In a recent unpublished opinion of a North Carolina child support decision, a court considered a child support order involving a mother who was voluntarily unemployed. The father had appealed from the lower court’s child support order claiming that the lower court had made a mistake in concluding as a…
Often people assume that if alimony is awarded, a husband will have to pay it to his ex-wife. However, based on consideration of certain statutory factors, alimony can also be awarded to an ex-husband and a wife may be required to pay it. In a recent North Carolina alimony appellate…
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…
As an attorney practicing in family law in the Piedmont, and a mother of two young children, my world can feel very hectic. It is easy to give in to the stressors of the moment, to be overwhelmed and to feel like you do not have control. Whether caring for…
As autumn begins to creep across the Triad, it seems that the temperature isn’t the only thing dropping. According to a study done by the University of Maryland, the number of divorces in the United States is also on the decline. And the reason being attributed for the impressive drop,…