By Carolyn J. Woodruff, North Carolina Family Law Specialist It is a privilege in our society to be in a civil courtroom. Courtrooms are places of decorum and are necessary to our system of justice and our freedom. Without witnesses, a trial cannot go forward. Without trials, our freedoms suffer.…
Dear Carolyn, I believe I am the Father of a son, but the Mother is married to someone else. I dated Mother while she and her husband were separated, but now they are back together. We had sex during the time we were dating and the child was born 9…
Dear Carolyn, I have a family member who is separated. Before the separation, this person purchased a house with the deed only in her name and the deed of trust in both names. How will the courts view this property for equitable distribution? My family member thinks that since the…
Dear Carolyn, My wife and I have been married 20 years. Our child is graduating from high school this year, and we are miserable. We own a home with lots of debt and we cannot afford to separate without selling our home first. We both work, but there simply is…
Dear Carolyn, The ex-wife of my new husband is constantly calling my cell phone, following me in my car, and making faces at me at the children’s soccer game. I get texts from her calling me names. She even threatened to come to my work. I feel intimidated. Can I…
Dear Carolyn, I have been reading the horrid stories about children being left in hot cars. I also have been troubled by my next door neighbor leaving her seven-year-old son alone this summer while she goes to work. I have seen this mother lock the door when she leaves in…
Dear Carolyn, I know I should have kept my mouth shut during the divorce, but I didn’t. My daughter-in-law ended up with custody (not that it wasn’t somewhat justified), but now she is taking it out on us and won’t let my husband and I see our own grandchildren. We…
Dear Carolyn, I have a two-year-old and a five-year-old, and I am separated from their Father. I am filing for custody and divorce. I hear I am going to have to go to mediation with the Father, and I really don’t want to see him. I am not exactly afraid…
Opioids are the growing problem in family law. Opioids and domestic violence do not mix and yet yield dreadful consequences. From Greensboro, North Carolina, a 28-year-old woman named Marie Aman will spend many years in prison for the death of a man, who may or may not have been her…
After the death of their eight-year-old son earlier this year, two parents in Ohio have filed a lawsuit against Cincinnati Public Schools. The child hanged himself with a necktie from his bunk bed, an act that his parents claim was a result of bullying he suffered at his elementary school. …