North Carolina Lawyers Weekly
Judge Earwood presided over the hearing on a petition to terminate the respondent-mother’s parental rights, and Judge Earwood asked counsel to draft an order for her signature. However, Judge Leslie inadvertently signed the order. Even though respondent appealed the ...
Read More »Domestic Relations– Civil Practice – Appeals – Wrong Judge’s Signature – Termination of Parental Rights
Domestic Relations – Parent & Child – Termination of Parental Rights – Willful Abandonment – Incarceration – First Impression 
Even though the respondent-father was incarcerated for part of the six months preceding the maternal grandparents’ filing of the petition to terminate his parental rights, (1) respondent failed to take advantage of free methods of contacting his daughter “Catherine” ...
Read More »Domestic Relations – Parent & Child – Support Arrears – Payment Schedule – First Impression
The defendant-father has the ability to pay his entire child support arrearage immediately; consequently, the trial court abused its discretion when it ordered the arrearage paid, interest-free, in $100 increments over a span of 20 years. We affirm ...
Read More »Domestic Relations – Parent & Child – Child Support Orders – UIFSA – Maryland Action
The defendant-mother moved from North Carolina to Maryland, obtained primary custody of the parties’ children, and paid all of the child support arrears she owed to the plaintiff-father pursuant to North Carolina support orders. Even though the mother then sought ...
Read More »Domestic Relations – Parent & Child – TPR – Appeals – No-Merit Brief – Independent Review
When parental rights are terminated and the parent’s counsel files a no-merit brief with the appellate court, the appellate court must independently review any potential issues counsel identifies in the no-merit brief. We vacate the Court of Appeals’ decision ...
Read More »Domestic Relations – Parent & Child – TPR – Lack of Progress – Reasons for Removal
Even though the event that precipitated the removal of the juvenile, “Bev,” from the respondent-mother’s care was an incident of domestic violence and an unexplained bruise on Bev’s arm, other factors contributed to Bev’s removal. Therefore, when the trial court ...
Read More »Domestic Relations – Equitable Distribution – Distributive Award – Separate Property
Although the trial court required the plaintiff-wife to pay a large distributive award to the defendant-husband, the court could not require the wife to liquidate her separate property to pay the award. We reverse the Court of Appeals’ decision to ...
Read More »Domestic Relations – Parent & Child – Termination of Parental Rights – Best Interests
Even though the trial court found that the children, “Zena” and “Zadie,” had a strong bond with the respondent-father, the trial court also found that (1) the bond had diminished over the long time that the children had spent ...
Read More »Domestic Relations – Parent & Child – Termination of Parental Rights – Insufficient Findings
Even though some of the respondent-mother’s progress on her case plan, such as stable housing and transportation, was owing to her new boyfriend, the case plan does not and cannot require that she alone be responsible for providing her ...
Read More »Domestic Relations – Parent & Child – Civil Practice – Jurisdiction – North Carolina & Tennessee Courts
After the respondent-mother moved to Virginia and “Jane’s” custodians moved with her to Tennessee, a Tennessee court assumed jurisdiction over this case, which arose as a neglect case under G.S. Chapter 7B. The North Carolina trial court erred when it ...
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