A state Supreme Court took up an unusual case recently of a same-sex couple struggling over a child custody agreement. The element that made the case unusual was the fact that the child was conceived using an egg from one of the mothers while the other mother carried...
Reliable, Results-Driven Family Law Representation
Will the new healthcare law impact divorce rates?
When a couple has decided that it is time to end a marriage, there are various routes that they can take to accomplish this goal. One common first step is to obtain a legal separation to set preliminary provisions for separate lives and assets, as well as child...
Biological father transfers custody to adoptive parents
The biological father of a four-year-old girl has transferred custody of his daughter to a couple in a different state who adopted the child when she was born. The case has been the subject of an ongoing court battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court but did...
Regretting adoptions, parents trade children on the internet
When a couple or an individual decides to adopt a child, some stressful situations and difficulties are bound to arise. Particularly for parents who are adopting an older child or a child from another country, the transition period can be rocky in many cases. However,...
Absent adoption or marriage, nonbiological parents have few rights
A state Court of Appeals recently ruled that a woman does not have to pay child support to her former partner. The two decided to have a child together and raised a daughter for eight years before they ended their relationship. At that time they made a child support,...
After trouble adopting, some men choose surrogacy to become dads
It's become fairly common these days for single women who want to have children to turn to options like adoption, sperm donors, or surrogacy in order to start a family. For men who are interested in having children without a partner, the options are naturally more...
Does collaborative divorce make sense for you?
Today in Louisiana, there are many different ways to accomplish getting a divorce. Which method will be the best depends on the specific circumstances of the parties and what their goals are in the divorce process. For those who are focused on ending the marriage and...
Divorce settlement paid in pennies makes headlines
A woman's choice of payment method for her $50 divorce settlement made headlines this week after her ex-husband posted a photo of the unusual settlement to a popular online message board. The photo shows three large plastic food containers filled with pennies, along...
Don’t lose sight of the ultimate goals of a divorce
A judge presiding over a recent phase of a 17-year-old divorce battle recently admonished the parties in court, telling the couple (both law professors) that they were setting a bad example. In this case the divorce process has dragged on much longer than the original...
Is joint custody always in the best interests of the child?
The phrase "best interests of the child" is used a lot in family law. In fact, for many people who have not been through a divorce or custody action, the trope may be all they know about family law. And, while the concept of deciding custody and support issues for the...