North Carolina Lawyers Weekly
Where (1) respondent-father was convicting of raping his minor daughter; (2) respondent’s counsel filed a no-merit brief, informed respondent of his right to file pro se arguments on his own behalf, and provided him with the documents necessary to ...
Read More »Domestic Relations – Parent & Child – Termination of Parental Rights – Rape Conviction – No-Merit Brief
Domestic Relations – Parent & Child – Termination of Parental Rights – Antisocial Personality Disorder – ‘Stale’ Diagnosis 
By the time of the 2019 hearing on the petition to terminate respondent-father’s parental rights to “Natasha,” Dr. Len Lecci’s diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder was four years old. Even if that diagnosis was stale, the evidence and findings ...
Read More »Domestic Relations – Parent & Child – Termination of Parental Rights – Domestic Violence
Even though the respondent-mother testified that she was no longer in a relationship with the children’s abusive father and would not return to him, respondent had made the same assertions in the past, only to resume the relationship. The ...
Read More »Domestic Relations – Parent & Child – Termination of Parental Rights – Failure to Make Reasonable Progress – Substance Abuse – Appeals
Where the trial court found that (1) the respondent-mother had declined further rehabilitative services which would have allowed her to reside with her child while receiving residential rehabilitative services, (2) respondent had entered a methadone program without any counseling ...
Read More »Domestic Relations – Child Support – Contempt Motion – Burden of Proof – Due Process
Where plaintiff filed a contempt motion, but where the trial court did not enter an order to show cause, plaintiff had the burden of proving defendant had willfully failed to comply with the trial court’s child support order. Because ...
Read More »Domestic Relations – Parent & Child – Dependency Adjudication – Alternative Child Care Arrangement
Even though the respondent-mother’s name does not appear on the lease of her friend’s rented home, (1) the mother contacted her friend a month before “Madeline” was born; (2) the friend agreed to let Madeline and the mother live ...
Read More »Domestic Relations – Parent & Child – Custody – Grandparents – Best Interests & Unfitness
In a custody contest between a child’s mother and the child’s paternal grandparents, the trial court erred by applying the best interests test before deciding whether the mother had forfeited her constitutional right to parent the child. Moreover, numerous ...
Read More »Domestic Relations – Parent & Child – Abuse & Neglect Adjudication – Discovery – Emotional Abuse
In this abuse and neglect action, the trial court did not refuse to allow the respondent-father (Father) to depose a social worker; instead, the trial court instructed Father to first avail himself of the information-sharing provisions of G.S. § ...
Read More »Domestic Relations – Parent & Child – Abuse Adjudication – Bone Fractures – Unknown Cause
The fact that the respondent-parents could not explain how their otherwise well-cared-for infant suffered bone fractures in his legs was insufficient to allow the trial court to adjudicate the infant as abused. We reverse the trial court’s adjudication of ...
Read More »Domestic Relations – Parent & Child – Non-Relative Placement – Grandmother’s Evidence
In this case, (1) the respondent-father expressed a desire that his daughter, “Alexis,” live with her paternal grandmother, (2) the grandmother testified that she was willing and able to care for Alexis, and (3) there was evidence of the ...
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