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

$176 M to Wife in Divorce Case a Record?

Marriage is traditionally considered an equal partnership – until it’s time to divide the couple’s assets in a divorce. At that point, husbands who have made it big in business routinely walk away with the lion’s share. A groundbreaking divorce case in Chicago, though, may set a new record by…

Jun 4, 2007 6:27 PM CDT

Same-Sex Civil Unions Tie Lesser Knot

Same-sex couples who enter into civil unions in New Jersey are finding that the 100-day-old marriage alternative for gays and lesbians doesn’t fully protect their rights in a crisis. For instance, when Craig Ross, 46, was laid off from his insurance company job, his partner’s employer wouldn’t give Ross health…

May 30, 2007 12:30 AM CDT

Ex-Judge Jailed in Child-Support Case

A former Brooklyn judge has been jailed for failing to pay nearly $270,000 in child support. Reynold Mason, who was ousted from the bench for taking funds from a client’s escrow account, was led out of the Manhattan courtroom on Thursday in handcuffs, according to the Associated Press. He had…

May 29, 2007 5:36 PM CDT

Divorce Rate Way Down, Lowest Since 1970

Despite this country’s reputation for short-lived marriages, the nation’s per capita divorce rate has actually gone down significantly from its 1981 high and is now the lowest it has been since 1970. The rate has dropped by one-third from its 1981 high of 5.3 divorces per 1,000 people, and is…

May 11, 2007 11:23 PM CDT

Court Says Sperm Donor Owes Child Support

In what reportedly could be the first such ruling in the nation, a Pennsylvania court has found a sperm donor responsible for supporting his two biological children. The situation is complicated by the fact that the sperm donor died suddenly earlier this year, notes an AP article on the Superior…

May 10, 2007 8:03 PM CDT

High Court: Irish Teen has Right to UK Abortion

An Irish court has ruled that a pregnant 17-year-old who is in the care of the government has the right to travel to England for a legal abortion, as some 7,000 of Irish women do annually. Abortion is illegal in Ireland, except to save the life of the mother. Social…

May 10, 2007 12:16 AM CDT

Soldiers Losing Custody After Deployment

There are laws protecting active members of the U.S. military from being distracted by lawsuits over bad debts while they are serving their country in wartime, and to prevent spouses back home in the U.S. from being summarily evicted for falling behind on the rent. But when it comes to…

May 7, 2007 8:07 PM CDT