The Crosthwait Law Firm

Where Can I Go to Calculate Child Support in Oklahoma?

Crosthwait Site Admin — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 19:17:13 +0000

Generally speaking, child support in Oklahoma is calculated based upon the gross income of the parents of the children. There are many sources of income that can be included in the gross income, including what is called “Earned Income” and “Passive Income”. The Oklahoma legislature has defined both “Earned” and “Passive” Income in the statutes here: 43 O.S. sec. 118B.

In calculating child support, deductions or credits are given for other qualifying children in the home, daycare expenses, the cost of health insurance for the children and even transportation expenses for periods of visitation.

While a rough estimation of how much child support a person might have to pay can be calculated by visiting the Oklahoma Department of Human Services website, or the Families in Transition website, the attorneys at The Crosthwait Law Firm are experienced in determining child support obligations, and provide you with a more accurate assessment of what you might have to pay or you might receive in child support.

What Does It Take to Be a Guardian in Oklahoma?

Crosthwait Site Admin — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 21:05:14 +0000

The Oklahoma Administrative Office of the Courts has provided the following excellent resource, free of charge: A Handbook for Guardians (click link to download).

This handbook provides general information about the laws and procedures concerning guardianship and conservatorships. Guardians have many duties, and this handbook sets them out in plain, easy-to-understand language.

Before or after reviewing this handbook, you should contact the attorneys at The Crosthwait Law Firm to discuss the specifics of your situation, and we will provide you experienced advice in all aspects of guardianship proceedings, and will help you navigate the complexities of the Oklahoma legal system, and help you best care for the ones you love and want to protect.

Amy G. Piedmont Joins The Crosthwait Law Firm

Crosthwait Site Admin — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 20:31:35 +0000

The Crosthwait Law Firm of Midwest City announces that, effective January, 2011, Amy G. Piedmont has joined the firm as an associate attorney. Mrs. Piedmont graduated from Tulane Law School, Cum Laude, in 2004. While attending Tulane Law School, she earned a civil law certificate, served as Senior Fellow for Legal Research and Writing and participated in Trial Advocacy. Mrs. Piedmont received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, Magna Cum Laude, from Auburn University in 2000. She is a member of the Oklahoma County Bar Association, the Oklahoma Bar Association and the American Bar Association. She is admitted to practice before all state and federal courts in Oklahoma and Louisiana, including the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. Her practice will focus on estate planning, probate, estate litigation, and family law.

Changes Coming to Oklahoma’s Nontestamentary Transfer of Property Act (Transfer on Death Deeds)

Crosthwait Site Admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:10:26 +0000

Oklahoma probate law allows a person who owns an interest real estate to transfer the interest at the time of their death, without the need for probate. This is an excellent way for a person with a relatively small or simple estate to transfer a home, some land or even mineral interests to a friend or loved one, in the event of their death, in a quick and streamlined manner. According to the Nontestamentary Transfer of Property Act, an “interest in real estate” includes any estate or interest in, over or under land, including surface, minerals, structures and fixtures. (58 O.S. §§1251 through 1258)

In order to properly transfer property this way, let The Crosthwait Law Firm and their team of experienced estate planning attorneys prepare a Transfer on Death Deed in accordance with the Oklahoma law. This Deed shall transfer ownership of the interest upon the death of the owner.

Once the Deed is prepared, it can be recorded with the office of the county clerk where the property is located. The signature, consent or agreement of, or notice to, the person or persons receiving the property by way of the Transfer on Death Deed is not during the lifetime of the record owner.

However, beginning November 1, 2011, in order to accept an interest in real estate pursuant to a Transfer on Death Deed, the person or persons receiving the property MUST execute an affidavit that provides date of the owner’s death, whether the owner and the person or persons receiving the property were married at the time of the owner’s death, and the legal description of the real estate.

In addition, a copy of the owner’s death certificate MUST be attached to the affidavit. This affidavit and attached copy of the death certificate must be recorded in the office of the county clerk where the property is located (the same county in which the Deed was previously recorded) within nine (9) months of the owner’s death. In the event the affidavit and death certificate is not recorded within the nine (9) month window, the interest in the property reverts back to the owner’s estate and a probate proceeding may be necessary.

Let the estate planning attorneys at The Crosthwait Law Firm, located in Midwest City, discuss how the Transfer on Death Deed can be a part of a larger, effective and more individualized estate plan.

M. Joe Crosthwait, Jr. Admitted to Practice in the Supreme Court of the United States

Crosthwait Site Admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:47:11 +0000

On April 20, 2010, in a ceremony in the courtroom of the United States Supreme Court, M. Joe Crosthwait, Jr., was admitted to practice before that court. You can learn more about the United States Supreme Court by visiting their site here: Supreme Court of the United States

M. Joe Crosthwait, Jr. Elected to American Law Institute

Crosthwait Site Admin — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 21:48:24 +0000

Midwest City attorney M. Joe Crosthwait, Jr., has been elected as a member of the American Law Institute, the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize and, otherwise, improve the law.

The organization is made up of about 4,000 lawyers, judges and law professors of the highest qualifications and drafts, discusses, revises and publishes restatements of the law, model statutes and principles of law that are enormously influential in the courts and legislatures, as well as in legal scholarship and education.

“It is a great pleasure to welcome these distinguished and accomplished individuals to the American Law Institute,” said ALI President Roberta Cooper Ramo. “The serious problems that our country now faces have made the work of law reform at the highest levels even more important.”

Crosthwait, who is the immediate past president of the National Conference of Bar Presidents and a past president of both the Oklahoma County and Oklahoma Bar Associations, earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Oklahoma and his juris doctor from the Oklahoma City University School of Law. He is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and serves on the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Law and National Security.

Aaron M. Arnall Joins The Crosthwait Law Firm

Crosthwait Site Admin — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:51:53 +0000

The Crosthwait Law Firm, announces that, effective May, 2008, Aaron M. Arnall has joined the firm as an attorney. Mr. Arnall received his B.A. cum laude from Oklahoma Baptist University in 2004, and his Juris Doctor from the Oklahoma City University School of Law in 2007. Mr. Arnall’s practice focuses primarily on family law, including divorce, child custody, child support, probate, guardianship, misdemeanor criminal defense, criminal record expungement, construction litigation, and general civil litigation.