Paternity leave – diapers, bonding and being a good husband…..

Tips for Successful Co-parenting

If you don’t already know anecdotally, cursory Googling will show how working parents in the U.S. face a bleak picture for parental leave. While new mothers generally don’t get enough time off, new fathers get even less so, if any. When my son was born last year most of my family and friends had essentially identical reactions of pleasant surprise that I was being given time off. Paternity leave in the private sector for smaller businesses is quite rare. I enjoyed about 6 weeks away from the office to gel with my new family.

Staying at home those first weeks wasn’t only crucial for bonding with my son and getting used to a brand new routine. It was equally as important that I be there for my wife so she didn’t have to handle those challenges alone. My wife is a naturally amazing mother but even so it made a world of difference that she didn’t have to spend the majority of those first few weeks alone. Bonding and getting to know each other as new parents was as important as bonding with our son. Additionally, by the time we both had returned to work we were much better prepared for the work/life balance than had I not been given that valuable time off in those critical initial weeks.

By Randall Enlow,

Attorney and new father

 

STAY UP TO DATE

Subscribe to our newsletters

 
Subscribe to one or more of our newsletters, delivering meaningful insight on topics that matter to you and your family.
ebl home subscribe image

FURTHER READING

Latest Blog Posts

Child support is one of the most contentious issues in divorce cases where parties have minor children. Even though Washington state law uses the same complex mathematical formula to determine the amount of child support for each child, there is…

Family law and estate planning often intersect. This is particularly true when contemplating divorce, remarriage, or blending families.

At some point during your divorce case, friends and family members whose own marriages ended in divorce probably told you that it gets better, and it does. Of course, from your perspective, getting out of a bad marriage might be…

Co-parenting over a long distance when you are a non-residential parent does not have to equate to sacrificing involvement in your children’s lives. But it likely does mean you will have to make tweaks in your communication and parenting style to accommodate the new living arrangement.

If you have a significant amount of money saved, you might be considering giving some of it away while you are still alive via what is known in estate planning jargon as a living inheritance. Depending on your desires, you can give your beneficiaries a portion of or all of the inheritance you intend to give them.

Estate planning is commonly associated with preparing for asset distribution and financial management in the event of the estate plan owner’s incapacitation or death. However, an estate plan can protect more than just people and what they have worked so hard during their lifetimes to build. A carefully crafted Washington state estate plan can also protect pets.

Despite being divorced, you may still be able to collect social security benefits through your ex-spouse. Even if you went through a high-conflict divorce or are not on good terms with your ex-spouse currently, they cannot stop you from collecting these benefits if you are eligible. Likewise, your ex-spouse does not need to permit you to apply for social security benefits or have previously completed an application themselves.

If you live in Washington State and have an estranged family member, are you worried about them contesting your will after you die? Well, don’t worry quite yet. There are a variety of criteria an individual must meet to contest a will in the state of Washington.

Depending on your situation, there might also be measures you can take as you revisit your existing estate plan or create a new one to cause them to think twice about doing so. Here is what you need to know about whether an estranged family member can contest a will in Washington state.

When parents go through a divorce, child custody can be one of the hardest issues to deal with. But increasingly in American households, pets are part of the family, and separating can create similar concerns over who gets the family pet.

As a Seattle entrepreneur, you’ve undoubtedly dedicated countless hours and resources to building a successful business. You’ve dotted all of your I’s and crossed all of your T’s. But have you considered what will happen to your business after you're…