Blaine founded SNAP in 1988, after she was abused as an 8th grader by a priest teaching at the Catholic school she attended. After her pleas for help were ignored by the school’s bishop, she was prompted to advocate on behalf of those who can’t advocate for themselves. The first SNAP meeting, organized by Blaine, was held at a Holiday Inn in Chicago.

Talking about her experiences back in February, Blaine stated, “I knew there were other survivors out there and wondered if they felt the same debilitating hurt and if so, how they coped with it. I thought they might hold the wisdom I lacked. I looked for other survivors and asked if they would be willing to talk.”

Blaine’s work has both helped and inspired countless numbers of sexual abuse victims. As Barbara Dorris says, “Few people have done more to protect kids and help victims than Barbara Blaine. Her relentless advocacy enabled millions to eventually accept a long unbelievable reality: that tens of thousands of priests raped and fondled hundreds of thousands of kids while bishops hid these heinous crimes. She started, and for almost 30 years, worked extremely hard to help build the world’s most successful organization of child sex abuse victims. Her contributions to a safer society would be hard to overstate.”

SNAP rose to prominence in 2002 after a series of stories was published by the Boston Globe about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Currently, SNAP has 20,000 members and support groups in over 60 cities across the U.S. and the world. It is no exaggeration to say that children throughout the world are safer because of her work. She will be greatly missed, but her work will continue on.

Do have questions about sexual assault or abuse? Contact our team of Rhode Island sexual abuse lawyers today. We are here to help.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Attorney Timothy J. Conlon is please to announce the release of Electronic Evidence for Family Law, co-authored with Aaron Hughes.

The American Bar Association Says:

“Issues of access to and the forensic use of electronic evidence are front and center to our social agenda-and nowhere are those issues more complicated than in family law. Who but a spouse knows your passwords and may share legal title to the accounts that control your family’s information? This state-of-the-art book explains the complexities of evidence as well as how to effectively integrate this knowledge into your family law practice. The authors put this information in clear terms for lawyers who must speak about these issues with clients, with expert witnesses who command vast knowledge of the field, and with judges who may have little familiarity with the subject beyond sending and receiving e-mail.”

This book can be purchased here.

The topic of the seminar is “Going Paperless and Beyond: Attorney’s Guide to a Mobile Law Practice” and is geared towards legal professionals.

Adoption Rhode Island, an organization dedicated to finding homes for the hundreds of kids throughout the state up for adoption, is bringing attention to National Adoption Month by hosting the 2016 National Adoption Month Celebration and Award Ceremony. As part of the event, there will be Rhode Island’s 12^th Annual Heart Gallery, which is a portrait exhibit that showcases the faces and personalities of the children in need of a home. The Heart Gallery has been such a great driving force for adoption throughout the years, and it is wonderful to know that they have brought it together once again.

2016 National Adoption Month Celebration information:

• Date: Thursday, November 17^th, 2016
• Time: 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM
• Address: 82 Smith Street, Providence, Rhode Island 02903
• Building: Rhode Island State House Chamber Room, third floor of Statehouse

In addition to hosting the Heart Gallery exhibit, the event will take the time to honor those throughout Rhode Island that have helped encourage adoption, either through similar events or through easing the legal process. Honorees are expected to include individual community members, entire organizations and associations, and DCYF social workers. Of course, refreshments will be served throughout the evening.

Invitations to the celebration and ceremony will be mailed out to residents soon. If you do not receive one but would like to attend, feel free to call Adoption Rhode Island at 401.865.6000 to inquire about attendance options.

If you have questions about adoption and guardianship laws in Rhode Island, our team of Providence family lawyers here at TJC • ESQ would be happy to help. You can give us a call at 401-400-4254 and schedule a legal consultation.

Zhou Yahui, who is the current and respected chairman of an online gaming company, Beijin Kunlun Tech, is divorcing his wife. As part of the divorce settlement, he will be transferring her company stocks valued at around $1.1 billion. There are high-asset divorces and then there areextremely high asset divorces!

While $1 billion is certainly nothing to scoff at, Zhou will still keep the majority of his company’s stocks, keeping him in control of the firm and keeping him above water. In early 2016, the company’s total value was estimated around $3.5 billion. Furthermore, the transfer of stocks can be easier than actually moving money from one account to another in the way that it does not appreciably affect controlling interests; it can also divide corporate holdings without having to adjust for tax implications and potential fees.

Zhou made a sizeable portion of his fortune after buying the majority of the popular dating app, Grindr, which marked him as one of China’s many newly-founded billionaires. The country does not expect his divorce to be the last in the news, as the rate of divorces is on the rise in China.

Finally, it is worth noting that a $1.1 billion settlement is jaw-dropping but it is likely not record-breaking. Numerous billionaires have divorced in recent years but managed to keep their agreements out of the public’s eye; it is believed many ex-spouse’s collected a billion dollars or more in marital assets. And back in 2014, a Swiss court nearly made a Russian oligarch hand over $4.5 billion to an ex-wife, but the amount was reduced after an appeal.

