Recent blog posts - 6 of 70

Service of process is fundamental to our system of civil justice. Every party to a civil action or special proceeding in North Carolina is entitled to notice of the action […]

A new school year is upon us and students across North Carolina are back in classrooms and on athletic fields. The question of who is eligible to participate in interscholastic athletics in North Carolina’s public schools is answered by the student participation rules established by the North Carolina State Board of Education. Those rules include a ban on participation following a felony conviction. This post explains the rule, explores how it applies to various legal outcomes, and offers considerations for practitioners involved in cases in which a minor is being prosecuted in criminal court for a felony charge.

I am excited to share this year’s annual report from the North Carolina Judicial College. Taking stock of a year’s work can be a meaningful exercise, and I’m proud of what […]

This is my second post discussing S.L. 2025-16, the Fostering Care in NC Act. The various sections of this significant 32-page session law have different effective dates. Some sections became effective on June 26, 2025 and are discussed in my previous post – https://civil.sog.unc.edu/the-fostering-care-in-nc-act-changes-to-child-welfare-and-dss-that-are-effective-now/ – and my colleague’s post discussing changes to DHHS oversight https://civil.sog.unc.edu/state-oversight-of-county-departments-of-social-services-changes-in-session-law-2025-16/).

Other sections are effective on October 1, 2025. The focus of this blog is on most of the provisions in Part I of S.L. 2025-16 that become effective on October 1, which is not that far away.

The North Carolina Judicial College was founded in 2005 to expand the education and training the School of Government has provided to judicial branch officials since its founding in 1931. […]

Over the years that I presided in small claims court, I entered hundreds, if not thousands, of form judgments without ever really pausing to examine the form. Recently, I taught […]

In North Carolina, each county department of social services (DSS) is responsible for receiving and evaluating reports of alleged abuse, neglect, or exploitation of disabled adults. See G.S. 108A-102 and […]

The law that governs which cases begin under juvenile jurisdiction changed three times between 2019 and 2025. Each change applies to offenses beginning on and after the effective date of the legislation and is impacted by subsequent changes. This blog pulls the different changes together in one place, providing the quick reference chart below to explain which cases begin under juvenile jurisdiction and which cases begin under criminal jurisdiction.

Assume a hearing in a juvenile abuse, neglect, or dependency (AND) matter has just concluded. The judge announced the broad strokes of their ruling from the bench.  Questions about who is responsible for drafting the order, the need to circulate the order, what happens when a draft order is received by the judge, and the effect on this process if a party appears pro se are discussed in this post.

In this earlier post, my current colleague Danny Spiegel (who was an NC Assistant Appellate Defender at the time the post was published), analyzed the law of civil contempt and […]