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 VOL. 5 NO. 10 OCTOBER 2004 |
In this Issue
A Word from Gregg Herman
New Adoption ColumnWisconsin Courts Updates
Supreme court grants review in Chen and Abbas; RumpffDecisions Across the Nation
Bankruptcy and contempt, Nobel Prize award, Prenuptial agreement and choice of laws and more.Family Law Online
Airline chart for unaccompanied minorsFamily Law and Mental Health
"Reconceptualizing Custody"Business Valuations
Transfer of assets into family limited partnershipsFamily Law Mediation
"Family Mediation: Research FactsAdoption
Educational opportunities for adoption lawyers and non-lawyers
We are pleased to introduce a new adoption column which will be authored by Attorneys Stephen Hayes and Elizabeth Neary of The Schroeder Group, Waukesha Wisconsin.
Attorneys Hayes and Neary are members of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys and handle adoption, foster care and surrogacy cases throughout the State of Wisconsin.
They can be reached at (262) 798-8220 or via their Web site.
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One last time, please be reminded that the ABA Family Law Section will be having its fall meeting in Milwaukee from October 20 to 24, 2004. This is wonderful opportunity to showcase our city and to meeting family law attorneys from around the country. For details and registration information visit the ABA Family Law Section Web Site.
On September 16, the supreme court granted review in two family law cases:
Abbas v. Palmersheim, Nos. 02-3390 and 03-1267 (2004 WI App 126).For our analysis of the decision, please visit the July 2004 archived issue.
The second case was Chen v. Warner, No. 03-0288 (2004 WI App 112).For our analysis, please visit the June 2004 archived issue.
•••
As we reported in a bulletin, the District II Court of Appeals issued their opinion in Rumpff v. Rumpff, No. 03-2646 (Wis. Ct. App. Sept. 8, 2004) (recommended for publication) affirming the judgment of Judge Darryl W. Deets (Manitowoc County Cir. Ct.), concerning child support, overnight equivalents and property division.
Full Opinion (PDF)
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Last month, we reported to you on a court of appeals case recommended for publication, Lawrence v. Lawrence, No. 03-1699 (Wis. Ct. App. Aug. 19, 2004). Our analysis of the holding, as published in the Wisconsin Law Journal, is available on our firm's Web site.
The following cases are provided courtesy of Contributing Editor Laura W. Morgan, Family Law Consulting. Laura is available for consultation, brief writing and research on family law issues throughout the country. Please visit her website or drop her an e-mail.
Holguin v. Flores
No. B168774
California Court of Appeals, Second District
September 15, 2004Even if the state grants the right to sue for wrongful death to the surviving member of a "domestic partnership," i.e., a same-sex partnership, it may still constitutionally deny the same right to the surviving member of an unmarried cohabiting couple of opposite sex.
Rogers v. McGahee
No. S04A0689
Georgia Supreme Court
September 14, 2004A wife may seek to hold a husband in contempt for failing to pay joint debts that were assigned to him in the divorce proceeding, although the husband had those same debts discharged in bankruptcy.
Solomon v. Solomon
No. 116
Maryland Court of Appeals
September 13, 2004Tax consequences may be considered in establishing the amount of a marital property award as an "other factor," under section 8-205(b)(11) of the Family Law Article, when they are immediate and specific, or not speculative. Moreover, a country club membership is not "property" to be divided, since it cannot be sold, transferred, exchanged, redeemed, inherited, or liquidated.
Ketterle v. Ketterle
No. 03-P-474
Massachusetts Court of Appeals
September 3, 2004The trial court properly awarded all of the husband's Nobel Prize money to the husband, and then awarded the wife a larger portion of the remaining property since the Nobel Prize would increase the husband's ability to acquire income and assets in the future.
Williams v. Williams
120 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 64
Nevada Supreme Court
September 13, 2004Nevada adopts the putative spouse doctrine in annulment proceedings, holding that an individual whose marriage is void due to a prior legal impediment is treated as a spouse with community property rights in equitable division of property so long as the party seeking equitable relief participated in the marriage ceremony with the good-faith belief that the ceremony was legally valid.
In re Estate of Davis
No. M2003-02614-COA-R3-CV
Tennessee Court of Appeals
September 2, 2004A prenuptial agreement entered into in Florida would not be recognized in Tennessee, even though it would be valid in Florida, because it did not meet Tennessee's stricter requirements of full and fair disclosure between the parties.
State ex rel. Mitchell v. Armstrong
No. W2003-01687-COA-R3-JV
Tennessee Court of Appeals
September 3, 2004Parents may not privately agree to suspend child support when the custodial parent is receiving public assistance.
Family Law Online Airline Chart for Unaccompanied Minors (PDF)
We thank Attorney Rob V. Robertson of Austin, Texas, who posted a link to this site on the ABA Family Law Section listserv.
