Thousands of families around the world have successfully grown with the help of a surrogate mother, and you may have decided that surrogacy is the best option for your family. But before you decide, be sure you’ve done your homework. The legality of surrogacy changes depending on where you are,…
This May, Mental Health Awareness Month, we examine how mental health stigmas impact child custody cases and what to consider if you are a parent diagnosed with a mental illness. Lately, it seems like everywhere you turn, people are discussing Amber Heard and Johnny Depp. A lot has been…
Dozier v. Dozier, 2022-NCCOA-307 (unpublished) (2022) In North Carolina, an Equitable Distribution (ED) judgment is a final court-ordered distribution of the marital assets. Unlike child support, alimony, or custody, these are not modifiable upon showing the court that there has been a substantial change in circumstances. A rule 60…
Davidson v. Davidson, 2022-NCCOA-267 (unpublished) In North Carolina, alimony orders are modifiable upon showing the court that there has been a substantial change in circumstances for either party. In doing so, the trial court ought to revisit many of the factors that justified the original alimony order. The main…
Maiwald v. Maiwald, 2022-NCCOA-321 (unpublished) (2022) In North Carolina, Equitable Distribution (ED) cases will classify, value, and distribute marital assets in a fair way. One major component is classification, as separate property (typically property not acquired during the marriage) is not distributed. If a party owns a business, however,…
Laurel Harmon, Legal Assistant May is National Mental Health Awareness Month. Mental health problems affect not just those with diagnosed mental illnesses. One in five adults will experience a mental health problem every year and one in twenty-five adults will experience a serious mental illness. When you are going through…
May 2nd through the 6th, 2022 is Teacher Appreciation Week in the United States. Join us in celebrating and honoring the tireless work that teachers do to nurture and educate the next generation! It is fair to say that teachers and schooling can be a huge issue in child custody…
In the previous blog, we covered appraisal as a method of valuation of property in the context of Equitable Distribution in a separation. Equitable Distribution (ED) in North Carolina is a legal process by which the court divides the marital property between the parties. The three steps in an ED…
Joseph Maldonado-Passage, aka Joe Exotic and the star of the Netflix hit Tiger King, is set to marry a former fellow inmate, John Graham, pending his divorce from current husband, Dillon Passage. Joe was convicted of a failed murder-for-hire plot that targeted his archenemy, Carole Baskin. Baskin was also featured…
Foxx v. Foxx, 2022-NCCOA-223 (5 April 2022) (unpublished). Some statutes and case laws in North Carolina have a time component. In modifications of child support and custody, the trial court is sometimes required to make comparisons between the old facts and circumstances with the current ones in order to find…