Charlotte Divorce Lawyer Blog

Durham County (NC) Judge Nancy Gordon has surprised many by awarding custody of two children to their father because their mother was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer. "The course of her disease is unknown. Children who have a parent with cancer need more contact with the non-ill parent," Gordon write in her ruling.

The children, aged 11 and 5, will be relocating to Chicago, where their father resides. The move and the ruling trouble 33-year-old Alaina Giordano. "The judge knows that I don't have the means to be flying to Chicago to visit them, pay for a place to stay, or to fly them here on any sort of regular basis.

Continue reading "North Carolina Woman Loses Custody Because of Breast Cancer" »

Massachusetts lawmakers are considering a new bill that would ban parents from "conducting a dating or sexual relationship" within their home until their divorces are final. The bill's sponsor, Robert Leclair, who reportedly went through a contentious divorce himself and is the former president of the disbanded Fathers United for Equal Justice, argues the bill is intended to prevent domestic violence and shield children until the parents have resolved their divorce.

Critics of the bill argue that it takes away parents' rights and could be unconstitutional.

Continue reading "Bill Seeks to Ban Divorcing Parents From Engaging in Sex at Home" »

In October 2004, Alaska's then attorney general, Gregg Renkes, opined that Alaska had sole jurisdiction over all child-custody proceedings in its state, including over Native tribes' custody proceedings. But after a seven-year battle, Alaska's Supreme Court ruled that tribal courts can initiate child-custody hearing for their own members.

According to the state's Office of Children's Services, the court decision "opened the door" so the agency can honor tribal-court orders and provide records tribes have requested. It's also given OCS the impetus to update its policy manual, which OCS and the state's Department of Law are working to bring the manual in line with the ruling.

Continue reading "Alaskan Tribes Get Jurisdiction Over Custody Cases" »

Hollywood star and former California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and his TV journalist wife, Maria Shriver, announced their separation on Monday after 25 years of marriage and 34 years together. According to rumors, their problems began in 2003 when Schwarzenegger decided to run for governor. Shriver, a member of the Kennedy family, gave up her successful job with NBC when he ran and stood by him amidst allegations of extramarital affairs.

It seems Shriver has been giving clues to the impending separation: in December, she told an interviewer that she didn't know Schwarzenegger would run for California's highest position until after he announced it on The Tonight Show; she also said, "I have no idea what 2011 will bring for me. But I will definitely be in a different place next year than I am today." Furthermore, she made a YouTube video in March asking for advice dealing with life's "transitions" and failed to wear her wedding ring. The couple have four kids who are said to support their mother's decision to leave their father.

Continue reading "Schwarzenegger to Terminate Marriage" »

During its fifth annual raid, the Baltimore City Sheriff's Office arrested 22 parents who owe more than $300,000 in back child support. The two-day warrant sweep, which is usually held in the days leading up to Mother's Day, targets people wanted on child support warrants.

Typically, most of the arrested parents are men; this year, five of the parents taken into custody were woman, the highest number since the sweep began.

Continue reading "Baltimore Sweep Nabs Parents Who Fail to Pay Child Support" »

Two state legislators from Texas, which only recognizes marriage between a man and a woman, are seeking to overturn a 2009 law that allows people to provide proof of their sex reassignment surgery in order to obtain a marriage license. One of the legislators, Sen. Tommy Williams of Houston, argues the law should conform with the state Constitution barring same-sex marriage.

Prior to the law's passage, county and district clerks had to rely on a 1999 appeals court ruling that states a person's sex is determined at birth and cannot be changed.

Continue reading "Transgender Marriage Rights in Legal Quagmire in Texas" »

The executive chairman of London-based Gulf Keystone Petroleum, Todd Kozel, has had his shares in the oil company frozen as he is engulfed in a bitter divorce battle with his wife, Ashley. According to filings with the Sarasota, Florida circuit court handling the matter, the Court has place an asset injunction on Kozel's 0.49% shareholding in the Iraq-focused oil and gas explorer. His 3.7 million shares are currently worth upwards of $10 million.

Kozel's wife alleges that he has additional GKP stock, worth up to $150 million, that he tucked away in trusts as part of "divorce planning." Her legal team estimates that she is entitled to as much as $100 million in a combination of assets and money.

Continue reading "Oil Company Boss Has Funds Frozen in Divorce Dispute" »