Articles

COA grants ex-wife full equalization payment from farm sale

Despite a man’s assertions that a trial court erred in denying his motion to correct error regarding the split of marital assets, the Indiana Court of Appeals found no such error occurred against him. Rather, it found error occurred against his ex-wife when she did not receive the full equalization payment after selling their farm.

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DCS reform bills whittled down but advancing

While the effort to give foster parents standing in cases involving abused and neglected children has stalled in the Statehouse, numerous child welfare and Department of Child Services reforms appear poised to pass the Indiana General Assembly.

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Families not immune from vaccination debate

Arguments for and against vaccinations have grown in the national conversation as 12 states are currently battling an outbreak of measles. A recent Indiana trial court decision in a custody dispute demonstrated that disagreements over vaccinations also happen within families.

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Judge: Mom ‘knowingly and willfully’ violated child’s vaccination order

An Indianapolis mother, who was previously found to be in contempt of court for trying to circumvent the custody agreement that required her daughter be vaccinated, was found to have “knowingly and willfully” violated an Indiana Court of Appeals order that gave the father the sole ability make decisions about vaccinating the child.

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Suit: Kids in CHINS cases need attorneys

A nonprofit that gave Indiana an F grade in how the state provides for minors in child in need of services and termination of parental rights hearings asserts in a new lawsuit that children a have right to counsel so their voices be heard in court.

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COA reverses judgment against grandparent visitation

Two grandparents won their appeal to petition for visitation rights with their deceased son’s children after the Indiana Court of Appeals found a trial court erred in granting summary judgment to the children’s mothers.

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Reversal: Children placed in father’s care weren’t CHINS

Three Tippecanoe County minor children age 5 and younger who were cared for by their father after they were found home alone in their mother’s home should not have been adjudicated children in need of services, the Indiana Court of Appeals held Friday in reversing the juvenile court.

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DCS still drawing numerous reform bills in Legislature

Legislators in 2018 introduced a slew of bills trying to bring more collaboration and modest adjustments to the Department of Child Services. Lawmakers this year have introduced at least 25 bills impacting CHINS, foster parents and DCS caseloads, among other things.

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Bar groups oppose grandparent visitation bill

The Indiana Senate Judiciary Committee is pumping the brakes on a bill that would allow grandparents and great-grandparents to seek visitation with their grandchildren despite estrangements with the children’s parents, with two notable Indiana bar association groups speaking out against the proposed legislation.

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Reed: “Why do I need to have a premarital agreement?”

For those who are legal counselors to families, you have heard objections many times when the parents have told their adult daughter (or son) that they need to have a premarital agreement. The child is in love. She has found the person with whom she will spend the rest of her life. The person with whom she will raise a family. There is no possible way they would ever divorce, so why does she need a premarital agreement? The simple answer — she needs one!

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Bill would allow grand, great-grandparent visitation in some cases

Current federal and state law generally defers to a parent’s judgment when it comes to grandparent visitation, with the United States Supreme Court ruling that the right to rear a child as desired is among the most fundamental rights of parents. But a bill filed this year in the Indiana Legislature would give both grandparents and great-grandparents another avenue to obtain standing to petition for visitation.

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