North Carolina Divorce Lawyers Blog

Articles Tagged with family law

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How often have you heard someone claim their grandmother was Native American? What about Italian? More people around the world claim to be Irish than there are people in all of Ireland! The lure of knowing where you come from has led to an explosion in commercial testing services like 23 & Me. As technology has advanced and databases of genetic profiles have grown, so has the information that those commercial genetic tests can provide. This includes health information and wide nets of genetic relatives you may have never known about. Everyone is familiar with genetic testing in custody and child support cases, but learning one’s genetic parentage can lead to a host of issues beyond custody and child support. Continue reading →

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For a non-legal parental figure in North Carolina, custody of a child is a complicated issue. North Carolina doesn’t have statutes that specifically address custody for a non-related, non-adoptive parental figure, so the courts have to rely on case law – cases that have been decided and explained by the Court of Appeals or the NC Supreme Court – to determine what the rules actually are for granting custody to a third party, such as a non-legal parent. Continue reading →

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“Objection – Hearsay!” From Perry Mason to Saul Goodman, anyone who’s watched a courtroom drama has heard it said, but what does it really mean? The technical definition of “hearsay” sounds like complicated nonsense to most people: “an out of court statement used to show the truth of the matter asserted.” The important thing for you to remember on the witness stand is that hearsay is second-hand information, and it’s usually not allowed in court except in special circumstances. Continue reading →

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As in any traditional family, no one goes into a family with three or more parents expecting it to fall apart but, like any traditional family, separation is always a possibility down the line. For those persons who live in a state that doesn’t allow them to become a legal parent to their child, such as in North Carolina, there are steps that a non-legal parent should take to help protect their custody rights should the worst happen. Continue reading →

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Beavers v. McMican, 2022-NCCOA-547.

Facts: Plaintiff David Beavers was married to Wife Alison Beavers in 2004. Plaintiff discovered that Wife had an affair when he found texts and photos on Wife’s phone, sent to a contact labeled “Bestie.” Wife eventually admitted that she had engaged in sexual acts with the person, referring to him as Dustin, a co-worker. Wife later admitted to having intercourse with a co-worker but did not provide a name. Plaintiff became wary of Dustin’s existence and thought that Wife was still concealing information regarding her affair. Plaintiff and Wife separated. Continue reading →

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Between the war in Ukraine and the droughts happening world-wide, fuel and food prices have skyrocketed in recent months. The cost of living has seen a significant increase, even here in the United States, and a set amount of money buys less than it used to. Divorce is almost always tied up with personal finances, so anything that impacts financial situations so much will affect divorce too. Continue reading →

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If you are an intended parent who lives in a state that does not allow more than two persons to be named as legal parents on a child’s birth certificate, it is valuable to consider all your options when deciding the legal structure of your growing family. The law is not structured to deal with or protect non-traditional families, so existing legal structures have to be adapted and carefully applied to fit your situation. Because this is a complicated process and every non-traditional family is unique, you should talk to an experienced family law attorney to learn which options will be the best fit for your child before you take any steps to establish a parenting arrangement with three or more people. Continue reading →

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Almost all societies have traditionally recognized only two legal parents per child, the biological mother and father. Even in cases of adoption, adoptive parents could only step into the place of a missing biological parent. Despite this long history, this has never really reflected the reality of children’s lives. Many children have more than two people in their lives who act as parents, providing care and love and making decisions, but the law rarely recognizes this fact. Continue reading →

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Suozzo v. Suozzo, 2022-NCCOA-620.

Facts: Plaintiff wife and Defendant husband entered into a separation agreement wherein Defendant was to pay Plaintiff $200,000 in monthly installments over 240 months. This arrangement began in March 2006 and would terminate in March of 2026. For the first 18-36 months, Defendant made the monthly payment. Sometime in 2008, Defendant stopped making those payments. Plaintiff chose to file a breach of contract claim against Defendant but not until 2019, more than ten years since Defendant stopped paying. The trial court awarded Plaintiff $100,789 in damages, calculated by granting only the missed payments due within three years of the commencement of Plaintiff’s action—as any unpaid installments due prior to February 2016 were barred by the statute of limitations—and the payments that became due while the action was pending through judgment. Defendant appealed. Continue reading →

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Sherri Papini was originally reported missing by her husband in November 2016 after she left their home in Shasta County, California to go for a jog and never returned. Three weeks later on Thanksgiving Day, authorities found Papini on an interstate highway approximately 140 miles from home.  Continue reading →