August 28, 2024 • 24 mins
Welcome back to the Let Him See That Child podcast! In this episode of our Family Court series, we have a special guest, Attorney Cheryl Kelly from Atlanta, Georgia. Cheryl, who now practices personal injury law, shares her journey from being a family law attorney to her current practice. We dive into the types of cases she handles, including auto accidents and third-party criminal attacks, and discuss some of her highest verdicts.
We also reminisce about how we met as opposing counsels and became close friends. Cheryl opens up about her passion for advocating father's rights during her family law days and the challenges of being a "girl's girl" in a male-dominated field. We tackle the societal pressures and misconceptions about choosing sides in family law cases.
In a lively debate, we analyze a viral video where a stepfather refuses to continue supporting a child after divorce. We discuss the legal implications of step-parent adoption and the emotional complexities of maintaining relationships post-divorce. This episode also touches on the struggles of balancing professional life with motherhood and the importance of supportive friendships.
Stay tuned as we also share some personal anecdotes, including a near-death experience in Jamaica, and the joys and challenges of being moms and attorneys. Don't miss the heated courtroom debate and find out who you think won the argument!
Don't miss out on this insightful and heartfelt conversation. Tune in now!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:17):
Welcome back to Let Him See That Child podcast. This is the Family Court series,
and I have one of my best friends ever here with me today, Ms. Cheryl Kelly.
Cheryl, introduce yourself to the audience.
Hi, I'm attorney Cheryl Kelly right here in Atlanta, Georgia.
I own C. Kelly Law. We do personal injury. I used to be a family law attorney,
(00:37):
but I leave that to the experts now.
The people who are crazy enough to keep doing it. Okay, okay.
Okay, so when you say personal injury, what type of cases do you take on?
Mostly auto accidents, commercial vehicle accidents like 18-wheelers,
slip and falls, third-party criminal attacks,
which means if you're at a business and you're mugged or, God forbid,
(01:03):
raped or something like that, you can actually get compensated for that. So those types of cases.
What's the highest verdict you've cleared thus far? Oh, just under a million.
Oh, nice. Just under a million. Oh, we're going to get that million-dollar case.
Yeah. I'm always fighting for it.
We're going to get that million-dollar case. Mm-hmm. Oh, okay.
(01:23):
So I guess we're supposed to talk about how we met.
So I'm going to start it off. I met Cheryl. We were opposing counsels on a case.
I was winning, and she got scared.
So she reached out to try on the kid. Okay, so we had this crazy case together
out in, I want to say Gwinnett.
It was Gwinnett. It was Gwinnett. Mm-hmm. It was a crazy case.
(01:45):
It's one of those things where you have to talk to counsel on it.
And that's how we met. I don't even remember. We just hit it off some kind of way.
Yeah, I don't know how we got. So I think you were working really hard like
over the weekend or I was communicating more with you.
And I think I just kind of was like, we ain't the, we not the parties.
(02:09):
I ain't, you know, I ain't whoop your ass. You know, because in that particular
case, there were allegations of, you know, physical abuse and all types of different complications.
Child abuse. So we we kind of tried to, you know, quell those issues and just
say, hey, look, you know, you my sister for real.
My sister-in-law, she was pretty new at it at the time. I was brand new.
(02:30):
Like brand new at the time. And then I noticed.
You know, that entrepreneurial spirit in her.
And I just said, hey, look, whatever resources I have, I'll give them to you.
So anything you need, let me know. I got you.
And it's literally been that way. And it's so refreshing because a lot of women,
and you can kind of speak towards this. See, she's a girl's girl.
(02:51):
I know Cheryl. Cheryl is a girl's girl to death.
I've never been that. I'm not, I don't like hate women.
I'm a woman, but I've never been, if I was a girl's girl, I probably wouldn't
be doing father's rights. That's just not a girl's girl's. I did father's rights.
I did father's rights. In addition to. Did you scale a practice on father's rights?
No, not myself. No, not myself because I never wanted to do family law long term.
(03:15):
So I never. But when I was with my first firm, that's all I did.
And I was gung ho about that father's rights. Okay, girl. Yes.
We were serious. My dad was like, oh, I'm so proud.
You know, he was so happy that I was like fighting for dads.
That's what we did. And I believed in it. And I still believe in it.
Because everybody deserves, you know, representation and not just the benefit
(03:35):
of the doubt of being the mom, you know, necessarily.
So, but, you know, I don't think you have to not be a girl's girl to do that. I don't know.
I don't know because I get a lot of comments.
I get like a lot of allegations of being a pick me or, you know.
Well, I mean, are you like a hire me? I mean, wouldn't you?
(03:58):
That would be my response. Yes, I pick. Yes. Please do pick me.
Actually, pick me, please. Hire me. Thank you.
Yes, pick me. And pay me. Exactly. Yeah.
I don't know why society is this. You know, social media and society are two
different things, for one.
And I think in social media world, for some reason, people tend to think you
have to, like, choose sides like that.
(04:19):
And just because I'm passionate about dads doesn't mean they're always right.
It doesn't mean that, you know, it's always possible. You know,
I've seen some cases where dad don't need to be two feet, you know, near this baby.
And also mom, right? We've seen it on both ends. And also mom. Also mom, for sure.
