One of the biggest concerns I hear from prospective clients is, “Will I have to go to Court?” For whatever reason, many people are terrified of the idea of going into the courtroom. It’s understandable: everyone’s looking at you, everything you say is recorded, there is a lot of procedure regarding who gets to talk and when; and in the middle of it all is someone sitting in a black robe, a good five feet higher than everyone else in the room, who gets to decide your outco

I am often asked if one parent can sign over his or her rights to a child. Usually, this question comes when either the noncustodial parent has had little involvement with the child, or would like less responsibility regarding the child; or, when the custodial parent wants to eliminate the noncustodial parent’s involvement with the child. The short answer is no; you cannot sign over your rights. In the courts eyes, if you made a kid, you are responsible for that kid. You do

There’s a lot of misunderstanding out there about whether or not a parent can lose or voluntarily sign over rights to his or her child. Parental rights can only be severed when there is someone available to take the parent’s place. The rule of law in family and juvenile law matters is “best interests of the child”, understandably, the state’s position is that it is better for a child to have a parent and or caretaker, then to be floating around, "bastardized". (Yes, that is

(Full disclaimer, I am writing this post as an unmarried; and perpetually single person). I’ve always been a big believer in marriage. Maybe it was the church I was brought up in, but I tend to hold with the belief that marriage is a sacred institution and something no one should enter into lightly. If your life doesn’t completely and drastically shift upon getting married, you are probably doing something wrong. Even with that mindset, even after studying family dynamics a

Easily, the question I get asked most often in Family Law, is what are an unwed person’s rights regarding his or her children. I wish they taught Paternity laws as part of high school Sex-Ed. I feel like young people would be much more careful with what they do in their free time, if they knew the legal ramifications of certain extra-curricular activities. There is so much ambiguity out there concerning unwed parents’ rights, or rather an unwed father’s lack of rights. To