With Your Family in Mind

Instead of going to trial with the judge and jury for your personal injury case (or other lawsuit), there are two other methods that may be beneficial.
The first method is “binding arbitration.”  Each party agrees to an arbitrator and presents their case in a more informal manner versus a formal trial (which is governed by many evidentiary rules and procedures).  The rules of arbitration are often more relaxed.

When money is tight and your family has needs, you can be pushed to do things you normally wouldn’t consider.  Or maybe you acted on a crazy impulse.  After the fact, it is easy to recognize what happened was wrong.  Theft and shoplifting crimes are among the most commonly prosecuted crimes in California.  Unfortunately, without an experienced attorney working for you, the judge may not listen to your side of the story.

It’s “Date Night” Friday…
The one night a week when you and your spouse spend time together… talk about the week… have a nice leisurely dinner… just the two of you.
You’ve lined up a babysitter…
You left a list of contact numbers on the refrigerator door…
You’ve got everything taken care of…

Every child deserves to have a safe, loving and permanent home.  Children’s Bureau needs foster parents who will care specifically for infants and toddlers during the reunification process with their parents.  There are also 114,000 children currently in foster care who are unable to return to their families of origin.

The New Year brings the spirit of change into our lives.  But whether it’s a New Year’s resolution or any other time of year, the changes we want to make too often revert back to old behaviors leaving us frustrated.  We don’t want to make changes for a few weeks or even months, we strive and hope for changes that will be lifelong. 

Winter months can be particularly harsh for seniors, especially for those who live in northern states where temperatures are coldest.  It is important that the ones you love stay safe during the winter season.  Their safety includes not just dressing appropriately for the weather but also making sure their homes are in good shape to face the dangerous drops in temperature.

I work with a lot of kids and families.  Parents are worried when they see their kids “partying” and afraid this behavior will lead to worse things.  While it’s true that many kids will grow out of it with only a few losses, others may experiment until they try something they truly like and then get hooked in.  This is the event I work so hard at preventing. 

A reader of The Magazine of Santa Clarita asked about the skills necessary for audiobook narration.  In the past few months I’ve explained seven of ten different skills needed.  Here’s her question again, with the last three explained.
Q:  I’m a professional commercial voice actor, but I’d love to get into narrating audiobooks, and don’t know what specialized skills it takes to do it professionally.  Are there any guidelines I should know about before attempting to jump into this arena?  Thanks in advance for your info.  –Selina H., Westlake Village, CA

Every day, we get questions about estate planning.  Here are some frequent ones:
1. What’s the difference between an executor and a trustee?
Both are personal representatives.  An executor is to a will what a trustee is to a trust.  The executor, who is nominated in a will and approved by the Probate Court, administers the assets of a decedent, under Court supervision.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a pioneer in the hospice movement, first described the stages of recovering from a major trauma such as death or divorce:
• Denial: “This is not happening to me.  It’s all a misunderstanding.  It’s just a midlife crisis.  We can work it out.”
• Anger and resentment: “How can he [she] do this to me?  What did I ever do to deserve this?  This is not fair!”

Good Listening Skills Build Strong Family Relationships. Reflecting way back to first-grade, I can still recall Mr. Dagget continuously exhorting the “two ears, one mouth” principle: “We have two ears… and only one mouth because listening is twice as important as talking.”
Turns out, just like what Mr. Dagget said, his subtle advice about communicating was, and still is, indispensable.

The Southern California Chapter of the American Public Works Association (APWA) has honored the City of Santa Clarita with two “Project of the Year” awards, which will presented at the 12th annual Building Excellence Shaping Tomorrow (BEST) Awards ceremony on December 7, 2011.  

Do you want to make healthy changes this year?  You are your habits, so your success is based on changing habits.
We are creatures of habit, and one reason is because our brains are efficient.
When doing routine tasks your brain doesn’t have to analyze every small step.  It is estimated that out of every 11,000 signals we receive from our senses, our brain only consciously processes 40.  Ever been driving someplace and you inadvertently started driving to work?  Habit!

While it is the season to eat, drink, and be merry, many people get caught up in the holiday season and get behind the wheel after having too much to drink.  While the safest bet is to always drive sober, if you do get stopped for DUI, remember these seven things:
1. Cooperate!  Cooperation means being polite.  Your attitude, appearance, and words all become part of the officer’s report.  Your temperament indicates your level of intoxication.  This is not the time to crack jokes, cry, apologize, or confess.

“A fool despises good counsel, but a wise man takes it to heart.” – Confucius
Divorce mediation is fast becoming the favorite choice for couples seeking divorce.  It offers a lower cost, faster process, without leaving the decision to a third-party judge.  Mediators are the facilitators that are committed to a neutral position between the parties.  Mediators avoid language such as “you should” and “you must.”  Only the couple in mediation has power to reach an agreement.

Are you frustrated when your son or daughter doesn’t listen to you?  Do you have the same argument over and over?  If you answered “yes,” you are not alone.  Communication problems are one of the main reasons that parents, families, and couples seek counseling.  If you can identify your communication style in this article you can begin to talk to your teen or spouse in a way that they will listen to you and they can change their behavior.

Residents participating in the City of Santa Clarita’s ongoing customer survey continue to rate services provided to the community by City staff as superior.  Residents who utilize the City’s on-line service request system, recently re-branded as, “Since You Asked,” are invited to fill out a survey once their service request has been completed.  Specifically, residents have the option to rate response time, employee effectiveness, and their overall satisfaction with the service.  Survey results compiled during the past year reveal services provided by City staff either met or exceeded expectations for 85 percent of the total respondents.  

A recent case here in California will have wide spread application and could create a nightmare for those who have less than perfect record keeping habits.  In Re: Marriage of Margulis, stated a new rule in answering the following question in the affirmative.  “In a marital dissolution proceeding to divide the community property, where the non-managing spouse has prima facie evidence that community assets of a certain value have disappeared while in the control of the managing spouse post-separation, should the managing spouse have the burden of proof to account for the missing assets?”