Charlotte Divorce Lawyer Blog

As job losses mount and the recession continues to affect families' bottom lines, parents in North Carolina and other parts of the country are finding it harder to meet their child support obligations. Typically, a noncustodial parent who loses a job can petition the Court to reduce ordered child support payments.

Child welfare officials in South Carolina worry that the lower support payments may force dependent parents to rely on food stamps. Furthermore, as jobless benefits expire, the problems may worsen. For instance, petitions to decrease child support payments increased by 40% in Franklin County, Ohio in 2009, which resulted in a reduction of $3 million in child support across the state. Overall, the state added 16,000 child-support cases, though. Collections are seeing a swifter decline, with a 20% fall off - or $27 million - of payments from December 2009 through January 2010.

Similarly, Berks County, Pennsylvania saw requests for its requests for child support payment reductions increase by 64% during 2008 and 2009. New Hampshire is also feeling the economy's pinch. After years of steady increases in child support payment collections, they dropped off by about 7% last year.

Continue reading "Economic Hardships Affect Child Support Payments in North Carolina, Elsewhere" »

John Edwards, the democratic senator from North Carolina and former presidential candidate who recently admitted to fathering a child with Charlotte-based Rielle Hunter, has been deposed in her lawsuit against Andrew Young. Young, the former aide of Edwards, is best known for writing the tell-all The Politician in which he detailed the affair between Edwards and Hunter. Hunter, whom Edwards employed as videographer during his unsuccessful 2008 bid for the presidency, sued Young for invasion of privacy.

Senator Edwards was recently notified of the deposition and is expected to testify on May 13; another deposition of an unnamed witness, believed to be of Edwards's estranged wife, Elizabeth, has been scheduled for May 24.

Meanwhile, Young has already appeared at five hearings in the matter, for which Hunter has failed to show up. Hunter was ordered by the presiding judge to give testimony on April 21, but she failed to appear, just as she had the previous five times Young's attorneys deposed her.

Continue reading "Former North Carolina Senator to Testify About Affair" »

Many times when a Child Custody dispute arises between parents, a child's best interest is overlooked by battling parties. Within the Mecklenburg County court system, a Guardian Ad Litem program has been put in place to avoid this potential oversight. The 26th District Local Rules for the Charlotte court system allows a Judge to reserve the power to appoint a Guardian Ad Litem in cases where he or she believes appointment to be necessary to preserve the rights of Children.

However, if mediation is waived or does not result in a Parenting Agreement, a party to a Child Custody Action may seek representation of the minor child(ren) by filing a Motion to Appoint a Guardian Ad Litem. A Guardian Ad Litem may be on private attorney or an individual from the staff of the Center for Children's Rights. Depending on the financial situation of either party, a court may force both or just one party to pay the costs for the Guardian Ad Litem.

Continue reading "Charlotte Guardian Ad Litems in Child Custody Cases " »

Every year, thousands of individuals enter the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Court house in North Carolina to dispute issues relating to Family law, including: Divorce, Domestic Violence, Child Support, Child Custody, Equitable Distribution, Post Separation Support, and Alimony.

Due to the mass volume of cases in Charlotte, North Carolina and the surrounding municipalities, Mecklenburg County has established a Family Court, which allows specific Judges to specifically hear Family Law related cases and issues. In doing so, individual participants and their Attorneys benefit from Family Court as Judges are more versed with the current law and are able to become familiar with a particular Family Law Case.

Additional benefits arise from uniform Local Rules, which state that all domestic cases involving the same parties must be assigned to the same judge. This often occurs when to parties have recently separated and are seeking Child Custody and Child Support or when Temporary Child Custody has been established through a 50B Domestic Violence Protective Order

Continue reading "Family Court in Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, North Carolina" »

With the recent spate of high-profile divorces, a new matter that can affect property interests is "celebrity good will." This divisible property interest of the marriage or factor can be considered in awarding alimony and child support.

What's 'Celebrity Good Will'?
Essentially, celebrity good will is a celebrity's enhanced earning capacity or the human capital of a spouse who is famous. The greater the good will, the more likely the celebrity will have future earning capacity that the Courts will consider when making awards. When high-profile persons endure a lengthy or particularly ugly legal battle, their so-called good will decreases.

Continue reading "Notion of 'Celebrity Good Will' to Become Divisible Property Interest?" »

One of the most common types of questions we receive in our Charlotte, North Carolina Office is "How Do I get an Annulment?" In North Carolina, it is very hard to obtain an Annulment and an Annulment may only be granted pursuant to the North Carolina General Statutes.

In North Carolina, only two types of marriages can be Annulled: those marriages that are void and those that are voidable. A Void marriage may be granted if:

Continue reading "Annulments in North Carolina: How Do I Get One?" »

Due to a changing business landscape, the restrictions placed on executive pay are increasingly complicating divorce settlements in North Carolina and nationally. As fewer executives receive bonuses in the form of payouts and instead see them as long-term incentive awards, attorneys and the courts are having a harder time evaluating and dividing a person's bonus. Furthermore, because of the restrictions on the awards, many bonuses are unavailable for daily expenses.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America Corp. plans to pay as much as 95% of its investment banking employees in stock vesting over about three years, while other companies are capping the amount of cash executives receive. In North Carolina, earnings over the previous few years are used to calculate alimony and child support amounts.

Continue reading "Changes to Executive Bonus Pay Affect North Carolina Divorces" »