North Carolina sits four days away from implementation of the most significant change to juvenile court jurisdiction since the inception of the juvenile delinquency system 100 years ago. Beginning on December 1, 2019, most offenses alleged to have been committed by 16- and 17-year-olds will begin under juvenile jurisdiction. G.S. 7B-1501(7)b, G.S. 7B-1604(b). This change will shift the procedures that law enforcement must follow when processing 16- and 17-year-olds for these now juvenile offenses from criminal procedures to juvenile procedures. The good news, as Jeff Ledford, Chief of Police in Shelby, N.C., put it—if an officer knows how to take a 13-year-old into custody today, that officer knows how to take a 16- or 17-year-old into custody on December 1st. This blog provides three key tips for law enforcement to follow and links to a short training video and job aid developed specifically for law enforcement training on raise the age. Continue Reading
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Where are We Now: The Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act
As I noted in a prior blog post, the US Congress restored the federal Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (PTFA) without expiration on June 23, 2018. The PTFA has been in effect, expired, and restored at various points over the past decade. During one period after the PTFA expired, the NC General Assembly passed a law (S.L. 2015-178) to provide somewhat similar (but not exact, more on that below) protections for tenants of foreclosed property under state law. Most recently, the NC General Assembly took action to repeal that law in light of the permanent restoration of the PTFA. See S.L. 2019-53 and S.L. 2019-243. This blog post tracks where we’ve been and where the law currently stands related to the PTFA and power of sale foreclosures under G.S. Chapter 45 in NC.
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BIG NEWS: S.L. 2019-245 Creates a New Universal Mandated Reporting Law for Child Victims of Crimes and Changes the Definition of “Caretaker”
This post was amended October 3, 2023 to reflect a new statutory exemption for reporting.
An Act to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and to Strengthen and Modernize Sexual Assault Laws, S.L. 2019-245 (S199) enacts and amends various laws related to crimes;* amends some civil and criminal statutes of limitations; requires mandatory training for school personnel addressing child sex abuse and trafficking; amends the definition of “caretaker” as it relates to child abuse, neglect, or dependency; and creates a new universal mandatory reporting law for child victims of certain crimes.
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Small Claims Appeals in Summary Ejectment Cases
In Small Claims Land there are so many questions about appeals for trial de novo that I could write a book – if only I knew the answers. Ba-dum-bum-CHING! In light of my limited mastery of a mysterious topic, a blog post seems like a better idea than a book. Today I’m going to talk about five possible endings in district court when a summary ejectment case is appealed. Certainly, there are more than five, so this list is not exhaustive. My hope is that at least one of them will be informative for you.
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Equitable Distribution: significant legislative amendments regarding retirement accounts and other forms of deferred compensation
North Carolina S.L. 2019-172 (H 469) made substantial revisions to GS 50-20.1 governing the classification, valuation and distribution of pension, retirement and deferred compensation benefits. The changes apply to distributions made on or after October 1, 2019.
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Raise the Age FAQs
Training efforts to support implementation of the Juvenile Justice Reinvestment Act, or “raise the age,” are in full swing. With the December 1, 2019 implementation date drawing near, I have had the pleasure of teaching about the new law at many fall conferences and at five regional workshops. Common questions have been raised across these venues. This blog contains answers to some of those commonly asked questions as well as information on how to access further training and resources. Continue Reading
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Civil Actions and Financial Exploitation of Older Adults: Who Brings the Action?
Financial exploitation of an older adult is a type of elder abuse. It occurs in many forms. A door-to-door home repairman defrauds an older adult out of her life savings. A caregiver gets an older adult who lacks capacity to sign a deed conveying the older adult’s property to the caregiver’s son. An adult child steals the older adult’s debit card and withdraws significant amounts of money for his own benefit. (Notably, a recent study suggests that relatives may perpetrate more financial elder abuse than strangers.)
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2019 N.C. Legislative Changes to the Juvenile Code Related to Abuse, Neglect, Dependency and TPRs
Although the 2019 Legislative Session has not yet adjourned, there have been changes made to the abuse, neglect, dependency and termination of parental rights statutes in the Juvenile Code (G.S. Chapter 7B). The changes discussed below are already effective as law. There may be more changes to come given that the legislature has not adjourned. For now, here are key highlights of the changes to the Juvenile Code related to child welfare. Continue Reading
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SCRA is now North Carolina law and its protections are broader
It’s almost embarrassing how many posts we’ve done about the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). (See here, here, here, and here, and also a bunch of others where it is at least mentioned). Actually, I’m just embarrassed that my colleagues did all that and I didn’t write any of them. But here I am, and my purpose here is simple: to notify you* of important new SCRA law specifically relevant to North Carolina. These changes became effective earlier this week.
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New Delinquency Laws – It’s Not Just Raise the Age
Believe it or not, there is new juvenile delinquency law to wrap your head around other than the Juvenile Jurisdiction Reinvestment Act, which will raise the age of juvenile court jurisdiction as of December 1, 2019. The 2019 legislative session resulted in several new laws related to juvenile delinquency cases that
- change the capacity to access teen court,
- establish new rules regarding photographing of some juveniles at the time of a show-up,
- create parental access to counsel in the context of Department of Social Services (DSS) placements as delinquency and undisciplined dispositions,
- establish new information sharing capacity between attorneys representing juveniles in child welfare and juvenile justice matters, and
- ease requirements for victims of human trafficking to access a juvenile expunction.
There is also an entirely new Article added to Chapter 7B of the General Statutes devoted to the rights of victims of delinquent acts. I will provide an overview of the delinquency-related provisions of the newly enacted legislation below. You can also access a bulleted summary of the 2019 enacted delinquency legislation on the juvenile law microsite. Several of these new statutes touch on other areas of law, such as child welfare and criminal procedure. Those provisions are outside the scope of this blog post and the bulleted summary. Continue Reading