Author: H312ud1

The holidays are quickly approaching, and while for most people it is one of the best times of the year, for those who are co-parenting it can create some challenges. Navigating the holidays while also co-parenting can be difficult and may leave you with feelings of anxiety or stress concerning the season as a whole. You want to be able to enjoy the holidays, and also ensure that your family enjoys it as well. Here are some helpful tips that can help you and your children have a wonderful holiday.

The Kids Are The Priority

The most important thing to keep in mind during the holidays is that the children should come before anything else. When you are co-parenting, there is always the worry that your kids are not going to have the same experiences as they would if you were still with their other parent, and the holidays are

Dear Tracy,

My mom and dad live thirty minutes away from one another, and want me to spend half the day with each of them on Thanksgiving and Christmas. This happens every year, and every year I dread it. The holidays make me feel like a little kid again, torn between both parents, not wanting to disappoint or hurt either one’s feelings. I have to deal with my dad’s wife and her daughters, who I don’t particularly like. And I have to deal with my mom and her huge extended family, who I always feel pressure to spend extra time with. I guess it doesn’t help that I’m an only child. In the end I feel like no one’s happy – including myself.

I know I’m a grown woman and can make my own decisions about how I spend my time,

Custody cases have different terms that can be difficult to understand. Most people think of custody as the right to parent their children. After all, what else is there? It turns out it isn’t that simple. A custody order will address both legal and physical custody.

What is Legal Custody?

Legal custody is the right to have input in the important decisions in your child’s life. These include things like what school your child attends, the medical treatment that they receive, their religious education, and their extracurricular activities. Legal custody is either joint or sole.

If you have joint legal custody, the parents must consult before making any major decisions for the child. It is often a good idea to make sure that one parent or the other has final decision-making authority for certain types of decisions. If you and the child’s other parent are unable to agree after you’ve

WINEBARGER v. STEEN, 2022-NCCOA-739.

Facts: Mother and Father split and had a case with child support. Mother requested to deviate from the child support guidelines. On 10 June 2021, the trial court imposed a $290.38 child support obligation on Father, consistent with the child support guidelines. No findings or conclusions of law were made concerning Mother’s income and expenses. No child support worksheet was attached, although one was referenced in the Order. Father’s income was found to be $52,781.05, even though the Order also found that Father was totaling $63,975.05 in income earlier in the Order. No explanation was given for the discrepancy. Among sources of income, $4,967 was included as part of a Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) Loan. Father appealed.

Issue: Was the trial court in error when it failed to find necessary facts for the child support order?

Holding: Yes.

Reasoning: When a party requests deviation, the court

Let’s suppose that you provided funds, checks, cash, or other payments to your ex since separation. You have a claim pending for equitable distribution, which seeks to divide your marital property. But court is slow and it can take some time for the court to reach your case. When it does, how should the court treat those payments you made? Were they gifts, or were they something the court ought to consider in equitable distribution?

The leading case in this scenario is Cobb v. Cobb. There, a plaintiff paid roughly $45,000 to defendant after separation. That money was in addition to sums paid to defendant for child support. This means that there was no obligation to give defendant that $45,000. The trial court treated that amount as an advance on the distribution of the marital estate. The defendant appealed and argued that it was error for the trial court to

Keenan v. Keenan, 2022-NCCOA-554, No. COA21-579 (Aug. 16, 2022)

In August 2020, Plaintiff’s ex-husband came to Plaintiff’s house to cut her grass. Seems innocent enough, right? But Defendant ex-husband had a history of physically, verbally, and emotionally abusing Plaintiff, had been texting Plaintiff inappropriate things, had been told multiple times not to come to Plaintiff’s house, and wouldn’t leave even though Plaintiff told him to four times. That context makes the situation seem very different, doesn’t it? Plaintiff got so nervous about what Defendant might do that it gave her a panic attack, and she filed for a Domestic Violence Protective Order (DVPO). The DVPO was granted because the trial court found that Defendant placed “the aggrieved party or a member of [her] family or household in fear of imminent serious bodily injury or continued harassment, as defined in [N.C.G.S. §] 14-277.3A, that rises to such a level as to

Cash v. Cash, 2022-NCCOA-706.

Facts: Mother and father were set for a trial on modification of child support. Five days before the trial date, father filed and served an amended financial standing affidavit that reported that his current income was $0 because he was laid off from his employment as a masonry supervisor. At the hearing, mother’s attorney argued that father had not supplied any updated income information. Father testified that he started a new masonry business and was not seeking any other employment, instead focusing on his business. He testified to his business income and expenses. Mother asked father if he provided any of his business financial information before the hearing, and father testified that he did not. Father then called his former boss to testify that father had been laid off because of salary, and that he was the most recently hired supervisor. Boss also testified that he

In October 2022, the North Carolina Court of Appeals addressed whether a parent who hasn’t had contact with their child because the child had been actively removed and hidden from them still has their constitutional right to parent their child.

In the United States, a parent has a constitutionally protected right to parent their children, which includes having custody of the child and making major decisions in the child’s life. That means that the Courts are going to assume that a parent is going to act in the best interest of their child unless there is clear evidence otherwise. The State doesn’t want to step between the parent and the child, even if other people want custody and could better provide for the child. However, the right to parent your child isn’t absolute. Parents can give up that right if they are unfit – for instance, being abusive or neglectful

Say that you provided funds, checks, cash, or other payments to your ex since separation. You have a claim pending for equitable distribution, which seeks to divide your marital property. But court is slow. It can take some time for your case to be reached. When it is, how should the court treat those payments you made? Were they gifts, or were they something the court ought to consider in equitable distribution?

In the previous installment, we talked about Cobb v. Cobb. There, Plaintiff paid roughly $45,000 to Defendant after separation. That money was in addition to sums paid to Defendant for child support. This means that there was no obligation to give Defendant that $45,000. The trial court treated that amount as an advance on the distribution of the marital estate. Defendant appealed and argued that it was error for the trial court to find that the $45,000 was