The Legal Thought Pages

My friend Jared’s father is an attorney. When we were younger, he used to have commercials on television aiming to help people who were considering bankruptcy. When we left for college, Jared’s parents got divorced. Nobody really saw it coming, and both Jared and his younger brother were very upset. His dad ended up moving to Florida, where he is now a successful Tampa bankruptcy attorney. Jared’s mom stayed in Chicago, and both him and his brother stay with her when they are home from college. Jared does have his own place now, even though it is not really much bigger than my college dorm room was. He is in a band that is having some moderate success gigging around Chicago, and I love going to see them. His mom is always at all of his concerts. The other day his dad was in town and was at the concert and it made for an awkward moment when both his dad and his mom came to talk to Jared after the concert. Luckily someone diffused the situation and bought Jared’s dad a beer to bring him away from Jared. It is hard for a kid to see his parents like that, and I know that Jared really does not enjoy getting put in the middle of the situation.