June is Men’s Health Month, and after a messy separation you may imagine that health is not a priority. To help raise awareness of the topic, here are a few tips to get the mind and body back on the right track. After all, it can take a lot of…
North Carolina Divorce Lawyers Blog
New Delhi: Suing to Get a Grandchild
A couple in India, Sanjeev Ranjan Prasad and his wife Sadhana Prasad, are retired and longing for a grandchild. The couple have one son, who received pilot training in the United States and is currently a pilot. Approximately six years ago, Sanjeev and Sadhana arranged for their son to marry…
Surrogacy, Part 4: Gamete Donor Contracts
Surrogacy and in-vitro fertilization are generally not possible without gamete donors. However, like surrogacy contracts, gamete donation isn’t addressed by North Carolina statutes or cases. Both donors and intended parents need to protect themselves under North Carolina’s contract laws by making sure they have a strong contract addressing their interests.…
National Pizza Party Day – Do It for the Kids
We’ve written before on the importance of establishing some new routines and traditions after (or during) a tough separation and divorce. Sometimes if you focus on the simple things it can make the difficult and complicated seem easier to deal with, especially in a contentious custody case. The courts believe…
Surrogacy, Part 3: Contracts
As we discussed in Part 2 of our series, North Carolina doesn’t have statutes or case law protecting surrogates and intended parents, so the best way to protect yourself, no matter your role in the process, is to have an ironclad surrogacy contract. A surrogacy contract should be reviewed by…
Surrogacy, Part 2: North Carolina Laws
In Part 1, we talked about the confusing hodgepodge that is international and US surrogacy law. In considering surrogacy, you may be hoping to keep things close to home to keep travel costs down and stay close to everyone involved and wondering what the law is here in North Carolina.…
Surrogacy, Part 1: Legal Parentage
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,…
Mental Illness and Stigma in Child Custody Cases
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…
Equitable Distribution Judgments Are Not Modifiable
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…
Alimony and Imputation of Defendant’s Income
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…