Effect Of Adoption on Non-Parent Visitation

When a child is adopted, he or she becomes a part of the new adoptive family. As a result, the child's ties to his or her old, natural or biological family are ended. If visitation rights had been granted to a nonparent, usually a grandparent, before the adoption, most courts would not permit continuation of the visitation. However, if the child is adopted by a stepparent, some courts would continue the visitation by the nonparent, if it is in the child's best interests.

Impact of Custodial Parent's Relocation

Americans have traditionally been a highly mobile people. In an era in which issues related to the custody of minor children are focal points in a substantial number of divorce proceedings, the ramifications of such a tradition of mobility can create a number of complex problems when the custodial parent, the former spouse to whom the court in a divorce proceeding has given custody of the minor children of the parties, chooses to relocate from one jurisdiction to another, or merely to a place within the same state that is a substantial distance away from the place of the marital residence. Courts are often called upon to resolve disputes between the parties over the questions of custody and visitation that are implicated by such choices.

Role of Income Tax Returns in Determining Child Support Obligations

In order to properly determine a parent's child support obligation, it is important for the court to know what the parent actually earns. Tax returns reveal not only what a parent has historically made, but may also reveal amounts the parent has been concealing or if the parent is intentionally impoverishing him or herself.

Dependent Adult Support: Dependent Parents

Statutes in 30 states impose a filial obligation on children to support their indigent or disabled parents. Indigence is not defined as completely destitute, but rather in terms of the parent's financial ability to meet his or her basic needs.

Garnishment in Child Support Actions

When the assets of the absent parent are unknown and outside the jurisdiction of the court, a garnishment of the parent's wages to collect past due child support obligations may be appropriate.