Surrogacy is an important way for families who cannot have children on their own to realize their dreams. The practice remains controversial, however, despite the fact that surrogacy has become more common.

Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare have changed the way people connect to friends, family and coworkers. For many users of these services, the day-to-day details of life have become more public, with far-reaching consequences.

In any divorce the division of assets and debts is likely to be one of the major points of disagreement.

Much to the shock of the country earlier this summer, Al and Tipper Gore announced their impending divorce after 40 years of marriage. However, to those who routinely help people navigate through a divorce, this announcement was not nearly as much of a surprise.

In 1999, David Goldman married Bruna Bianchi, a native of Brazil. They settled down in New Jersey and had a child together named Sean. They seemed to have a picture perfect marriage. But then in 2004, Bruna took four-year-old Sean to Brazil on what was supposed to be a two week vacation.

After nearly twenty years of practice in family law, thirty years of parenting, and divorce, I have observed and experienced the good, bad and indifferent approaches to parenting children who find themselves in the middle of their parents’ divorce.

Last September, the Minnesota Court of Appeals began a pilot mediation program that required those with family law issues on appeal to attend mandatory mediation before submitting the case to the appellate court. While some attorneys had doubts about how well the program would do, a year later the program has been heralded as a success with 38 of 72 cases resolved through mediation.

During the nearly quarter of a century that I have dealt with the legal issues surrounding families and children, I have encountered the term "Best Interest of the Child" on thousands of occasions. It is in the statutes; it is in the case law; it is in the literature of the social worker and the psychologist; it is in all of the materials written about children.

Unlike most jobs or professions, lawyers and attorneys are guided in both their personal and professional lives by Codes of Professional Responsibility and Rules of Ethics. A failure to follow the rules or live up to the ethical requirements can lead to private reprimands, public reprimands, suspension from the practice law, or even disbarment.