May 9, 2008The ABA Litigation News Online reveals a problem with using your employer-provided email address. Your email–even to your attorney–may not be private, confidential or protected.
Ruth E. Piller writes (excerpt):
Employees who believe their email communications with their attorneys are privileged may actually be waiving the attorney-client privilege each time they send or receive email via […]
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February 11, 2008Name changes at the time of divorce are very simple in Michigan. An additional provision in the judgment of divorce is all it takes. It’s a little more involved when you decide to seek a name change years down the road.
Kent County’s website explains the procedure as follows:
Pre-Requisites
Applicant must be a resident […]
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February 7, 2008The Michigan Court of Appeals is publishing Berger v. Berger (Case No. 279025; January 31, 2008). The court addressed a number of legal issues surrounding divorces with children:
10-day residency requirement of MCL 552.9(1)
We do not agree with defendant’s argument that MCL 552.9(1) requires plaintiff’s continuing physical presence in Jackson County for the 10 days […]
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January 10, 2008The New York Times reports on the Vermont divorce court handling Garrido v. Krasnansky. The court ordered the husband to stop posting blog items about his wife and their crumbled marriage, possibly turning an ordinary divorce into a much broader battle over free speech on the Internet.
Abby Goodnough writes (excerpt):
The husband, William Krasnansky, posted […]
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January 7, 2008The Michigan Court of Appeals is publishing its decision in Thornton v. Thronton (January 3, 2008, Case No. 270931). The per curiam decision held (excerpt):
In this domestic relations action, plaintiff appeals by leave granted two orders signed by
the trial court on May 23, 2006. The first order reduced plaintiff’s award of spousal support and
the […]
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January 2, 2008The Washington Post describes how divorces of same-sex marriages challenge the legal framework for divorce, including issues related to jurisdiction and venue, child custody, parenting time, alimony (spousal support), property division, retirement and taxation.
Dafna Linzer writes (excerpt):
. . . Heterosexual couples claim a tax deduction for alimony payments, but that benefit is not available to […]
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December 6, 2007The Michigan Court of Appeals is publishing Surman v Surman (Case No. 276615, 12/4/2007), which addresses children as witnesses (excerpt):
While courts should seek to avoid, trial court may call child to testify in court about his or her allegations of abuse during child custody proceeding divorcing parents from being pushed to the center of their […]
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October 12, 2007The Social Security Administration presents answers to your questions about Social Security and retirement.
In addition, Nolo has information on Social Security and retirement, including:
Retirement Plans
Enjoying Retirement
Medicare, Medicaid, Medigap and Managed Care
Long-Term Care
Wills & Estate Planning
Power of Attorney
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October 9, 2007Proving best interests for change in custody
Dumm v. Brodbeck, Mich.App., July 19, 2007:
Defendant failed to establish by clear and convincing evidence that a change in custody was in Gwyneth’s best interest. Defendant alleged that plaintiff forced Gwyneth to use the last name “Dumm” at school. Defendant also asserted that officials at Gwyneth’s school told him […]
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August 16, 2007 The AP/New York Times reports on how some parents fail to fully plan their vacations (excerpt):
The State Department denies passports to noncustodial parents who owe more than $2,500 in child support. Once the parents make good on their debts, they can reapply for passports.
****
In all, states have reported collecting at least $22.5 million […]
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July 3, 2007In two recent decisions by the Michigan Court of Appeals, the trial court’s findings of continued troublemaking by one parent led to changes and restrictions on that parent’s custodial and parenting rights.
Roodvoets v. Royce: The trial court changed custody to sole legal custody in favor of the father and modified the mother’s parenting time to […]
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June 5, 2007AP and CNNnotes the Chicago judgment awarding one of the biggest divorce verdicts in U.S. history. Maya Polsky was awarded $184 million in her divorce from Michael Polsky.
The AP writes (excerpt):
“They would walk together after dinners, and Michael would share details of his work, looking for empathy, advice or merely an open ear,” Rosenfeld […]
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December 10, 2006The Michigan Court of Appeals is publishing Sinicropi v. Mazurek (Case No. No. 268000, December 7, 2006). The court held that an acknowledgement of paternity precludes entry of an order of filiation.
Judge Murphy writes (excerpt):
We hold that an order of filiation cannot be entered under the Paternity Act if, under the Acknowledgment of […]
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October 26, 2006The Michigan Court of Appeals published Peterson v Peterson (October 24, 2006, Case No. 260591), holding that for child support purposes, depreciation is income without an offsetting tax adjustment.
Judge Murphy writes (excerpt):
Plaintiff appeals by leave granted the trial court order adopting the Friend of the Court (FOC) recommendation concerning defendant’s child support obligation. The issue […]
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July 19, 2006The AP reports on U.S. District Judge David Lawson’s dismissal of the lawsuit filed to declare Matthew Dubay’s child support obligation to Lauren Wells, his ex-girlfriend, unconstitutional (excerpt):
But Lawson disagreed and rejected Dubay’s argument that Michigan’s paternity law violates the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause.
“The fundamental flaw in Dubay’s claim is that he […]
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July 11, 2006The ABA Litigation Section updates us on developments related to disclosure of privileged materials.
Michael Yablonski writes (excerpt):
With little fanfare, the ABA has withdrawn a controversial 1992 ethics opinion requiring a lawyer who inadvertently receives privileged material from an opponent to refrain from reading the material, notify the sender of the error, and abide by the […]
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May 3, 2006The Michigan Supreme Court issued its decision in Sweebe v Sweebe (April 26, 2006, Docket No(s) 126913), holding that life insurance benefits can be waived by signing a judgment of divorce.
Justice Cavanagh wrote:
The issue in this case is whether the preemption provision of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 USC 1001et seq., precludes […]
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March 18, 2006Cornell Law School is previewing Monday’s Supreme Court arguments concerning 911 calls/statements at the scene and domestic violence, in the wake of Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36.
Davis v. Washington (05-5224):
The trial judge allowed into evidence a 911 call made by the alleged victim, even though that person failed to appear at trial. See
Cornell’s […]
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February 3, 2006The Michigan Supreme Court issued its per curiam opinion in People v. Monaco (Case No. 126852, 2/1/2006). All seven justices agreed that the statute of limitations for felony non-support is the six year “catch-all” period in MCL 767.24(5). The justices rejected the prosecution’s theory that the 10 year period in MCL 750.165(1) applied. […]
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October 22, 2005The ABA e-Journal explains how grandparenting time laws have fared after the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Troxel.
Geri L. Dreiling writes (excerpt):
According to Washburn University law professor Linda Elrod, who is also the editor of the Family Law Quarterly for the ABA’s Family Law Section, most courts have imposed four different requirements to find […]
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