Insight / News

50% of all U.S. children’s parents will divorce while their children are still young. When both parents are conscious of and abide by their obligation to facilitate and encourage a close and continuing parent/child relationship with the other parent, children have the best chance of having good outcomes despite divorce. But that doesn’t always happen. Negative gatekeeping, or parental alienation, is when one parent works to undermine the child’s parental bond with the other. It can take many forms. Psychological: one parent attempts to paint the other in a negative light – “She/he can’t hold a job” or “She/he was […]

There are over 6 million children in the world born as a result of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). There are also an estimated 800,000 frozen embryos. Created (most usually) from an infertile couple’s gametic (genetic) material, the right to these embryos often becomes hotly contested during divorce. IVF creates a viable embryo that can be directly implanted or frozen for future use.  The technology was first used in the 1980s but, to date, there is no clear legal consensus as to whether the embryos are “humans in vitro”, property to be distributed, or something in between. There is no federal […]

The medical feasibility of surrogacy and other assisted reproduction technologies has pushed legislatures and judges across the country to grapple with some of the thorniest and most emotionally charged issues imaginable. Each state has come to its own conclusions: from what constitutes parenthood to who is entitled to claim it, earning the U.S. the moniker of “the Wild West”. What is legal in California is criminal in Michigan. What Is allowed by a judge in one county may be denied by a judge in the next. In the United States, the first child carried by a surrogate biologically unrelated to […]

Business owners, LLC members, solo practitioners, and others with non-salaried income can have a hard time of it during divorce. Courts are ill-equipped to deal with non-traditional incomes, and they are often unfamiliar with the complex taxation of high earners and the impact that can have on cash flow. Nowhere is that more evident than when they are called on to make spousal or child support determinations. Two recent cases illustrate the woes high income, non-salaried spouses can face. Everett v. Tawes, 298 Va. 25, 833 S.E.2d 876 (2019) In Everett v. Tawes, Everett, a professional chef, was a member […]

Muse v. Muse was a bitterly fought New Mexico divorce that took over seven years in and out of court to resolve. The issues of the case were financially complex and aggravated by a husband intent on a scorched earth policy. His willingness to abuse the system to deny his wife a settlement led the court to exasperatedly state that the husband was “intent on squandering the marital estate on unnecessary fees and expenses […] through […] vexatious motions and complaints”. Although Muse was a particularly egregious case, it is a prime example of a dispute guaranteed to disrupt the […]

Chafin v. Chafin, 568 U.S. 165, 133 S. Ct. 1017 (2013) involved an international custody dispute between Sgt. Jeffrey Chaffin, a member of the U.S. military, and Lynn Chafin, his wife and a Scottish UK citizen. During divorce proceedings, both parents sought custody of their child, E.C., and each sought to have his and her home country determine custody. The case is an illustration of the complexities that can arise when parents of different nationalities divorce. Facts of the Case Jeffrey and Lynn Chafin married in Scotland in 2006. Their daughter, E.C., was born the next year in Germany, where […]