Family Law

Attorney sued for malpractice is suspended after releasing client’s psychiatric records

A Connecticut attorney reportedly released a former client’s psychiatric records in an online court filing because he was mad that she sued him for malpractice following his representation in a condominium association matter. Jason Pearl, who has been in practice since 1956, received a two-year suspension of his law license…

Sep 18, 2018 9:49 AM CDT

Couple’s divorce terms are vacated because of judge’s ghostwritten opinion

A district judge in Iowa has vacated a couple’s divorce decree because it was ghostwritten by a lawyer without the knowledge of opposing counsel. District Judge Jeffrey Neary said Thursday that the marriage of Troy and Audra Presuhn is still dissolved but other aspects of their divorce are vacated, the…

Sep 14, 2018 9:13 AM CDT

Divorce lawyer’s side job is officiating at weddings

Andrew Schmidt owns the oldest law firm in Marathon County, Wisconsin, with a large family law practice. He realized his law license works both ways, to start marriages as well as end them.

Sep 1, 2018 2:50 AM CDT

Billie Tarascio: Her law firm is her lab

Billie Tarascio is experimenting on her law firm for the profession’s greater good.

Sep 1, 2018 2:25 AM CDT

The job is killing them: Family lawyers experience threats, violence

A series of surveys on violence against lawyers shows that family lawyers face disproportionate amounts of threats and violence compared to other lawyers. Almost all lawyers in the 27 states surveyed said they’d received some kind of threat or experienced violence. But the rate for family lawyers was higher.

Sep 1, 2018 1:10 AM CDT

Judge declares longtime lesbian couple in Utah legally married months after 1 partner’s death

Bonnie Foerster and Beverly Grossaint were legally married last week about three months after Groissant’s death at 82. Foerster, 74, told the Salt Lake Tribune she is “numb from happiness” after Judge Patrick Corum granted her posthumous marriage petition on Aug. 21. The couple had been together for 50 years.…

Aug 29, 2018 6:00 AM CDT

First paralegal practitioners in Utah are expected to be licensed in 2019

The first paralegal practitioners in Utah are expected to be licensed in 2019, making the state the second to license nonlawyers to practice law. New rules regulating paralegal practitioners are set to take effect Nov. 1, LawSites reports. They will allow law practice without a lawyer’s supervision in three areas,…

Aug 7, 2018 9:04 AM CDT

States may scrap marriage licenses as counties resist same-sex ruling

Probate judges in at least seven Alabama counties refuse to issue marriage licenses to any couples, same-sex or heterosexual, so lawmakers may abolish licenses altogether. Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Montana have similar proposals.

Jul 1, 2018 1:50 AM CDT

Divorce lawyer is shot and killed by his client’s former husband, police say

Updated: A 41-year-old divorce lawyer in Cartersville, Georgia, was shot and killed Wednesday.

Jun 21, 2018 12:52 PM CDT

Another ruling by controversial Philadelphia family court judge is overturned

Updated: A Philadelphia family court judge who repeatedly interrupted a lawyer and frequently noted the late hour violated the due process rights of three children when she removed them from the home of their mother, a Pennsylvania appeals court has ruled.

Jun 12, 2018 7:10 AM CDT

Separating asylum-seeking immigrant families violates due process rights, federal judge says

Separating asylum-seeking mothers from their children is brutal, offensive and a violation of the due process clause, according to a federal judge in San Diego.

Jun 7, 2018 3:32 PM CDT

Police identify divorce litigant believed to have killed 2 paralegals and 4 others

Police in Arizona have identified divorce litigant Dwight Lamon Jones as the suspect who killed six people in the Phoenix area before he fatally shot himself Monday morning at an extended-stay hotel in Scottsdale.

Jun 5, 2018 10:34 AM CDT

IRS overhaul throws divorce calculations into turmoil

President Donald Trump’s tax code overhaul has confused matrimonial lawyers, mediators and divorcing couples trying to reach financial settlements. For 75 years, alimony was deductible for the payer, and the recipient paid income tax on it.

Jun 1, 2018 2:05 AM CDT

Opioid family court cases increase

Child welfare agencies in Vermont, Minnesota and Ohio cite opioids as driving an increase in the number of children in foster care. A 2011 study found that opioid abuse was associated with increased domestic violence.

Jun 1, 2018 12:25 AM CDT

Judge orders NY man out of his parents’ home, says he isn’t entitled to 6 months’ notice

A judge in upstate New York has ordered a 30-year-old man to leave his parents’ home, even as he praised his legal research. Supreme Court Justice Donald Greenwood, a trial-level judge, said Michael Rotondo has to leave the home in Camillus, New York, and he isn’t entitled to six months’…

May 23, 2018 11:24 AM CDT