Custody

Published on: January 21, 2012

Court Rules on Whether the Nonpayment of Support Effects Visitation Rights

by Stephen Bilkis

A couple was married for about five years. A year into their marriage, the wife gave birth to their only child. A New York Family Lawyer said that in the final judgment in the dissolution of their marriage, the mother was given custody of their child. The father was granted visitation rights and based on their monthly income, ordered to pay $150 per month for child support plus $50 per month for the months before the final judgment.

In the year that followed the finalizing of the divorce, each party had brought numerous motions for contempt. The mother claimed the father was not paying child support. The father alleged visitation was being withheld. By December of the year that followed the dissolution, the father filed a petition without counsel to modify the provision for the child support saying because of illness and inability to pay. From what a Westchester Custody Lawyer found out, the father was able to show evidence of his illness and that his income has been reduced to $200 from $800. The $200 was coming from welfare benefits. This being the court still found him in wilful contempt and denied his motion to modify the child support. Part of the ruling was to reduce the child support to $75 each month even if the modification was denied. The court said as well, that visitation should be reinstated if father paid the May child support by May 2, and keeps it current.

Another was order was issued May 5 stating that the visitation is not to happen until he complies with the previous order and shows his child-support payments to be current. There was no record where the court says visitation was terminated, previously. The father appealed for a review of this ruling. He questions the order of the Trial Court where it made the payment of the child support the condition for visitation.

Published on: January 21, 2012

Court Rules on Child Support Issue

by Stephen Bilkis

Two years after a couple got married, their first child was born. After about four years of being married, the couple got divorced. Custody was given to the wife, and the court gave the father reasonable visitation rights. The wife got married again shortly after the divorce. She moved to Phoenix, Arizona after and did not notify the father, according to a New York Family Lawyer.

The father contacted missing children agencies in an effort to find the mother and the children, as he did not know where they went. The wife never tried to contact husband to get child support, even though she knew where was. After five years, she contacted father and told him where the children were. He resumed the child-support payments and visitation immediately. Two years after resuming contact, the wife filed a claim for child support in arrears.

In her claim, she reasoned that even if there was interference with the visitation, it is still the obligation of the non-custodial parent to pay child support. Child support and visitation are independent of each other. According to a Staten Island Visitation Lawyer, the Trial Court found the mother guilty of laches, which means she negligent in her making the claim. The court said she is not entitled to the child support in arrears. The mother appealed against this saying, she, being guilty of laches is not an appropriate reason not to grant her petition.

Published on: January 20, 2012

Court Rules on Grandparent Visitation

by Stephen Bilkis

A mother was awarded custody her son, when the couple divorced. The boy was only two years old at that time. Less than a year later, the mother died. The father immediately assumed custody of their son less than a month after her death. He filed a petition to change the decree to give him custody and this was granted about three months after, said a New York Family Lawyer. The order showed he had already remarried, and that he allows visitation for the maternal grandmother, with his child.

When the grandmother received the child for a visit, she asked a different court to award her temporary custody of the child. This was granted by the court and there was no order from the previous court to transfer jurisdiction to them. According to a New York City Custody Lawyer, a hearing took place to hear the father’s side. After the review and the testimony of the father, the custody was given to the father, and the court ordered that the child be delivered to him. Visitation was not included in the ruling.

The grandmother filed a motion to modify the divorce decree about a year later so she could have visitation rights. The court granted her those rights and said she can have the child for thirty hours a week in her home or anywhere else. If the parties are unable to agree on the schedule, it was set to be from noon on Saturdays until six in the evening on Sundays. A New York City Visitation Lawyer mentioned as well that the court instructed both parties not to take the child outside their jurisdiction without their approval. Another two years passed before the grandmother filed another motion with the court against the father for contempt. She claimed that the father denied her visitation for the second week of February that year. In her petition, she said he announced his intention to deny her visitation in the future.