(04:40):
People tend to think it has to be one person against the other or something,
which is sad because I don't know why we're so divided.
I think that kind of bleeds over into what dating is like now.
Now, which is so the Black women and Black men have like this vendetta against
each other right now or something. And it's awkward and it's disappointing.
Yeah, definitely unfortunate and not productive in the least bit.
(05:05):
So, yeah, y'all, Cher is one of my best friends. We share office.
We share office in Decatur, it's really nice.
What else? I guess that's enough about us. We got stories, but we don't—this
is a professional setting. We're not going to talk about party days.
Not that it is. I mean, we got stories. Did me and Jessica do it before?
I don't remember. We did. We need a story.
(05:26):
What stories we got? We got Jamaica. We got plenty of travel stories.
Oh, yeah. We almost died in Jamaica. That's definitely one. We almost died.
We saw, yeah, to the point where I was recording on my phone,
like, is this my last video?
We literally almost died in Jamaica. To party.
(05:47):
We were determined to have a good time in Jamaica during COVID, unfortunately.
We were sneaking out the door. Yeah, so we were going to, like,
these hidden secret parties in Jamaica.
And as we were like trying to get there
we were going up like the sides of mountains with waterfalls
(06:07):
coming in like it was it was we were like okay this better be a damn good party
and we did have a good time came by we had a great time we did we enjoyed ourselves
but I definitely recorded a last a last minute my last my last moments on earth
tell my baby I love her right,
hold it down P.O.P. okay.
(06:31):
You are moms and attorneys. How is it dealing with children and owning your
own practices and stuff like that? Still trying to have a life.
And trying to have a life. Because both of y'all got a life.
My experience is probably a little different from hers.
So Cheryl's married. So that helps, I'm sure. It does. A lot, yeah.
(06:55):
How do I juggle? A lot of prayer. A whole lot of commiserating, baby.
Me we sit on the phone we text each other we
go this is some bullshit we gotta do today
i think it helps to have you
know someone who is in a similar situation who like
runs a business you know has employees has people that are relying on you that
(07:18):
you're responsible to yeah and and so i think that that is like really like
important to have somebody to say hey how do you deal with this or you know
today i'm just not feeling it because we step in for each other too a lot of A lot of times.
You know, if it's something that, you know, if she's like, I just can't do it
today, can you do this thing?
If it's something that I can do, then I will and vice versa.
(07:39):
So I think having that type of, you know, friendship with somebody that you
can rely on is important.
I think so, too. For sure. And then just knowing you ain't got no choice.
You got to keep the babies alive. You got to, you know, keep the house, you know, clean.
You know, you got to keep, you know, the gas in the tank and whatever else.
You just got to make sure you meet payroll and whatever else.
(08:02):
So you don't really have that much of a choice once you've, you know,
once you set out to accomplish certain goals.
So I think that those things are important.
Yeah. For sure. I think so, too.
Do you think you could beat me in a trial? Absolutely. Absolutely.
Let's all laugh, y'all. Absolutely.
Absolutely. Well, we're about to see you today. Okay.
(08:24):
We're going to watch a video, a viral video, and then we're going to pick side out of a hat.
I usually get the shitty side. I think it's rigged. But it's okay.
And then we'll get to argue it.
So, yeah. This ought to be fine. Hey, everyone. I know you're enjoying the episode,
but I want to take a moment to shout out today's sponsor, Tax Geeks.
(08:47):
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(09:32):
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help with divorce, custody, or co-parenting, I want to invite you to speak with
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Visit www.jgboydlaw.com to book your consultation today. Now,
(09:54):
let's get back to the episode.
It's not my case. You're signing these papers. I'm not signing nothing.
No, I'm not. I just told you I'm not signing this. This is her decision to get
divorced. So why should I pay for her daughter that's not mine biologically?
What the fushay you say? Whether you think I adopted her or not.
He reached out and... Yeah, I took care of her. Give her 15 and we'll figure this out.
(10:18):
Okay, you might leave 15. You know what I'm saying? You're just throwing away
seven years of being in your... You're throwing away seven years. We raised her.
We were together. This is your idea, not mine.
You know what? Was it not your idea to get divorced?
Look, we're not getting anywhere. Okay. Let's just take 15 minutes to cool off.
Don't let me take care of her. You're a very professional. So what are we supposed
(10:40):
to tell her? Tell her that we're getting divorced. Tell her.
You're not talking to me. You're talking to me. Completely. Yes, I am.
I'm closing this chapter in my life. It's not my case.
Dang. I did not see that one before.
You did. I saw this young lady before. It was a different one.
(11:01):
And she was like, it was the girlfriend getting caught.
Oh, the girlfriend. They pranked. They pranked the boyfriend and they called
the girlfriend or something.
Oh, okay. I meant the boyfriend's friend and the boyfriend's friend.
Oh, yeah. I saw that one. Or the wife.
Really? Okay. So, yeah, that was not that.
Okay. So, apparently. They got it.
(11:24):
Oh, I thought we were supposed to tap the span. I let you span. You're the guest.
You're defending the mom? Good luck. Right.
Well, okay, so fortunately for mom in this situation, the law in Georgia, at least, is on her side.
If the caption is true on this one and dad, or excuse me, stepdad did legally
(11:47):
adopt this child, then he is financially responsible for the child.
