On Wednesday September 24, David Goldman appeared on The TODAY Show to talk with Meredith Viera about his four-year-long battle to bring his son home from Brazil. It was a moving interview.
Four years ago, Goldman's wife flew to Brazil with their son Sean Goldman to visit her parents. When she arrived at the airport, she called David and told him that their marriage was over and that if he ever wanted to see Sean again, he would have to sign custody over to her. Of course, he refused to do so.
In today's mobile society where parents and children move from one state to another after a divorce or custody action, the question often arises whether the state that made the initial child custody determination continues to have exclusive, continuing jurisdiction over modifications of custody orders. The Michigan Court of Appeal ("COA") recently answered this question, relying on decisions from Oregon and California for assistance.
I do not usually write so frequently about social issues, but the
troubling news about off-label prescribing of powerful medications for
children diagnosed with schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder just
keeps coming. Because many friends, relatives, and clients have
children with those diagnoses, I feel compelled to alert parents
to news that encourages them to seek a second opinion before agreeing
to medicate their children with anti-psychotics prescribed by their
children’s primary care physician or psychiatrist.
Many of my regular readers know that I post often about social issues, in particular teen pregnancy and the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is a sexually transmitted disease. Two strains of it (16 & 18) cause virtually 100% of all cervical cancers. See National Cancer Institute Q & A.
The FDA announced on Friday that the HPV vaccine Gardasil has been approved for two
additional uses — prevention of vaginal and vulvar cancers caused by
HPV types 16 and 18.
Teen pregnancy is becoming a huge issue as birth rates once again rise and as the percentages of first births to unmarried mothers increases after a hiatus between 1991 and 2006. An op-ed piece by June Carbone of University of Missouri-Kansas City and Naomi Cahn of George Washington University, both family law professors, was published in STLtoday.com on September 5, 2008. It's well worth reading by family lawyers counseling their clients and also by parents.
In the high profile case involving "Clark Rockefeller" and his parental kidnapping of his daughter, Reigh Boss, the Boston Globe today revealed that the court having jurisdiction over the Clark Rockefeller divorce case will unseal certain select documents from that file and is considering the release of other documents. According to the Globe, the separation agreement and the divorce judgment will be unsealed for the prosecutors. They are seeking access to he entire file. In Michigan, it is extremely rare for divorce files to be sealed. These are public records, after all.
In an interesting case, Michigan's court of appeals (COA) decided yesterday that the Indian Child Welfare Act applies to foster care placement of
an Indian child, guardianships and consents for adoption. The court held that when a mother withdraws her consent to the action prior to termination of her parental rights, the trial court must dismiss the action and return the child to the Indian parent whenever the child is an enrolled member of a tribe regardless whether the placement is voluntary.
People
ask: “Would we ever have to go to court to enforce a prenuptial agreement?”
There are times that one party challenges the validity of a prenup. If that
occurs at the time of a separation or divorce (or sometimes after death), there
may be a trial. The judge will weigh the evidence and the credibility of the
witnesses before deciding whether to enforce the agreement. These cases are
fact-dependent. The judge will decide if the agreement is enforceable only after
resolving any disputed facts.
Thanks to Ruthann Robson Professor of Law and University Distinguished Professor at CUNY for this news alert, published on the Family Law Prof Blog.
A New York court has upheld an Executive Order signed by New York Governor David Paterson that requires government agencies to recognize same-sex marriages performed outside the state.
You may read the opinion in Golden v. Paterson is available as a pdf file here.
