The Court of Appeals in In re G.D.L., decided on January 2, 2020, addressed the legal criteria to have the adoption records unsealed. The appellant who was no longer a minor sought a court order release of his adoption records, original birth certificate, and biological parental information. The trial court in balancing all interests involved in deciding the motion for disclosure ordered to protect G.D.L.’s birth father’s information and directed the child-placement agency to give G.D.L. redacted copies of the original birth certificate and adoption records. The biological mother’s information was already known to the appellant and not subject of
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Archives for dc adoption lawyer
DC COLLABORATIVE REPRODUCTION PROCESS: LEGAL ELEMENTS: DC CHILD CUSTODY LAWYER
The collaboration reproduction process either through the “gestational surrogate” or via insemination for intended parents create a labyrinth of legal issues that would need to be addressed incrementally. Intended parents are the individuals who put the process in motion, married or unmarried, who have committed in writing and otherwise to be the legal parents of the child to be born. The intended parents would need to file a petition of parentage for a legal declaration by the court. The Court will have jurisdiction when: The intended parent or the surrogate is a District resident ; Who have actually resided in
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LEGAL COMPETENCY IN ADOPTION CASES: DC ADOPTION LAWYER
The Court of Appeals in IN RE PETITION OF J.O. & P.O., decided on December 12, 2017, reversed and remanded the trial court’s grant of an adoption petition. The central issue in the case was the viability of the two competing adoption petitions filed at the trial level. The child was born to a mother who had known mental health issues and on the day of the child’s birth, the mother was admitted to a psychiatric ward for treatment. Shortly after birth, the child was placed in an Child and Family Services (CFSA) pre-adoptive foster home and over the course
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WASHINGTON DC DIVORCE v. LEGAL SEPARATION; CRITERIA FOR ANNULMENT: DC DIVORCE LAWYER
The filing requirements for divorce and the legal separation are significantly and materially different. The divorce filing requires proof that: Parties have mutually and voluntarily lived separate and apart without cohabitation for a period of six months before filing of the action or Parties to the marriage have lived separate and apart without cohabitation for a period of one year prior to filing of the action. The filing requirement for the legal separation is less rigorous and it requires only that: Parties to the marriage have mutually and voluntarily lived separate and apart without cohabitation; or Both parties to the
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WASHINGTON DC STEP-PARENT/DOMESTIC PARTNER ADOPTION: DC FAMILY LAWYER
While the decision to adopt a child can be an exciting one, the complexities of adoption laws and the corresponding regulations can be potentially discouraging or overwhelming for the prospective families. Step-parent adoption is a type of adoption in which a step-parent endeavors to adopt a child of his/her current spouse or domestic partner. Generally, the adoption process for step-parent is less complex as it bypasses some of the requirements, such as the adoption study or required visits, licensing, or the adoption report or CFSA-Child & Family Services’ investigative final report and recommendations. Specifically the court may dispense with the
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WASHINGTON DC RETROACTIVE CHILD SUPPORT: RECENT CASE LAW & APPLICABLE STATUTES: DC CHILD SUPPORT LAWYER
District of Columbia Child Support Guidelines provides the right to the custodial parent to receive retroactive child support payments for a period of 24 months preceding the filing of the petition for child support. The Court of Appeals in Ford v. Snowden decided on September 22, 2016, addressed specifically the issue of whether a custodial parent receiving government benefit (“TANF”) was entitled to child support payments in addition and above the “TANF” amount. Specifically, Fashon Ford challenges the trial court’s order denying her the opportunity to seek child support from Snowden for the period of time during which Ms. Ford
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RECENT COURT OF APPEALS DECISION: GOAL CHANGE FROM REUNIFICATION TO ADOPTION NOW APPEALABLE: DC ADOPTION LAWYER
The DC Court of Appeals in: IN RE TA.L.; IN RE A.L.; – decided on December 8, 2016, opined a significant decision in extending and preserving parental rights in the context of adoptions. Here the parents were adjudicated as neglectful and the children were subsequently placed in a foster home. Approximately within a year of the placement, and during a permanency hearing, the goal was changed from reunification to adoption. The goal change from reunification to adoption and the permanency goal change without affording the biological parents a legal procedure and protection was the main subject of the Court’s decision
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INTERNATIONAL CHILD SUPPORT: FORUM NON CONVENIENS: DC CHILD SUPPORT LAWYER
Generally the DC Corporation Counsel will file and prosecute a child support action on behalf of a DC resident and when both the child and the principles are DC residents. However Under 42 U.S. Code ξ 654(4)(A)(ii), the District may bring a child support action on behalf of a non DC resident, a non US national and from a country which has not signed into Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (“UIFSA”) or any other treaty governing terms, that is, a non reciprocating and a non treaty nation. According to the statute, the DC government has the discretion to bring an
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COMPETING ADOPTION PETITIONS: RECENT COURT OF APPEALS DECISION
In the matter of: IN RE M.V.H. decided on July 21, 2016, by the Court of Appeals, a relative grandmother adoption petition v. a non relative foster parent adoption petition was legally compared and analyzed with the trial court as well as the appellate review all ruling in favor of the foster parent petition. The case had initiated through a neglect petition against the biological mother who resided in the grandmother’s home (M.V.H.) at time, and alleged and proven neglect of physical injuries to the child (A.H.). The mother had given her consent to the adoption by the grandmother M.V.H.,
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DC DIVORCE LAWYER/LAWS:
A divorce decree cannot be granted in the District unless the following separation criteria have been met: Parties have “mutually and voluntarily” lived separate and apart from one another without cohabitation for a period of six months prior to commencing of an action or that; parties have lived separate and apart without cohabitation for a period of one year prior to commencing the action. In the second category most likely the separation has been court ordered as it would not have been “mutually and voluntary.” Thus the statute requires a legal separation before issuing a divorce decree and the legal
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