Family Law Section Update: January

Ketan, a man with black hair, wears a white shirt and black jacket. The photo is in black and white.By Ketan Soni

A. We had a Council meeting on January 12, 2023. The next meeting is on March 23, 2023, in Cary, NC.

You might ask: “Why wasn’t I invited?”

The answer is: “You’re not signed up to volunteer as a committee chair or a council member.”

Then, you might say: “Well, how can I get more involved?”

My response would be: “Have you not read any of the previous blog posts where I tell you exactly how to do this? Are you so stinking busy that you can’t take the 15 seconds to email me or Cheyenne Merrigan to get signed up?”

Ketan, a man with black hair, wears a grey suit and light grey shirt and holds a sword and book.You’re gonna say: “Yes, I am that busy.”

I will conclude with: “Duly noted, and I feel the same.”

If you want to be on the Council, there are five folks that fly off at the end of this year, and nominations start in March. Be ready!

B. In other news: Jill Jackson will still be your next Chair and she is the best. #BOLO for her Shelby Benton video interview . . . it is fantastic!

C. Here’s an update on my goals.

  1. Succession Plan: The first draft of this is “in.” I am now revising the heck out of it. Thanks to Cheyenne for getting this one off the ground.
  2. Financial Affidavits: I have stopped winning. After a bustling fall and winter, I dropped the ball in November. I will jump-start this project in February after writing a few CLE that I mistakenly signed up to present. We still have 6 buckets:
    • “Form” of the Financial Affidavit
    • “Income” section of the Financial Affidavit
    • “FIXED” or “SHARED FAMILY” section
    • “INDIVIDUAL MONTHLY” expenses
    • Depicting Standard of Living v. Current Standard
    • User Experience. “User” means our clients, the judges, and ourselves.

We now have over 30 people working on this across the state, except for my slackness, which has caused us to stall.

    1. To streamline Council meetings: it’s a 90/10 on this one. The last meeting was just under 1.5 hours while still addressing important issues, as I set forth below. Keep reading.

Below Is A Section Status Update Since November

Adoption

Brinton: I have seen no promised sandwiches or cookies. This makes me sad.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

The survey is out!

Wade Harrison is ready to introduce the revised Rule 53 on appointment of referees to the legislature via Senator Amy Galey. Thank you for your work, Wade!

Child Support

Updated Child Support Guidelines effects January 1, 2023, are out. Many of you ignored my previous emails distributing the new Guidelines. Nevertheless, the guidelines are available. Also, in this linked survey that you fill out, there is another link to actually download the Guidelines. Please read carefully (this means you, Nick!)

CLE

Next event: Annual meeting in Charleston in April 2023. You must choose between this CLE and Taylor Swift, and you must choose wisely. Seriously, you can make it to both. Here is a flight from CHS to ATL leaving at 1:15pm for only $199. There is another flight leaving at 5:25.

Registration links for the April meeting will be going out soon.

Equitable Distribution

Progress! In February, the GSC  is going to vote on whether to proceed with Whit Clanton‘s committee bill to disallow waiver of Equitable Distribution rights in a deed. I had the pleasure of attending two of these meetings with my Whit Clanton mask on, and let me tell you, I had to check myself before I wrecked myself!

Family Law Bench Book

This thing is getting published! There are minor delays due to major family emergencies, but I believe this will be done before the Annual Meeting in Charleston.

Modern Family

Short and Sweet Bullet Points:

    • The draft is basically done. The committee is at the “1-yard line.”
    • We will circulate the entire thing to a number of people for review.
    • We will have probably multiple Council meetings to review and decide what steps to take from here.
    • The “steps” involve whether to introduce this as legislation now, or not. Many factors go into this decision.

Social

Christy Kaliner and Emily Jeske are like Zuckerberg, planning socials at:

    • Greensboro on January 12. I attended briefly and was able to interact with people I hadn’t seen in two decades, as well as current law students.
    • Charleston on April 28 for the annual meeting.

Generally:

Wishing everyone a wonderful start to the new year.

Ketan Soni is the 2022-23 Chair of the Family Law Section. 

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