Articles related to custody

Consider the situation where a grandparent or other nonparent files a custody action against a parent. The complaint includes allegations regarding the relationship between the nonparent and the child and […]

G.S. 50-13.7(a) provides that “… an order … for the custody of a minor child may be modified or vacated at any time, upon motion in the cause and a […]

In an opinion issued on March 16, 2021, the North Carolina Court of Appeals held that a trial court’s award of visitation to paternal grandparents pursuant to North Carolina’s grandparent […]

**This is a post from October 28, 2016 that I decided to post again, with a couple of appellate case updates, due to the frequency with which I receive questions […]

From the North Carolina Family Court Advisory Commission: To provide guidance to families with existing Chapter 50 custody and/or visitation orders during the COVID-19 pandemic, commonly referred to as the […]

In a recent opinion, the court of appeals held that a trial court has no authority to annul a marriage by summary judgment. Hill v. Durette, (N.C. App, March 19, 2019). This case reminds us that while the Rules of Civil Procedure apply to domestic relations cases generally, there are significant limitations on the use of rules that relieve the court of the obligation to make findings of fact based on evidence presented to the court before entering certain types of domestic orders.

READ POST "Default and Summary Judgment in ‘Divorce’ Cases (May 17, 2019)"

The court of appeals recently reversed a trial court decision that a judgment terminating a mother’s parental rights voided a court order entered five years earlier granting her mother visitation with her grandchild. In Adams v. Langdon, (NC App March 19, 2019), the court of appeals held that the termination of the mother’s rights had no impact on the visitation rights the trial court ordered for grandmother before mother’s rights were terminated.

While there are no doubt numerous ex parte custody orders entered by North Carolina courts daily throughout the state, there is very little appellate guidance regarding the circumstances under which such orders are appropriate and regarding the procedure that should be followed after such an order has been entered. Because these orders are interlocutory and not subject to immediate appeal, we probably never will have much case law to direct us.

READ POST "What the law says about ex parte custody orders (February 15, 2019)"

Child custody orders can be modified upon a showing that there has been a substantial change in circumstances affecting the welfare of the child(ren) since the entry of the last custody order and upon a showing that modification is in the best interest of the child(ren). GS 50-13.7; Shipman v. Shipman, 357 NC 471 (2003). Three relatively recent opinions from the court of appeals clarify that the required substantial change does not necessarily need to be the development or occurrence of a new circumstance; the required substantial change can be a change in the way an existing circumstance impacts the welfare of the child(ren).

READ POST "Custody Modification: the effects of the same circumstances can be the changed circumstances (September 27, 2018)"

It is not uncommon for third parties to assert rights or claims against parents litigating child custody and child support. For example, grandparents frequently want the court to grant them visitation rights as part of a custody order resolving a dispute between the child’s mother and father. Similarly, the IV-D child support enforcement agency or a non-parent who has been caring for a child often need to assert rights or claims in child support cases pending between the child’s parents.

Before these people can assert claims or rights in an existing case, they must become parties to the case through the process of intervention.

READ POST "Intervention in Custody and Child Support Cases (May 16, 2018)"