If you ever listen to JPR, you know that “the Law Office of Robert Good” is a collective listener. JPR programs keep us company throughout the day. But recently the news delivered is especially hard to hear. Violence. Rage. Isolation. I attempt to write an upbeat LocalsGuide article and the words that should whimsically promote my business don’t flow.

The barbecues, beer, and suggestively titled bottles of seasonings lining the Father’s Day seasonal aisle this year got me thinking about fathers, stereotypes and the dramatic shift in the role society expects fathers to play in their children’s lives.

In earlier American days – circa 1900 through the post-World War II era –working families would have been accustomed to harsh conditions, and were largely devoid of emotional coddling.

In May I attended the Center for NonProfit Legal Services’s annual “Founders Breakfast.” At the breakfast, lawyer William P. Haberlach was awarded the William V. Deatherage Pro Bono Award for his services providing legal advocacy for one of the highest at-risk populations in our community: our veterans.

I joined Bob’s practice four years ago, a year after he started hanging around my yard. In hindquarters sight, those nights chasing the ball were early negotiations for our future partnership. Of course, Bob is the Alpha, which was undisputed even in my own domain. He’s soft-hearted but savvy— that Bob Good. Showed me the ball. Made me sit. Threw it over and over, but always made me bring it back.

“There are few rites of spring more satisfying than the annual clean.” – Martha Stewart. Birds chirping and flowers blooming are nice, but for the neatniks amongst us, hosing down patio furniture and resealing grout are spring’s greatest treasures. Spring is not only a great time to declutter your closets, but also to declutter your legal life. Following Martha’s spring cleaning checklist may bring you inner calm and peace, but follow this list below and you will achieve total nirvana:

It recently occurred to me that of the 22 years I’ve been practicing law, the last 20 have been right here on Siskiyou Boulevard. In 1995 I started as an associate with the Howser & Munsell firm at 607 Siskiyou Blvd. Then in 2002 I moved across the street to 622 Siskiyou Blvd. and “hung my own shingle” as a solo practitioner. In 2011, I moved further down the street to 823 Siskiyou Blvd., next to the Ashland High School, where I currently practice.

We are in the midst of the holiday season. In my adult years, as the holidays approach, I have tended to think, “Here we go again. What’s the big deal?”  Now that I have kids, I am reminded how magical the holidays are for children. Christmas trees, lights, Santa, and oh, the gifts… It all makes them so very giddy. For too many kids, the holidays aren’t so magical. None of the above will materialize, or if it does it’s only thanks to the goodwill of the community that regularly plunks coins in Salvation Army buckets and toys in Toys for Tots bins.

Last month’s article focused on “Angry in Anaheim,” a Dear Amy letter. The “Angry” author was furious with her brother for “tearing the family apart” by insisting that the doctors follow dad’s “do not resuscitate” instructions in his advance directive. She wanted the doctors to listen to mom and keep dad alive.

Dear Amy, My father is 91 and has dementia. I learned he gave an advance directive with a “do not resuscitate” order to my brother several years ago. I told my brother that giving the DNR order to the doctor was condemning Dad to die and that we should follow Mom’s wishes to keep him alive. How can I get my brother to understand he is tearing our family apart by following these outdated instructions? -Angry in Anaheim (Medford Tribune, August 18, 2015).

“How shall we live, knowing we will die?" When Henry David Thoreau sat in his little cabin in the woods, he wasn’t receiving counsel from his attorney about his flight from eighteenth-century objective truth. Free from such meddlers, Thoreau mused about existence, the art of living deliberately “…to front only essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I come to die, discover that I had not lived.”

In the midst of conflict, we want to be right. When Jason and Judy separated, Judy insisted Jason’s work-related distractions were the reason the marriage failed. Jason blamed Judy’s constant nagging as the culprit, and claimed she was emotionally unstable. Both believed their children were suffering, and both believed they were right. Sometimes being right feels so important that we lose sight of reason, hijacked by reactions triggered by the threat of loss and safety.

As a divorce attorney, my emphasis is on resolving the big issues a couple faces when splitting up: Spousal support, child support, custody, parenting plans. The end goal is to have a legal judgment or agreement spelling out everything known at the time. Although this is the “end goal,” for many couples having the signed judgment does not always signify the true end of their involvement in the legal process.

Tina, tears running down her face, sat next to her mother in my office. Earlier that week her husband Frank had transferred their joint checking accounts into his name alone, blocked her use of the credit cards and locked her out of the family home. Then the day before, Frank took their two young children to California, threatening never to return them.

You have probably heard the term “living trust.” Perhaps you have some vague notion of what it means. But could you explain it to the person sitting next to you? A living trust is an estate planning tool. In essence, it is an alternative to a will. Like a will, its main function is to direct the distribution of your assets after your death.

We love our pets. We groom them, bathe them, feed them, make sure they have plenty of exercise, recreation, and relaxation (as if that’s necessary). Last year alone $60 billion was spent on pet care in the United States. In modern America, Fluffy and Fido are part of the family. But when it comes to estate planning, our beloved, furry family members are often left out in the cold. Animals have the status of property under the law, and under most wills, are lumped together with personal property.

Imagine this situation: Your adult child has a long-term disability. Maybe it’s a severe mental illness; maybe it’s a serious physical disability. Maybe it’s both. You have significant assets – a house, some successful investments. You are concerned about your disabled child receiving an inheritance when you die.

The American legal system is a useful vehicle for righting people’s wrongs: If your dog bites me and I am seriously injured, I can sue you for medical bills, pain and suffering, etc. That is fair and just. But, our legal system is also overused and abused. Frivolous lawsuits are filed frequently, and sometimes they succeed. You don’t want to be on the losing side of that frivolous lawsuit, especially if you are lucky enough to have assets to lose. So how do you make sure that in our litigious-leaning society, your assets are protected?

You just got served with divorce papers. Your heart is racing, your palms are sweaty, you feel like you’ve been slapped across the face. When you finally muster the strength to sit down and read the papers, you are in no better shape. The stack of court pleadings spewing out legal citations and “wherefores” and “herebys” has left you dazed and confused. You don’t fully understand what you’re reading, but you know you have to do something: The “summons” requires you to respond within 30 days.

Last month’s article showed that today’s unmarried couples have more legal rights than they did a half-century ago. This raises the big question: Why get married? There are several financial benefits for married couples. Probably the most talked about is the ability to be on the other spouse’s health insurance plan. Another is reducing the couple’s overall tax burden by filing a joint tax return. Still a less well-known benefit involves social security payments: If a person becomes disabled and is married, the amount of social security disability payments received is significantly boosted.

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.” Written by Pete Seeger in the late 1950s and made famous by the Byrds’ version of the song in 1965, Turn, Turn Turn (To Everything There is a Season) compiles a list of many of life’s most potent events. The list of course includes embracing. It includes love. But, where on that list is marriage?