Now, does he have to, you know, spend time with the child? No, not necessarily.
I do think, you know, in mom's defense and, you know, it may be in the best
interest of that child for him to spend time with them.
But even with a biological parent, you can't force them to spend time with them.
However, again, financially, he is on the hook for that child.
(12:10):
If he took those steps to legally make their relationship legally binding by
doing a full-on adoption, a legal case, he is obligated to financially support that child.
So there's really no real argument, you know, around it, unfortunately, for him.
That ain't his baby. And I'm tired of people trying to force people to take
(12:34):
care of babies. Where is this child's dad?
The baby ain't got no dad now you don't got with this man now you ready to lead
a man and you still want him to take care of somebody else child why you ain't
make the person will take care of him,
what a person you since you want to make folks take care of kids make the daddy
take care of the kid well that's something that the stepdad should have thought
about before he went through the process of legally adopting that child if you
(12:57):
if you think that if you don't think that you should have to take care of that
child then why would you tell the court and the rest of the world that
you should take care of that child? Because they was married.
If you didn't think you was gonna be here through sickness and through health
and no matter what and all that other stuff, why did you take these vows and
now you hitting me with divorce papers?
Now that I can hear. However, we don't know the circumstances of their divorce.
(13:19):
We don't hear any of the details of why she's asking for the divorce.
He could be abusive. He could have been, you know, cheating.
Here we go, y'all. They do it every time we do this. I'm going to throw it out there.
They just start making up things. He could be abusive. Exactly.
She cheated a lot. She done burnt him.
Look, we could just all throw in a bunch of facts. Then why didn't he ask for
a divorce? Because he was thick and thin. Obviously, it's something he did.
(13:41):
Thick and thin. Okay. Men never leave. Men don't leave.
Women leave. How many divorces have you filed on behalf of women?
But have you? You said never. Barely. Never means something.
Men rarely leave. It's rare. But when they do?
When they do, they do. It's because somebody did something for a man.
If a man leave you, you fucked up. Because men do not leave.
(14:03):
They will stink it out and you just be around. Even if the relationship is not
the same, they just be there.
Well, I think, you know, just judging by this woman's demeanor,
it appears that this woman probably thought long and hard about this.
And she also went through, again, went through the process of the adoption with
him because it's not like he did it unilaterally, right? They did it together.
(14:23):
She probably tricked him. It sounds like to me. She was just like,
oh, my God, my baby needs a day. Oh, marry me.
Oh, we're going to be a family. Now you don't want him no more and you want
him to take on a responsibility.
He did that for you to begin with. You done took this man through the ringer.
Now you want to quit on him. Now you making up facts. How?
Because what ringer did she take him through? You don't even know. Divorce.
(14:44):
You done filed for divorce and you sitting there with an attorney.
He ain't even got no attorney. You got an attorney in the background.
Hey, we're not getting anywhere. Who is this?
Well, he need to hire an attorney. But he ain't hiring one for the adoption.
We don't know that. Right, exactly. I feel like he was coerced.
When did he ask? When did she ask for this adoption?
Was it during the time that he was sensitive?
(15:05):
Because who had to sign up on somebody else's kid? He had to hire the kids and
he was begging for that adoption for that child, yes.
And now he don't want nothing to do with it because he can't have had at once.
Exactly, because it's her baby. Why would I want the kid? No,
well, he should have thought about that before he filed for an adoption with
a child that was not his. That's so messed up. He trusted her.
You can take care of the child voluntarily without making the relationship legal.
(15:27):
You can get some type of guardianship instead of doing an adoption.
The adoption is... She probably tripped him.
Well, we don't have any evidence of that. I had evidence that she's trying to
do it now. Sign these papers. That's probably what she did with the adoption.
Hey, sign these papers. You think you can marry me? In the same way he's refusing
to do it now he should have refused to do it before he wanted to be with her,
one good nevermind let me be quiet we got this what you gonna say girl something
(15:52):
some snap over there I'm cool.
I'm cool look he wanted to be with her and he believed that they was gonna be
together forever and ever how come there's no repercussion on breaking your
bowels it is with who it is whoever got the most money got the repercussion,
right it probably he sick Because you got to give a little bit of this to her
(16:13):
or him or whomever. Nah, you know what, though?
I'm still on his side. He right. He all the way right. Because that baby ain't
got nothing to do with me after the fact. Put yourself in his shoes.
Okay. Not his shoes. Put yourself in her shoes. You have a child.
So you get married. Alright? And then your spouse adopts. Okay? Lil' Freddie.
(16:33):
Two years down the road, y'all get divorced. Are you going to be asking him for child support?
No. No, I'm not. Now, me personally, I wouldn't. No.
No. I'm going to ask his daddy. I mean, you know, know if if if his dad had
passed away or if it was some situation where he didn't have well we that could
have been the same situation here we don't know we don't know oh no don't say that.
(16:59):
Your honor she don't know who the man is objection your honor who the badgering the witness,
okay she's a hoe look she about to move on to a third body we know she got we
know she got two Two bodies for sure already.
That make you a hoe? Maybe. Ooh. Okay, well.
(17:21):
Well. Well. They say it don't count if it ain't good. Oh, Lord.
Well, okay. Take me out of the conversation.
