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.
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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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July 31, 2005Michigan’s Child Support Amnesty Program will run from October 1, 2005, through December 31, 2005 and seeks to collect past-due support by stopping criminal or civil child support enforcement penalties during the program (excerpt):
* To be eligible for the program the payer must, between October 1, 2005, and December 31, 2005:
[...]
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June 9, 2005The ABA’s Litigation News features “Change in Deposition Testimony Leads to Preclusion,” by Joseph Beckman. The article links to two additional articles:
E. Phelps Gay, Professionalism in Depositions: The Sound of Silence, Louisiana State Bar Ass’n, Professionalism and Quality of Life Committee, available at www.lsba.org/professionalism/Gay-Sp04.pdf.
Sandra F. Gavin, Playing by the Rules: Strategies for Defending [...]
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June 1, 2005The AP is reporting on developments in Lebanon, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville, where a family court judge ordered a Mexican immigrant mother to learn English at risk of losing her child (excerpt):
[Felipa Barrera] said she loves her daughter and denies hitting her. Her attorneys say their client would not even be in court if [...]
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May 4, 2005Findlaw covers the issue of fault (adultery) and alimony (spousal support), as raised before the New Jersey Supreme Court.
Joanna Grossman writes (excerpt):
Courts and legislators also developed a particularized dislike for fault considerations in alimony awards, given the development and widespread adoption of no-fault divorce laws.
The Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act, first promulgated in 1970, reflects [...]
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March 1, 2005The United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Roper v. Simmons (March 1, 2005). The Court held, in a 5-4 ruling, that the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments forbid imposition of the death penalty on offenders who were under the age of 18 when their crimes were committed.
Justice Kennedy writes (excerpt):
It is difficult [...]
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January 9, 2005Michigan’s newly enacted grandparentting time statute is 2004 Public Act 542, amending MCL 722.22 and 722.27b. A grandparent involved in such a dispute will be required to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the parent’s decision to deny grandparenting time creates a substantial risk of harm to the child’s mental, physical, or [...]
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December 12, 2004Here’s an example of how not practice law, folks.
The recent case of Robert J. Blaha, Jr. v Faupel & Associates, P.C., unpublished per curiam opinion of the Court of Appeals, issued December 2, 2004 (Docket No. 250241) is a public relations disaster for lawyers. One can only hope that the facts as [...]
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December 12, 2004The Sixth Circuit issued a 2-1 decision in Barrett v Steubenville City Schools (No. 03-4373; November 15, 2004). The panel–faced with a challenge by a public school teacher who sent his children to Catholic schools–reaffirmed that parents have a constitutionally protected liberty interest in raising and directing the education of their children.
Judge Keith writes [...]
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