Recent blog posts - 61 of 69

Both federal and state law prohibits the possession of firearms by anyone subject to a qualifying domestic violence protective order. However, the fact that possession of firearm is a crime does not give the trial court authority to order a defendant in a 50B proceeding to surrender all weapons.

Way back when in 2011, there was a significant legislative overhaul of estate proceedings in North Carolina. See G.S. 28A-2-4 (defining estate proceedings).  With those changes, the primary statute governing the procedures for an estate proceeding is now G.S. 28A-2-6.  Subsection (e) of G.S. 28A-2-6 addresses the application of the NC Rules of Civil Procedure to estate proceedings. Each rule of civil procedure generally falls into one of three categories when it comes to estate proceedings before the clerk of superior court:

1. It applies (unless the clerk directs that it does not apply);
2. It does not apply (unless the clerk directs that it does apply); or
3. It is Rule 17.

See G.S. 28A-2-6(e).

Because the marital estate ‘freezes’ on the date of separation, see Becker v. Becker, 88 NC App 606 (1988), an increase or decrease in the value of marital property occurring after the date of separation, or income received from marital property after the date of separation, is not included in the marital estate. The category of divisible property was created to allow a court to distribute these postseparation assets along with the marital property. If the change in value or the income is classified as divisible, it can be distributed. If it is not divisible property, the court can do nothing more than consider the income or change in value as a distribution factor.

READ POST "Equitable Distribution: LLCs and Divisible Property (November 13, 2015)"

First, Some Attorney Fee Basics. North Carolina generally follows the “American Rule” in requiring parties to civil litigation to be responsible for their own attorney fees: “It is well-established that […]

Part I introduced the new G.S. 7B-505.1 and 7B-903.1(e) and discussed the county department’s statutory authority to consent to a child’s

• routine medical and dental care;
• emergency medical, surgical, or mental health care;
• testing and evaluation in exigent circumstances, and
• a Child Medical Evaluation (CME).

What about Medical Care that Is neither Routine nor an Emergency?

Through S.L. 2015-136, “An Act to Make Various Changes to the Juvenile Laws Pertaining to Abuse, Neglect, and Dependency,” the General Assembly enacted G.S. 7B-505.1 and G.S. 7B-903.1(e).These two new statutes address medical decision-making authority for a child who is placed in a county department’s custody through an order entered in an abuse, neglect, and dependency action. These new laws apply to all abuse, neglect, and dependency actions that were pending on or filed after October 1, 2015.

The General Assembly has made a statement regarding the allocation of parenting rights and responsibilities in child custody proceedings. Without changing the law that custody orders should promote the best interests of the child, legislators enacted a statement of public policy designed to “promote the encouragement of parenting time with children by both parents.”

Over the past four months, I’ve had the opportunity to discuss the new juvenile delinquency legislation, S.L. 2015-58, with juvenile court officials from every part of the system – prosecutors, […]

We have Chapter 50B authorizing civil domestic violence protective orders to protect victims of domestic violence and Chapter 50C authorizing civil no-contact orders to protect victims of sexual misconduct and stalking who do not have the personal relationship with the perpetrator required for a 50B DVPO. Effective October 1, 2015, we now also have Chapter 50D authorizing permanent, non-expiring civil no-contact orders to provide additional protection to victims of sexual violence.

When a magistrate has heard evidence in a case and makes a decision based on that evidence, the formal document reflecting that decision is a judgment of the court. Form judgments for each kind of small claims case are provided by the AOC (designated as CVM forms), and they provide a valuable guide to the finding and conclusions required for a proper judgment. While the AOC forms are convenient, the law does not require their use, and some counties routinely utilize different forms. The AOC forms do reflect thoughtful decisions about what should be included in a judgment, however, and a small claims magistrate is advised to investigate further before deciding to routinely deviate from or ignore some portion of the judgment form.