes to that, and most parents work out a plan that generally fits their lives, even if it must occasionally be revisited.

However, there are the cases where parents can’t seem to agree on anything. These would be in cases in which there is:

  • A pattern of ongoing litigation;
  • Chronic distrust and anger;
  • An inability to communicate civilly about the child;
  • An inability to cooperate in the care of the child;
  • Other behaviors that place the child’s well-being at risk.

In these cases, the panel determined, the court may adopt what is called a parallel parenting plan, as opposed to the regular Indiana Parenting Time.

The guidelines are too numerous to name each individually, but they generally involve a focus on allowing each parent to do their job as parents without interference from the other during the time the child is with them. The court would call this being “on-duty.”

The “on-duty” parent would have a say over the day-to-day decisions and control of the child. This also means that neither parent is allowed to schedule activities for the child during the time the other parent is on-duty, without some kind of prior approval from the on-duty parent.

Just like in Parenting Time, the child is not to share any of the responsibilities for communication or decision-making.

It also spells out exactly how holidays are to play out. For example, on Thanksgiving, a child will spend from two hours after school that Wednesday until that Sunday at 7 p.m. with the father on odd-numbered years, and conversely with the mother on even-numbered years. Additionally, Martin Luther King’s Day and President’s Day are added to the list of holidays that are included.

These enhanced guidelines may help some parents who can’t seem to reach agreements otherwise, but you will still need an experienced child custody lawyer in your corner.

If the Indiana Supreme Court adopts the parallel parenting guidelines, they will go into effect early next year.
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