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

Bar Drops Ex-Porn Star From Agenda

An ex-porn star scheduled to speak at a bar association meeting has been dropped from the agenda.

The New York State Bar Association’s Family Law Section canceled the talk after receiving complaints, according to the New York Law Journal.

Sydnee Steele retired from the porn industry in 2005 and now bills herself as an author and “sexual empowerment consultant.” She had been scheduled to speak on attorney relationships.

Jun 8, 2007 2:59 PM CDT

Same-sex Couple Splits a $3.5 M Home; New York Judge Applies ‘Divorce’ Rule

A Manhattan judge treated a same-sex couple as if they were married when deciding recently how to divide their $3.5 million home after they split up. Although the two were tenants in common, which ordinarily calls for a 50-50 share in the equity after the partners sell, the judge instead…

Jun 7, 2007 9:46 PM CDT

New Boston Shelter for Abused Pets Helps Abused Humans, Too

A first-of-its kind shelter program for abused pets in Boston is expected not only to aid animals targeted by abusive humans but help people in the pet’s family protect themselves from violence, too. That’s because people who abuse animals often abuse fellow humans as well. Plus, it isn’t unusual for…

Jun 7, 2007 9:01 PM CDT

Sex Offender Seeks to Halt Adoption

A juvenile court commissioner in Riverside, Calif., has halted the adoption of a 2-year-old girl named Heaven to consider uniting the child with her sex-offender father. A Texas couple wants to adopt the child, who has heart defects and mild cerebral palsy, according to the Los Angeles Times. “I cannot…

Jun 6, 2007 7:30 PM CDT

A Surprising Paternity Notice

A New York man says it cost him about $3,000 to fight a surprising notice that said he had been named the father of a baby born in December. Mike Shaieb, a musical composer, is gay. “In my entire 45 years of living, I have never seen a vagina in…

Jun 6, 2007 3:10 PM CDT

Is Florida Paternity Register Working?

It may be time for some unmarried men in Florida to forget the classic post-coital cigarette, a state supreme court justice said this week. Instead, those who want to be dads should hasten to the Florida Department of Health and announce, “I want the state to know that I’ve just…

Jun 6, 2007 1:07 AM CDT

Judge Ups Wife’s Divorce Ante to $184 M

In a highly unusual decision to award a divorcing wife half of her family’s massive marital assets, an Illinois state judge yesterday upheld his earlier ruling to split Michael and Maya Polsky’s property 50-50. Its value has grown since Cook County Circuit Judge William Boyd first decided the issue last…

Jun 5, 2007 7:34 PM CDT

Busting a Move

Woman Sues After Boss’s Hubby’s Heave-Ho Causes Her to Hit Hard in Dance Floor Debacle

Jun 5, 2007 8:41 AM CDT