Even though the respondent-Mother’s newly appointed counsel was unable to communicate directly with Mother prior to the morning of the hearing to terminate Mother’s parental rights, since counsel’s office had been representing Mother in this case for two years, and ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations

In its findings in support of guardianship for the respondent-Mother’s four children, the trial court could rely on a social worker’s testimony that she had talked to Mother’s housing manager, who told her that Mother’s public housing was in jeopardy ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations

In this juvenile matter, the trial court determined that the respondent-mother’s incompetency required the appointment of a guardian ad litem (GAL) under N.C. R. Civ. P. 17 to protect her rights, given that she was receiving SSI benefits for mental ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations

Court orders required the respondent-Father to pay support for three of his children; in contrast, no court order required Father to pay any portion of the cost DSS incurred in caring for Father’s child, “Paige.” Nevertheless, Father has an inherent ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations

Where the trial court miscalculated the plaintiff-Mother’s income deficit, and where the trial court mischaracterized several of the defendant-Father’s non-frivolous filings as frivolous, we remand for reconsideration of the trial court’s award of attorney’s fees to Mother. We reject Father’s ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations

The year after the parties’ marriage, the plaintiff-husband sustained work-related injuries for which he received a settlement payment of $585,000. Although the trial court found that a portion of the settlement amount was marital property, the court found that any ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations

The fact that the respondent-father began substance abuse treatment prior to the filing of the motion to terminate his parental rights did not prevent the trial court from finding that he had willfully failed to make progress on his case ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations

The respondent-Father’s eight-year incarceration limited his ability to show love, affection and parental concern for his child. Father did present evidence that he had sent the minor child pictures that he had drawn in 2015, along with a certificate in ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations

Although the respondent-parents made some progress on the substance abuse requirements of their case plans, in the months leading up to the termination of parental rights hearing, a friend overdosed in respondents’ home on two different occasions. Under these circumstances, ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations

By the time the petitioner-grandmother filed a petition to terminate the respondent-mother’s parental rights, “Jamie” had lived with the grandmother in Surry County for more than six months, so North Carolina was Jamie’s home state. However, the initial custody order ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations