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How do I terminate my child support obligation and stop wage garnishment in Rhode Island?

In Rhode Island (RI) child support does not automatically terminate when a child reaches 18 years old! Termination of a child support order is not automatic in Rhode Island! A child support order / obligation will only terminate if a motion to terminate child support is granted by a Judge of The Rhode Island Family Court. Unlike a motion to modify child support, a DR6 financial statement is not necessary unless there is an additional child in which a child support obligation will continue. If there is an additional child under 18 then a motion to terminate child support is really in essence a motion for modification for child support. Article by David Slepkow 401-437-1100.

Pursuant to RI law, child support is eligible to be terminated upon a child attaining the age of 18 and graduating high school but not longer then the child turning 19 years old. If the child is 18 years old and still in high school than child support may continue until the child graduates high school but not longer then the child attaining the age of 19. If a child is determined to be seriously disabled then child support may continue until the child attains the age of 21. If the Judge finds good cause the child support might continue for three months after graduation from high school.

A person should file a motion to terminate child support approximately 30-40 days prior to the child's graduation from high school. If the child did not finish high school then a person should file their motion 30-40 days prior to the child's 18th birthday. It will take a approximately 30-40 days until the clerk can schedule a hearing for the termination motion.

After the motion to terminate child support, the attorney must submit proper documentation and orders to the court, the obligors employer (to stop wage garnishment) and to the reciprocal clerk (to amend the computer records) If the computer records are not updated then the computer will continue to show an arrearage which may cause problems including automatic intercept of your tax refund, inability to obtain a passport among other problems.

David Slepkow is a Rhode Island lawyer concentrating in divorce, family law, child support, personal injury, automobile (Car) accidents, slip and fall, custody and visitation. David has been practicing for over 9 years and is licensed in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Federal Court. Please contact David Slepkow at 401-437-1100 or by visiting his website at http://www.slepkowlaw.com Also see the following articles written by David Slepkow. Frequently asked questions concerning daycare, overtime, modification, college: http://ezinearticles.com/?Rhode-Island-Child-Support-Law-FAQS---Daycare,-Overtime,-Modification,-College,-Termination&id=484859 and an article concerning modification of child support: http://ezinearticles.com/?Motions-to-Modify-Child-Support-in-Rhode-Island-Modification-of-Child-Support-by-a-RI-Family-Lawyer&id=688155 . Also, please see my ezine article concerning a guide to calculating child support.

Presentations are one of the most common avenues for lawyers to communicate their expertise and convince potential clients to hire them for legal work. These presentations may be in conference settings or in a client office. After a recent review of ten presentations (with a total of over 450 slides) posted on the web sites of top law firms such as McMillan Binch Mendelsohn, Gowlings, Cassels Brock and Aird & Berlis, some areas for improvement are apparent. By improving the communication of their message to clients and potential clients, lawyers can increase their billings.

The common issues found in the presentations can be separated into two categories. The first are design issues such as templates and use of slide layouts, which can be solved by marketing and administrative staff. The more critical issues are with the content and can only be solved by the lawyers who specify the content and what format it should take. Here are solutions to five problems that were seen over and over in the presentations.

Use less text
Lawyers are so familiar with text on printed documents, that it seems they think that slides should be filled with text as well. There were some instances where points were made using graphics or visuals, but generally few and far between. Prof. Richard Mayer in his book "Multimedia Learning" found that visuals combined with explanatory text increased the understanding of the audience. To have better impact, lawyers should look for more visual ways to present some of the information they have. It will break up the long periods of text that the audience sits through and help the audience remember the topic better.

Make the message clear
In many cases the text on the slides is a statement of relevant law or statute, which is important to support what is being said. But relatively few times did the slide also include text stating the key point, leaving the audience wondering what the message really was. It is necessary to include references to the law, but lawyers must also give the audience an explanation of what that law means to the audience and their business if the audience is expected to act upon the presentation. Meaningful text should also be short and concise, instead of the full sentences and paragraphs observed far too often in legal presentations.

Use diagrams to increase visual impact
One of the easiest ways for lawyers to start replacing text with visual formats is to use simple diagrams. Many times a table could replace a text list. On one slide the lawyer listed examples of two types of documents by creating a long sentence. It would have been more effective to create a simple table listing the two types of documents in columns, which would have better visually differentiated the examples. One good use of tables was shown in a chart that contrasted how a particular law is applied in different jurisdictions. Diagrams are also a better way to show relationships than simply paragraphs of text. A Venn diagram is a good way to show where items overlap and where they are distinct.

Group ideas instead of continuing ideas over multiple slides
When there are a number of items to be discussed in a section of the presentation, it was good to see that lawyers no longer use the annoying former practice of reducing the font size to squish all the text on a single slide. But what has now happened is that the points are split across multiple slides with each subsequent slide title saying "(continued)". By the last slide in this group, the audience cannot remember how all the points fit together. A better approach would be to consider how the ideas can be grouped into sub-groups and present each sub-group with its appropriate slide title.

Use callouts to highlight scanned documents
Lawyers use scanned documents as examples in their presentations, but too often the scanned image was put on the slide and was virtually unreadable due to the small size of the text on the image. The lawyer is then forced to use a laser pointer or try to explain something the audience cant really see, leaving the audience frustrated. A better approach is to use callouts that take the salient point of a scanned document and superimpose it on top of the scan in larger readable text, highlighting the key point the lawyer wants to make.

By integrating more visual representations of ideas into their presentations, lawyers can stand out from the barrage of text that usually represents a presentation and clients will be more compelled to act upon the presentation, resulting in higher billings.

Dave Paradi is the co-author of Prentice Halls Guide to PowerPoint, a text used at the Wall Street Journals #1 ranked MBA school, and his ideas have been featured by international publications. Daves practical not technical approach and customized presentations have audiences walking out of his sessions with ideas they can begin using immediately. He offers a free PowerPoint e-course, newsletter and articles on his web site at http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com