Charlotte Divorce Lawyer Blog

The North Carolina Court of Appeals reviewed an interstate child custody case in Bohannan vs. McManaway. This case is noted by the North Carolina Court of Appeals to be a "procedural quagmire" and this review will not recount all of the procedural history. Ultimately, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that the trial court abused its discretion by denying Mother's Rule 60 motion to set aside the 2007 Order. The North Carolina Court of Appeals ultimately vacated said Order, largely, because the evidence was undisputed that hte Order was entered without hearing any evidence. Further, there was a "patently false" finding of fact that Mother had not filed an answer in the case.

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The North Carolina Court of Appeals issued a ruling in a child custody matter relating to a jurisdictional issue in Sherrick vs. Sherrick. In this case, the North Carolina Department of Social Services initiated an action alleging that the minor child was a neglected juvenile. Eventually, the custody of the minor child was granted to the child's parents and the paternal grandparents via a Consent Order. This Consent Order also included a provision directing the Clerk of Superior Court to "treat this Consent Order as the initiation of a civil action for custody of the juvenile." There was a subsequent hearing under a new file number at which custody was granted to the parents, the paternal Grandparents appealed.

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The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled on the issue of same sex adoptions, or second parent adoptions, in the case of Boseman vs. Jarrell. This case involved a same sex couple who conceived a child together. After the child was born, the second parent adopted the child. The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that the adoption decree was void ab initio because "the General Assembly did not vest our courts with subject matter jurisdiction to create the type of adoption attempted here."

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Another North Carolina equitable distribution case appeal was ruled to be interlocutory by the North Carolina Court of Appeals in Williamson vs. Williamson. Here the North Carolina District Court Judge announced its decision from the bench - meaning the Judge stated the ruling in open Court. When the wife appealed the equitable distribution ruling, the decision had not been reduced to a written Order and the issue of alimony was still pending before the Court.

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The North Carolina Court of Appeals rendered a decision relating to equitable distribution. In the case of Bodie vs. Bodie, the plaintiff appealed an equitable distrubution order which indicated on its face that it was a final decision on the issue of equitable distribution. Importantly, alimony was still pending at the time of the entry of the equitable distribution order. The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that the language in question did not satisfy Rule 54(b) and, therefore, the order was interlocutory and not yet appealable.

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According to an article on Yahoo.com entitled Census: Divorces decline but 7-year itch persists, couples are slightly more likely to reach their tenth wedding anniversary. This comes after decades of steadily increasing divorce rates. The study also finds that of the first marriages that fail, most fail somewhere around seven years of marriage. Of those who remarried and subsequently separated, the second marriages tended to last four years.

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According to an article on Yahoo.com entitled Study: Long Commute Could Lead To Divorce, Separation, a new study out of Sweden suggests that long commutes increase chances of a divorce by 40 percent. This study found that the impact of a long commute tends to be higher on women than on men and that the riskiest time for a divorce is during the first few years of the long commute.

Obviously, there is no one factor which is a perfect predictor of divorce. Other factors can include things like just the opposite: transitioning to working from home after the couple is used to working outside of the house.

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Charlotte Divorce Lawyer Blog is exploring five Divorce Financial Tips which are outlined in an article on Yahoo.com entitled Getting a Divorce? 5 Ways to Ensure It's Not a Financial Disaster. This final tip has more to do with one's state of mind than it does with acts to be taken or avoided. Here it is suggested that the spouse have a mindset of fairness. Granted, what is, and is not, fair is often in the eye of the beholder.

But, the article points out that a willingness to compromise and the ability to settle things privately and out of Court can help you to avoid thousands of dollars in legal fees. Even if you can find a "Drive Thru Lawyer," legal fees are typically pretty expensive.

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According to Getting a Divorce? 5 Ways to Ensure It's Not a Financial Disaster, the fourth bit of advice is to sell the house or other valuable assets if it is financially prudent to do so. Often times we will see people who want to hold on to the former marital home for emotional reasons. If you cannot afford it, it is typically wise to put the emotional issues aside and make the reasoned decision. This is something that a family law attorney can help you decide.

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