Take me out of the chat. Damn bodies. Okay, y'all.
We've been hearing. These are bodies on bodies. Now, shit. It's zero out.
Now. Oh, see, that's the trick. We're saying delete your hoenies. It's a delete.
First lady. I can't take it.
(17:44):
Yes. I think morally and just, you know, having been a family law attorney and
just being like a real advocate, I would never. A what now? I'm not going to say.
I'm not. But we can hear you on the audio. I wouldn't ask someone who is not
the biological father of my child to take care of them after we're not together.
That's weird. You don't feel weird doing that?
(18:06):
Especially if I initiated it. You don't feel like a bum saying, hey.
I need your help with this. That is not your responsibility. A little?
Because why are you asking this man to take care of a child that I hear?
It sounds like he promised. It sounds like he was the provider.
And it also sounds like he made that promise initially, which I hear what you're
saying, that she made a promise to stay married to him.
(18:28):
We all, everybody, let's retract everything.
But unfortunately, her promise can be undone and his cannot.
I agree with you on that. I definitely, me, I personally wouldn't do it,
but we don't know the background.
I definitely feel like You do have a legal reason.
What was that? What if the adoption was contingent on the marriage?
There is no such thing. It's a step-parent adoption.
(18:48):
It doesn't matter. That means it's contingent on the step- No,
it is not. You can't get a step-parent adoption if you're not a step-parent.
But they are a step-parent when they got it. This is not his child.
He only adopted his child based on the marriage. That judge will say he signed
the papers. You know what kind of hoops you got to go through to get an adoption done?
Listen. You got to go through all types of- She's trying to find another one. she done found
two already okay well she can do that too and she might get him on the hook
(19:09):
too yeah probably she might get him too cause apparently she got it like that
but she got me in you know promising to take care of her kids that I've been
getting so she got it like that apparently I feel bad cause what if this what
if he got like a relationship that's the only concern,
financials that's her she talking about financials not one time did she say
(19:31):
no she did it sounded to me like she was saying so.
No you just It sounded to me she wanted money.
The caption said that, but what she was saying... The caption is lying,
too, though, sometimes.
Okay, but what she was saying didn't have... Right, exactly.
Okay, I got one more point. Okay. That's not his baby.
That ain't no extra point. It's not his baby. We've heard that already.
(19:53):
He adopted based on the marriage.
If you retract the marriage, I think you should be able to retract it.
Now, he's not totally right to be. You better tell the legislature.
I don't think that he should abandon this child as far as their relationship is concerned.
But financially, like, why are you keeping him on the hook as being the responsible parent?
I never know enough. It don't matter what video we watch. There's never enough
(20:14):
information. Where is the dad?
That's a good question. Because in order to even do the adoption.
The dad would have to be around.
Yeah, he had to terminate his rights. Either not be around or,
you know, to get the notice.
Because you can do it if the dad is just nowhere to be found.
I wonder if she lied. Or, you know, the standard is so much lower when you're
going through the step-parent adoption process.
And it is, yeah. So you only have to, I forget exactly the rules.
(20:36):
He still has to be notified. But the rules, he does, but he has to be notified.
But he can object if he hasn't paid child support in like four years or if he
hasn't done certain things.
Then it's a problem. They can still get the adoption, you know,
done even without his approval.
I just think it's crazy of you to want to maintain portions of our promises to each other.
(20:57):
You know, if we both promise each other we'll be together no matter what,
we're not going to hang up on each other or give up.
And we're going to raise this baby as if it's both of ours.
And we're going to do this and that. And then, boom, it don't work out.
But the part that benefits you the most, you want me to stick in that.
And I just think that's selfish. selfish you know if you're gonna
take it off the table take it off the table do you
(21:18):
think the promise to get a job why is it always boiling down
to money get a fucking job you don't think she has one she got a lawyer right
there she pays somebody she got enough to get a lawyer then she can pay her
own damn support or go find him find a man who birthed who who gave you this
baby i agree with that unless he's passed away do you think that promise that
(21:38):
he made was to her or to the
child though don't you get some social security if the man died I think so as
long as he got something going on unless she fucked a bum I think so.
She probably did. Well, now we're talking about personal choices.
That still ain't got nothing to do with my man's hair.
Hey, girl, if you hear this, let us know what's going on with your baby daddy.
We want to know where the real dad is.
(22:01):
Where's the real dad? That's the audience. That's right.
Audience, please go find his dad.
Tell dad, come get your baby. The marriage is over. We need you now.
The real dad, right? Okay, guys, I need you to drop in the comments that I won this.
Or if you think Cheryl won, go ahead and say that.
(22:25):
And go ahead and give me your thoughts on this one. I mean, it's tough.
I wouldn't want to build a relationship with a kid that I don't want anything
to do with because something happened.
But I also don't want to be held responsible for a family that I don't have.
I agree with that, for sure. So it's tough.
All right. This was great. Great. All right. Hey, if you need a personal injury
(22:46):
attorney, you can always hit us up at C.
Kelly Law Firm. And that is on Instagram. You can visit our website at win4ga.com.
Or you can give us a call at 844-I-WIN-4-GA.
She don't make a lot of money. She's going to be talking to us.
I'm just being honest. She be getting top dollar on these cases.
(23:08):
I've seen all of a scratch on a car in June. You're right.
