By Michele Kelly

After giving legal opinions for 30 years, I am often asked what are some of the top pointers I give. Speaking from experience, one piece of advice I would give is “Do not have a baby with a stripper.”

When you have sex, you could end up with a baby, regardless if you agreed to this conception. With a baby comes great responsibilities for the rest of your life.

We all know who you should have a baby with… right?

As a family law and divorce attorney attorney with 30+ years of experience, I would advise clients to think twice before having a baby with the following:

  • Your spouse you are divorcing
  • Your secretary
  • The painter who is currently painting your home
  • Your children’s babysitter
  • The private investigator in your divorce case
  • Entertainers from your pre-wedding festivities
  • Someone with an age difference of more than 15 years
  • When you did not catch their last name
  • Anyone related to you with in-law in their title
  • Someone without citizenship in your country of residence
  • Your spouse’s best friend
  • The Uber driver who knows where you live
  • Gardner/pool boy or any type of contractor regularly working in your home
  • Someone who looked really hot when you were drunk

Although you may think there are exceptions, based on experience, these situations present volatile conditions among family and/or complex legal issues involving the child. In other words, it’s likely you will be spending most of your unplanned child’s life in litigation because you acted before considering the consequences. In fact, you should plan on having a family law attorney on retainer for the next 18 years. When you are not thinking about long term consequences, at least think about paying an attorney for many years; you may think twice.

Michele Kelly is a Senior Partner at Kelly and Kelly and a Michigan family law attorney with years of experience in litigation with clients in all the above circumstances. Some people have selected individuals in more than one of the categories listed above which makes practicing law fascinating.