Responsibility for Children Flashcards
Responsibility for children - Gral /whom, what, what not
- Joint - both parent
- Requires providing support, cost of necessities and care
- No duty for private or higher education
Responsibility for children -Guiding Pple
Best Interest of Children
Responsibility for children -Best interest of children pple - Content / application, grounds for what, intention
- Applies to custody and allocation of resp for parents
- Relations w/parents maintained unless consistent with pple
- Grounds for potential appointment of guardian ad-litem or parenting evaluation
- Try to maintain stability
Responsibility for children - Best interest of children - Lost of potential parental rights/ by whom, grounds (4) SASU
Court can override CX rights when:
1) Surrender
2) Abandonment
3) Serious neglect to health/safety
4) Unfitness
Responsibility for children - Permanent Parenting Plans - Gral / purpose, ADR
- To allocate parental right/resp when no (longer) marriage
- Resolved by dispute resolution (include provision for counseling, mediation, arbitration)
Responsibility for children - Permanent Parenting Plans - Possible Content (3)
1) Primary residential placement: with at least 1 parent with whom child spends majority of time.
2) Residential schedule for kids during school year, holidays, vacations, etc / visitation for the non custodial parent
3) Decision making allocation
Responsibility for children -Permanent Parenting Plans - Decision making / types, i.e. subjects
- Can be sole or joint
- For: non-emergency health, education, religion upbringing
Responsibility for children - Restrictions on contact with children (Negative Factors) HARA + 1
- History of threats to child’s health/safety (abuse, domestic violence)
- Abuse of child: physical emotional
- Refusal to perform parental fx
- Abandonment (wilful) for extended period
+
- child support
Responsibility for children -Non-parent visitation - Gral rule and exception
- Only available for parents (non-parent can request custody/mistake)
- Except: grandfathers and/or 3rd party when parent found unfit
Responsibility for children -Permanent Parenting Plans - Modification / gral cause + (4) circumstances
When petition of substantial and unforeseable change on parents income and/or childs needs:
1) Substantial deviation from original plan
2) Child’s situation is physical/emotional detrimental
3) Other parent held in contempt twice in the last 3 years
4) Parents agree
Responsibility for children - Parent Relocation - gral rule
- When to new school district
- notification so non-moving parent can object and seek court intervention
Responsibility for children -Parent Relocation - Factors for court to allow/reject relocation (5)
1) Relative strength of relation child/family members
2) Relative harm caused by disrupting relation with non-moving parent
3) Reason for relocation and good faith in the decision
4) Age/stage/overall needs of child
5) Quality of life/benefits for child in new location
Responsibility for children - Permanent Parenting Plans - Interference or failure to comply by parents / effects, retaliation, state agency involvement
- Can be deed crime in most states + grounds for remedies
- No excuse to default on obligations or withhold child support as retaliation
- State agency can start child-neglect action
Responsibility for children - Permanent Parenting Plans - Interference or failure to comply by parents - Possible remedies (3)
1) Seek enforcement by court
2) Hold the other part in contempt
3) Petition for modification
Natural parent/child relation - gral (Paternity) / applicable law, relation w/marriage
- Under Uniform Child Custody Jdx and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA)
- Independent of marital status of parents
Presumption of Paternity (3)
1) Born during marriage w/child’s mother
2) Born within 300 days after termination of marriage
3) Acknowledgement: Marries mother after born and
a) acknowledges in writing OR
b) Agrees to and name on child birth certificate, OR
c) Promises in writing to support child as own
Determination of paternity - Paternity Action- Standing
- By any party with interest
- Child not necessary as part BUT court can appoint guardian ad litem if consider he needs adequate rep
Declaration of non-paternity - Timing for submitting action (2) by presumed father
1) Up to 2 years from birth
2) Any time if:
a) presumed father never treated child as own
b) Parent never co-habited or had sexual intercourse at the probable time of conception
Genetic Testing of paternitiy /when, effect on refusal to
- When there is a contested declaration of paternity or non-paternity
- Refusal to take test as presumption of paternity
Genetic Testing of paternity- Factors for court consideration to grant it :PATCH
- Probability of outcome
- Assumption of father’s role
- Time it took moving party to bring action
- Child’s age
- Harm possible
Surrogate Parentage and alternative agreement - Gral rules / parental status, presumptions
- Donors (egg/sperm) not parents of child conceived by means of assisted reproduction
- Husband w/ written consent to wife’s assisted production is presumed father. Not signing doest defeat paternity if he treats child as own.
- Women who gives birth from donated egg is presummed mother UNLESS written surrogacy agreement signed by donor, donee, doctors, etc AND filed in the respective registry (“alternate agreement”)
Adoption - Natural Parent involvement / grounds to loose, procedure of adoption (notice, objection)
- Consent in writing or when rigths terminated bc of abandonment
- 1 year to seek the decree of adoption to be set aside
- Notice: 20/30 (in/out of state) for personal service
- if notice not possible 30 days before proceeding by first class certified mail OR 3 consecutive weekly publications starting 30 days prior of proceeding
Adoption - Legal results
- Rights of natural parents are terminated
- adoptee becomes child/legal heir/lawful issue of adoptive parent + entitled to all right of a natural child
Limitations for legal counsel on domestic relations
- No charge on contingency basis
- No sexual relations with client
- Not related with opposing counsel
- Many states require written agreement for representation
