Family Law

Parolees Win Same-Sex Rights

Two recently paroled methamphetamine dealers can continue in their relationship of more than 20 years, in spite of a rule that normally bars convicted felons from associating with one another while they are on parole. Initially, Daniel Mangini, 42, and Steven Roberts, 43, were told that they had to follow…

Aug 21, 2007 9:37 PM CDT

Sperm Donor Meets the Kids

For years, Thomas Anthony Donahoe, a 50-year-old Massachusetts family therapist, has wondered about his children. He has never married. But, when he was recovering from a leg injury and needed the money, he donated sperm about 30 or 40 times in the late 1980s. Now the phone is starting to…

Aug 21, 2007 5:48 PM CDT

Immigration Worries for Florida Students

As a star student and popular football player, Juan Gomez got a lot of attention over his recent arrest as an illegal immigrant shortly after his high school graduation. But many other Miami students—exactly how many, no one knows—are facing the same problem, too. More than 20 percent of the…

Aug 20, 2007 9:49 PM CDT

Polygamy Cases Fizzle; Religious Bias?

After two years, criminal cases brought in Arizona against eight men in the same polygamous sect for allegedly marrying underage girls are nearing an end. Three have been convicted—and sentenced to jail sentences ranging from one day to nine months. A fourth was acquitted, and charges were dropped against two…

Aug 17, 2007 9:33 PM CDT

Client’s Ignorance Tolls Legal Malpractice Deadline

A six-year statute of limitations isn’t stopping a disgruntled divorce client from suing her lawyer for malpractice almost 10 years after the initial alimony settlement. A New Jersey appeals court has ruled that the limitations period didn’t begin to run until the client learned from another lawyer that she might…

Aug 16, 2007 12:09 PM CDT

Get Rich, Get a Divorce

Rising real estate prices in New York have had spurred on-the-fence spouses to make the trip to divorce court. That’s the conclusion of a New York Times article that cited the research of economist Gary Becker, who found that couples experiencing an unexpected and large rise in net worth are…

Aug 13, 2007 4:51 PM CDT

WA Teens Sue for Custody of Parents

In what may be the first case brought under a new Washington state law that gives children a legal pathway to seek a restoration of parental rights, two twin brothers are petitioning to be put back in the custody of their parents. Timothy Wolcott was removed from the family home…

Aug 7, 2007 8:32 PM CDT

Till Challenge Do Us Part

A walk down the aisle may not result in a legal marriage, if a couple hired a minister ordained online. About a half dozen states do not recognize marriages performed by ministers who were ordained just to marry people, the New York Times reports. Such marriages may be considered valid…

Aug 6, 2007 2:16 PM CDT

Canada to Review Polygamy Ban?

In a case that could have an effect on United States law enforcement, a prominent Canadian criminal attorney serving as a special prosecutor has recommended that his country reconsider its ban on polygamy. Appointed in a British Columbia case involving a U.S.-based splinter Mormon group that has reportedly openly practiced…

Aug 1, 2007 11:47 PM CDT

Where’s Molly? New Law Aids Searchers

An Oregon man’s successful search to find the younger sister who was institutionalized decades ago, when she was not quite three years old, is making it easier for others to follow in his footsteps. It has led both to a documentary film about his quest (“Where’s Molly?”) that premiered this…

Aug 1, 2007 7:14 PM CDT

Raids Dividing Immigrant Families

As federal authorities amp up their efforts to enforce immigration laws, some immigrant families are facing a tough choice. Children born in this country are U.S. citizens and have a right to live here. But if their non-citizen parents are here illegally, the adults have to decide whether to leave…

Jul 30, 2007 6:17 PM CDT

Same-Sex Registry Doesn’t End Alimony

Even under California’s current domestic partnership law, same-sex couples don’t get all the same benefits as married opposite-sex couples. So they also don’t get all the same detriments, an Orange County judge has decided. Thus, the fact that Ron Garber’s ex-wife has registered as a domestic partner of another woman…

Jul 23, 2007 11:16 PM CDT

Child Support Appeal Backfires

A millionaire father who tried to get his child support payments reduced will end up paying more due to a ruling yesterday by the California Court of Appeals. Adam Venit had challenged his monthly support payments of nearly $27,000, but a trial judge instead increased the amount to about $31,600…

Jul 17, 2007 4:40 PM CDT

US Citizens Move for Foreign Partners

Tim Miller has met his life partner. The problem is, the couple can’t live happily ever after here in the U.S. That’s because his partner, Alistair McCartney, is not only gay but an Australian citizen. Even if the two establish residency in one of the handful of states that allows…

Jul 16, 2007 10:22 PM CDT

80-Plus = Too Old to Raise Grandchild?

A Philadelphia couple, aged 85 and 89, have at least temporarily lost custody of their 5-year-old grandson, whom they had cared for since his birth, apparently because a family court judge considered them too old to handle the hyperactive boy. Although the city’s Department of Human Services recommended that the…

Jul 13, 2007 7:58 PM CDT