Family Law

Cops on Paid Leave After Reported Use of Stun Gun on Boy, 10

Called to a home day care center to deal with an out-of-control 10-year-old who was kicking, screaming and spitting, one Martinsville, Ind., police officer reportedly used a stun gun on the boy and another slapped him in the face with an open hand. Both officers are now on paid administrative…

Apr 1, 2010 10:51 PM CDT

Judge Nixes Texas AG’s Effort to Intervene in Same-Sex Divorce Case

A Texas judge has nixed the state attorney general’s petition to intervene in a same-sex divorce case, finding that another case already on appeal is positioned to address the legal issues raised by Attorney General Greg Abbott. Plus, delaying the divorce already granted to Angelique Naylor, 39, and Sabina Daly,…

Apr 1, 2010 5:46 PM CDT

Judge Who Married Woman to Domestic Case Defendant Cites ‘Catholic Conscience’

A Maryland judge who dismissed a domestic abuse case after marrying the defendant to the woman he was accused of beating and kicking now says his “Catholic conscience” urged him to “legitimize their relationship.” However, it would have been better to have another judge actually perform the marriage, said District…

Apr 1, 2010 5:06 PM CDT

Inexpensive Web Tools and Straight Talk Help Build Client Relationships

North Carolina divorce attorney Lee Rosen loses sleep at night over his payroll, particularly when business is slow. Rosen confessed his fear to a packed crowd of lawyers at the ABA Techshow seminar, Crossing the Digital Divide: eMarketing to Clients and Prospects. Many of those in attendance Thursday, mostly solo-…

Mar 26, 2010 1:57 PM CDT

Much-Watched Case of Heiress Worth $80M Could Change Law in World ‘Divorce Capital’

Considered the divorce capital of the world, London poses pitfalls for wealthy spouses who thought their assets were protected in divorce by prenuptial agreements. Courts in the United Kingdom will void provisions in these agreements if they are unfair or the less-wealthy spouse wasn’t properly represented by legal counsel. And…

Mar 26, 2010 12:00 AM CDT

Complex Wall Street Salary Situation Adds Up to Extra Work for Divorce Counsel

It’s either the best of times or the worst of times for financial executives to get divorced right now, depending on your perspective. Restrictions on pay for many Wall Street financial executives, since the global economic crisis and government bailout that have taken place during the past 18 months or…

Mar 24, 2010 7:34 PM CDT

16-Year Judge Loses Seat on Bench Over Husband’s Peripheral Role in 1 Divorce Case

In a decision decried by some observers as supporting a political regime that threatens judicial independence, the top court in South Carolina has upheld a legislative screening panel’s determination booting a seasoned judge from the bench. It found a 16-year family court veteran unqualified to continue to serve as a…

Mar 24, 2010 5:57 PM CDT

Ex-White House Lawyer Takes 5th in Wife’s $15M Damages Suit Over Alleged Murder Attempt

She had endured “years of emotional and verbal abuse” from her husband, former White House attorney John Michael Farren, testified his wife, attorney Mary Farren, in a Connecticut court hearing yesterday. But when she refused to withdraw her divorce filing, he snapped, Mary Farren, 44, told a Stamford Superior Court…

Mar 23, 2010 9:00 PM CDT

Lawyer Charged in Alleged Courthouse Shoving Incident

In court in the Chicago area yesterday to represent the defendant in a hearing over a woman’s request for an order of protection in a domestic relations case, Dan Florey clearly didn’t obtain exactly the result he was hoping for. The 48-year-old practitioner was charged with misdemeanor battery after allegedly…

Mar 19, 2010 10:13 PM CDT

3rd Circuit Bars Child Porn Prosecution of Teen in Sexting Photo

A federal appeals court has upheld an injunction that bars the child pornography prosecution of a teen girl in Pennsylvania who appeared topless in a photo that ended up on high school students’ cell phones. The opinion by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is the first decision by…

Mar 18, 2010 1:25 PM CDT

Dad Loses Custody Partly Due to Kids’ Grueling Schedule

A father who subjected his children to an “overly burdensome, exhausting” schedule that revolved around tennis has been stripped of custody. Judge Norman St. George of Nassau County, N.Y., refused the custody request of the father, George Cavallero, ordered him to take anger management training, and awarded sole custody to…

Mar 17, 2010 4:49 PM CDT

Judge in Prop 8 Trial Leaves Bench During Orrick Partner’s Argument

Updated: A federal judge hearing a challenge to California’s gay-marriage ban listened to more than 90 minutes of arguments in a dispute over documents on Tuesday, but abruptly left the bench during a presentation by a lawyer from Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker “strode off…

Mar 17, 2010 2:53 PM CDT

In What May Be a Worldwide First, Genderless Person Is ID’d in Australia

Born biologically male, Norrie May-Welby, now 48, had a sex-change operation and became female 20 years ago. Now May-Welby has broken new ground and become a person legally recognized as having an unspecified gender, in what may be a world first, the Telegraph reports. As the Scavenger apparently first reported…

Mar 16, 2010 7:35 PM CDT

Dad Argues Taking Daughter to Church Shouldn’t Be Considered Contempt

An expected court argument today may ratchet up the stakes in an unusual case in which a father has been forbidden to take his daughter to church. In a move apparently intended to test the resolve of a judge who ordered him not to expose his 3-year-old daughter to Christianity,…

Mar 4, 2010 12:08 AM CST

Jilted Doc Sues Ex-Fiancée for Return of $58K Ring

After a whirlwind romance, an Ohio ophthalmologist says, he proposed to the woman he met at a Labor Day party in New York’s upscale Hamptons at a Diamond Cellar store in Columbus only six weeks later. But it turned out that the $58,000 diamond-and-platinum engagement ring was what Rena Hope…

Mar 1, 2010 6:36 PM CST