Family Law and Mental Health The following is provided courtesy of Contributing Editor Christine Harness, Phd. Dr. Harness can be reached at (414) 961-3208:
"Reconceptualizing Custody"
A A recent article in the September 2004 issue of the American Psychological Association's Monitor on Psychology entitled "Reconceptualizing Custody" addresses an emerging service for families and courts designed to ease litigious divorce's impact on children. For the full article contact the APA at 1-800-374-2721, ext. 5510 or you can access it online.
Business Valuations The following is provided by Contributing Editor Timothy P. Muehler, JD, CPA/ABV, CVA, Clifton Gunderson LLP, Certified Public Accountantsy. You can reach Tim via e-mail.
Betsy T. Turner, Executrix of the Estate of
Theodore Thompson, Deceased v. Commissioner
No. 03-3173
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
September 1, 2004The case affirmed a tax court decision to include undiscounted partnership assets in an estate under Sec. 2036(a). The Court of Appeals discussed the partnership operations and determined that it lacked a "valid, functioning business enterprise".
Family Law Mediation The following is provided courtesy of Contributing Editor Kathleen Baird, a family law attorney and mediator in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. She can be reached via e-mail.
Did You Know?
1. Marital conflict, poor communication, non-mutuality in the decision to divorce and strained cooperation do not appear to act as barriers to selecting mediation.
2. Men are significantly more positive about beginning the mediation process than women.
3. Those who choose mediation report significantly higher levels of divorce-related depression, guilt and stress than those who do not choose mediation.
4. One of the factors that best predict successful mediation is the mediator's ability to provide insights into the parties' feelings and those of their children,
5. Mediators establish their impartiality to each party by diffusing negative comments of one party toward another.
6. Mediation appears to have very little ability to alter basic relationship patterns between divorcing couples.
7. Voluntary participation in mediation does not appear to produce higher settlement rates than mandated participation in mediation.
8. Users find that mediation identifies the real issues in a dispute.
9. Of those who reached agreement in mediation, two-thirds of both men and women agreed that spousal support and property division were fair.
10. Women report that the mediation process helped them assume more responsibility in managing their personal affairs than did men, and women had greater confidence in their ability to stand up for themselves as a result of the process.
These and more research facts can be found in Forrest S. Mosten's article, "Family Mediation: Research Facts".
Following is provided courtesy of Contributing Editors Stephen Hayes and Elizabeth Neary of The Schroeder Group, Waukesha Wisconsin. Attorneys Hayes and Neary are members of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys and handle adoption, foster care and surrogacy cases throughout the State of Wisconsin. They can be reached at (262) 798-8220 and via their Web Site.
Several educational opportunities for lawyers and non lawyers are on the docket in the next several weeks.
On September 28-29 at 7 pm at the First Congregational Church in Wauwatosa, Resolve is sponsoring programs for non lawyers on infertility and adoption issues. The cost is nominal. For more information, visit Resolve's Web site.
On October 14 from 1-5 and October 15 9-5:30, there is a program for adoption professionals who work with Agency Adoptions at the Hampton Inn and Suites, Convention Center, New Orleans. Cost is $240. For more information contact Steve Hayes via e-mail or send a general e-mail inquiry.
On November 6 from 8-1 at the Tommy Thompson Youth Center at State Fair Park, there is a program for those interested in adopting. The cost is free or nominal. For more information visit the Adoption Resources of Wisconsin Web site.
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We are looking for a few good men and women! We have been coordinating a pro bono program for the last several years in which family law attorneys agree to handle one uncontested, default divorce. The client is a foster mother who is seeking to adopt her foster child or children but cannot do so until she has obtained a divorce from her husband (usually someone she has been separated from for many years). You are not expected to be out of pocket anything. Your reward is knowing that you have helped a child gain a legally permanent family. If you would be willing to help please email Steve Hayes and give me your phone number, address and email address. We currently have 3 cases awaiting volunteers.
Our Contributing Editors
Atty. Kathy Baird (Mediation)
CPA Scott Franklin. Kohler & Franklin, Milwaukee (Tax Tips)
Prof. Charles Kindregan, Suffolk University Law School
Dr. Christine Harness, Ph.D., Milwaukee (Mental Health)
Atty. Laura Morgan, Family Law Consulting, Charlottesville, VA (Family Law Cases)
CPA Timothy P. Muehler, Clifton Gunderson LLP
Dr. Sanford Portnoy, Boston, MA (Mental Health)
CPA Everett Stone (Taxes and business valuations)
Scott J. Wildman, CPA/ABV, CVA of V/B Business Valuations, Inc.
Atty. William Brown (Employee Benefits)
Atty. Stephen Hayes (Adoption)
Atty. Elizabeth Neary (Adoption)We thank them for their contributions!
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