24 results for 'cat:"Family Law" AND cat:"Due Process" AND cat:"Guardianship"'.
Per curiam, the Nevada Supreme Court grants the petition for a writ of mandamus challenging the denial of a petition for temporary guardianship over minor children. The grandparents filed a petition for general guardianship, explaining the children had been exposed to unsafe conditions living with their mother and her new partner with a criminal background. The petition was denied without prejudice for failure to provide proof of proper service. The mother filed an objection, and the children filed to appoint the grandparents as temporary guardians pending a decision on general guardianship. The court denied the petition without a hearing, failing to give the request consideration.
Court: Nevada Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 88027, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship
J. Gibbons finds the district court properly awarded primary custody of the divorced parties' child to the father. Though the mother says the summons was sent to a previous address and that she did not receive proper service, she did not seek dismissal. Seeking adjudication on the merits, she effectively consented to the court's jurisdiction and waived dismissal based upon a failure to effectuate service. The record supports the court's denial of the mother's request for child support arrears. Affirmed.
Court: Nevada Court of Appeals, Judge: Gibbons , Filed On: April 12, 2024, Case #: 87208-COA, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship
J. Welch finds the trial court properly modified the custody order granting the father more parenting time. The court properly found the mother interfered with the father and child's relationship, which constituted a change in circumstances affecting the child's best interests. However, the court improperly required the mother to provide support while denying her benefit without showing the source is her own income. Reversed in part.
Court: Nebraska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Welch , Filed On: April 2, 2024, Case #: A-23-311, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship
J. Welch finds the county court improperly ordered the child's custody should continue with the Department of Health and Human Services. The child was removed due to the mother's history with drugs, as well as her history of relationships with violent men. Although the evidence, including a psychological evaluation of the mother, supports the court's order, the court failed to make written findings as to the mother's history and fitness. Reversed.
Court: Nebraska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Welch , Filed On: March 19, 2024, Case #: A-23-594, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship
J. Stiglich grants the two minor children's petition for mandamus challenging the district court's denial of their grandparents' petition for guardianship. The grandparents sought guardianship, saying the children were exposed to unsafe conditions with their mother, who was living with a partner with whom the children felt unsafe. The court found no emergency existed since the grandparents did not seek guardianship over all four of their daughter's children. As it was the two children who filed the petition, as opposed to the grandparents, the failure to seek temporary guardianship over all four cannot form a basis for the conclusion that no emergency existed.
Court: Nevada Supreme Court, Judge: Stiglich , Filed On: March 8, 2024, Case #: 88027, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship
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J. Edmondson finds the trial court properly terminated the mother's parental rights. Findings regarding the mother's failure to protect, illegal drug use, financial and mental health instability, and incarceration, all support termination. Affirmed.
Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court, Judge: Edmondson , Filed On: March 5, 2024, Case #: 120735, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship
J. Riedmann finds the county court improperly dismissed the biological father’s application to set aside the stepparent adoption. The mother claimed the father had abandoned the child and that she did not need his permission for the adoption, and the father asked the matter be set for hearing. The court found the application to sound in equity and that it lacked jurisdiction. Furthermore, the court said the hearing was to determine whether the application should be heard, then ruled an evidentiary hearing should be held. The court did not decide the merits, which remain pending. Reversed.
Court: Nebraska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Riedmann , Filed On: February 6, 2024, Case #: A-23-429, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship
J. Moore finds the county court properly denied the mother's request to relocate the child shared with her ex-husband. Though the mother had originally been given primary custody, this was modified to joint custody after the mother moved with the child out of state with her new husband. Though the county court incorrectly found that there was no legitimate reason for the move, being the mother's new husband had found a higher-paying job, the mother failed to show the move was in the best interest of the child. Affirmed.
Court: Nebraska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Moore , Filed On: January 30, 2024, Case #: A-23-257, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship
J. Thyer finds the circuit court properly denied the great aunt and uncle's petition for adoption after parental rights were terminated. The foster parents sought adoption but did not intervene in the dependency-neglect proceedings where the relative placement determinations were made until after termination. Following a termination of parental rights, relatives are no longer given preference over foster parents. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Thyer , Filed On: November 29, 2023, Case #: CV-23-256, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship
J. Wood finds the circuit court properly awarded primary physical custody of the parties’ daughter to the wife with standard visitation to the father. The presiding circuit judge retired and was replaced by another judge during the pendency of the court of appeals’ reversal and remand of the court’s denial of the father’s request that the court issue findings of fact and conclusions of law. The Arkansas Supreme Court assigned a temporary judge for the limited purpose of entering findings of fact and conclusions of law, and it had jurisdiction to do this. The appeals court will not reweigh evidence which the circuit court found to show that the parents’ level of cooperation and communication does not support joint custody. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Wood, Filed On: October 25, 2023, Case #: CV-23-46, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship
J. Palafox finds a lower court ruled correctly in issuing a final divorce decree after the ex-wife appealed, arguing the court had erred in property and custody determinations and that she had been denied “her due process right to a full and fair hearing,” but the ex-wife has tried to present evidence that was not part of the original case record and the court was reasonable in issuing some of its disputed rulings, including on child custody in which the court was guided by precedential factors.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Palafox, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: 08-23-00042-CV, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship
J. Virden finds the circuit court properly terminated the father’s parental rights to his minor child. The department filed a petition for emergency custody and dependency neglect alleging that the children were removed from the home due to parental drug use, inadequate supervision and medical neglect. The petition was filed after a family service worker dropped by the home to administer a drug test as part of an open dependency-neglect case regarding another sibling. Both parents were not in compliance with the current plan, and both produced cold urine samples. All evidence supports termination. Arguments regarding permanency goals are not preserved and would still fail because the potential family placements for the children are with a maternal relative and any rights of the paternal relatives were not derivative of their relationship with the child. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Virden, Filed On: October 4, 2023, Case #: CV-23-195, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship
J. Cadish finds the district court improperly terminated the minor child’s guardianship with his maternal grandmother after being removed from his mother when he tested positive for meth at birth. The termination investigation centered on the death of the child’s twin brother, which CPS originally claimed happened within a few days of the grandmother’s guardianship. The grandmother had the children for several months before the child’s death and no charges were brought after the death was found to have been caused by positional asphyxiation while the child slept. The district court did not give proper notice that it was considering termination such that the parties had a meaningful opportunity to be heard. The court failed to follow due process. Reversed and remanded with directions.
