Children

Guiding Your Children through Your Divorce

June 13, 2016 | Kearns Rotolo Law

For some people, divorce is the only solution to the problems in their relationship. Still, it is difficult for everyone involved as they adjust to changes in family finances and lifestyles. Children can be most affected since they very often don’t understand the circumstances that led to this change in their family life.

Children react differently to their parents’ divorce – some act out behaviorally at home or in school; others keep their feelings pent up, only for these feelings to surface at a later time in their development. Most parents go to great lengths to protect their children from being traumatized by their divorce. One of the best things they can do is consider their children’s needs first, according to Dr. Kyle Pruett, a clinical professor of child psychiatry. To learn more about how you can help your child adjust to your divorce, read Dr. Pruett’s article, “Helping Children Cope With Divorce.”

Neglecting Terms of Custody Agreement Have Costly Consequences

May 30, 2016 | Kearns Rotolo Law

When facing divorce, many parents will go to great lengths to arrive at custody agreements that protect the daily routines of their children as much as possible. Allowing children to remain with the friends and schools they’ve become accustomed to can prove helpful as they adjust to their parents’ divorce. Unfortunately, this isn’t always possible.

Sometimes parents are faced with unexpected circumstances – a change in finances or employment, for example – that jeopardize their ability to live up to the terms of even the most well-planned custody agreements. Ignoring the terms spelled out in your custody agreement can have costly consequences, a lesson one New Jersey couple is learning the hard way. For details, read “Parents ordered to pay N.J. school district $55K tuition in residency dispute.”

One way to avoid a similar situation is to return to court to seek a new or amended custody agreement and keep the terms of the new agreement in mind when making modifications in your life to meet your changing circumstances.

Should Parents Pay for Child’s Bullying Behavior?

May 16, 2016 | Kearns Rotolo Law

Most people would agree that bullying needs to end. How to best accomplish this and protect our children is the question.

After a number of well-publicized suicides by victims of alleged bullying, New Jersey passed what has been referred to as the nation’s toughest anti-bullying legislation. The Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights was adopted on Sept. 1, 2011 and replaced much weaker legislation that had been on the State’s books. The Bill attempts to prevent bullying through the education of students and school staff about what constitutes bullying; the creation of teams of school personnel and parents to whom these behaviors can be reported; and the investigation of all reported acts of bullying.

Some may say New Jersey’s law is too rigorous, while others may think it doesn’t go far enough. Consider the case of one Wisconsin town that recently made the news by passing legislation allowing for parents of children found guilty of bullying to be fined. Read “Wisconsin Town Will Fine Parents of Bullies $366” to learn more about this most recent anti-bullying measure.

Joint Custody: Making the Effort to Make It Work

April 18, 2016 | Kearns Rotolo Law

Divorce may be the answer to a troubled marriage but when children are involved, the relationship between spouses never truly ends. Although divorce negotiations can sometimes be bitter, custody arrangements require cooperation if they are to work.

There are various forms of custody designed to suit the unique circumstances of individual families. However, most people believe that joint custody, if possible, is best for the children. For this, couples need to put aside their differences and focus on the needs of their children. To learn how to do that, read “9 Rules to Make Joint Child Custody Work.”

Child Custody: Who Wins When Laws Clash?

April 4, 2016 | Kearns Rotolo Law

When it comes to making decisions regarding child custody matters, courts take into account the ‘best interests of the child.’ However, what is actually in the child’s best interest may not always be easy to ascertain. Consider this recent case out of California.

The Page family of Santa Clarita, CA, lost custody of a young girl they had been fostering since 2011 when the Department of Children and Family Services of Los Angeles County took her from their home last month and placed her with extended family in Utah. The reason? The girl has traces of Native American ancestry – 1/64^th percent – and as such, the court ruled that her custody is determined by the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. That Act states, in part, that Native American children should be kept with Native American families. For more details about this custody battle, read “6-Year-Old Girl Taken From Longtime California Foster Family for Being 1/64 Native American.”

Tri-Parenting: Deciding Custody Issues in Non-Traditional Families

February 22, 2016 | Kearns Rotolo Law

With the growing acceptance of surrogacy, same-sex marriage and unwed relationships, the definition of family is not so simple these days. There was a time when family meant mother, father and children; today there are not only biological parents, but surrogate mothers, adoptive parents, and even psychological parents. This new definition of family may have opened doors for non-traditional couples looking to create families, but it raises greater questions of who has the right to custody if and when these relationships dissolve.

