Love After Marriage For All: How Cohabitation With Another, Regardless Of Sexual Orientation, Can Trigger A Termination Of Spousal Support Post Divorce
I couple weeks ago, I attended a very exciting and thrilling divorce seminar (said no one ever) where a portion of it was dedicated to giving an update on divorce court forms to reflect gender neutral identifiers for the divorce parties. For example, instead of using husband and wife, the court forms will now use spouse 1 and spouse 2 or other similar gender neutral identifiers. I still say the classic Plaintiff and Defendant identifiers are easier, but it is not my courthouse.
I imagine a majority of courts around the country, except perhaps for the Deep South, are adjusting appropriately to be in compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court’s historical decision finding state laws that prevented same-sex marriages are unconstitutional. Which also meant that divorce statutes and divorce case law had to catch up with same-sex marriage. One such aspect of divorce law that needed to catchup with the times was addressed by the Supreme Court of Virginia.
In Luttrell v. Cucco, Luttrell … Read More... “Cohabitation Can Lead To Spousal Support Termination”
On January 31, 2015, we posted an article “
The Supreme Court of New Hampshire recently held that courts may consider premarital cohabitation when considering the division of a same-sex couple’s assets. In the Matter of Deborah Munson and Coral Beal, the New Hampshire court was faced with a divorce and division of assets of a same-sex couple who lived together for 15 years before a civil union was held, followed by a marriage three years later. During the 15 years before the marriage, the couple essentially acted and functioned as a married couple, both socially and financially. However, the trial court awarded Beal limited alimony and a small percent of the marital estate based upon the short duration of the marriage. Upon appeal, her attorneys argued that the district court should have considered the 15 years the couple cohabitated prior to the marriage.
This week President Obama signed the instrument of ratification to the 2007 Hague Child Support and Maintenance Convention addressing International Recovery of Child Support. This international child support signing was accomplished in great part due to the extensive work done by US family lawyers, by the Hague Convention on Private International Law, and by many others.
While it has always been a great responsibility to serve as a legal guardian for another individual, last year Ohio imposed a number of additional requirements of guardians in an effort to protect the welfare and safety of those wards to whom they serve. These protections are both financial and personal.
Should parents secretly monitor their child’s text messages, phone calls and social media activities in order to keep them safe?