News

[07/22] Trial date to be set for Vick co-defendant
[07/14] Dupay makes 1st court appearance on rape charges
[07/14] Sidney Lowe II to plead guilty to 12 charges
[07/24] In Portland, parking laws include police
[07/22] R.I. police say man had .491 blood alcohol level

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Articles

Paternity

Paternity refers to the legal establishment of who is the father of a child. While the identity of a child's biological mother is usually easy to establish, the father's identity may in some cases be uncertain. Paternity issues often arise in cases involving child support, but they can also be important in relation to adoption, inheritance, custody and visitation, health care, and other issues.

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Commercial Bankruptcy

Just as individual consumers do, businesses sometimes find themselves in the uncomfortable position of being unable to pay their debts in a timely manner. In many cases, the solution to this dilemma is to declare bankruptcy, a legal proceeding in a federal court that releases the business from the obligation of paying all or some of its debts. Filing bankruptcy is not a perfect solution, however. Although it is often said that bankruptcy gives a business a fresh start, it can negatively affect the business's credit rating and make it hard to obtain credit in the future. Without good credit, it may be impossible to continue in business. On the other hand, in some types of bankruptcies the bankrupt business actually ceases to exist when the proceedings terminate.

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Chronology: Establishing Paternity

When a child is born to a married couple, a legal presumption arises that the husband is the child's father. The same is not true with unmarried couples. Establishing paternity is important for unmarried couples in the event they break up and a parent seeks custody or child support, for inheritance purposes, and in a variety of other circumstances.

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Company Bankruptcy: What to Expect

What you can expect when filing bankruptcy depends, in part, on what type of bankruptcy your company files. Here is an overview of what to expect under the three chapters available to businesses.

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Case Summaries

[07/22] In re Esmeralda S.
Juvenile court's order terminating defendant-mother's parental rights to her child is affirmed over claims of error that: 1) defendant's due process rights were violated when the juvenile court appointed her a guardian ad litem; and 2) the juvenile court did not properly inquire into her and the minor's father's possible American Indian ancestry for purposes of complying with Indian Child Welfare Act.

[07/18] In re Brandon T.
Order terminating mother's parental rights over her child is affirmed where: 1) there was sufficient evidence that the minor was specifically adoptable by his relative caretakers; 2) the Indian Child Welfare Act does not require more than one expert at a section 366.26 hearing; 3) there was sufficient evidence that continued custody would result in serious emotional or physical harm to the minor; and 4) mother was not prejudiced by a lack of evidence in regard to prevailing social and cultural standards of the minor's tribe.

[07/18] Duran v. Beaumont
Dismissal of a motion for the return of petitioner's daughter to Chile is affirmed where, for purposes of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, petitioner had only access rights, not custody rights, leaving the district court without jurisdiction to order the return of the child.

[07/16] In re Marriage of Sonne
In a marriage dissolution proceeding, a conclusion that repurchased service credits for husband's years of service to his employer prior to his wife were community property is affirmed where the repurchase of service credits involved the commingling of separate and community property in the use of community funds to purchase the service credits. However, assignation to the wife of the entire survivor benefit of which she was the irrevocable beneficiary is reversed and remanded where the husband was only compensated for the cost of the survivor benefits when its value far exceeded its cost.

[06/30] Harper v. Division of Family Services
In a parental right adjudicatory proceeding, the court's decision to terminate respondent's parental rights and transfer of the minor to the Division of Family Services is affirmed where: 1) there was clear and convincing evidence to terminate parental rights; and 2) the state was able to prove that termination of parental rights was in the minor's best interest.

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