A New Jersey case recently released for publication concerns a group of three friends – one female and two males – who entered into what has been coined a “tri-parenting arrangement.” According to reports, the friends agreed to conceive a child using the egg of the female and sperm of one of the males, making them the child’s biological parents. The male’s same-sex partner was considered the child’s psychological parent and given an equal role in the child’s upbringing. In the beginning, all went well but everything changed when the female sought to relocate from New Jersey to California and bring the child with her.

The ultimate decision of who had rights to custody of the child was left to a New Jersey family court, which decided the issue based on the best interest of the child. To read more, see “‘Tri-parenting’ in New Jersey family court.”

When Determining Grandparents’ Rights Courts Consider ‘Best Interest of the Child’

January 25, 2016 | Kearns Rotolo Law

In an ideal world, grandparents and grandchildren share nurturing relationships that can prove beneficial for both generations. Sometimes, however, rifts in the relationship between the grandparents and their own children and/or their children’s spouses can adversely affect the relationship between grandparent and grandchild. In extreme cases, the courts may be called upon to determine whether or not the grandparent/grandchild relationship can be saved. In those instances, it may fall to the grandparents to show proof that preserving their relationship with their grandchild would be in the best interest of that child. See the New Jersey law case Major v. Maguire.

Teens and Snow Shoveling: A Community Service or a Violation of the Law?

January 11, 2016 | Kearns Rotolo Law

It isn’t unusual in winter to see teenagers shoveling their neighbors’ sidewalks and driveways in exchange for a little extra spending money. In fact, most people would applaud these teens for their hard work. And if they take the initiative to schedule snow removal jobs in response to a snowy forecast, most people would congratulate them for their entrepreneurial nature; however, this advance scheduling could put them in danger of breaking the law. Some New Jersey lawmakers want to change that.

The State Assembly was expected to vote today on a bill, a version of which gained unanimous approval by the State Senate last May, allowing New Jersey’s teens to solicit snow removal jobs without regulation. This bill was drafted in response to an incident last January in which a couple of Bound Brook teens were stopped by local police from handing out flyers in their neighborhood announcing their snow removal services. According to reports, the teens were warned that their actions were in violation of the municipality’s anti-solicitation laws. To read more on this issue, read “Could your kids be breaking the law when it snows?”

Do Winter Coats Compromise Car Seat Safety?

December 28, 2015 | Kearns Rotolo Law

For decades now, statistics have shown that it is safer for young children to be in properly sized child safety seats when riding in the car. From time to time, news stories pertaining to car seat safety remind parents to make sure their car seats are properly installed and alert them to manufacturers’ recalls when faulty details are uncovered. Now there is a new car seat safety concern to be aware of.

According to recent reports, children wearing heavy winter coats may not be as securely fastened into their safety seats as parents may think. The fact is the very coats that are keeping children snug and warm could prove hazardous in the event of a car accident. For details and tips for correcting this problem, see “Car seat alert: Could wearing a winter coat endanger your child?”

Deciding the Fate of Frozen Embryos in the Case of Divorce

November 30, 2015 | Kearns Rotolo Law

For couples coping with fertility issues, in vitro fertilization (IVF) can help dreams come true. IVF is a procedure through which human eggs are fertilized outside of the body and often frozen and stored for future use, making it possible for some couples who had difficulty conceiving to become biological parents nonetheless. Sometimes, however, relationships don’t work out as expected – couples go their separate ways; marriages end in divorce. In situations such as these, what becomes of the stored embryos?

This has been the question of several lawsuits, most recently a case in San Francisco, CA, which made national news. According to an msn.com article, “S.F. woman who sought to have embryos preserved loses legal case,” a California couple underwent the IVF procedure shortly before their wedding after learning the woman had cancer and that the intended treatment was expected to leave her infertile. While the woman survived her illness, the marriage did not last and a petition for divorce was filed in August of 2013, prompting the issue of the couple’s frozen embryos to come up.

The couple had signed an agreement with the reproduction center that performed the IVF procedure stating that the embryos should be given to the surviving spouse only upon the death of his or her partner; under any other circumstances, including divorce, the unused embryos were to be destroyed. Despite this agreement, the woman sought to protect her chance at becoming a biological parent and claimed the agreement was signed in haste.