Wooten v. Wooten, 867 S.E.2d 767 (N.C. Ct. App. 2022) Wooten v. Wooten came before the North Carolina Court of Appeals on Defendant Husband’s appeal of the trial court’s Summary Judgment ordering specific performance by both parties. FACTS: The parties married in 1997 and divorced in 2016. When they divorced,…
Wake Co. obo Williams v. Wiley, 2022-NCCOA-402. Facts: Defendant was ordered to pay child support to Plaintiff in an order from Maryland entered in 2007. For enforcement, the order was to be filed in Wake County. At that time, Defendant was over $42,000 in arrears. Plaintiff filed their notice for…
A person who is or plans to be a parent and has been or is considering engaging in sex work, either legal or illegal, needs to consider how that work will impact any future custody cases. Despite recent movement toward decriminalization of prostitution and increasing acceptance of internet-based sex work,…
Drum v. Drum, 2022-NCCOA-448. Facts: Plaintiff is the maternal grandmother of a minor child. Defendants are the biological mother and father of the minor child. Notably, Defendant Mother was not a party to the appeal; only Defendant Father appealed. The minor child at issue in this custody case had been…
Brady v. Brady, 2022 NCCOA 200 (N.C. Ct. App. 2022) Brady v. Brady came before the NC Court of Appeals on Defendant Husband’s appeal. ISSUE: What findings of facts are required to support awards of alimony, a distributive award, and the unequal distribution of assets. FACTS: Mr. and Ms. Brady…
Discovery is the next step of a family law case prior to a hearing. Discovery is the process of asking for and providing evidence between parties prior to a hearing. Discovery looks for all relevant evidence that isn’t privileged, but those words don’t necessarily mean the same thing in the…
Recent high-profile trials have been live-streamed with great success. The Depp-Heard defamation trial and Rittenhouse prosecution were widely watched by many across the entire world through new media channels such as YouTube, as well as traditional television broadcasting. Recently, someone asked me if North Carolina would allow cameras into our…
Everyone has seen a hearing on TV, but very few people know the process that leads up to that hearing. 95% of family law cases get settled before they even go to trial. Family law cases can be very stressful, but knowing what’s coming next can help lessen that stress.…
Plaintiff Nigel Williams (“Father”) and Defendant Latoria Johnson (“Mother”) were married on May 1, 2015. Father and Mother had one child born February 17, 2016. Father and Mother then separated on April 30, 2016. On January 17, 2017, Father filed a complaint for child custody. On April 28, 2017, a…
In Re TB, 2022-NCSC-43. Facts: In January of 2019, Mecklenburg County DSS filed a petition alleging that the minor child in this action was neglected and dependent. They later moved her to foster care. The petition was initiated when police reported a domestic violence incident in the child’s home in…