Blue v. Bhiro, 2022-NCSC-45 (2022) In North Carolina, our Rules of Civil Procedure govern many aspects of civil trials. This includes the vast majority of the actions you will see incident to divorce and separation, such as child custody, child support, alimony, and equitable distribution. Under these rules, there are…
Maddukuri v. Chintanippu, 2022-NCCOA-128 (1 March 2022) Stipulations are often used to expedite portions of a case/trial so that there is no time wasted on them, allowing the court to focus on the issues that are actually in contention. The use of stipulations of fact is pretty common. It removes…
Defendant Mother appeals from the trial court’s order on child support and custody. The Court of Appeals reverses and remands. Plaintiff Father and Defendant Mother married on January 1, 1994. The parties had two sons and separated on May 10, 1997. The parties’ divorce judgment was filed on August 17,…
Morris v. Powell, 840 S.E.2d 223, 269 N.C.App. 496 (N.C. App. 2020): North Carolina has very recently decided a case of first impression regarding “de facto emancipation.” Emancipation is typically one of the listed termination events for child support. This is when a child, who has not yet attained the…
Ex-football star Clinton Portis is in hot water for non-payment of child support. Portis was a second-round pick by the Denver Broncos back in 2002, then was traded to Washington. He is also a two-time Pro Bowler whose NFL earnings exceeded $43 million during his career until he retired in…
Argueta v. Baker, 137 A.D.3d 1020, 27 N.Y.S.3d 237 (2016) There are times where parents do not effectively co-parent. There are even times where one parent goes out of their way to interfere in the parent-child relationship with the other parent. There are ways to enforce the controlling custody order,…
Harris v. Harris, 352 S.E.2d 869, 84 N.C.App. 353 (N.C. App. 1987) In the case above, the plaintiff was ordered to pay to defendant an Equitable Distribution (ED) distributive award in the amount of $23,706.82, but payment of the award was postponed until the parties’ youngest child reached age 18…
Mendez v. Mendez, 2021-NCCOA-680 (2021) Facts: Plaintiff was ordered to pay defendant $2,271 per month in child support pursuant to a child support order filed in 2015. In 2018, Defendant filed a motion to modify child support. Defendant’s monthly gross income was $3,964. She asserted that the children’s needs have…
Snowden v. Jaure, (Wyoming Supreme Court) With Covid-19 raging for over a year now, many families have been affected and often negatively. Job loss is just one consequence of the pandemic. This has caused a loss in income for many individuals. In families going through a custody case, it means…
Madar v. Madar, No.COA20-28 (Dec. 2020). In North Carolina, court ordered child support can only be modified by further order of the court. Before modification is allowed, the court must find that there has been a substantial change in circumstances that warrant the modification. There is an automatic presumption built…