Family Law

Losing litigant is charged in attack at Virginia law firm

A losing litigant is accused of storming into a Virginia law firm on Wednesday where he assaulted employees and kicked a dog. Kevin O’Hara, 46, of Amelia County, Virginia, is being held without bond in the incident at Owen & Owens in Midlothian, report WTVR and WRIC. He is charged…

Feb 6, 2015 7:16 AM CST

Man to get 3 years for failing to secure gun used by his son, 4, to fatally shoot playmate

Corrected: A New Jersey man is expected to be sentenced to a three-year prison term Thursday for failing to secure a loaded .22-caliber rifle with which his 4-year-old son fatally shot a 6-year-old playmate in 2013. Anthony Senatore, 35, pleaded guilty in October to two counts of child endangerment related…

Feb 5, 2015 10:30 AM CST

11th Circuit refuses to stay same-sex marriage ruling; Alabama AG turns to SCOTUS

Same-sex marriage in Alabama is expected to begin shortly, following an 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal decision Tuesday. According to the Alabama Media Group, the 11th Circuit denied a state request to stay a lower federal court ruling, which found the state’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional. The filing asked…

Feb 3, 2015 1:03 PM CST

How these law students help costs and acrimony for divorcing couples (podcast with transcript)

In the wake of divorce, many families find themselves emotionally and financially devastated. If you're in the heat of a legal battle, it's easy to go too far and create acrimony with your ex-spouse which can poison any chance at a cordial future relationship–and drain both sides' bank accounts to pay for attorney fees. But what if if didn't have to be that way?

Feb 2, 2015 9:00 AM CST

Model program brings holistic solutions to divorce

In what may be a first in the divorce world, Pamela Robinson refers to her experience in getting a legal separation as “beautiful.” It even featured the appearance of a puppy. “I was absolutely pleased with it,” says the Denver mother of three and recruiter for accounting and finance professionals.…

Feb 1, 2015 4:20 AM CST

Letters: Support for parents

“Far from Home,” December, misses a major aspect of how our child abuse and neglect laws operate to prevent children who are adopted and also biological children who cannot be safely cared for at home from accessing reasonable alternative support without relinquishing custody. Even when custody relinquishment is the only…

Feb 1, 2015 4:00 AM CST

Mom accused of faking medical problems to get unneeded treatment for her children takes plea deal

Despite extensive tests, doctors at Seattle Children’s couldn’t figure out why Carmen Boyce’s two young children weren’t eating normally. But they did notice that eating problems arose only when Boyce was alone with them at the hospital. Charged in 2013 with faking medical issues and encouraging physicians to perform unnecessary…

Jan 29, 2015 1:10 PM CST

Complaint targets Alabama chief justice’s vow to fight ‘tyranny’ of gay-marriage rulings

A group that fought Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore over his courthouse installation of a Ten Commandments monument has filed an ethics complaint over his vow to fight the “tyranny” of gay-marriage rulings. In a Jan. 27 letter to Alabama’s governor, Moore wrote that a federal court ruling striking down…

Jan 29, 2015 7:13 AM CST

Dads sue New Jersey family court judges, claim ‘best interest of the child’ standard violates rights

A would-be class action lawsuit filed by six fathers claims New Jersey family court judges are unconstitutionally depriving plaintiffs of child custody by using a “best interest of the child” standard. The amended lawsuit was filed last week after U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson granted a motion to dismiss on…

Jan 28, 2015 8:14 AM CST

Alabama chief justice: Federal ruling on gay marriage doesn’t bind state judges

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore claims in a letter to the governor that a federal court ruling striking down the state’s gay-marriage ban doesn’t bind Alabama judges. Moore’s letter (PDF) to Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley said he stood with the governor “to stop judicial tyranny and any unlawful opinions issued…

Jan 28, 2015 7:17 AM CST

Chemerinsky: It’s shaping up to be a momentous term for SCOTUS

Absent extraordinary circumstances, the docket for October Term 2014 is now complete, and it has the potential to be one of the most momentous in history. On Jan. 23, the Supreme Court took the last cases to be heard this term; anything granted after this almost certainly will be heard…

Jan 27, 2015 9:05 AM CST

SCOTUS, 6th Circuit agree judge was immune from suit over affair with party in case

The nation’s top court has declined to review a federal appeals court decision that a Detroit judge was immune from suit even though he had an affair with a woman seeking child support in a case on his calendar. A three-judge panel of the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of…

Jan 26, 2015 3:45 PM CST

Widow of longtime FedEx worker sues over denial of spouse’s pension benefits

The same-sex widow of a longtime FedEx worker is suing the company, saying it refused to pay her spousal survivor’s benefits. The suit (PDF), filed Wednesday in federal court in Oakland, Calif., alleges that FedEx refused to provide the benefits because its pension plan incorporates the federal Defense of Marriage…

Jan 16, 2015 3:41 PM CST

Parents investigated for allowing their ‘free-range’ kids to walk home alone

A Maryland couple who believe in “free-range” parenting say they are under investigation for allowing their children to walk home alone from a Silver Spring park. The children are 10 and 6, and the walk home was a mile in length, the Washington Post reports. Police picked up the children…

Jan 15, 2015 6:52 AM CST

SCOTUS denies cert in Louisiana gay-marriage case, takes no action on others

The U.S. Supreme Court denied cert today in a same-sex marriage case from Louisiana and took no action on four other cases in which a federal appeals court upheld gay-marriage bans. In the Louisiana case, litigants had asked the Supreme Court to review a federal judge’s decision to uphold the…

Jan 12, 2015 9:21 AM CST