Gray v. Holliday, COA20-425 (May 2021) (unpublished). In Greensboro, grandparent visitation rights may be awarded if the Court deems it appropriate. This often happens by intervening in the custody battle being fought by the custodial parents. But what happens when one of the parents passes away before the custody issue…
Warren DSS v. Gerrelts, No.COA20-868 (June 2021). This is an oddity of a case. Civil procedure has an interesting quirk called choice of law. It is an intensely fact-driven area of law that is still being actively researched and written about. Just the mere mention of the Erie Doctrine is…
Handerson v. Wittig, No.COA20-924 (July 2021). Modifications to child custody orders require a substantial change in circumstances affecting the welfare of the child. The change in circumstance is the gatekeeper. That alone will not amount to modification; the court still needs to determine if the change in circumstance affects the…
Craven County o/b/o Jessica L. Wooten v. Adel Hageb (No. COA20-442) Defendant Adel Hageb (“Father”) and Plaintiff Jessica L. Wooten (“Mother”) were never married but were involved in a romantic relationship. Mother gave birth to a child in 2016 and another child in 2017. After it was determined that…
Graham v. Jones, 270 N.C. App. 674 (2020). In North Carolina, grandparents have the ability to have their concerns for custody and visitation heard by the courts. Our statutes allow any parent, relative, or other person claiming a right to custody to institute an action for child custody. Grandparents are…
Browne v. Browne, 101 N.C. App. 617 (1991). Child support in North Carolina is most commonly determined by using the presumptive guidelines. We have written about the use of the guidelines in the past, such as here. But not every case will be a guideline case. The guidelines themselves indicate…
June is National Children’s Awareness Month. This month brings awareness to children’s safety and well-being and provides the perfect opportunity to generate awareness on child abuse and neglect. Just recently, U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), co-chairs of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, announced that they have…
Family law and child custody have once again been brought to the forefront of Hollywood news with the recent announcement that Judge John Ouderkirk has decided to award Brad Pitt joint custody of his children with Angelina Jolie. The decision applies to five Jolie-Pitt children who are all under the…
CRAVEN CTY. V. HAGEB, 2021-NCCOA-231 Child support in Greensboro is most often calculated using guidelines and worksheets that provide a formula based on income, overnights with the child, and some other factors. A failure to follow the guidelines is error that can be appealed. Most often, the biggest factors are…
For full text of S. 397 click here June is Children’s Awareness Month, and on the occasion a bill (S. 397) was introduced into the United States Senate titled the Safe Home Act. What this bill aims to do is curtail the “unregulated custody transfers” that occur incident to adoption.…