The blame for divorce rates being higher than ever may lie with the coronavirus pandemic. Many lawyers are reporting that the weeks leading up to the holidays have been hectic for them. According to one report, courts have handled a much higher number of divorce filings than usual. Typically, the…
Suppose you have filed a complaint requesting a domestic violence protective order against your partner, and before the return hearing required by law you decide that you want to dismiss the complaint. Victims of domestic violence sometimes dismiss claims out of fear of further harm or retaliation. Or they dismiss…
On Friday, December 11, 2020, Chief Justice Cheri Beasley announced that in North Carolina non-essential, in-person court proceedings would be postponed for 30 days, beginning Monday, December 14, 2020. Unfortunately, this has become the norm as the state continues to battle the widespread effects of the coronavirus pandemic. With in-person…
Think of all the personal data that is collected by your smartphone. Voicemails, text messages, messaging apps, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and dating apps. These can all contain, if not confidential, highly personal and private information you may not want your spouse to have if you are going through a divorce.…
Generally, military disability benefits are exempt from distribution in equitable distribution actions. Here we see whether the court can consider these benefits as income to satisfy a distributive award pursuant to an equitable distribution order. (In this case, Plaintiff improperly filed a Rule 60 motion to set aside the judgment,…
Estes v. Battiston, ___ N.C. App. ___ (2020). In North Carolina, Alienation of Affections and Criminal Conversation are common law torts called “heart-balm” torts that put civil liability on a third party for causing a breakdown in a marriage. In recent years, attempts by defendants to challenge the tort have…
In 2020, the holiday season will be one of the most tumultuous in recent years now that Covid-19 rates are beginning to rise again. For parents with ongoing custody cases or custody orders already in place, it presents an especially trying time. Travel is a large component of every holiday…
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has made fundamental changes in how people interact with the world around them. Businesses immediately felt the impact. Small businesses of all kinds were forced to shut their doors in order to protect the public and their employees. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), among other emergency…
So you’ve moved to Guilford County from Florida and up until your move you and your ex-spouse have been operating under a child custody order that was entered by a judge in a district court in Florida. Now what? North Carolina General Statutes § 50A-305 provides guidelines for registration of…
With the 2020 holidays rapidly approaching, newly separated and divorced parents may be experiencing increased stress over when and how to deal with spending the holidays sharing their children. The first thing to remember is that if you have a child custody order entered by the court, you must follow…