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How to Represent the Non-Biological Parent in a Custody Fight
It seems simple enough: Two women, having made an emotional commitment to each other, registered as domestic partners and participated in a ceremonial marriage (New York, of course, does not permit same-sex couples to enter into a civil marriage). They decide to start a family, and one of them was inseminated. The other rearranges her work schedule so that she can be the child's primary caregiver. They agree informally that they will each be the parent of any children born. The non-biological mom (NBM) attends each insemination appointment with her partner and, once she becomes pregnant, each of the biological mother's (BM) prenatal appointments.
When the child is born, the NBM is in the delivery room. She is the first to hold, feed, change and bathe their daughter. When the child comes home, the NBM becomes her primary caretaker. She is responsible for feeding, changing, and bathing her, and taking her to all doctors' appointments. She is the first person the child sees in the morning and the last at night.
Shortly after the child is born, the partners commence proceedings for the NBM to adopt her child. While the adoption process is going on, the NBM is held out as a co-parent by the BM. She is known as the child's mother at school, in activities, to doctors, and to family and friends. And the child is encouraged to refer to her two parents as “Mama” and “Mommy.” But before the adoption can become final, the relationship between the partners changes, and the parties break up. Ultimately, the BM seeks first to curtail and then to stop altogether any visitation or contact between the NBM and their child. The equities seem clear: The BM has acted before her child and the world as if the NBM was a co-parent, and both the NBM and her child have relied on the BM's actions to forge and strengthen their parent-child relationship. Surely the law will protect that relationship. Surely the law will prevent the BM from throwing her former partner out of their child's life.
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
Legal Possession: What Does It Mean?
Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.
Removing Restrictive Covenants In New York
In Rockwell v. Despart, the New York Supreme Court, Third Department, recently revisited a recurring question: When may a landowner seek judicial removal of a covenant restricting use of her land?