Published on: January 20, 2012

Court Rules on Nonpayment of Alimony

by Stephen Bilkis

This case begins where a couple was divorced, and the mother got the custody of their two children. The children were fourteen years old and twelve years old respectively at that time of the divorce. The father was given visitation right of not less than eighty-five days per annum. The alimony set was at $1,800 per month and for child support it was at $1,000 per month per child. A NYC Visitation Lawyer said the mother did not comply with this order, which made the father file a petition for modification of the alimony to $1,000 and decreasing the child support to $300 per month per child.

It was determined that the mother was making their children decide whether they want to see their father or not. It is between them and their father, who lives in Florida. She does not discourage them to see him, but she does not encourage it as well. The Trial Court granted the father’s petition, and this was affirmed by the Court of Appeals.

The mother filed a motion for contempt of court against her husband saying he is not paying the alimony. She asked the court as well to award the alimony in arrears and to have it continued. According to a New York Family Lawyer, the Domestic Relations Commissioner reviewed the file and found that the father was in arrears for the amount of $3,600 until that month, and the next regular payment should be made the following month. He testified he did not pay the alimony because he was not able to visit with their child. The older one was already emancipated. The mother, he said, refused to discuss visitation with their daughter. He did not deny that he could make the payment as the amount was deposited to an escrow account. He raised the same issue as with his claim where because of the denial of visitation, he did not pay the alimony.

Published on: January 19, 2012

Court Rules on Terms of Final Divorce Judgment

by Stephen Bilkis

Child visitation cases are very common legal battles encountered by a Brooklyn Visitation Lawyer, when children of separated parties become subjects of exchanges of custodies.

A visitation exchange happens when a child moves from one parent to another at a time specified in custody exchanges judgment. In this case, as reviewed by one of our lawyers, the Father of the child appeals to a higher court for a reversal of a prior court’s decision that held the Father in contempt for letting their child fly to from New York to Florida alone, which violated the previous court’s written final judgment. In addition, the Mother stated that the Father had permitted the five year-old child to board a flight with an ear infection.

Custody and visitation cases may naturally bitter and sometimes even result to non-appearance of either of the parties during trial or appeals, according to a Brooklyn Custody Lawyer. In this case, during the time of trial, the Father was a resident of New York City and the Mother was residing in Tampa, Florida and a final judgment was given by a previous court to settle the ex-couples arguments over previous visitation exchanges. These are the things stated on the amended supplemental final judgment: (1.) that all visitation exchanges will transpire Pinellas County Visitation Exchange, (2.) that in case the visitation facility is not open, the ex-couples would each notify the other and the exchange of guardianship will then be held in the airport’s police station, and (3.) that the Court expects that the child will be able to fly all by herself when she becomes 8 years old.

Published on: January 18, 2012

Court Examines Visitation in Light of Alleged Abuse Allegations

by Stephen Bilkis

Sometimes, people have the knowledge and means to make law work in their favor. Take for example a case that was reviewed by a New York Family Lawyer about how two parents argue about visitation rights to their minor child. Primarily, the mother is seeking review to quash overthrow the “Shelter Hearing Order” made against her which forbids all forms of communication between her and their 11-year-old daughter. This decision was given by the juvenile court, which is the special body for trial and passing of judgment to minors who are involved in crimes and other issues involving children and adolescents.

This started out when the father who was a lawyer applied to permanently make himself the custodial parent of the daughter in 2000. Then the following year, the mother and the father agreed that they would share parental responsibility for their child and no one was to be designated a primary custodial parent among them. A Guardian Ad Litem, or an advocate who is appointed by the court on behalf of the child, along with the psychologist, and the trial judge all agreed upon and adopted the settlement agreement of the parties regarding visitation rights with their minor child several weeks after the main parties agreed upon a settlement. According to a Brooklyn Visitation Lawyer, about two months later, the father started a new lawsuit to temporarily suspend the mother’s rights to visit their child on the grounds that she made up stories and reports that he was abusing their child. He filed a report based on this and had the mother arrested.

She was arrested the day before she was to spend a long summer vacation with her daughter, which was what they have previously agreed upon. As a result, the mother’s visitation rights were reduced to supervised therapeutic visits and she sought to appeal this decision. A Bronx Custody Lawyer reports that the family court granted the father’s move and ordered the visitation rights to be modified. Then, he requested the DCF to file for a petition for dependency without the presence of the Mother and where the Department of Children and Families’ lawyer confessed that the claims contained in the Father’s petition were insufficient to take it into the DCF system. The after a few days, the DCF attorney dismissed the dependency case.