Policy limits. How did you even do it?
Policy limits. This is the policy limit. Oh, that's easy money.
Yeah. Yeah. So I've been doing it for a long time, guys. Okay, ma'am.
Thank you. Yay! This episode was brought to you by T. Kelly Law.
(23:29):
Good job. Thank you for tuning in to Let Him See That Child podcast.
Drop a comment below on what was your favorite part of the episode.
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And if you don't remember anything else, I'll leave you with this. Let him see that child.
(23:52):
Music.
Music.
(00:17):
Welcome back to Let Him See That Child podcast. This is the Family Court series,
and I have one of my best friends ever here with me today, Ms. Cheryl Kelly.
Cheryl, introduce yourself to the audience.
Hi, I'm attorney Cheryl Kelly right here in Atlanta, Georgia.
I own C. Kelly Law. We do personal injury. I used to be a family law attorney,
(00:37):
but I leave that to the experts now.
The people who are crazy enough to keep doing it. Okay, okay.
Okay, so when you say personal injury, what type of cases do you take on?
Mostly auto accidents, commercial vehicle accidents like 18-wheelers,
slip and falls, third-party criminal attacks,
which means if you're at a business and you're mugged or, God forbid,
(01:03):
raped or something like that, you can actually get compensated for that. So those types of cases.
What's the highest verdict you've cleared thus far? Oh, just under a million.
Oh, nice. Just under a million. Oh, we're going to get that million-dollar case.
Yeah. I'm always fighting for it.
We're going to get that million-dollar case. Mm-hmm. Oh, okay.
(01:23):
So I guess we're supposed to talk about how we met.
So I'm going to start it off. I met Cheryl. We were opposing counsels on a case.
I was winning, and she got scared.
So she reached out to try on the kid. Okay, so we had this crazy case together
out in, I want to say Gwinnett.
It was Gwinnett. It was Gwinnett. Mm-hmm. It was a crazy case.
(01:45):
It's one of those things where you have to talk to counsel on it.
And that's how we met. I don't even remember. We just hit it off some kind of way.
Yeah, I don't know how we got. So I think you were working really hard like
over the weekend or I was communicating more with you.
And I think I just kind of was like, we ain't the, we not the parties.
(02:09):
I ain't, you know, I ain't whoop your ass. You know, because in that particular
case, there were allegations of, you know, physical abuse and all types of different complications.
Child abuse. So we we kind of tried to, you know, quell those issues and just
say, hey, look, you know, you my sister for real.
My sister-in-law, she was pretty new at it at the time. I was brand new.
(02:30):
Like brand new at the time. And then I noticed.
You know, that entrepreneurial spirit in her.
And I just said, hey, look, whatever resources I have, I'll give them to you.
So anything you need, let me know. I got you.
And it's literally been that way. And it's so refreshing because a lot of women,
and you can kind of speak towards this. See, she's a girl's girl.
(02:51):
I know Cheryl. Cheryl is a girl's girl to death.
I've never been that. I'm not, I don't like hate women.
I'm a woman, but I've never been, if I was a girl's girl, I probably wouldn't
be doing father's rights. That's just not a girl's girl's. I did father's rights.
I did father's rights. In addition to. Did you scale a practice on father's rights?
No, not myself. No, not myself because I never wanted to do family law long term.
(03:15):
So I never. But when I was with my first firm, that's all I did.
And I was gung ho about that father's rights. Okay, girl. Yes.
We were serious. My dad was like, oh, I'm so proud.
You know, he was so happy that I was like fighting for dads.
That's what we did. And I believed in it. And I still believe in it.
Because everybody deserves, you know, representation and not just the benefit
(03:35):
of the doubt of being the mom, you know, necessarily.
So, but, you know, I don't think you have to not be a girl's girl to do that. I don't know.
I don't know because I get a lot of comments.
I get like a lot of allegations of being a pick me or, you know.
Well, I mean, are you like a hire me? I mean, wouldn't you?
(03:58):
That would be my response. Yes, I pick. Yes. Please do pick me.
Actually, pick me, please. Hire me. Thank you.
Yes, pick me. And pay me. Exactly. Yeah.
I don't know why society is this. You know, social media and society are two
different things, for one.
And I think in social media world, for some reason, people tend to think you
have to, like, choose sides like that.
(04:19):
And just because I'm passionate about dads doesn't mean they're always right.
It doesn't mean that, you know, it's always possible. You know,
I've seen some cases where dad don't need to be two feet, you know, near this baby.
And also mom, right? We've seen it on both ends. And also mom. Also mom, for sure.
(04:40):
People tend to think it has to be one person against the other or something,
which is sad because I don't know why we're so divided.
I think that kind of bleeds over into what dating is like now.
Now, which is so the Black women and Black men have like this vendetta against
each other right now or something. And it's awkward and it's disappointing.
Yeah, definitely unfortunate and not productive in the least bit.
(05:05):
So, yeah, y'all, Cher is one of my best friends. We share office.
We share office in Decatur, it's really nice.
What else? I guess that's enough about us. We got stories, but we don't—this
is a professional setting. We're not going to talk about party days.
Not that it is. I mean, we got stories. Did me and Jessica do it before?
I don't remember. We did. We need a story.
