Anxiety and Therapy in Parenting
February 27, 2007
While courts often use parents' psychiatric conditions as a basis for custody decisions, solid research on the actual impact of parental mental illness on children is limited (For an overview of this issue see Jenuwine & Cohler, 1999). Common sense and clinical wisdom converge in suggesting that parental mental health is an important factor in parenting. However, systematic empirical studies of children of even severely mentally ill parents often show that common sense and clinical wisdom can be mistaken. Children are much less affected by their parent's illness than one would think.
<b>Litigation:</b> Paternity and Child Support
January 31, 2007
Putative father could obtain relief under state statute that granted a substantive, not procedural, right to address potential injustice. <i>The State Ex rel. Loyd, v. Lovelady</i>, 108 Ohio St.3d 86 (Ohio 2006).
Survey Data: What They Tell Us; What They Don't
January 31, 2007
We can think of no form of information that cannot be misused ' either deliberately by the manipulative, or inadvertently by the inept. Survey data are no exception. As psychologists, it is with some reluctance that we offer commentary on the relative merits of different standards for the admissibility of expert testimony, but our experiences in different states have heightened our awareness of how different standards affect the admissibility of testimony offered by psychologists in child custody litigation.
Effects of <i>Hernandez</i> Reach Beyond New York
January 31, 2007
The New York Court of Appeals' July, 2006 ruling in <i>Hernandez v. Robles</i> has had implications beyond its core holding that same-sex couples may not marry in New York ' and beyond New York. Courts from Washington to Nebraska to Massachusetts have cited Hernandez to support their decisions to narrow or restrict the rights of gays to marry.
Multi-Millionaire Attorney's Child Support Slashed
January 31, 2007
The shadow of high-profile attorney Willie Gary's wealth hovers over the lengthy appeal recently filed by the mother of his twins, whose $336,000 annual child support payments were slashed in 2005 to a mere $60,000 a year ' plus tuition for the twins' private school ' by a Georgia Superior Court.
Hague International Child Abduction Cases
January 31, 2007
A major debate is under way as to the future of the 'grave risk of harm defense' in Hague Convention international child abduction cases. The move is spearheaded by those who believe that the Hague Convention discriminates against expatriate mothers who are victims of domestic violence and who return to their countries of origin with their children.
Litigation
December 26, 2006
Recent rulings of importance to you and your practice.
Is It Just the Money?
December 26, 2006
We read about 'deadbeat dads' who fail to pay their child support and about the children who suffer the financial repercussions in those situations. Clearly, we can all agree that child support is beneficial to children and that educating parents about this responsibility is important. There is, however, continued debate about the policy behind child support enforcement.
Mother's Efforts to Undermine Dad Cost Her Custody
December 26, 2006
A woman who has persistently made unsubstantiated allegations that her former husband is a child molester was stripped of custody rights by a New York appellate court. The Appellate Division, Third Department, said Kristin F. Chase's relentless efforts to undermine her son's relationship with his father and 'her ongoing quest to brand [the father, John T. Chase] a pedophile' warrant an order granting the father sole legal and physical custody of the now 6-year-old boy. The decision in <i>Chase v. Chase</i>, 500656, is the latest development in a long-standing and especially bitter custody fight that has played out in both the courts and the media (NYLJ, Nov. 2, 2005).
SCRA in Child Custody Cases
December 26, 2006
Ongoing United States military involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan and across the globe forces military parents to make important and sometimes difficult decisions with regard to their children. The current state of world affairs has resulted in increased deployment of active duty military members and increased activation and deployment of military reservists and National Guard members. Among other things, the mobilization of a military parent may result in the need for legal counsel to deal with complicated child custody issues. As a result, family lawyers dealing with military families must familiarize themselves with the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA).
