In part 10 of our practical series for family law attorneys practicing in the Piedmont Triad, we will review the case Matter of Lucas which provides guidance on hearsay statements made to physicians regarding sexual abuse. In our scenario in part 1 of the series, the two children told their…
Part 9 of our continuing series for family law attorneys practicing in Guilford and surrounding counties focuses on the admission of hearsay from social workers and the Department of Social Services. When there is a case that has allegations of abuse, there will likely be intervention from the Department of…
In this part of our continuing practical series, we will address the issues family law attorneys face when trying to admit DSS records and social worker’s testimony into evidence in Guilford and surrounding counties. Matter of Smith is a particularly useful case for when the child has made statements to…
For the next several installments of our practical series for family law attorneys in Piedmont Triad area, we will be reviewing the admission of hearsay statements through the business records exception, Rule 803(6). In this installment, we will consider the case of In re S.W., 625 S.E. 2d 594 (N.C.…
In this part of our series we are reviewing a case that is unpublished, but extremely helpful for family law attorneys practicing in Guilford and surrounding counties presenting testimony by professionals from a Children’s Advocacy Center. For those who are not familiar with Children’s Advocacy Centers, these facilities are designed…
In Part 5 of our series, we look at admitting hearsay statements made to social workers. It is common in cases involving allegations of abuse that a social worker will be involved at some point, whether the social worker conducts the initial interview, or they are brought in after there…
The next case that family law practitioners in Guilford and surrounding counties will find beneficial in the admission of hearsay statements is the case of State v. Hinnant, 523 S.E2d 663, 351 N.C. 277 (2000). According to our fact pattern from Part 1 of our series, the children Aaron and…
As we discussed in Part 2 of our series, family law attorneys practicing in Guilford and surrounding counties have difficulty when trying to admit hearsay statements regarding alleged sexual abuse in custody cases. While there may be several ways to have these hearsay statements admitted, it is crucial the attorney…
In our fact pattern from Part 1 of our series, the first indication of child sexual abuse was in the statements Aaron and Billy made to Grandmother. Family law attorneys in Guilford County would be wise to try to have these statements admitted under the exception in Rule 803(4) on…
When attorneys in Guilford County try custody cases in which there have been allegations of child sexual abuse, it is vital that statements made by the child regarding the abuse be admitted into evidence. These statements regarding abuse can be critical in determining the best interests of the child, as…