Published on: January 17, 2012

Alabama Legislators Promoting Equal Parent Time

by Stephen Bilkis

Alabama legislators are considering a bill that would almost completely change the way that Alabama’s judges are able to order divorcing parents with children to divide their time with their children. If the bill in its current form passes, it would stipulate that provided both parents are fit parents, they would share equal custody and responsibility in raising their children after the parents’ divorce.

Sponsors of the bill informed a New York Family Lawyer that this seeks to address a long standing issue of one of the parents’ relegated to only a few hours of visitation with their children each month. It is in their opinion that by having both parents included in their children’s lives that the children will no longer feel like they are being pulled in two separate directions. They further add that as a part of the divorce the parents would be required to submit a parenting plan to the court that would stipulate what parts of their children’s lives they would be responsible. In case the parents would disagree, the parents would alternate years of certain responsibilities.

However, opponents contend that a “blanket fix” will not necessarily work, and that judges need the flexibility to decide what is in the child’s best interest. These opponents went on to add that the alternate year proposal could be detrimental to the children in that they may be permitted to do one thing the year when one parent makes the decision, and not be allowed to do the same thing when the other parent decides the following year. This is not the type of consistency and stability that children need.

Published on: January 16, 2012

Woman Runs over Husband’s Ex-Wife

by Stephen Bilkis

New York Divorce Lawyer Reports: Woman Runs over Husband’s Ex-Wife.

At a local ball park in Alabama, a woman subjected at least seventy witnesses, many of whom were young children, to the horrific scene of her running over her husband’s ex-wife and daughter – not once, but three times.

Police say the 43-year-old woman is charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count of reckless endangerment. She was released on bond. It is possible that the woman will have additional charges brought against her.

Published on: January 16, 2012

Questions of Abuse Close Courtroom During Sheen-Mueller Custody Hearing

by Stephen Bilkis

Media were thrown out of the courtroom at a recent custody hearing involving actor Charlie Sheen and his estranged wife, Brooke Mueller. The judge cited “questions of abuse.” A New York Family Lawyer reveals that it is usual practice for a judge to close the courtroom when there are abuse allegations to hear. The origin and nature of the sensitive questions were not explained before the media was exiled.

The recent life of actor Charlie Sheen has been riddled with a mess of struggles. The latest rebuff came when his petition to take custody of his 2-year-old twin sons from his estranged wife, Brooke Mueller, was shot down in court. Each parent is seeking sole custody of the boys. The court ruled that custody is to remain as an earlier custody agreement outlines.

Sheen and Mueller, who have both struggled with sobriety, were seen in attendance at the hearing. Mueller recently returned to rehab.

Published on: November 24, 2011

Law Students try to make a difference in Child Support and Custody cases

by Stephen Bilkis

A group of students in Orange County, Florida have taken the law into their own hands, and they just might win. The students are Law Students at FAMU, studying with a prominent New York City Family Lawyer, and they have developed the bill as a forward-thinking response to child support issues in the state of Florida.

Statistically, almost 20,000 children make their way into the foster system in the state of Florida each year, most being removed from parents by the state Department of Human Resources. This volume of people creates a tangible burden on the state of Florida, one which the New York Family Lawyer and his students think that absentee parents should help to shoulder.

Essentially, the bill drafted by the students re-configures the way that forced removals are considered under the law, and applies the same rules as those that apply during custody and support hearings for custodial parents. Parents of children who have been removed from their homes would be required to pay a sort of “child support”, said the Long Island Child Support Lawyer.Opponents of the bill claim that the new system would be unethical, similar to charging “rent” to incarcerated prisoners. They also claim that placing additional financial hardship on families who could not properly care for their children in the first place can only make matters worse. The bill’s authors have claimed that the bill will contain language which allows for indigent parents, and those truly unable to pay, to apply to have the fee waived.