The DC Court of Appeals early on in Fuller v. Fuller, 247 A. 2d (1968) defined the term as a person who willingly puts himself in the role of legal parenting of a child, that is day to day care of the child such as: providing subsistence, food, shelter, medical care, etc – without going through the formalities of a court decreed legal relationship such as child custody, guardianship or adoption. In short, assuming parental status and discharging the parental duties without legally being required to do so. Traditionally and often the grandparents who take over the parenting of a
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Archives for Family Law
OTHER NEWS JUNE 2012
Beyond the Penn State Scandal: Child Abuse Reporting Laws (Washington Lawyer) For some observers, the Penn State scandal exposes the problems inherent in the web of complicated laws defining the scope of who must report suspected child abuse. Available here. Parents’ Depression Linked to Problems in Children (NY Times) Research into postnatal depression has underscored the importance of checking up on parents’ mental health in the first months of a baby’s life. But a parent’s depression, it turns out, can be linked to all kinds of problems, even in the lives of older children. Available here. Adapting to Aging Out: Profiles
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DC Alimony; maintenance of spouse and minor children/enforcement; residence requirements:
As the titles give away, this blog addresses and expands on these intricate and generally hard battled-over elements of a divorce and separation action: DC Alimony: Upon issuance of a divorce decree or order of legal separation, the court when “just and proper” may enter an order for payment of alimony as well. The order may be indefinite or for a certain designated period dictated by the relevant facts and circumstances. In short, the court will determine the amount and the duration of payment of alimony. The order may be nunc pro tunc to the date of filing of the
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CHILD SUPPORT MEASURED BY CHILD CUSTODY
DC Child support obligations are correlated and connected with the award of child custody. They are inversely proportional. That is, increase in child physical custody reduces the child support obligations. Thus it is beneficial to litigate the child support and child custody matters simultaneously to both potentially reduce the child support obligations and also to increase the physical time spent with your child. In the District, the award of child custody may take one of the following forms but it is always based on the best interest of the child criteria: (i) sole legal custody; (ii) sole physical custody; (iii)
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DC Post-Adoption Contact Agreements/Contracts
Often times in contested adoptions the biological parents as well as all involved biological relatives should balance the litigation strategy in light of the Adoption Reform Amendment Act (“ARA”) § 101 which established enforceability of post-adoption contact agreements between biological parents, other birth relatives, adoptive parents, and adoptees (if they are 14 or older) for first time in the District of Columbia. The contact agreement is tantamount to a custom made contract tailored to terms and conditions dictates by negotiating parties generally governing “contact” between the child and his or her biological family after the adoption is finalized with specific
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