Family Law

Child Protection v. the Constitution: Did Removal of 437 Kids Violate Parents’ Rights?

Updated: As the state of Texas proceeds with DNA tests this week to try to determine exactly who parents and siblings are in a controversial custody case that, at last count, involved 437 children, lawyers for the families—as well as some observers—are expressing concern about possible violations of parents’ constitutional…

Apr 22, 2008 6:28 PM CDT

Meet Barbara Walther, Judge in Texas Ranch Raid Case

A Texas state court judge had perhaps the toughest case in the nation last week as she presided over a record-breaking 416-child custody hearing. But Barbara Walther is a seasoned, authoritative jurist with a sense of humor who handled the challenging hearing as well as anyone could have, according to…

Apr 21, 2008 7:14 PM CDT

Lawyer Throws Open Secretive Sect’s Gates to Media

Before authorities raided their western Texas compound, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was a closed, secretive community. All inquiries from the media were uniformly rejected. But, as the Associated Press reports, when hundreds of children from the polygamous sect were rounded up and removed from…

Apr 21, 2008 6:44 PM CDT

Judge Orders DNA Testing of 416 Kids; Sect Reconsiders Sex With Minors

More than 400 children removed from a polygamous sect on suspicions that they are being subjected to abuse or are at risk will undergo DNA testing this week so their complicated family connections can be sorted out. Judge Barbara Walther, who is presiding over what is considered the largest, most…

Apr 21, 2008 3:26 PM CDT

Young Children Removed from Texas Ranch Not Abused, State’s Expert Says

Updated: In the second day of a massive 416-child custody hearing, at least one expert for the state of Texas testified today that there was no sign of abuse among the boys and younger girls removed from a ranch run by a polygamous sect. Dr. Bruce Perry, a psychiatrist, testified…

Apr 18, 2008 10:08 PM CDT

No Slowdown for Britney’s Lawyers: Latest Spears Legal Bill is $372,500

Last month, Britney Spears was told to ante up $375,000 to pay her ex-husband’s legal fees in a child custody case. Now, a Los Angeles judge says, she’ll have to pay another $372,500 to cover legal fees related to her own conservatorship. “And that doesn’t even include the $10,000 a…

Apr 18, 2008 8:22 PM CDT

Courts Reluctant to Stop Divorcing Bloggers From Airing Complaints

Courts are reluctant to stop divorcing bloggers from revealing intimate details of their marriages or engaging in angry rants about their spouses in online postings. The courts are citing the First Amendment in refusing to intervene, the New York Times reports. A New York judge has refused to block a…

Apr 18, 2008 1:47 PM CDT

Huge 416-Child Custody Hearing in Texas Ranch Raid Involves 350 Lawyers

Updated: A huge custody hearing began today concerning 416 children taken by Texas officials from a ranch operated by a renegade Mormon sect that reportedly promotes polygamy. It bogged down almost immediately as lawyers for the children demanded to see the evidence being introduced—three teenagers’ medical records. “State District Judge…

Apr 17, 2008 5:44 PM CDT

350 Lawyers Trek to San Angelo, Charging ‘Billables for the Soul’

Gearing up for what surely will be among the largest child custody cases in U.S. history, scores of attorneys are converging upon San Angelo, Texas, to represent pro bono the 416 children and parents caught up in the raid of a polygamist sect’s compound. Some 350 lawyers from throughout Texas…

Apr 16, 2008 9:54 PM CDT

Mothers in Texas Ranch Raid Case Protest Removal of Children

Updated: As all involved gear up for a huge child custody hearing Thursday over 416 children removed from a Texas ranch run by a renegade Mormon group that allegedly promotes polygamy and underage marriages, a number of mothers are protesting that their children have been removed from their custody without…

Apr 15, 2008 5:30 PM CDT

Dozens of Lawyers at Custody Hearing for 416 Kids from Texas Ranch

In preparation for a massive custody hearing Thursday concerning 416 children taken by the state of Texas from a ranch run by a renegade Mormon group that advocates polygamy, a preliminary hearing was held today that drew some 48 lawyers. District Judge Barbara Walther “was clearly struggling with how to…

Apr 14, 2008 4:16 PM CDT

Meet Gerry Goldstein, Lawyer for Polygamy Sect in Texas Ranch Raid

Known for taking challenging constitutional cases, Gerry Goldstein apparently didn’t hesitate when he got a chance to defend a fringe Mormon group that advocates polygamy, concerning a controversial raid of their Texas ranch. The gray-haired 64-year-old San Antonio lawyer wouldn’t condone the alleged child abuse that led authorities to search…

Apr 11, 2008 3:19 PM CDT

Texas Scrambles to Prep for Sect Hearing

The state of Texas has dispatched about 300 welfare workers to interview 416 children removed from a polygamous sect in preparation for a hearing Thursday before a Texas judge who will decide whether to place the youths in foster care. The Texas Bar Association is trying to recruit almost 100…

Apr 11, 2008 1:35 PM CDT

Utah AG Mulled Texas-Style Raid on Polygamous Group

In the wake of a controversial raid by Texas authorities on a ranch at which multiple teens allegedly may have been sexually abused by a fringe Mormon group promoting underage “spiritual” marriages and polygamy, the Utah attorney general says he, too, considered such an action concerning a polygamous group there.…

Apr 10, 2008 4:22 PM CDT

Sect Protests Ranch Raid; Texas Wonders What to Do With 416 Kids

As additional details were revealed about the child abuse concerns that led to an unprecedented raid by Texas authorities of a ranch run by followers of a fringe Mormon leader who advocates polygamy, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints contended that its constitutional rights had been…

Apr 9, 2008 10:25 PM CDT