RICHMOND, VA — When the parties’ entire post-nuptial agreement is read in context, the agreement unambiguously provides that certain trust benefits were intended to be paid to wife even after the parties divorced and husband subsequently died, the Virginia Court ...
Read More »Post-nuptial agreement was not ambiguous, Virginia appeals court rules
Advocates again seek to ban spousal defense for sex crimes 
State lawmakers are eyeing 2022 as the year Maryland abolishes the use of marriage as a defense against rape. “This is and should be a no-brainer,” said Del. Charlotte Crutchfield, D-Montgomery, who has sponsored legislation in the House that would ...
Read More »Auditors find oversight issues at CT child welfare department 
Connecticut’s state auditors issued a report Wednesday detailing numerous problems they found with record-keeping and oversight at the state Department of Children and Families. Those include a failure to properly monitor outside agencies who are placing children with serious behavioral ...
Read More »Iowa court: Parents have preference in child custody cases 
DES MOINES, Iowa — Parents must be given preference in regaining custody of their children in cases where other people have been caring for the kids through a guardianship, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday. In a decision involving the ...
Read More »Greater protections sought for Illinois child welfare workers 
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The speaker of the Illinois House said the state’s child welfare caseworkers need to be treated like frontline emergency responders after a Department of Children and Family Services investigator was killed last week during a home visit, ...
Read More »Va. statute survives: Parents lack standing to challenge grandparent visitation law 
A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that the parents of a minor child did not have standing to sue over the state’s grandparent visitation statute, as they failed to allege that they would imminently suffer a concrete injury. The ...
Read More »Barrett’s comments renew debate over adoption as abortion alternative 
Year after year, several thousand women in the U.S. carry an unintended pregnancy to term and then offer the baby for adoption. It’s a choice commended by many foes of abortion. Yet despite a huge demand for babies from Americans ...
Read More »AG upholds town’s recognition of ‘polyamorous’ relationships 
BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Maura T. Healey’s office has issued its stamp of approval on an Arlington bylaw redefining domestic partnerships to include relationships consisting of more than two people. The AG’s Office concluded in a Dec. 23 letter ...
Read More »Written property settlement trumps oral modifications, Virginia appeals court rules 
RICHMOND, VA — Where the parties each claim the other violated their oral agreement concerning living together and sharing expenses after the final divorce decree was entered, their property settlement agreement, which provides that any modifications must be in writing, ...
Read More »Activists seek special prosecutor in teen’s custody death 
A coalition of community groups demanded Monday that a special prosecutor be appointed in the case of a Black youth who died following a physical struggle with staff at a Kansas juvenile center. In a Wichita rally and letter to ...
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