Family Law

Guardian ad litem bills gay couple $100K for report questioning surrogacy

A same-sex married couple who hoped to become parents of a third child with the help of a surrogate mother are facing $400,000 in legal expenses after a guardian ad litem questioned the financial arrangement and a judge refused to approve it. The legal costs include “an astounding” $100,000 billed…

Jul 27, 2016 7:30 AM CDT

State appeals court upholds girl’s placement with relatives in high-profile Indian adoption case

A 6-year-old girl at the heart of a high-profile adoption case was correctly placed with extended family rather than her longtime foster family, a California appeals court ruled Friday. The Los Angeles Superior Court correctly determined that there was no good cause to depart from the placement preferences of the…

Jul 11, 2016 3:32 PM CDT

Judge who detained kids for refusing interactions with dad committed misconduct, special master says

A Michigan judge who initially sent three children to juvenile detention for refusing to interact with their dad committed several acts of judicial misconduct, a special master has found. The judge, Lisa Gorcyca, had acted in a “long, complex and very acrimonious” divorce case that had been pending before her…

Jul 5, 2016 4:30 PM CDT

Federal judge blocks Mississippi law protecting gay-marriage bias based on religious beliefs

A federal judge has blocked a Mississippi law that protects those who discriminate based on a religious belief against gay marriage, premarital sex and transgender recognition. U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves of Jackson, Mississippi, issued a preliminary injunction on Thursday that blocks the law, known as HB 1523, report the…

Jul 1, 2016 9:35 AM CDT

Celebrity divorce lawyer says hacking fears are partly why her law firm joined Blank Rome

Divorce lawyer Stacy Phillips says she wanted to concentrate on law practice rather than worry about hacking that could compromise the information of her celebrity clients. That concern is partly why Phillips’ four-lawyer boutique law firm, Phillips Lerner, decided to be acquired by Blank Rome, report Law.com, Bloomberg Big Law…

Jun 29, 2016 9:37 AM CDT

Two women are killed outside Arizona courthouse after custody hearing

Updated: Two women were shot and killed outside a courthouse in Navajo County, Arizona, late Tuesday afternoon amid a dispute following a custody hearing. A suspect is in custody, report the Arizona Republic, the Associated Press and the White Mountain Independent. A third person was wounded by a gunshot to…

Jun 29, 2016 9:05 AM CDT

Law Scribbler: Acclaimed same-sex marriage advocate Evan Wolfson joins Dentons

When the Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that same-sex couples had a fundamental right to marry, it marked the culmination of famed civil rights attorney Evan Wolfson’s three decade-plus struggle to bring about marriage equality, and an end to Freedom to Marry, the organization he had founded in 2003. But…

Jun 27, 2016 1:45 PM CDT

Divorced and separated people are protected by marital discrimination law, top state court rules

Employers may not discipline, fire or block the advancement of workers who are divorced or in the process of divorcing, the New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled. According to Reuters, the high court ruled 6-0 that New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination, which includes a prohibition on discrimination according to marital…

Jun 23, 2016 2:30 PM CDT

Ohio lawyer who participated in sexting exchange with matrimonial client is suspended

An Ohio lawyer has been suspended from practice for a year by the state’s top court, with six months stayed, for participating in a sexually charged exchange of text messages with a matrimonial client. The texts, which were “mutual, reciprocal and very explicit and graphic,” according to records in the…

Jun 15, 2016 2:15 PM CDT

Judge who survived courthouse shooting now educates others about domestic-violence case risks

Almost exactly 10 years after he survived a sniper-style shooting by a man whose divorce case he was overseeing, a Nevada judge is still on the bench. But Reno Family Court Judge Chuck Weller has since educated himself about the threats posed by individuals in domestic violence cases and is…

Jun 13, 2016 10:00 AM CDT

Law student in Mexico is reunited with his US mom 20 years after kidnapping

More than 20 years after her 1-year-old son was taken by his father from their home in 1995, along with all photographs of the boy, a Southern California mom has been reunited with her child—who is now a young man and had been about to start a University of Puebla…

Jun 10, 2016 1:00 PM CDT

Self-represented litigants perceive bias and disadvantage in court process, report finds

Self-represented litigants in family court have the onus of figuring out how to use the a system that wasn’t designed for their use, making them feel as if they are at a disadvantage or experiencing bias, a new study has found. The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal…

Jun 9, 2016 6:15 AM CDT

Eleanor Alter leads 6-attorney Kasowitz team to new matrimonial boutique

Sought-after matrimonial lawyer Eleanor Alter has exited Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman, along with five other lawyers, to form a new family practice boutique. She said her decision to establish Alter Wolff & Foley last week after 20 years at Kasowitz Benson had “nothing to do with money” and cited…

Jun 3, 2016 12:25 PM CDT

Gunman invaded chief judge’s home, held him hostage for 6 hours before release, authorities say

The chief judge of Finney County, Kansas, was held hostage for nearly six hours at his own home by a gunman on Tuesday, before being released unharmed, authorities say. The ordeal began for 25th Judicial District Chief Judge Wendel Wurst around 7 a.m. when Jason Nichols, 33, knocked on the…

Jun 1, 2016 9:05 AM CDT

Contentious battles between couples over frozen embryos raise legal and ethical dilemmas

When Risa Levine, a real estate attorney in New York City, got married, she wanted nothing more than to have a baby. Her husband at the time also wanted a child, but they weren't able to do so on their own. So they went to a fertility clinic together.

Jun 1, 2016 4:10 AM CDT