A 529 Savings Plan allows parents to put aside money for their kids’ college expenses under tax-favorable conditions. How should trial courts classify the money in a 529 Savings Plan that is created and funded during marriage when a couple is getting a divorce? In a recent North Carolina marital…
In a recent appellate court decision that discusses an aspect of North Carolina custody law, a mother appealed from an order that granted her and the father joint custody of teenage children pending the start of a reunification program. The program was supposed to fix the kids’ relationship to their father,…
Growing up in a tiny town near Greensboro, N.C., I can remember being a kid and playing in the yard, getting skinned knees and bee stings. That’s what we did “back then.” I remember picking up pecans and climbing trees and riding my bike. We had a rotary dial telephone. …
The custodial parent must not decrease the status of the other parent in the child’s eyes. That is fundamental. Also fundamental: Do not place the child in the middle of the parent’s dispute. Woncik versus Woncik, from the court of appeals in North Carolina is instructive on the two fundamental…
What is the best way to get your visitation suspended? Alienate your child or attempt to alienate your child from the other parent. A case that was filed September 18, 2018, in the North Carolina Court of Appeals illustrates this tragic error on the part of the mother. See Sneed…
We are officially in the midst of the best season of the year. No, I’m not referring to the pumpkin-filled days of Fall. I’m talking about football season. But as we don our team colors and cheer on our favorite players, the on-field battles aren’t the only ones that family…
Dear Carolyn, I reluctantly entered into a consent child custody order with the mother of my child in 2013. We were never married and never actually lived together. The child is now five having been born in 2011. I get visitation under the 2013 order, but the court never heard…
Dear Carolyn, I am the father of two children, ages 10 and 12. The mother of the children lives in West Virginia, where she moved after our divorce. The children were born and always have lived in North Carolina. The North Carolina order for custody allows the children to travel…
Dear Carolyn, I am a grandmother, and I want to help pay for the tuition for my grandchild’s day care and education at a nice day care facility. Then, my daughter and son-in-law can work without worry. They own their own business, and they both need to focus some quality…
Dear Carolyn, I am a father of a beautiful 8-year-old daughter and a handsome 10-year-old son. I live here, but the mother lives in California. The mother has custody, but the children will be visiting with me for the last two weeks of July and the first two weeks of…