Charlotte Divorce Lawyer Blog

A Pennsylvania divorced dad of two boys has been ruled by a Bucks County judge to close down his blog criticizing his ex-wife and their on-going custody battles. Family Court Judge Diane Gibbons last month ordered Anthony Morelli, 42, to shut down thepsychoexwife.com, a blog he began in 2007, saying, "This is about children. You may say anything you would like to say. You may publish it. You may put it on a billboard. But you will not have your children, because that is abusive."

In response, Morelli has hired an attorney to appeal the ruling, arguing the decision violates his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. "In my view, the judge crossed the legal line, from determining custody to controlling [his] behavior. My client's actions are protected by the First Amendment," attorney Kevin Handy said. Morelli said he started the site not to "bash" his ex-wife, but the inflammatory style is to attract other people with similar problems. He claims about 200,000 people visited the site each month.

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In what sounds like a scene from his television series, Homicide: Life on the Street, actor Daniel Baldwin--brother of Alec Baldwin--filed for divorce from his wife of four years because, as his divorce complaint alleges, she threatened to kill him. Joanne, according to Daniel, came into their bedroom one night earlier this month and informed him she'd watched a documentary on women who kill their husbands.

Baldwin says she then declared, "Now I know how to do it, I understand why they did it. You have been warned." Their daughter heard the remark and asked, "Is mommy going to kill us?" Joanne then punched him in the head, hit him in the face with a phone, slapped him, and pulled a knife on him. After obtaining a temporary restraining order, Baldwin said, "Due to recent events in our home and for the safety of my children and myself, I have made this decision."

Continue reading "Television Star Files for Divorce, Says Wife Attacked Him" »

The son of Oscar-winning actor, Nicolas Cage, himself arrested for domestic violence this year, is facing domestic violence charges after getting into a tussle with his wife, not once, but two times. Earlier this month, Weston Cage, 20, and his new wife, Nikki Williams, attacked one another, with Williams allegedly cutting him with a bottle and punching him. Both were taken into custody and reportedly entered rehab following the incident.

But earlier this week, Weston was again arrested for attacking his pregnant wife. He was been charged with felony domestic violence and was held on $50,000 bail. Few details of the latest arrest are known; however, some media outlets have reported that Weston was taken to a hospital following the arrest because of self-inflicted injuries.

Continue reading "Legal Problems for Actor's Son" »

In what Illinois lawmakers think is a first, a Chicago woman has adopted her own children under an Illinois law passed in 2009. The law, passed in 2009, gives biological parents who've lost custody of their children the ability to rehabilitate themselves and adopt their children if the adoptive parent is a blood relative and passes away.

The law's inspiration, Yolanda Miller, 49, adopted four of her 11 biological children, who range in age from their late teens to mid-20s. Ten of her children were born while she was addicted to crack cocaine, and her mother adopted them at birth. In 1997, kicked the addiction. She and her family, to whom Miller lived next door, moved to a different neighborhood, and Miller took on an active parenting role. In 2005, Miller's mother died. Miller had her children move in with her, but since she wasn't their legal guardian, she "knew anybody at any time could take them away from me."

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Before the US Supreme Court began its summer recess, it issued a divided ruling on child support - whether poor people facing jail time for failing to pay child support are entitled to court-appointed lawyers. In the contested 5-4 ruling that divided along ideological lines, the Court said a parent facing civil contempt has no automatic right to representation, at least when the parent seeking to collect child support does not have a lawyer.

The case at issue involved a South Carolina man, Michael D. Turner, who was repeatedly held in civil contempt and jailed for as much as a year at a time for failure to pay child support. Turner contended that he was too poor to stay current on his obligation and that an attorney would've been able to convince the judge that jailing him was impermissible. Justice Breyer's majority opinion, although sympathetic to Turner, was wary of "an asymmetry of representation" when the custodial parent seeking child support has no lawyer.

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Earlier this month, Melanie Paige Smith, one the multiple women with whom NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens has a child, filed contempt papers, arguing the player has failed to remain current on his $5,000 per month child support obligation. At the time of the filing, during which a July 26 hearing date was set, her attorney, Georgia's Randall Kessler, said he hoped to resolve the matter without a hearing.

It looks like Kessler got his wish. The wide receiver, most recently with the Cincinnati Bengals, but because of free agency and the pending NFL lockout can't sign with a team, is reportedly current with the payments. Earlier this week, the Associated Press said the contempt motion filed against Owens' was dismissed because he made the payments.

Continue reading "T.O. Resolves Child Support Delinquincy" »

Supermodel Linda Evangelista, who has graced catwalks and magazine covers galore, has revealed that father to her son, four-year-old Augustin James, is wealthy businessman Francois-Henri Pinault, husband of Salma Hayek. Evangelista always claimed Augustin's father was a New York-area architect, despite ending a five-month relationship with the 49-year-old Frenchman just before he started dating Hayek and she revealed her pregnancy.

Now now she has filed a petition in court seeking an unspecified amount in child support. Evangelista filed in New York, and New York law states that a non-custodial parent pay 17% of income as child support.

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The second man to walk on the moon and Dancing with the Stars alum, Buzz Aldrin, is separating from his wife, Lois Driggs Cannon after 23 years of marriage. He and Driggs Cannon, his third wife, married on Valentine's Day, 1988. In his Los Angeles County divorce filing, Aldrin blames "irreconcilable differences" for their marriage's failure. He filed just two days after the couple separated.

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