It might not seem possible, but, under the law, a parent can kidnap his or her own child. It’s not common – in fact, it’s actually quite rare – but its something that can and does happen, and that you should be aware of. Parental kidnapping happens when a parent takes a child in...
What is parental kidnapping?
It’s a tale as old as time – or, at least, a tale as old as shared custody. What happens when a dad fights for a parenting plan that reflects shared custody (meaning that he gets 90 or more days of parenting time over the course of a calendar year), but then doesn’t exercise his...
As everyone always says, there’s no book on how to be a good parent. The nurses at the hospital didn’t send you home with a manual. There are books and online courses and old wives tales, but there’s no consensus on how to raise a child in the best way possible. We all screw up...
I’ve said it before and, though it pains me, I’ll say it again. Where domestic violence and child abuse are concerned, the court is very, very jaded. It’s not just the courts, either. Attorneys, too, can become jaded. We hear terrible stories, day in and day out, and, sometimes, they’re not true, or they’re...
I have a case where everything is negotiated down to one of the tiniest points imaginable. Without giving specifics, I’ll just say that it amounts to about an hour or parenting time one day a year – literally, one single hour. No one is budging. In my client’s defense, her husband has been fairly abusive...
On Friday, we talked about the day to day details of your child’s life as it relates to school – pictures, report cards, parent teacher conferences, and more. One of the big questions we always get in these cases, especially as newly separated or divorced parents struggle to establish a coparenting relationship, is whether...
It’s the million dollar question, and it’s a hard one to answer because, frankly, what makes a good separation agreement is something that is completely and entirely subjective. Though you may have two women who’d answer the question the same – like, for example, that they just want it to be over, or they just...
There is nothing quite as difficult as determining custody and visitation. As a mother myself, I can completely understand. When you’ve never had to divide your time with your children; when there never was ‘his’ time and ‘her’ time before, grappling with this new kind of divide can be incredibly difficult. How do you...