By Mitchell Kelling Each year, the Family Law Section is usually fortunate enough to have sufficient funds left over to make several donations. This year, the Council elected to make donations to the UNC School of Government in honor of Cheryl Howell and to the North Carolina Bar Foundation with the funds earmarked for Free […]
By Rebecca Watts Craven County o/b/o Wooten v. Hageb, Court of Appeals of North Carolina, June 1, 2021 (Child Support) Father and mother have two children together. Father has three other minor children from previous relationships – two of those other children live with him. Mother is a W-2 employee and father is self-employed. In its […]
By Rebecca Watts DiPrima v. Vann, COA20-545, Court of Appeals of North Carolina, May 18, 2021 A sixteen-year-old plaintiff sought a 50C order against a seventeen-year-old defendant after the defendant intimidated and harassed her by following and touching her without her consent, threatening to kill or harm her if she stopped being his friend, threatening […]
By Larissa Mervin Family Law Section members, have you been looking for safe and effective ways to give back to the community? Well, look no further. Two upcoming North Carolina Bar Foundation pro bono events give us the opportunity to share the wealth of family law knowledge and experience that our section has to offer. Details […]
By Larissa Mervin and Afi Johnson-Parris Do you know of someone in our section who goes beyond the call of their duties and embodies the very spirit of what we do? Has a section member provided exemplary service to the profession of family law, as well as their local and broader communities? If so, we […]
By Rebecca (Becky) Watts M.E. v. T.J., decided North Carolina Court of Appeals, December 31, 2020 (Constitutionality of 50B’s exclusion of same-sex dating partners) In 1979, the North Carolina General Assembly added a chapter to our General Statutes to “provide remedies for domestic violence.” In these newly created domestic violence statutes, remedies were available to […]
By Danielle Kestnbaum Family law is not an area that many attorneys feel neutral about. Most people either love it or won’t touch it if given the choice. The crushing stress that most family law clients are under and the ways in which that stress manifests itself mean that family law attorneys have to approach […]
By Kim R. Bonuomo From the leaders of groups that deal with families in crisis: Susan Myres, President of American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) Larry Fong, President, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) Mindy Mitnick, AFCC President-Elect Matt Sullivan, AFCC Past President Laura Belleau, AAML Second Vice President Kim Bonuomo, AAML committee co-chair […]
By Suzanne Chester As a child’s attorney, I read an article by the child psychiatrist, Dr. Roy Lubit, with interest. The article is entitled “Valid and invalid ways to assess the reason a child rejects a parent: The continued malignant role of ‘parental alienation syndrome’” and is available in the Journal of Child Custody, 16(1): […]
Happy October from the NCBA Family Law Section’s CLE committee! We have some exciting updates to share about upcoming CLEs: Practical Magic: The 2020 Essentials of Family Law will be offered via live webcast on November 5-6. This biannual 2-day program has been updated and refreshed to include in-depth coverage of the statutory Chapter 50 […]