Justice News Flash6/16/2010
In efforts to inform feuding couples of the effects a bystanding child experiences in witnessing fights, the Raleigh family law attorneys of Gailor, Wallis and Hunt present the findings of a study aimed at examining children’s responses to feuding parents.
North Carolina divorce lawyers report:
Science Daily reported on a 2008 study conducted by researchers at the University of Rochester, Syracuse University and the University of Notre Dame that charted how children’s concerns over their parents’ relationship affected their abilities to pay attention in school. The study, “Children’s Insecure Representations of the Interparental Relationship and their School Adjustment: The Mediating Role of Attention Difficulties,” examined 216 predominantly white 6-year-olds, their parents and their teachers over a three-year period.
Teachers reported annually on the children’s ability to participate in class activities, get along with others and acclimate within the school setting in general. Teachers specifically were told to determine whether the children were cooperative with peers, followed directions, used classroom materials responsibly and acted in an overall appropriate manner.
According to reports, children who were concerned about their parents displayed more attention problems a year after the onset of stress was reported. These attention difficulties came hand-in-hand with teacher reports of adjustment issues in school. Many cases found that children’s negative thoughts were based on witnessing actual relationship problems between parents.
Raleigh divorce lawyers of Gailor, Wallis and Hunt further report that other studies on the effects of feuding spouses on children found that the stress hormone cortisol elevated in all situations of strife, whether the negativity was heard over the phone or within the home. These realizations bring to light the importance of protecting children from feuding families and divorce. Sheltering a child from the negativity of spousal fighting is not only important for the child’s mental health, it is also important for the child’s educational and social wellbeing. Whether the fight is in the kitchen, over the phone or in the courtroom, the child is affected in a negative manner.
A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center revealed that while the public still strongly believes the traditional 2-parent home is the best scenario for raising children, a divorce is the lesser of two evils when it comes to unhappy marriages. When given a scenario of very unhappily married parents, and then asked whether the children would better benefit from the parents remaining married or divorcing, 67 percent of adults surveyed stated a divorce would be better. Only 19 percent thought it a good idea to remain married.
While it is obvious to all Americans that the divorce rate is rising, what is not always obvious is the fact that a softer approach to separation could prove beneficial to all members of the family. As a parent would naturally want to shield a child from the backlash of in-home fighting, the parent should also realize in-court battles can prove detrimental to the child. When divorces go to court, the battle is not always friendly and tensions inevitably mount. Approaching a separation with mediation is a private way to handle your affairs.
Hiring family law attorneys to conduct mediation gives parents the opportunity to handle separation issues with referee-type counselors and attorneys, they handle it without the hassle of dragging children into court , forcing them to watch a he-said, she-said battle. Keeping children sheltered from the unnecessary stress of watching parents battle, whether in the home or in court, saves them from undue stress. Shielding children from excess levels of stress proves beneficial in the long run. It helps them deal with their every day lives at school and with surrounding peers. If you could prevent your child from experiencing undue stress, problems with concentration and difficulties with peer relationships, wouldn’t you do it?
Read More…
http://www.justicenewsflash.com/2010/06/16/raleigh-family-lawyers-report-how-fighting-parents-affect-children_201006164694.html
The Washington Post4/9/2010Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- A text of the statement by Chief Justice John Roberts on the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens.
Associate Justice John Paul Stevens has earned the gratitude and admiration of the American people for his nearly 40 years of distinguished service to the Judiciary, including more than 34 years on the Supreme Court. He has enriched the lives of everyone at the Court through his intellect, independence, and warm grace. We have all been blessed to have John as our colleague and his wife Maryan as our friend. We will miss John's presence in our daily work, but will take joy in his and Maryan's continued friendship in the years ahead.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/09/AR2010040902385.html
ABC News Reports on Nominees…
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Supreme_Court/justice-stevens-retires-white-house-ready-potential-supreme/story?id=10330941
Obama to comment publically at 1:20PM today per Reuters…
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN098625220100409?type=marketsNews
4/1/2010ReutersHelen Kearney
NEW YORK, April 1 (Reuters) - With about half of all U.S. marriages ending in divorce, there is plenty of need for advisers who can help with the sensitive issue of splitting the family assets .
And with divorces no longer limited to contentious legal battles, financial advisers say they play a critical role in out-of-court settlements such as collaborative and mediated divorces.
