Courts don’t have to declare parents “unfit” in order to strip their custody and visitation rights if they find that it is in the children’s best interest for them to live with another parent, the North Carolina Supreme Court has ...

Tagged with: custody

A woman who had a long-term, committed relationship with her former same-sex partner does not have standing to seek custody of the former partner’s biological children, a divided North Carolina Court of Appeals panel has ruled. Emily Chavez alleges that ...

Tagged with: custody

Even though defendant did not present sufficient evidence to justify a change in primary and secondary physical custody, the trial court could nevertheless find that she had presented sufficient evidence to justify a change in other terms of the custody ...

Tagged with: custody

After his wife died, the defendant-father placed his children in the care of plaintiff, his great-uncle (uncle) and continued to renew the uncle’s guardianship of the children until they had been in his care for five years. Although the trial ...

Tagged with: custody

Even though the trial court did not include express language in its 2014 custody order that the order was entered “without prejudice,” the 2014 order (1) said it would “not be binding on the parties in future hearings,” (2) referred ...

Tagged with: custody

In its permanent custody order, the trial court changed the parties’ temporary week on/week off custody arrangement to one in which the defendant-father gets visitation only every other weekend during the school year. The findings of fact fail to demonstrate ...

Tagged with: custody

At the conclusion of the parties’ custody hearing, the trial court announced that it would give the parties joint physical custody of their child; nevertheless, the trial court was free to make a different ruling in its subsequent written order, ...

Tagged with: custody

Holding: The trial court’s 2015 custody order said it was temporary, but it (1) was not entered “without prejudice” to either party, (2) said, “Either party, or the Court, may place this order on the calendar for review after 6 ...

Tagged with: custody

Picotte v. Hull (Lawyers Weekly No. 012-010-18, 23 pp.) (Robert Hunter Jr., J.) Appealed from Durham County District Court (Fred Battaglia, J.) N.C. App. Unpub. Holding: Even though defendant’s conduct did not rise to the level of criminal harassment or ...

Tagged with: custody

Moore v. Moore (Lawyers Weekly No. 012-176-17, 21 pp.) (Lucy Inman, J.) Appealed from Mecklenburg County District Court (Alicia D. Brooks, J.) N.C. App. Unpub. Holding: Since the North Carolina Child Support Guidelines say that the first $250 of uninsured ...

Tagged with: custody