Family Law

Canada to Review Polygamy Ban?

In a case that could have an effect on United States law enforcement, a prominent Canadian criminal attorney serving as a special prosecutor has recommended that his country reconsider its ban on polygamy. Appointed in a British Columbia case involving a U.S.-based splinter Mormon group that has reportedly openly practiced…

Aug 1, 2007 11:47 PM CDT

Where’s Molly? New Law Aids Searchers

An Oregon man’s successful search to find the younger sister who was institutionalized decades ago, when she was not quite three years old, is making it easier for others to follow in his footsteps. It has led both to a documentary film about his quest (“Where’s Molly?”) that premiered this…

Aug 1, 2007 7:14 PM CDT

Raids Dividing Immigrant Families

As federal authorities amp up their efforts to enforce immigration laws, some immigrant families are facing a tough choice. Children born in this country are U.S. citizens and have a right to live here. But if their non-citizen parents are here illegally, the adults have to decide whether to leave…

Jul 30, 2007 6:17 PM CDT

Same-Sex Registry Doesn’t End Alimony

Even under California’s current domestic partnership law, same-sex couples don’t get all the same benefits as married opposite-sex couples. So they also don’t get all the same detriments, an Orange County judge has decided. Thus, the fact that Ron Garber’s ex-wife has registered as a domestic partner of another woman…

Jul 23, 2007 11:16 PM CDT

Child Support Appeal Backfires

A millionaire father who tried to get his child support payments reduced will end up paying more due to a ruling yesterday by the California Court of Appeals. Adam Venit had challenged his monthly support payments of nearly $27,000, but a trial judge instead increased the amount to about $31,600…

Jul 17, 2007 4:40 PM CDT

US Citizens Move for Foreign Partners

Tim Miller has met his life partner. The problem is, the couple can’t live happily ever after here in the U.S. That’s because his partner, Alistair McCartney, is not only gay but an Australian citizen. Even if the two establish residency in one of the handful of states that allows…

Jul 16, 2007 10:22 PM CDT

80-Plus = Too Old to Raise Grandchild?

A Philadelphia couple, aged 85 and 89, have at least temporarily lost custody of their 5-year-old grandson, whom they had cared for since his birth, apparently because a family court judge considered them too old to handle the hyperactive boy. Although the city’s Department of Human Services recommended that the…

Jul 13, 2007 7:58 PM CDT

Report: Afghanistan Women = Currency

Despite some significant civil rights improvements, women in Afghanistan are still a form of currency under tribal law, and are commonly used to settle bad debts and, at least until recently, shield their families from the consequences of crimes committed by men. Two of five Afghan marriages are forced, the…

Jul 9, 2007 9:45 PM CDT

Civil Union Law Lacks Clout

Same-sex couples who got hitched under a New Jersey civil-unions law are running into roadblocks that bar them from getting the same benefits as married couples. A survey by the gay-advocacy group Garden State Equality found that as many as one in eight couples were denied at least some of…

Jul 2, 2007 5:58 PM CDT

Deadbeat Dad Pays Record Amount

A deadbeat dad paid more than $300,000 in back-due child and spousal support so he could return to the United States. The amount is the largest amount in back support ever collected in the United States, the Los Angeles Times reports. The man was unable to renew his passport from…

Jun 22, 2007 8:13 PM CDT

Union of Feuding Mothers Dissolved

A Vermont judge has dissolved a civil union between two women whose fight over the custody of their daughter produced court opinions in two states. The judge affirmed that both women were parents of the girl conceived by artificial insemination, Adam Liptak reports in the New York Times. Judge William…

Jun 19, 2007 1:54 PM CDT

Authorities: Happy Father’s Day ... Not

Inspired by Father’s Day, Chicago-area authorities decided to try to make a dent in the state’s $3 billion child support backlog. Cook County sheriff’s police arrested 130 deadbeat dads last week, and tried to arrest, but could not find, four deadbeat moms, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. Among them: Edward Kearns,…

Jun 18, 2007 8:40 PM CDT

Same-Sex Marriage Wins Big MA Battle; Legislature Bans Ballot Issue

In a pendulum swing from another vote taken earlier this year, legislators in Massachusetts voted today not to put a hotly contested proposed state constitutional amendment on the November ballot – whether the state should ban same-sex marriage by defining matrimony solely as a union between a man and a…

Jun 14, 2007 10:52 PM CDT

PD Who Helped Partner Tie Sham Knot Seeks Legal Immigration Alternative

A St. Louis public defender who chose to break the law rather than lose the man he loves admits he made a serious mistake. But the lack of legally recognized marriage alternatives for same-sex couples is what tempted him to transgress, Eric Affholter says. Now facing criminal fraud charges for…

Jun 13, 2007 12:48 AM CDT

Sentence Today in Preacher’s Death

A woman convicted of voluntary manslaughter for shooting her preacher husband is scheduled to be sentenced today in a Selmer, Tenn., courtroom. Mary Winkler faces up to six years in prison if the judge finds no aggravating circumstances, according to the Jackson Sun. Winkler had claimed her husband physically and…

Jun 8, 2007 3:33 PM CDT