(05:26):
What stories we got? We got Jamaica. We got plenty of travel stories.
Oh, yeah. We almost died in Jamaica. That's definitely one. We almost died.
We saw, yeah, to the point where I was recording on my phone,
like, is this my last video?
We literally almost died in Jamaica. To party.
(05:47):
We were determined to have a good time in Jamaica during COVID, unfortunately.
We were sneaking out the door. Yeah, so we were going to, like,
these hidden secret parties in Jamaica.
And as we were like trying to get there
we were going up like the sides of mountains with waterfalls
(06:07):
coming in like it was it was we were like okay this better be a damn good party
and we did have a good time came by we had a great time we did we enjoyed ourselves
but I definitely recorded a last a last minute my last my last moments on earth
tell my baby I love her right,
hold it down P.O.P. okay.
(06:31):
You are moms and attorneys. How is it dealing with children and owning your
own practices and stuff like that? Still trying to have a life.
And trying to have a life. Because both of y'all got a life.
My experience is probably a little different from hers.
So Cheryl's married. So that helps, I'm sure. It does. A lot, yeah.
(06:55):
How do I juggle? A lot of prayer. A whole lot of commiserating, baby.
Me we sit on the phone we text each other we
go this is some bullshit we gotta do today
i think it helps to have you
know someone who is in a similar situation who like
runs a business you know has employees has people that are relying on you that
(07:18):
you're responsible to yeah and and so i think that that is like really like
important to have somebody to say hey how do you deal with this or you know
today i'm just not feeling it because we step in for each other too a lot of A lot of times.
You know, if it's something that, you know, if she's like, I just can't do it
today, can you do this thing?
If it's something that I can do, then I will and vice versa.
(07:39):
So I think having that type of, you know, friendship with somebody that you
can rely on is important.
I think so, too. For sure. And then just knowing you ain't got no choice.
You got to keep the babies alive. You got to, you know, keep the house, you know, clean.
You know, you got to keep, you know, the gas in the tank and whatever else.
You just got to make sure you meet payroll and whatever else.
(08:02):
So you don't really have that much of a choice once you've, you know,
once you set out to accomplish certain goals.
So I think that those things are important.
Yeah. For sure. I think so, too.
Do you think you could beat me in a trial? Absolutely. Absolutely.
Let's all laugh, y'all. Absolutely.
Absolutely. Well, we're about to see you today. Okay.
(08:24):
We're going to watch a video, a viral video, and then we're going to pick side out of a hat.
I usually get the shitty side. I think it's rigged. But it's okay.
And then we'll get to argue it.
So, yeah. This ought to be fine. Hey, everyone. I know you're enjoying the episode,
but I want to take a moment to shout out today's sponsor, Tax Geeks.
(08:47):
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have to do is simply click the link in the show notes or the description and
enter before the deadline This giveaway is sponsored by J.G.
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(09:54):
let's get back to the episode.
It's not my case. You're signing these papers. I'm not signing nothing.
No, I'm not. I just told you I'm not signing this. This is her decision to get
divorced. So why should I pay for her daughter that's not mine biologically?
What the fushay you say? Whether you think I adopted her or not.
He reached out and... Yeah, I took care of her. Give her 15 and we'll figure this out.
(10:18):
Okay, you might leave 15. You know what I'm saying? You're just throwing away
seven years of being in your... You're throwing away seven years. We raised her.
We were together. This is your idea, not mine.
You know what? Was it not your idea to get divorced?
Look, we're not getting anywhere. Okay. Let's just take 15 minutes to cool off.
Don't let me take care of her. You're a very professional. So what are we supposed
(10:40):
to tell her? Tell her that we're getting divorced. Tell her.
You're not talking to me. You're talking to me. Completely. Yes, I am.
I'm closing this chapter in my life. It's not my case.
Dang. I did not see that one before.
You did. I saw this young lady before. It was a different one.
(11:01):
And she was like, it was the girlfriend getting caught.
Oh, the girlfriend. They pranked. They pranked the boyfriend and they called
the girlfriend or something.
Oh, okay. I meant the boyfriend's friend and the boyfriend's friend.
Oh, yeah. I saw that one. Or the wife.
Really? Okay. So, yeah, that was not that.
Okay. So, apparently. They got it.
(11:24):
Oh, I thought we were supposed to tap the span. I let you span. You're the guest.
You're defending the mom? Good luck. Right.
Well, okay, so fortunately for mom in this situation, the law in Georgia, at least, is on her side.
If the caption is true on this one and dad, or excuse me, stepdad did legally
(11:47):
adopt this child, then he is financially responsible for the child.
Now, does he have to, you know, spend time with the child? No, not necessarily.
I do think, you know, in mom's defense and, you know, it may be in the best
interest of that child for him to spend time with them.
But even with a biological parent, you can't force them to spend time with them.
However, again, financially, he is on the hook for that child.
(12:10):
If he took those steps to legally make their relationship legally binding by
doing a full-on adoption, a legal case, he is obligated to financially support that child.
So there's really no real argument, you know, around it, unfortunately, for him.
That ain't his baby. And I'm tired of people trying to force people to take
(12:34):
care of babies. Where is this child's dad?
