Divorce Law Journal

New Case Law, From Soup to Nuts

Four posts on interesting decisions from the Family Law Prof Blog:
Income Withholding Not Subject to Limitations Period for Actions to Enforce Judgments
Court May Not Grant Blanket Orders Sealing Divorce Records
Nonimmigrant aliens can be "residents" for subject matter jurisdiction purposes under divorce statutes
Child has No Standing to Modify Parenting Time

Joint ABA/APA Conference

Gregg Herman announces in The Family Law News Blog a first ever joint conference between the American Psychological Association and The American Bar Association to be held in 2008. We've added it to our roll of upcoming national seminars. It will probably be a long time before any registration details are announced, but we will post when available.

An Attorney May Not Represent Both Parties to a Divorce

From The Art of Divorce, representing both parties leads to attorney discipline. Just as I was about to say "duh?", along came an AAML listserve discussion on setting aside an agreement drafted by a mutually retained lawyer. Just say no!

Just When You Think You Are Keeping Up

Robert Ambrogi's Lawsites has a posting of Law Profs Podcasts. Check it out. Podcasts are on our to-do-list, too.

A New Family Law Blog Added

A geographically diverse group of family lawyers started The Family Law News Blog, including Gregg Herman in Wisconsin and John Crouch in Virginia, familiar names to family law practitioners. We have added it to our list of other family law blogs. The graphics are the same as this site, but ours will be changing in a few months. Welcome to the fold!

The World of Alternative Dispute Resolution Blogs

Here's a directory of alternative dispute resolution blogs posted on The World of Alternative Dispute Resolution. We will create a category for these blogs soon so they are at ready reference. After reading The Kentucky Law Blog's mediation piece yesterday, I wonder if we should be on the lookout for anti-mediation sites. Seriously, Mike's experience is not uncommon and we have to be on the lookout for ways to improve. I wonder if those personal injury attorneys would go to facilitative mediators.
Note: I have linked to the redacted posting. For whatever reason, Mike decided to remove his original post.

A Plea For Volunteer Lawyers: Operation Standby

From Mark Sullivan, our North Carolina colleague and author of the 2006 ABA Military Divorce Handbook:

"Join Operation Stand By -YOU Can Make a Difference"

Shaping the Law

I was inspired reading Barbara Glesner Fine's post on the Law Prof Blog, where she reports on a law professors' conference. "Professor Aiken made the important point that we can teach our students how to feel empowered to be agents for justice. We must guide our students to examine the underlying values and assumptions in judicial decisionmaking (and perhaps in our own representation of clients) and how those decisions and representations may conflict with our client's values and realities. We can then devise methods to help our students exercise a role in helping law to more closely match the values and realities of our clients."

Is a lawyer's role to help law more closely match the values and realities of our clients? I think so. We have a wonderful opportunity to shape the law, case by case.
One of my all time legal favorite passages is from Hilen v. Hays, 673 S.W.2d 713 (Ky. 1984), which Justice Charles Leibson wrote, demonstrating how the court could and should change our contributory

Same Sex Marriage Issue in Congress, Again

The discussion of same sex marriage to date has focused on religious based preservation of the family, claims of gay bashing, threats to families, and accusations that a few judges and opportunistic mayors have decided they were above the law. The issue of same sex marriage is far more complex and before more polls are taken, votes cast in our legislatures or congressional action taken, we need to consider thoughtfully many more facets of the difficult problems facing families.
The American Bar Association adopted a resolution urging Congress to oppose a federal constitutional amendment. The ABA has not taken a position pro or con on whether gay marriage should be recognized, to my knowledge. The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers discussed the issue, and what position, if any should be taken, at its mid-year meeting in March, 2004 and decided that further research and debate was needed before adopting a position. Subsequently, it has taken the position that same sex marriage should be permitted. As a family lawyer who is a member of both organizations, I have been privileged to observe, participate in, and be enlightened by the critical analysis of the law and the principled positions articulated. When the hysteria is removed from the

Mediation Blah...Blah...

The Mediator Blah...Blah... blog has a good posting called "When The Going Gets Tough...Do's and Don't for Mediators". The blog itself has a nice flair. The preceding post , Tech News, was good, too. It shows a white board with the nuts and bolts of an agreement scribbled on it. The mediator had the parties sign the whiteboard and then took a picture of it, and instantly emailed the agreement to all present. Nice strategy for end-of-the-day, hard bargained deals when all might fall apart getting something on paper.

Divorce Law Lacks Substance and Sophistication?: Bull!

In an article in The Weekly Standard yesterday, Edward Whelan heaves insults at the divorce bar by pronouncing, "Tucker's narrow specialty, divorce law, is far removed, in both substance and sophistication, from the work of the federal appellate courts--especially from the complex cases of administrative law that are the staple of the D.C. Circuit."
Excuse me while I hyperventilate. It is one thing to question the impartiality of a left wing member on the ABA Committee on the Federal Judiciay in evaluating Whelan's right wing candidate for the D.C. Circuit,

If Marriage Growing Out of Favor, Are Divorce Type Laws the Answer?

United Press International reports Gallop Poll results showing an increasing number of people who view marriage less important than in prior polls, even in families with children. The Guardian UK News reports a new proposal in the UK that would apply divorce type law to unmarried couples. If marriage declines, are divorce type laws the answer to these unmarried couples?

State to Hold Hearings on Quick Trigger Adoptions

The KentuckyLawBlog reports today that the state will hold hearings on children hastily removed from biological parents to facilitate "quick trigger" adoptions. The post links to a Lexington Herald-Leader story. The hearings in the legislature will begin June 21, 2006 at 1 p.m.

Letting the Kids Keep the House

The Art of Divorce covers parents rotating living in the marital residence where the children remain, linking to an ABC Good Morning America story. There was a time when this was suggested fairly frequently, but we haven't seen it done lately. It would be a great option to consider on a temporary basis rather than have the parents living together while money and custody are sorted out, and may also be an idea to consider when a child is entering a senior year in high school.

The Beauty of Reframing Issues

The Online Guide to Mediation has a good post on the useful tool of reframing issues."The art of reframing is to maintain the conflict in all its richness but to help people look at it in a more open-minded and hopeful way."

Demonstrative Evidence: Create a Graph

Here's an easy way to Create a Graph for your demonstrative evidence.