Today's guest blogger is Elizabeth A. Sadowski of Rochester, Michigan. See the footnote for Ms. Sadowski's bio.
Welcome to SmartDraw, the Swiss army knife of document making software. Just like that nifty little knife, this utility program has a host of functions including graphs and charts, time lines, floor plans, maps, calendars, fliers and much more. Through the use of very elastic templates, you can customize your own models, or create your own image from scratch. Charts, graphs, and time lines are especially useful to the Family Law attorney because they let you see past dates and numbers into their underlying meaning. The point is to transform ideas into images; to visually communicate a complex thought into a simple, understandable message.
Let’s look at the time line template, a tool that Family Law attorneys will find useful in confusing event driven cases. All family law cases are fact-driven and at trial the judge will want a chronological picture of the important facts in order to determine specific issues/
Consider a case like Estes vs Titus, 481 Mich 573 (2008). You’ll remember this case as the one in which a husband was convicted of murdering his friend, and Wife filed for divorce. Widow filed a wrongful death action against Husband but Husband had signed a divorce judgment awarding Wife all the assets. Widow received a judgment against Husband and claimed the assets awarded to Wife had been fraudulently conveyed to Wife in an effort to defraud Husband’s creditors, including Widow.
Our Supreme Court held in favor of Widow. If you were arguing this case you would have to remember these events, their details, dates, and the sequence.
• Marriages
• Death of victim
• “Cold Case” completion
• Arrest of Husband
• Conviction of Husband
• Filing of divorce by Wife
• Filing of wrongful death action by Widow
• Entry of judgment of divorce
• Entry of wrongful death judgment
• Date of supplemental proceedings, and more
Wouldn’t this case be easier to manage if one had a time line of events so that the attorneys, and the Court, could see in an instant what happened and when? The time line utility of SmartDraw, like the other applications, provides a number of templates from which to choose. Let’s look at a tempting time line template SmartDraw offers for you to tailor.
Here is one I did in an actual case which I prepared shortly before trial after downloading the free temporary version of SmartDraw from the web. It did not take me long to understand how to use this program and I would have been lost without it. [To see a larger image, right click with your mouse and choose "Open link in a New Window."]
You can see how useful this utility is when you think of cases with job changes and episodes of violence or absences from the home or any number of life style changes that impact the history of this case.
SmartDraw is an interesting utility with an affordable price (under $200 in February 2009). Take a moment to explore its website, enjoy a free download, and you will see what a useful Swiss army knife of a program this is.
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Elizabeth A. Sadowski is a past chairperson of the State Bar of Michigan Family Law Section Council. She has also served as chairperson of the Oakland County Bar Association's Family Law Section and has been a member of the American Bar Association's Family Law Section for many years. She established the Family Court Forum, an annual event which invites members of the bench, bar, and other family law professionals to discuss critical issues in a collegial atmosphere. Ms. Sadowski established and monitors the Family Law Section Internet discussion group, a group composed of over 900 judges and Section members. Ms. Sadowski has limited her practice to family law matters since 1985. She has authored numerous articles on various domestic relations topics and has been a frequent CLE presenter.Elizabeth is a past chairperson of the State Bar of Michigan Family Law Section Council. She has also served as chairperson of the Oakland County Bar Association's Family Law Section and has been a member of the American Bar Association's Family Law Section for many years. She established the Family Court Forum, an annual event which invites members of the bench, bar, and other family law professionals to discuss critical issues in a collegial atmosphere. Ms. Sadowski established and monitors the Family Law Section Internet discussion group, a group composed of over 900 judges and Section members. Ms. Sadowski has limited her practice to family law matters since 1985. She has authored numerous articles on various domestic relations topics and has been a frequent CLE presenter.
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