Newsletter
A Child Advocacy Company
Bringing Support to Parents
Building Strength to Children
Bringing Support to Parents
Building Strength to Children
Disclaimer: BS Kids LLC legal research and information has been prepared for educational and informational purposes only. This material is not legal
advice or legal opinions on any specific matters. Transmission of the information is not intended to create and receipt does not constitute a
lawyer-client relationship between BS Kids LLC , the author of the information and any other legal publisher. Customers of BS Kids should not act upon
this information without seeking professional counsel. The opinions expressed in the material presented to BS Kids clientele is based on information
found in legal publications. BS Kids LLC, 6 Mackinac Court, Pooler, Ga. 31322 (912) 988-1001 or 781-756-1214.
advice or legal opinions on any specific matters. Transmission of the information is not intended to create and receipt does not constitute a
lawyer-client relationship between BS Kids LLC , the author of the information and any other legal publisher. Customers of BS Kids should not act upon
this information without seeking professional counsel. The opinions expressed in the material presented to BS Kids clientele is based on information
found in legal publications. BS Kids LLC, 6 Mackinac Court, Pooler, Ga. 31322 (912) 988-1001 or 781-756-1214.
Past Newsletters
Winter 2008
Winter 2008
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
BS KIDS BEAT VOLUME 11 SUMMER 2010 BS KIDS Summertime and the living is easy! Not if you live in New England. It’s been a really HOT summer, but hopefully you are enjoying the time. September, its election time and you can already see the TV commercials, in addition to signs everywhere for the preliminaries. There are many new names running this year, for Governor, US Senate and both House and Senate positions. If you would like to know who is running, you can go to http://www.sos.nh.gov/filingperiod--2010.htm and see who is running for your local and state representatives. WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH FAMILY LAW The summer is usually a quiet time with very few new projects, but it’s a great time to think about upcoming bills to introduce for the next term. Do you have a great idea for parenting plans or modifications of parenting time? Now would be a good time to reach out to your local representative and share your ideas. The Courts have reduced their operating hours, due to budget restraints. If you have to file paperwork or scheduled for a hearing, you may wish to check with your local court to verify what their new hours are. You can go to the following website to see all change: http://www.courts.state. nh.us/courclosings/hours/htm. Additionally, Chief Justice Broderick is retiring in November. This will leave a vacant position with the Supreme Court in New Hampshire. It will be interesting to see who will be added to the current Supreme Court Justices. LEGISLATIVE UPDATES HB 139 is still in Interim Study. As you may remember, this bill dealt with *comparable* parenting time. Since the Legislature has cancelled all meetings for July (due to budget restraints), it may possibly meet in August to determine what needs to be done, either with the language or modifying the present bill, so it can pass prior to this term ending. You would want to send you comments and concerns to the Child & Family Law Committee at CFL@leg.state.nh.us. Thanks to a new website, it’s easier now to learn more about disciplinary actions against attorneys, how to file them and who’s been filed against. You can go to www.nhattyreg.org and see how the process works, if there are currently complaints against your attorney, or someone whom you would like to hire. The site also explains the complaint process and how it works. NEWS An interesting article was recently published in the Boston Globe. See the entire article below. It talks about how important having the presumption of shared parenting is, from a Father’s perspective. Fathers back bill on rights of parents Say judges must consider joint physical custody By Brian MacQuarrie Brian Ayers of Brookfield, a part-time police officer who juggles two jobs, is the proud father of a 14- month-old son. He gazes lovingly at a photograph of himself with his son, talks excitedly about their recent trip to a hot-air balloon festival, and says he wants to build the same kind of close relationship he enjoys with his father. But Ayers, whose former girlfriend discovered she was pregnant after they broke up, does not share joint physical custody of his only child. And this status, he argues, is one of many examples of how fathers in Massachusetts face discriminatory obstacles in custody decisions. “I was very upset,’’ said Ayers, 30. “I thought, in this country, you wouldn’t have to necessarily fight to spend time with your own child.’’ That struggle, according to fathers’ rights groups, is a product of a Massachusetts probate system that they say tilts physical custody of children to the mothers. As a result, they are championing a pending House bill that would begin each custody case with a presumption that fathers and mothers are entitled to equal amounts of time with their children. “What we have right now is essentially a maternal veto’’ over joint physical custody, said Ned Holstein, executive director of Fathers & Families, a national advocacy group based in Massachusetts. “We don’t understand why mom should have a veto over what is in the best interests of children.’’ James Edwards, a family-law attorney who represents the mother of Ayers’s child, said the custody settlement signed by both parents is relatively generous in the parenting time granted to the father. Ayers cares for his son every other weekend and has other sleepovers and meals built into the agreement. But to Ayers, who said he could not afford to go to trial to seek equal time with his son, such a right should be the norm unless evidence shows otherwise. The fathers’ rights movement has made its way into the 2010 election, as three candidates for the Governor’s Council, which votes on judicial nominations, are members of The Fatherhood Coalition of Massachusetts. Joe Ureneck of Dorchester, one of the candidates, said fathers’ rights is the “underlying foundation’’ of his candidacy. “Generally, you have men who have a very hard time in the courts, who want to be involved in their children’s lives, and have a hard time in playing the role of the father,’’ Ureneck said. However, organizations that deal with women’s and children’s issues say there is no such thing as a maternal veto. And if the bill became law, officials in these groups argue, judicial discretion would suffer, less attention would be paid to the specifics of each divorce, and children might be subjected to more acrimony. “If the world were a perfect place where everybody was just able to get along and put their differences aside, we might have a different lens on this,’’ said Nancy Allen Scannell, director of policy and planning for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which opposes the bill. “But we all know the reality of what happens.’’ Scannell said the process already prefers joint physical custody. But circumstances in divorces often make strictly equal parenting difficult because of financial or logistical problems. “The MSPCC’ s position is that we emphasize a look at families from an individualized perspective,’’ Scannell said. Groups from both sides of the issue could not point to a statewide study on custody decisions, but a 1999 doctoral thesis by Joseph McNabb, the president of Laboure College in Dorchester, found that joint physical custody was awarded at Worcester Probate and Family Court only 8 percent of the time in 501 cases in 1993. Mothers obtained sole physical custody 83.2 percent of the time, and fathers received sole physical custody in 8.8 percent of the cases, according to the study. The bill is opposed by the Massachusetts chapter of the National Organization for Women. “I think it’s an unnecessary step,’’ said Christina Knowles, state director of NOW. “I think judges explain their decisions anyway. It seems redundant.’’ Thomas Barbar, cochairman of the Massachusetts Bar Association’s family law section council, said custody cases are often so thorny and nuanced that judges, with the help of mediators and the attorneys, usually take considerable time to decide. “What I’ve noticed,’’ Barbar said, “is the court tries to make sure that the kids are spending time with each parent and nobody is being prejudiced. They try not to make decisions rashly.’’ But in Holstein’s view, judicial perspective would be enhanced by the shared parenting bill. Under its terms, judges would be required to explain their decisions in writing if they deny joint physical custody. The bill, filed in 2008 by Representative Colleen Garry of Dracut, is being considered by the joint Judiciary Committee. A committee aide said the panel has a July 13 deadline to take action on the bill, but an extension might be requested. Ayers said he became active in the fathers’ rights movement when a lawyer told him he would need a minimum of $15,000 in legal fees to seek joint physical custody in court. “In the probate court, you’re guilty of being a deadbeat dad the minute you walk through the door,’’ he said. Ayers, who said he pays $320 a week in child support and lives in his parents’ basement, added that he has a clean criminal record and has never been the subject of a restraining order. But in this case, Edwards said, the mother’s argument for sole physical custody was aided by the child’s status as a newborn, her occupation as a nurse, and third-shift work that enabled her to care for the baby during the day. Ayers, however, insisted he has been treated unfairly. “I’ve got to keep doing the right thing,’’ Ayers said. “And the right thing is to take care of my son, and to keep fighting for what’s right.’’ GET INVOLVED As this summer, things will be heating up for the local candidates running for public office, we urge you to find out who is running in your town/district and get involved in their campaigns. Many candidates need assistance, holding signs, handing out campaign information or just getting the word out that they are running. If you have a couple of hours in the next month or so contact your local representatives and see how you can get involved and help them get elected. If you need assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@bskids.net. E-MAIL ALERTS If you are interested in getting alerts from BS KIDS regarding news, legislative activity or getting involved opportunities, please sign up on our website at www.bskids.net COMMENTS/SUGGESTIONS BS KIDS is looking to include areas of interest to our readers. If there is a topic or area of concern that you would like to learn more about, please let us know. You can e-mail us at info@bskids.net or call 781-756-1214. If you wish to unsubscribe to these newsletter, please just hit reply. Your name will automatically be removed from future mailings. Disclaimer: BS Kids LLC legal research and information has been prepared for educational and informational purposes only. This material is not legal advice or legal opinions on any specific matters. Transmission of the information is not intended to create and receipt does not constitute a lawyer-client relationship between BS Kids LLC, the author of the information and any other legal publisher. Customers of BS Kids should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel. The opinions expressed in the material presented to BS Kids clientele are based on information found in legal publications. BS Kids LLC, 78 Canterberry Court, Hudson, NH 03051 781-756-1214. |