Let's Talk About Child Custody & Adoption in Light of the Dobbs Decision
After the UK general election was announced, the following legislation was approved by Parliament during what is known as 'the wash-up' period towards the end of May 2024. Some of these require further regulations to bring...more
Massachusetts is no longer the only state in New England without protections for parentage. The Massachusetts legislature passed the Massachusetts Parentage Act (the “MPA”) late Thursday, and the bill is expected to be signed...more
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has granted a limited appeal in Pittsburgh’s challenge to a Pennsylvania court ruling that the city’s tax on visiting athletes and performers is unconstitutional. ...more
We have written a couple of times about the 23&Me phenomenon and the chance that those who enter this unknown world come back not just surprised but possibly creeped out by their quest for ancestral knowledge. USA Today...more
Can a person claiming to be the decedent’s biological child out of wedlock obtain a court order directing DNA testing of the decedent’s acknowledged children, in order to verify her claim? In Matter of Estate of McGuire, 203...more
In family law cases in North Carolina, parental rights can seem particularly complex, especially when children are born to unmarried couples. Navigating this terrain involves a legal process known as legitimation, which aims...more
Recent news headlines have talked about the fact that some states refuse to finalize a pregnant woman’s divorce until after the child is born. The idea behind this concept is that these states want to make sure that all...more
We are living in a strange legislative world these days. Most Americans are not very happy with the way our legislative assemblies are working. Yet it seems that the response of legislators in many states is to see how many...more
Last month we posted about a new Supreme Court decision seeking to keep paternity by estoppel alive. This week brings us a precedential case from the Superior Court that illustrates just how chaotic this attempt to...more
The Pennsylvania courts examine paternity issues by assessing the applicability and potential rebuttal of the presumption of paternity. If this presumption is irrelevant or refuted, the court evaluates the application of...more
It can go without saying that relationships are in a state of flux these days. In 1980 less than one baby in five was born outside of marriage. Today it’s 40%. Until 1980 you couldn’t get a divorce without proving your spouse...more
First, the confession. I spent the other day driving around and listening to public radio. Whether by reason of re-broadcast of prior shows or perhaps something new, the feed I heard involved two topics we have blogged about....more
If you’re an unwed father who recently welcomed a child or is expecting one, it is important that you know about DH Form 432, otherwise known as the Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity Form. DH Form 432, which is...more
As if life is not confusing enough, we saw a precedential Superior Court custody case published on September 6, 2023 which speaks to the brave, new world of parenting. S.J. is born in April 2020. Mom was then...more
Mary Goodblood grew up believing that she was the only daughter of Cash Goodblood. One day, 25 years after Cash died, and to no one’s surprise after the lucrative sale of the Goodblood family business was plastered on the...more
Mary Goodblood grew up believing that she was the only daughter of Jillion Goodblood. One day, 25 years after Jillion died and ironically after the lucrative sale of the Goodblood family business was plastered on the front...more
V.L.-P. v. S.R.D., a published decision by a three-judge panel on January 6 breaks ice that has been forming since genetic testing first became accepted in the mid-1980s. It is a classic case pitting best interests of the...more
Join Family Law partners Carolyn Mirabile and Skip Persick as they discuss how adoption and child custody could be affected by the Dobbs decision. Skip first looks at who has "standing" to fight for child custody including...more
The proliferation of genetic testing, where you buy a kit and then send away saliva or scrapings from your cheek, to get your genetic history has certainly lead to many unintended consequences....more
It is the epitome of the ugly custody case; the kind that judges will confide to lawyers makes them lose sleep at night. It is also the kind of case that makes best interests of children collide with long established...more
Se admitió por la Corte Constitucional de Colombia una demanda de inconstitucionalidad donde se propone la revisión del artículo 2 de la Ley 2114 del 2021. Norma que en su momento modificó el artículo 236 del Código...more
On Friday morning (6/24/22) the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling related to the legality of a Mississippi law seeking to regulate abortion in that state in a manner inconsistent with the precedent of the 1973 decision in...more
Given the transient tendencies of today’s society, jurisdictional issues arise quite frequently in divorces, custody matters and requests for financial support. Some examples include, but are not limited to, when one parent...more
The Sunday edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer presented a set of stories which are becoming common in a world where Americans can buy DNA kits at the drug store and begin an online search for their ancestry. The sometimes...more
In its recent opinion in Warren County Department of Social Services ex rel. Glenn v. Garrelts, the North Carolina Court of Appeals addressed an unusual choice of law issue. In the recitation below, for ease of reading, I...more