If you would like more information about Zhou’s divorce, CNN Money posted an informative article online (click here to view). For divorce law information in Rhode Island, be sure to contactTJC • ESQ and our team of highly-experience Providence family law attorneys today.

Discovering that most people divorce in March and August was a straightforward, if not also lengthy, process of reviewing divorce filings. Knowing why people divorce more often during those two months is another issue altogether.

The following reasons could be behind the two yearly spikes in divorce filings:

• Stressful family vacations: What tends to happen right before August? July family vacations. It is speculated that people on the verge of divorcing are pushed over the edge after going through a family vacation that proved far more stressful than relaxing. Another notion might be that they thought the family vacation would give them a change of heart and it simply didn’t.
• Valentine’s Day disappointments: What happens right before March? Valentine’s Day. Society has put a great deal of pressure on Valentine’s Day to be the national holiday that brings romantic partners close together. People losing interest in their spouse might see the lack of spark in Cupid’s day as the final straw, the turning point that made them realize they are no longer happy enough with their husband or wife.
• Summer heat & frustration: The United States is usually a pretty hot and humid place coast-to-coast during August; even all the way up in Washington State, temperatures can climb over 80 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 20 to 30 degrees more than the yearly average. The added frustration from feeling overheated could get on someone’s nerves and make them finally file for the divorce they’ve been pondering for so long. If you don’t think summer heat gets under peoples’ skin, it may interest you to know that crime rates also consistently spike in the hottest months.
• Christmas “cheer”: While wondering why March and August are so high for divorce filings, you must also question why December is so low. The prevailing notion is that divorcing during the holidays is simply too stressful, especially if the couple has children and/or are close to their relatives. Waiting until the holiday season is out of mind, such as early March, might just save everyone some anguish.

Do you need to file for divorce and don’t know the right month to do it? How about this one? Contact TJC • ESQ and our Rhode Island divorce attorneys can help you navigate the divorce process with ease.

Parties are not divorced until final judgment has been entered. Under the old law, litigants had up to 30 days after the mandatory waiting period to enter their final judgment. Under the new law, litigants have up to 180 days to enter the final judgment. If 180 days pass and final judgment still has not entered, the final judgment can be entered “out of time” by agreement, in the form of a stipulation filed with the court. Under the previous law, parties would have to file a motion and be heard in open court before a final judgment could be entered “out of time.”

This extended time gives parties more time to complete Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs) and tie up other loose ends before the divorce is final, for example completing the sale of real estate or the division of accounts. There are also tax implications. Parties are still legally married up until final judgment is entered. Accordingly, up until the entry of final judgment parties have the option of filing taxes jointly. The extended time in which these judgments can now be entered give parties more flexibility around tax planning.

The bill can be viewed online at:webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText16/SenateText16/S2661.pdf

As laudable as the goal of busting someone who got in a wreck while looking at YouTube videos may be, does the government have the right to seize and search every mobile device held by those in accidents? Do they need a warrant?

Video Embedded: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pvszY6y2mU&feature=youtu.be

Timothy Conlon discusses digital forensics in divorce
Providence Journal video by Steve Szydlowski

A proposed new statute would call for any driver in an accident to surrender “any mobile device in their possession at or near the time of the collision.”The device would then be analyzed for evidence of use.

A universal rule subjecting drivers to warrantless search and seizure in an accident represents a departure from what has been the norm. We all know that drinking and driving is dangerous, but the cops ask for a breathalyzer only when they observe behavior that warrants a field sobriety test. There are states (including Connecticut) that have enacted mandatory breathalyzer statutes for serious and deadly accidents, but the texting statute in New York is much broader in that it applies in any crash.

The Boy Scouts of America has released a statement since news of the lawsuit broke, expressing their sympathies for those affected and claiming that the organization had no knowledge of Dennis’ behavior. The lawsuit claims that the Boy Scouts of America acted negligently knowing that “scouting was being used and exploited by child molesters to gain access to and gain the trust of Scouts,” yet did “nothing to alter its Scouting program.” It is the single largest lawsuit ever brought against the organization pertaining to one scoutmaster.

Attorney Conlon will represent the plaintiffs alongside Attorney Brooke Goff of The Reinken Law Firm. For more information about this high-profile case, check out the following links:

• https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/18/us/scoutmaster-sexual-abuse/
• http://fox61.com/2015/11/17/lawsuit-connecticut-boy-scouts-leader-abused-17-boys-2-girls/

Powerful Sexual Abuse Lawyers

At TJC • ESQ, our top-rated child sexual abuse attorneys have been fighting to protect sexually abused individuals for more than 30 years. For more information about our firm’s services and how we can help you seek justice, schedule a free consultation or call 401-400-4254 today.