Did you Know?
The fiancé(e) K-1 nonimmigrant visa is for the foreign-citizen fiancé(e) of a United States (U.S.) citizen. The K-1 visa permits the foreign-citizen fiancé(e) to travel to the United States and marry his or her U.S. citizen sponsor within 90 days of arrival. The foreign-citizen will then apply for adjustment of status to a permanent resident (LPR) with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Because a fiancé(e) visa permits the holder to migrate to the U.S. and marry a U.S. citizen shortly after arrival in the United States, the fiancé(e) must meet some of the requirements of an immigrant visa. Eligible children of K-1 visa applicants receive K-2 visas.
Pediatric vehicular heatstroke (PVH) kills dozens of children every year in the United States. These tragic deaths are all preventable. Regardless of how quick you think the errand will be, do not leave your children alone in the car. A child should not die because someone misjudged how long the line would be in a store.
Under Georgia law, your child must wear a seat belt at all times when traveling in a motor vehicle, if he is between the ages of 8 and 18 years and is 4 feet 9 inches tall or more. A child younger than 8 or under 4 feet 9 inches tall must ride in the child car seat or booster seat that is appropriate for her size and age.
People are often confused about whether or not they are required to domesticate their foreign adoption, or “re-adopt” their internationally adopted child. Do you know what to do?
Here is a Simple Rule of Thumb:
- If your child was issued an IR-3 or IH-3 immigrant visa, you are not required under federal law to readopt your child, or “domesticate” your foreign adoption, here in the U.S.
- If your child entered the U.S. with an IR-4 or IH-4 visa, where the adoption was not completed overseas, re-adoption within the United States is required. This is common in cases where you were given a legal Guardianship (or custody) by the foreign country giving you permission to bring the child into the United States for the purpose of adoption. You will need to finalize your adoption as soon as possible in your home state upon your return to the United States. United States citizenship can then be applied for and obtained for your child.
But your analysis should not stop there. Even if you received a Final Decree of Adoption (and your child was issued an IR-3 or IH-3 visa) in the foreign country and are not required to domesticate your foreign adoption (re-adopt), there are important practical reasons to domesticate your foreign adoption in your home state.
- Domesticating your foreign adoption decree allows you to obtain a United States birth certificate (“Certificate of Foreign Birth”) for your child from your home state. This will allow you to obtain certified copies of your child’s birth certificate in the future should you ever need any (which definitely happens).
- Domesticating your foreign decree will allow you to legally change your child’s name.
- Domesticating your foreign decree also provides you with an American adoption decree should your foreign decree ever be lost, damaged, or called into question.
For more information on international adoption please call us anytime for a consultation.
Georgia law regarding separate property is extremely complex and somewhat unsettled. Just proving that an asset was the separate property of one party does not necessarily preclude it from later becoming marital property. Under certain circumstances, a property that once was separate in nature can become marital by the actions of the parties. For example, merely adding the other spouses name to a deed may cause a piece of real estate to lose its status as separate property and make it marital. Similarly, comingling separate property and marital property may have a similar effect.
Engagement and marriage are very joyous times, and although no one ever anticipates the premature end of their marriage or engagement, the reality is that not all marriages or engagements continue happily ever after. One common question that individuals have regarding family law is what happens to the engagement rings if the marriage or the engagement does go awry. Who gets to keep the ring: the man who likely purchased it, or the woman who it was given to? Many courts throughout the nation have considered this very question, and those courts have reached varying decisions. Despite the differences, one major theme is present, engagement rings are gifts. The only real question is whether the gift will be viewed as a completed gift or as a conditional gift by the court.
Georgia law recognizes that a spouses non-economic contribution to a marriage might be reflected in an equitable division of property, regardless of the actual legal ownership. In particular, separate property may be deemed (in whole or in part) marital property by the court upon divorce if the value of the property appreciated during the marriage and that appreciation was caused by the efforts of the other spouse. 
In Georgia, the Superior court does not have the authority to terminate a legal father’s parental rights and grant a biological father’s petition to legitimate a child as part of a divorce matter. Only the Juvenile Court has jurisdiction to terminate parental rights. The Superior Court has jurisdiction to terminate parental rights only as part of an adoption.