Mothers and fathers have equal rights to custody in South Carolina There is a perceived bias in South Carolina that family law judges are more likely to award custody to a mother than a father in a divorce case. However, South Carolina law holds that judges must decide custody in the best interests of the child, not whether the parent is the mother or father. While mothers were preferred in the past, South Carolina has repealed the "Tender Years Doctrine," the traditional law that granted preference for custody to mothers of young children. The only exception ...

Preparing for an IRS income tax audit When a business owner gets a notice of an IRS audit, a bit of fear is sparked even if his or her records are spotless and well organized. An audit may be time consuming and is always a bit stressful -- and it is just one more thing for an already overscheduled business owner to put on the "to do" list. Small business owners, especially those with high incomes, seem to be the most common target for an IRS Audit according to a report from Transaction Records Access Clearinghouse. What to expect from an audit When the ...

Costs and benefits of personal bankruptcy Many people who are struggling financially wonder if filing for personal bankruptcy is a good solution for them. Whether bankruptcy is right for a person will depend on a number of factors that are unique to each person's situation. Filing bankruptcy can offer several advantages, but it also may have some costs. Advantages of personal bankruptcy The main advantage of bankruptcy is that it offers individuals a chance to start over financially. Most people who file for bankruptcy will be able to get most types of debt completely ...

Foreclosures in Alabama increasing The Alabama foreclosure rate jumped in 2012. According to RealtyTrac, between the months of November 2011 and November 2012 foreclosures in the state reached 2,194 -- a 22 percent increase. The foreclosure filing rate in Alabama in November 2012 was one in 990 homes. Although Alabama still has the 18th lowest foreclosure rate in the country, this uptick indicates that residents need to know what they can do to protect themselves. More people are buying foreclosed homes Foreclosed properties are often sold at a hefty discount; ...

US Supreme Court hears DUI warrantless blood draw case As Americans, we enjoy certain rights spelled out in the United States Constitution. At times, questions regarding how to interpret certain provisions in the Constitution require input from the judiciary. Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case involving our Fourth Amendment rights. The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides that, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be ...

How the IRS handles collections Tax time is right around the corner, and many people are concerned because they are not able to pay the IRS what they owe. Although ideally it is best to pay your taxes right away, there are options if you are unable to tackle your entire tax bill in one payment. In many cases, you may be able to qualify for an installment agreement. You can make a request with the IRS to make monthly payments on your tax balance by filling out the Installment Agreement Request (Form 9465), which you can find on http://www.irs.gov. Another option ...

Child custody in Maryland Parents dealing with child custody issues may have a stressful time ahead of them. These issues are often emotional and the laws may be confusing. Maryland laws govern child custody and have been enacted with the goal of serving the best interest of the child. What is at stake for the child? Maryland uses the best interests standard when making child custody determinations. The court looks at the best interest factors anytime a child custody decision is made, while also taking into consideration whether any agreements have been made and ...

Atlanta PD accused of using unconstitutional arrest quotas Both the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Georgia establish strong protections against unreasonable searches and arrests by law enforcement. However, for all of the rights these documents endow, they cannot prevent individual officers -- or even entire police departments -- from intentionally disregarding their rules. Unfortunately, over the last several years, many Atlanta residents have been forced to learn this lesson the hard way. In January 2013, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...

Child custody and visitation options in Massachusetts When couples with children divorce or break up, one of the most pressing questions on everyone's mind is often where the children will live and how their relationships with their parents will be affected. In some cases, parents are able to resolve these questions outside of court and come up with a schedule and parenting plan that meets the needs of everyone involved. However, when parents do not agree on matters of child custody and visitation, they must go to family court and have the disagreement settled by ...

Indictment of Cowboys' Josh Brent shows stiff DUI penalties The Cowboys' season may be over, but the woes continue for Josh Brent, the Cowboys nose tackle who suffered tragedy in December when he overturned the vehicle he and his close friend and teammate Jerry Brown were in. Brown suffered head and neck trauma from the crash and died. Brent has since been indicted on intoxication manslaughter charges. Toxicology reports revealed that Brent had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.16, which is twice the legal limit in Texas. In a sad twist, a recent autopsy report revealed ...

A few tips to help protect your business from a lawsuit Business owners want to spend their time building their business, not defending themselves from lawsuits. While a business owner's time is often stretched thin, some legal preparation can go a long way to prevent a business from getting involved in legal quagmires further down the road. Many large businesses conduct annual legal audits to determine unknown legal issues and small businesses should spend some time doing the same. Two of the most common areas of risk for small businesses are employment and intellectual ...

EBI Consultancy, a successful provider of high quality commercial, management and supply chain consulting services in Asia, shares their expertise in the use of high-technology supply chain tools and what businesses could do to cope up with these trends, in a blog post released on January 18, 2013. They have listed down three (3) important tools for improving the reliability of the supply chain by increasing the visibility of goods scattered across the network through a better flow of information and using technology to improve the supply chain process. EBI stated ...

Reichle & De-Massari (R&M) Middle East, Turkey and Africa, the Swiss structured cabling specialist, has announced a strong performance during 2012 posting double digit growth in the region during the last 12 months. During this period, the company nearly doubled its staff strength, inaugurated a new regional office in Saudi Arabia and opened the region's first-of-its-kind patch cord assembly facility at its headquarters in Dubai. This continued investment in the region and industry-leading Swiss quality has led to impressive results for the cabling specialist. The ...

Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. (President and CEO: Kengo Sakurada; hereinafter, gSompo Japanh) announces that the company has joined the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Pilot established by the World Bank (President: Jim Yong Kim). The program aims to reduce the natural disaster risks of Pacific Island countries, which are vulnerable to catastrophic damages caused by major cyclones and tsunamis whose frequency is increasing in recent years. 1. Background of Sompo Japanfs Participation in Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Pilot Major natural disasters, including ...

A team of researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California recently embarked upon a study to help determine the causes of insomnia among premenopausal and postmenopausal women. The team conducted phone interviews with 982 women and gathered information about their sleep history, frequency of hot flashes, and overall health. They found that 51% of postmenopausal women suffer with hot flashes and that 79% of premenopausal women have them. Among the women with the most intense hot flashes (based on their severity and frequency), 81% of them experienced ...

News this month from the Malaga Developer's Association reveals that the Russians have overtaken the Germans to become the second largest international home buying audience on the Costa del Sol. Marbella agent Spanish Hot Properties believes this is a trend to continue. Nick Stuart, Director of Spanish Hot Properties, says, "Russians now make up 9% of foreign property purchases leaving the Germans trailing with 7%. This is still minimal in comparison to the Brits who lead the way with 35% but, in my opinion, the start of a greater wave of Russian clients on the ...

"We have recognized a need for aerial photography services throughout Georgia and have responded to fulfill this need by expanding our service area", explains Michael. Aerial photography has many uses in today's world whether the user needs creative marketing strategies, thorough and accurate documentation such as in land disputes or traffic accidents, project analysis, environmental impacts, or advertising campaigns. These aerial photos provide a very impressive and detailed view of the entire project from a bird's eye perspective. "We are extremely excited ...

The hour-long webinar is designed for financial advisors and attorneys who are interested in learning how trusts can be used to protect inherited IRAs from creditors and beneficiary mismanagement while maximizing tax deferral. A board-certified attorney, Herman-Giddens will review how to structure asset protection for IRA beneficiaries. Trillions of dollars in IRAs and qualified plans to be passed down to beneficiaries in the near future could be jeopardized by mismanagement and creditor claims. There are ways to leverage specially designed trusts to protect IRAs and ensure ...

Don McCauley of the Free Publicity Focus Group and Danielle Hampson of eBroadcastMedia.com, founders of Book Marketing, announced today The Authors Show radio and TV weekly broadcast schedule. Book Marketing, branded as 'The Authors Marketing Powerhouse', allows authors and publishers the opportunity to upload photos, bios, book covers, video and book videos. The site also offers discussion forums, segmented special interest groups and allows for event listings. Each author can develop a personalized page. In addition the site allows for integration with Facebook and ...

Want to know how Super Bowl XLVII will do in the TV ratings, before kickoff? Have a burning desire to know if Kim Kardashian and Kanye West will make it as a couple? Would you like to know how the new "Star Trek: Into Darkness" movie will do well before the premiere? Now you will know as a brand new Internet TV series, "THE TV TAROT" has launched on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Goggle+. Featuring the nearly never miss talents of Master Tarot Reader & Instructor, Prudence Theriault and hosted by TV news and marketing veteran, Jeff Grimshaw, ...

Alerts and reporting are two of the most challenging aspects of medical oncology, in addition to being the tools providers are least happy with overall. This is according to a new report from KLAS titled Oncology 2012: Pulling the Curtain Back. Study findings reveal that oncology information system vendors struggle with alerts. Specifically, Epic, Varian, and Elekta seem to perform below average. Reporting is also an area for improvement. Providers report that Varian and Elekta's canned reports are not robust enough to meet their needs, and the customized reports are ...

Twinword, Inc. has unveiled its new level testing service, called "Levelpump". Levelpump is free of charge and compares your knowledge of vocabulary against a database of associated words in order to assign you to the proper English vocabulary level. This method of learning is efficient because it leverages the relationships between vocabulary words. That is, it combines all related words into a bundle for memorizing purposes, so that they are more easily memorized. Also, if you remember only a few of the words in the grouping, you can learn the others by analogy. ...

Unfortunately, business operations do not always go smoothly and conflicts with other commercial ventures will inevitably arise. Relationships between businesses are inevitably necessary and sometimes they go south. A disputed business contract can be very expensive if it ends up in court, even impacting the bottom line. Any business venture needs to develop strong working relationships with other businesses to arrange for needed services, supplies, equipment and real estate, for example. Retaining smart and experienced legal counsel early on to assist with business-to-business ...

As children across the country enjoy all of the new toys they received during the holiday season, parents would be wise to ensure the toys are age appropriate and being used properly by their youngsters. New toys for children to play with come with new risks of potential injuries caused by defective products. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission -- the agency responsible for shielding the population from dangerous products on the market -- has reported that over 262,000 personal injuries caused by toys led to emergency room visits in the U.S. last year. Notably, ...

The average cell in a U.S. federal prison is six feet by eight feet. Imagine your whole world ripped out from under you, replaced by forty-eight square feet of concrete and cold steel. And the worst part? You don't belong there. It may sound like a nightmare, but it is stark reality for at least 60 inmates wrongfully convicted of federal gun crimes in North Carolina. Although even the U.S. Justice Department determined that these men committed no federal crime, scores of them remain behind bars as government lawyers throw up roadblocks to their release. Mislabeled ...