"It's one of the most stressful transitions that a financial planner is needed for," says Laura Hyman, a New York City-based adviser with RBC Wealth Management, a division of Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO). "You have to look at them as the couple they were and as the individuals they are going to be. The usual financial planning structure doesn't work."
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0111250720100401?type=marketsNews
3/31/2010Rochester Business JournalWill Astor
Chamberlain, D’Amanda, Oppenheimer & Greenfield LLP has doubled the size of its family law group, adding four attorneys and a Canandaigua office in a merger with Gould, Peck, Metzler & Cognata LLP.
Joining Chamberlain, D’Amanda in the merger are Lewis Gould, of counsel; Suzanne Cognata, partner; Eric Metzler, partner; and Matthew Mix, associate.
“We have worked closely with the Chamberlain D’Amanda attorneys for many years and realized there was a natural synergy focused on caring for individual clients’ needs,” Cognata said in a statement.
http://www.rbj.net/article.asp?aID=183462
3/30/2010The National Law JournalJordan Weissmann
Advocates for domestic violence victims are sounding the warning about a little-noticed U.S. Supreme Court case that they say could make it much harder for battered women and men to enforce restraining orders against their abusers.
The case Robertson v. U.S. ex rel. Watson, set for argument on Wednesday, challenges the way restraining orders are enforced in the District of Columbia. D.C. law allows victims themselves to bring criminal contempt charges when abusers infringe on a court order. At least 14 states have similar setups, according to an amicus brief filed by George Washington University Law School's Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Appeals Project.
Family law experts say the private right to prosecute gives teeth to restraining orders -- or civil protection orders, as they're called in the District. Victims can file the paperwork and argue at the hearing that the judge should jail a tormentor. They don't have to convince a busy prosecutor to add to his or her workload.
Robertson does not challenge private prosecutions directly. Instead, it asks the Court to decide in whose name they must be brought -- the victim's or the state's? More than three dozen anti-domestic violence groups, law professors and former judges have signed onto amicus briefs to argue for the victim's name. A ruling otherwise, they say, could so complicate the process that the abused would lose one of their most important weapons.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202447040022&Domestic_Violence_Victim_Fights_for_Her_Name_at_the_Supreme_Court
3/27/2010The New AmericanBruce Walter
A father in Chicago may find himself in jail, if he exposes his young daughter to his Catholic faith. Joseph Reyes is estranged from his ex-wife and is in a bitter divorce battle with her. The couple had agreed to raise their daughter in the mother’s Jewish faith, but the family law court, at the request of the mother, ordered Reyes not to bring his three-year-old daughter to Easter services at his church. She told Fox News that she was not anti-Christian, but simply wanted the court’s orders to be obeyed.
The family law judge issued the order after the mother asked for a temporary restraining order against the father. If the mother had done nothing, Reyes could have taken his daughter to church without any consequences. The mother’s request for a restraining order went beyond just church attendance: It requested an order to keep the father from exposing his daughter to any other faith except the mother’s faith. Reyes had already had his daughter baptized, before the court order.
Reyes is a veteran of the Afghan war, and in February he faced a contempt of court charge for this baptism, violating an order that forbade him from “exposing his daughter to any religion but the Jewish religion” according to an earlier report from ABC News. Experts in family law seem to agree on a couple of points. First, when the family law court issues an order, it should be followed. Second, family law courts should not issue orders related to the religious upbringing of children or prohibiting the non-custodial parent from exposing his child to the non-custodial father’s faith.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/culture/family/3200-dad-ordered-not-to-expose-daughter-to-his-faith
4/1/2010Reuters
Malaysia has dropped a caning sentence imposed on a woman for drinking beer, a case that has raised concerns of intolerance in the mainly Muslim country. Shukarno Mutalib, the father of the 32-year-old woman, told Reuters he had received a letter from Islamic authorities indicating the caning has been replaced by another penalty, but few details had been given.
"I have also been asked to present my daughter before the religious authorities on Friday for her to undergo a 'three week' punishment, but we do not know yet whether it will be community service or detention," he said.
Islamic affairs officials could not be immediately contacted.
The woman, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, was sentenced to six strokes of the cane and a fine after she was caught drinking beer by Islamic enforcement officials two years ago at a hotel lounge in the central state of Pahang.
In February, three Muslim women were caned for the first time under Islamic laws for having sex out of wedlock.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6300PB20100401
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