A father who feared his hostile relationship with his children’s grandparent guardians would prevent him from having visitation with his kids won a reversal of an order stating parenting time would be “agreed upon by the parties.”
In a published dissent to a denial of transfer, two Indiana Supreme Court judges had sharp words for the Department of Child Services and the lower courts that, according to the dissent, did not take advantage of an opportunity to “make things right” for a father and his two children.
While the debate rages over the safety of immunizations, family law attorneys in Indiana say that issue is rarely a source of discord between divorced, separated or unmarried parents. However, arguments over medications and doctor’s appointments happen frequently, such as claims that a former spouse goes to the doctor every time the child has a sniffle or others asserting their child should have been taken to an urgent care center instead of the emergency room.
When a parent with a child custody order plans to move, Indiana Code 31-17-2.2 sets out the requirements that they must follow in order to provide the nonrelocating parent with notice of their intended relocation. Amendments to the relocation statute that took effect on July 1 bring changes to filing deadlines, notice procedure, and to whom the law applies.
An Indiana trial court improperly considered a father’s active duty status when awarding custody of his child to his estranged wife, but that error does not change the custody determination, the Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled.
It’s a phone call or email that no family law attorney wants to hear in a divorce case — that the custodial parent has passed away in a case where the noncustodial parent had supervised parenting time. Apart from your own personal reaction, there are questions whirling through your mind — does custody automatically transfer to the other parent? Even if their parenting time was restricted? What action do I need to take regarding the custody of the child?
The Indiana Court of Appeals has dismissed as moot a CHINS appeal while also calling out a trial court magistrate and judge for disregarding the appellate court’s decisions regarding the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children.
Holding her infant foster daughter, attorney Kiamesha Colom explained in simple terms a 13-page bill that revamps parts of Indiana’s foster care system. Come July 1, she and her husband, like other long-term foster parents around the state, will be able to have more of a say in the care and protection of their baby.
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.
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.
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.
A mother trying to further her education without a stable income lost her appeal to keep custody of her son after she twice left him unattended due to substance abuse but was granted her request to make the costs of her case a public expense.
The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed a custody order when it found the trial court failed to enter appropriate findings and improperly considered a father’s military service in its determination.
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.
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.
Indianapolis attorneys Joe Delamater, a criminal defense lawyer at Razumich & Delamater PC, and Kiamesha Colom, a partner at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, encountered confusion, frustration and ultimately heartbreak during the course of a few months when they became foster parents to a baby boy. Now they are pushing for changes to state laws they say will balance the system so the right results happen for kids.
The Indiana Court of Appeals revoked a man’s protective order against the mother of his child when it found that her excessive messaging in a 24-hour period did not constitute stalking.
A Marion County father has lost his appeal of a trial court’s child support order, failing to convince the Indiana Court of Appeals that he should have been credited for make-up parenting time he was exercising after his ex-wife began prohibiting him from seeing their child.
A Florida mother can continue with an Indiana custody dispute with the father of her teenage daughter after the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed a default judgment against her. Chief Judge Nancy Vaidik used the opinion to caution trial courts against issuing default judgments in custody cases where a parent shows good cause for a continuance.
No reasonable attorney would have considered a stepmother’s visitation petition filed in a court other than that of the mother and father’s custody case to be justified or worthy of litigation, according to the Indiana Court of Appeals. The court affirmed dismissal of the case and an award of attorney fees to the mother.