Court: Nevada Supreme Court, Judge: Cadish, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: 84274, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship
J. Welch finds the county court sitting as juvenile court properly entered a dispositional order adopting a case plan as to the children’s placement and the mother’s drug testing, psychological evaluation and supervised visitations. The mother failed to appear at three prior hearings and did not provide written objections prior to the dispositional hearing. She therefore waived any objections to the case plan and court report. No due process violation is found in connection with the court’s admission of the documents under these circumstances. A previous order of adjudication finding the court had jurisdiction was not appealed, and the mother’s collateral attack on this is impermissible. Affirmed.
Court: Nebraska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Welch, Filed On: August 15, 2023, Case #: A-23-007, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship
J. Wright finds the trial court properly terminated the father’s parental rights to his daughter. The father was in prison when his daughter was born, and he admitted that he used meth with the mother before his arrest. Although he didn’t specify that the mother used while she was pregnant, the jury could make reasonable inferences to find that the parents knowingly used meth together while the child was in utero. The jury could also reasonably conclude that the father’s imprisonment for at least three felonies created a life of uncertainty and instability due to his unavailability to care for the child in the mother’s absence after her removal for drug use. All evidence and record support the endangerment finding. The father also was able to meaningfully participate through Zoom, and his due process claim fails. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Wright, Filed On: August 11, 2023, Case #: 09-23-00050-CV, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship
J. Golemon finds the trial court improperly dismissed the mother’s petition to lift the geographical restriction regarding her son without hearing evidence. The mother’s original petition did not include a request to lift or change the restriction, and she was given opportunity to amend. But the father never set his special exceptions for a hearing and never obtained a ruling from the trial court, which then abused its discretion by dismissing the amended petition for insufficient pleadings. Reversed and remanded.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Golemon, Filed On: August 10, 2023, Case #: 09-22-00310-CV, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship
J. Herndon finds the district court properly removed a protected person’s guardian, appointing a new guardian over concerns of the previous guardian’s ability to provide. The protected person’s due process rights were not violated, being there was sufficient notice given and meaningful opportunity for the protected person to be heard. Substantial evidence supports the changing of the guardian. There was insufficient evidence supporting the protect person’s petition to control her interactions with others. Affirmed.
Court: Nevada Supreme Court, Judge: Herndon, Filed On: July 6, 2023, Case #: 83967, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship
J. Virden finds the circuit court improperly terminated the father’s parental rights. Investigation of a report that the parents were leaving their minor children in a rented room with no supervision yielded the father’s claim that he was working when the mother left the children alone. DHS then exercised a hold on the children. The record contains little detail, with no documentation of the father’s progress or compliance from the time of removal until the permanency-planning hearing when the court found he was making progress and working toward reunification. In the absence of proof of other factors, termination is clearly erroneous. Credibility findings on the father are insufficient for termination. Reversed and remanded. There is a dissenting opinion.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Virden, Filed On: May 31, 2023, Case #: CV-22-666, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship
Per curiam, the Utah Court of Appeals finds the juvenile court properly terminated the mother’s parental rights. The record supports the statutory grounds and best interest findings for termination, and the mother does not challenge this. Instead, she says the court improperly found that she waived her right to counsel. Based on her lack of contact with counsel and her failure to meaningfully participate, the court permitted counsel to withdraw, then reappointed at the termination hearing at the mother's request. After several failures to appear and continued lack of participation, the court determined that mother waived her right to counsel. The record does not support the mother’s claim that counsel was deficient or that her right to counsel was improperly waived. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 26, 2023, Case #: 20221129-CA, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship
J. Wood finds the circuit court properly terminated both parent’s parental rights. The department filed for emergency custody as the children had been reported dependent neglected, living with their maternal grandparents while the mother was homeless. A child reported that he had been hit with a belt by his step-grandfather for “breaking the rules.” The mother has been in minimal compliance with her case plan and all evidence supports termination. The father failed to attend a visitation hearing and had not complied with any court orders or case plan. The father filed a motion for reconsideration or relative placement, but because it was not filed within ten days of the termination order it was not subject to the deemed-denial provision of the rules of appellate procedure. The court never ruled on this motion and there is nothing for review. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Wood, Filed On: May 17, 2023, Case #: CV-22-761, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship
J. Virden finds the circuit court properly terminated the father’s parental rights. A family services worker testified that DHS had placed a hold on three children after police responded to the mother’s home following a report of her and her boyfriend physically fighting while intoxicated. The child shared by her and the father had been living with the mother because the father was in prison because he was convicted of two counts of felon in possession of a firearm. The child has had a stable foster home for over two years. The father concedes that she could not live with him at the halfway house and there is little likelihood that services would result in successful reunification. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Virden, Filed On: May 17, 2023, Case #: CV-22-793, Categories: family Law, due Process, guardianship