Flaherty

Family law


Family Law Newsletters

Adoption and Safe Families Act – Termination of Parental Rights

The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) requires a state to file a petition to terminate a parent’s parental rights to a child if:

Child Custody in Divorce Actions

In most divorce cases involving parents of minor children, the parents resolve the issue of child custody in a parenting agreement. A parenting agreement is a plan for raising a child after the parents are divorced.

Civil Harassment

Domestic violence cases involve a special relationship between the parties. The special relationship may be created by: (1) a family relationship, such as husband and wife; or (2) cohabitation, i.e., the parties live together. Civil harassment cases do not involve a special relationship between the parties. A civil harassment complaint may be filed against any person, even if that person is not a spouse or a cohabitant.

Financial Power of Attorney

A power of attorney is a document in which one individual gives another individual, the agent, the power to make decisions on their behalf in the event that they become incapacitated or if they are directed to perform. A financial power of attorney gives power over an individual’s financial affairs.

Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act

In 1980 Congress enacted the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (PKPA) to close existing gaps and bring greater uniformity to interstate child-custody practice. The PKPA requires state courts to enforce and not modify custody and visitation determinations made by sister states unless the original state either no longer has jurisdiction or declined to exercise jurisdiction.