The baby ain't got no dad now you don't got with this man now you ready to lead
a man and you still want him to take care of somebody else child why you ain't
make the person will take care of him,
what a person you since you want to make folks take care of kids make the daddy
take care of the kid well that's something that the stepdad should have thought
about before he went through the process of legally adopting that child if you
(12:57):
if you think that if you don't think that you should have to take care of that
child then why would you tell the court and the rest of the world that
you should take care of that child? Because they was married.
If you didn't think you was gonna be here through sickness and through health
and no matter what and all that other stuff, why did you take these vows and
now you hitting me with divorce papers?
Now that I can hear. However, we don't know the circumstances of their divorce.
(13:19):
We don't hear any of the details of why she's asking for the divorce.
He could be abusive. He could have been, you know, cheating.
Here we go, y'all. They do it every time we do this. I'm going to throw it out there.
They just start making up things. He could be abusive. Exactly.
She cheated a lot. She done burnt him.
Look, we could just all throw in a bunch of facts. Then why didn't he ask for
a divorce? Because he was thick and thin. Obviously, it's something he did.
(13:41):
Thick and thin. Okay. Men never leave. Men don't leave.
Women leave. How many divorces have you filed on behalf of women?
But have you? You said never. Barely. Never means something.
Men rarely leave. It's rare. But when they do?
When they do, they do. It's because somebody did something for a man.
If a man leave you, you fucked up. Because men do not leave.
(14:03):
They will stink it out and you just be around. Even if the relationship is not
the same, they just be there.
Well, I think, you know, just judging by this woman's demeanor,
it appears that this woman probably thought long and hard about this.
And she also went through, again, went through the process of the adoption with
him because it's not like he did it unilaterally, right? They did it together.
(14:23):
She probably tricked him. It sounds like to me. She was just like,
oh, my God, my baby needs a day. Oh, marry me.
Oh, we're going to be a family. Now you don't want him no more and you want
him to take on a responsibility.
He did that for you to begin with. You done took this man through the ringer.
Now you want to quit on him. Now you making up facts. How?
Because what ringer did she take him through? You don't even know. Divorce.
(14:44):
You done filed for divorce and you sitting there with an attorney.
He ain't even got no attorney. You got an attorney in the background.
Hey, we're not getting anywhere. Who is this?
Well, he need to hire an attorney. But he ain't hiring one for the adoption.
We don't know that. Right, exactly. I feel like he was coerced.
When did he ask? When did she ask for this adoption?
Was it during the time that he was sensitive?
(15:05):
Because who had to sign up on somebody else's kid? He had to hire the kids and
he was begging for that adoption for that child, yes.
And now he don't want nothing to do with it because he can't have had at once.
Exactly, because it's her baby. Why would I want the kid? No,
well, he should have thought about that before he filed for an adoption with
a child that was not his. That's so messed up. He trusted her.
You can take care of the child voluntarily without making the relationship legal.
(15:27):
You can get some type of guardianship instead of doing an adoption.
The adoption is... She probably tripped him.
Well, we don't have any evidence of that. I had evidence that she's trying to
do it now. Sign these papers. That's probably what she did with the adoption.
Hey, sign these papers. You think you can marry me? In the same way he's refusing
to do it now he should have refused to do it before he wanted to be with her,
one good nevermind let me be quiet we got this what you gonna say girl something
(15:52):
some snap over there I'm cool.
I'm cool look he wanted to be with her and he believed that they was gonna be
together forever and ever how come there's no repercussion on breaking your
bowels it is with who it is whoever got the most money got the repercussion,
right it probably he sick Because you got to give a little bit of this to her
(16:13):
or him or whomever. Nah, you know what, though?
I'm still on his side. He right. He all the way right. Because that baby ain't
got nothing to do with me after the fact. Put yourself in his shoes.
Okay. Not his shoes. Put yourself in her shoes. You have a child.
So you get married. Alright? And then your spouse adopts. Okay? Lil' Freddie.
(16:33):
Two years down the road, y'all get divorced. Are you going to be asking him for child support?
No. No, I'm not. Now, me personally, I wouldn't. No.
No. I'm going to ask his daddy. I mean, you know, know if if if his dad had
passed away or if it was some situation where he didn't have well we that could
have been the same situation here we don't know we don't know oh no don't say that.
(16:59):
Your honor she don't know who the man is objection your honor who the badgering the witness,
okay she's a hoe look she about to move on to a third body we know she got we
know she got two Two bodies for sure already.
That make you a hoe? Maybe. Ooh. Okay, well.
(17:21):
Well. Well. They say it don't count if it ain't good. Oh, Lord.
Well, okay. Take me out of the conversation.
Take me out of the chat. Damn bodies. Okay, y'all.
We've been hearing. These are bodies on bodies. Now, shit. It's zero out.
Now. Oh, see, that's the trick. We're saying delete your hoenies. It's a delete.
First lady. I can't take it.
(17:44):
Yes. I think morally and just, you know, having been a family law attorney and
just being like a real advocate, I would never. A what now? I'm not going to say.
I'm not. But we can hear you on the audio. I wouldn't ask someone who is not
the biological father of my child to take care of them after we're not together.
That's weird. You don't feel weird doing that?
(18:06):
Especially if I initiated it. You don't feel like a bum saying, hey.
I need your help with this. That is not your responsibility. A little?
Because why are you asking this man to take care of a child that I hear?
