Today's parents already wear many hats: nurse, teacher, spiritual guide, saucier, confidante, cheerleader, janitor, exorcist, on and on. Modern parents navigating a bitter divorce find themselves in an impossible situation. Bestselling books and Ph.D. theses have been written about the…
Months into a contested custody case I have (I represent the mother), opposing party (father) racked up his second DUI by wrapping his car around a utility pole. Mercifully, the child was not in the car at the time. But…
I wanted to take a brief but important moment to discuss issues with party names that the R.I. family Court has been seeing of late. First, as to a child: In R.I. it is helpful to note at the outset…
Consider this worst-case scenario. You are a new parent of a very young child. You are doing your best, but you are on your own and (let’s all face it) there is a learning curve to all parenting. You try…
If you are the victim of domestic violence, or are reasonably in imminent fear that abuse or violence will be inflicted upon you or your children by a spouse, ex-spouse, partner, or anyone with whom you have a "significant romantic…
In R.I., child support is carefully modulated by the General Assembly to help with the minor child’s food, clothing, and shelter. Food. Clothing. Shelter. Therefore, if a non-custodial parent pays his (let’s say his for this hypothetical) child support consistently,…
A Guardian ad Litem is an attorney who represents the child, and only the child. She is not beholden to either party and is thus independent of the burden of having a paying client to impress. Mother’s attorney is expected…
There are two kinds of custody, depending on where you live. Brief tutorial. Where I practice, in the great State of Rhode Island, “custody” means the right to remain informed of the child’s significant life events and be reasonably informed…
An associate of mine was speaking with a father / client of ours one time, and passed on a concern of the Mother’s that he (father) was smoking in the car with the kiddo. Father was confused. He pointed out…
The one thing that every Family Law attorney knows for certain is that child support is forever either way too much (for the paying party; let’s say, Dad) or not nearly enough (for the party getting paid; let’s say, Mom).…