Justices block Alabama court order in lesbian adoption case
The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with a lesbian mother who wants to see her adopted children, blocking an Alabama court's order that declared the adoption invalid.
Family Courts
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Daughter’s emancipation leads to reduction in child support
A trial court should have reduced a father’s child support obligation to his three children because his daughter’s emancipation constitutes a substantial and continuing change, the Indiana Court of Appeals held Friday. The trial court denied the father’s motion because the amount of child support offered differed by less than 20 percent of the amount dictated by the Indiana Child Support Guidelines.
Circuit court without jurisdiction to grant father’s child support relief
Madison Circuit Court 5 did not have jurisdiction to rule on a man’s motion for relief from a child support decision entered by Madison Circuit Court 2, the Indiana Court of Appeals concluded Thursday.
Justices reverse CHINS finding, noting father coerced to admit adjudication
Because a Marion Superior Court judge’s remarks and conduct in their cumulative effect breached the court’s duty of impartiality and amounted to coercion of a 17-year-old girl’s father to admit she was a child in need of services, the Indiana Supreme Court reversed the CHINS adjudication.
Nineteen counties split nearly $243K in family court grants
Family courts around Indiana will receive $242,911 in grant money to support projects, the Indiana Supreme Court announced Monday. A total of 19 counties will each receive grants of $4,000 to $35,000.
Grant applications for children, family projects due Aug. 14
The Indiana Court Improvement Program is accepting applications for projects designed to improve the well-being, safety and permanency of children and families involved in child in need of services and termination of parental rights proceedings.
Indiana Supreme Court awards more than $232,000 in grants to counties
The Indiana Supreme Court has awarded $232,470 in grant money to 23 counties to support local family court projects. Since the Family Court project began in 1999, the Supreme Court had distributed more than $3 million in “seed money” to support family court projects.
Child’s best interest includes having father’s surname
A noncustodial father’s active participation in his son’s life convinced the Indiana Court of Appeals that giving the father’s surname to the minor was in the best interest of the child.
Mom loses bid to bar DCS child interviews after clean home check
A mother who challenged a court order granting the Department of Child Services’ petitions to interview her minor children lost her appeal Wednesday, despite her argument that a DCS inspection of her home and her screening found no evidence of drug abuse that had been alleged in a complaint.
Supreme Court gives $160,000 for family court projects
Sixteen Indiana counties will share $160,000 in grant money from the Indiana Supreme Court to support their local family court projects.
Guidance offered on incarcerated parents’ attendance at termination hearings
Scolding the Indiana Department of Child Services for how it handled a parental termination case, the Indiana Supreme Court has found an incarcerated mother’s due process rights were not violated when she did not receive adequate notice about pending proceedings that would affect her rights as a parent or when she was not allowed to attend the hearings.
Court awarding grants for CHINS, parental termination programs
The Indiana Court Improvement Project is giving out up to $350,000 in grants aimed at helping children and families who are navigating through the state’s child welfare system.
Family Court Project grant applications available
Trial courts interested in earning a Family Court Project grant have until July 1 to apply.
Comment time extended on state court rules
The Hoosier legal community has more time to offer comment on a multitude of state court rules that are being examined for potential revision.
Comments welcomed for many court rule amendments
A multitude of Indiana court rules are being examined for potential revision, and the legal community has a chance to offer comment about how those changes are made.
Indiana Family courts receive more than $200,000
As the family court project of the Indiana Supreme Court’s Division of State Court Administration enters a new year, courts that participate in the program have learned they will continue to operate with about the same amount of funding they have had in recent years.
Family Court project grants now available
The Indiana Supreme Court, Division of State Court Administration is accepting Phase V Family Court Project Grant Applications. The application includes information about the county's current judicial system, and a request for a family court grant in the amount of $10,000 to $40,000 per year, for a two-year period. Selected counties will begin operation in January 2010.
Court gives grants for family projects
Fifteen projects in 18 Indiana counties are receiving grants from the Indiana Supreme Court aimed at family court projects,
including Madison and Parke counties that are the newest to join the effort that’s been in place since 1999.
Supreme Court awards grants for family projects
Fifteen projects in 18 Indiana counties are receiving grants from the Indiana Supreme Court aimed at family court projects, including Madison and Parke counties that are the newest to joint the effort that’s been in place since 1999.
Family courts for pro se parents
While family courts have been around in Indiana for the last decade, the counties that have them continue to make changes to improve access to justice to all litigants who are in the system.