It sounds like he promised. It sounds like he was the provider.
And it also sounds like he made that promise initially, which I hear what you're
saying, that she made a promise to stay married to him.
(18:28):
We all, everybody, let's retract everything.
But unfortunately, her promise can be undone and his cannot.
I agree with you on that. I definitely, me, I personally wouldn't do it,
but we don't know the background.
I definitely feel like You do have a legal reason.
What was that? What if the adoption was contingent on the marriage?
There is no such thing. It's a step-parent adoption.
(18:48):
It doesn't matter. That means it's contingent on the step- No,
it is not. You can't get a step-parent adoption if you're not a step-parent.
But they are a step-parent when they got it. This is not his child.
He only adopted his child based on the marriage. That judge will say he signed
the papers. You know what kind of hoops you got to go through to get an adoption done?
Listen. You got to go through all types of- She's trying to find another one. she done found
two already okay well she can do that too and she might get him on the hook
(19:09):
too yeah probably she might get him too cause apparently she got it like that
but she got me in you know promising to take care of her kids that I've been
getting so she got it like that apparently I feel bad cause what if this what
if he got like a relationship that's the only concern,
financials that's her she talking about financials not one time did she say
(19:31):
no she did it sounded to me like she was saying so.
No you just It sounded to me she wanted money.
The caption said that, but what she was saying... The caption is lying,
too, though, sometimes.
Okay, but what she was saying didn't have... Right, exactly.
Okay, I got one more point. Okay. That's not his baby.
That ain't no extra point. It's not his baby. We've heard that already.
(19:53):
He adopted based on the marriage.
If you retract the marriage, I think you should be able to retract it.
Now, he's not totally right to be. You better tell the legislature.
I don't think that he should abandon this child as far as their relationship is concerned.
But financially, like, why are you keeping him on the hook as being the responsible parent?
I never know enough. It don't matter what video we watch. There's never enough
(20:14):
information. Where is the dad?
That's a good question. Because in order to even do the adoption.
The dad would have to be around.
Yeah, he had to terminate his rights. Either not be around or,
you know, to get the notice.
Because you can do it if the dad is just nowhere to be found.
I wonder if she lied. Or, you know, the standard is so much lower when you're
going through the step-parent adoption process.
And it is, yeah. So you only have to, I forget exactly the rules.
(20:36):
He still has to be notified. But the rules, he does, but he has to be notified.
But he can object if he hasn't paid child support in like four years or if he
hasn't done certain things.
Then it's a problem. They can still get the adoption, you know,
done even without his approval.
I just think it's crazy of you to want to maintain portions of our promises to each other.
(20:57):
You know, if we both promise each other we'll be together no matter what,
we're not going to hang up on each other or give up.
And we're going to raise this baby as if it's both of ours.
And we're going to do this and that. And then, boom, it don't work out.
But the part that benefits you the most, you want me to stick in that.
And I just think that's selfish. selfish you know if you're gonna
take it off the table take it off the table do you
(21:18):
think the promise to get a job why is it always boiling down
to money get a fucking job you don't think she has one she got a lawyer right
there she pays somebody she got enough to get a lawyer then she can pay her
own damn support or go find him find a man who birthed who who gave you this
baby i agree with that unless he's passed away do you think that promise that
(21:38):
he made was to her or to the
child though don't you get some social security if the man died I think so as
long as he got something going on unless she fucked a bum I think so.
She probably did. Well, now we're talking about personal choices.
That still ain't got nothing to do with my man's hair.
Hey, girl, if you hear this, let us know what's going on with your baby daddy.
We want to know where the real dad is.
(22:01):
Where's the real dad? That's the audience. That's right.
Audience, please go find his dad.
Tell dad, come get your baby. The marriage is over. We need you now.
The real dad, right? Okay, guys, I need you to drop in the comments that I won this.
Or if you think Cheryl won, go ahead and say that.
(22:25):
And go ahead and give me your thoughts on this one. I mean, it's tough.
I wouldn't want to build a relationship with a kid that I don't want anything
to do with because something happened.
But I also don't want to be held responsible for a family that I don't have.
I agree with that, for sure. So it's tough.
All right. This was great. Great. All right. Hey, if you need a personal injury
(22:46):
attorney, you can always hit us up at C.
Kelly Law Firm. And that is on Instagram. You can visit our website at win4ga.com.
Or you can give us a call at 844-I-WIN-4-GA.
She don't make a lot of money. She's going to be talking to us.
I'm just being honest. She be getting top dollar on these cases.
(23:08):
I've seen all of a scratch on a car in June. You're right.
Policy limits. How did you even do it?
Policy limits. This is the policy limit. Oh, that's easy money.
Yeah. Yeah. So I've been doing it for a long time, guys. Okay, ma'am.
Thank you. Yay! This episode was brought to you by T. Kelly Law.
(23:29):
Good job. Thank you for tuning in to Let Him See That Child podcast.
Drop a comment below on what was your favorite part of the episode.
If you're watching us on YouTube, don't forget to click like and subscribe because
I drop a new episode every week.
If you want to catch the episode a day early, then be sure to subscribe to our
podcast channel anywhere you listen to podcasts.
And if you don't remember anything else, I'll leave you with this. Let him see that child.
(23:52):
Music.
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