West Kingston Family Law Lawyer, Rhode Island

Sponsored Law Firm


Includes: Collaborative Law, Domestic Violence & Neglect, Paternity, Prenuptial Agreements

Free Help: Use This Form or Call 800-620-0900

Member Representative

Call me for fastest results!
800-620-0900

Free Help: Use This Form or Call 800-620-0900

By submitting this lawyer request, I confirm I have read and agree to the Consent to Receive Messages from all messaging and voice technologies including Email, Text, Phone, Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy. Information provided is not privileged or confidential.


Free Help: Use This Form or Call 800-943-8690

Member Representative

Call me for fastest results!
800-943-8690

Free Help: Use This Form or Call 800-943-8690

By submitting this lawyer request, I confirm I have read and agree to the Consent to Receive Messages from all messaging and voice technologies including Email, Text, Phone, Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy. Information provided is not privileged or confidential.

TIPS

Easily find West Kingston Family Law Lawyers and West Kingston Family Law Firms. For more attorneys, search all Divorce & Family Law areas including Adoption, Child Custody, Child Support and Divorce attorneys.

LEGAL TERMS

ANNULMENT

A court procedure that dissolves a marriage and treats it as if it never happened. Annulments are rare since the advent of no-fault divorce but may be obtained ... (more...)
A court procedure that dissolves a marriage and treats it as if it never happened. Annulments are rare since the advent of no-fault divorce but may be obtained in most states for one of the following reasons: misrepresentation, concealment (for example, of an addiction or criminal record), misunderstanding and refusal to consummate the marriage.

SOLE CUSTODY

An arrangement whereby only one parent has physical and legal custody of a child and the other parent has visitation rights.

ADOPTION

A court procedure by which an adult becomes the legal parent of someone who is not his or her biological child. Adoption creates a parent-child relationship rec... (more...)
A court procedure by which an adult becomes the legal parent of someone who is not his or her biological child. Adoption creates a parent-child relationship recognized for all legal purposes -- including child support obligations, inheritance rights and custody.

ABANDONMENT (OF A CHILD)

A parent's failure to provide any financial assistance to or communicate with his or her child over a period of time. When this happens, a court may deem the ch... (more...)
A parent's failure to provide any financial assistance to or communicate with his or her child over a period of time. When this happens, a court may deem the child abandoned by that parent and order that person's parental rights terminated. Abandonment also describes situations in which a child is physically abandoned -- for example, left on a doorstep, delivered to a hospital or put in a trash can. Physically abandoned children are usually placed in orphanages and made available for adoption.

PREMARITAL AGREEMENT

An agreement made by a couple before marriage that controls certain aspects of their relationship, usually the management and ownership of property, and sometim... (more...)
An agreement made by a couple before marriage that controls certain aspects of their relationship, usually the management and ownership of property, and sometimes whether alimony will be paid if the couple later divorces. Courts usually honor premarital agreements unless one person shows that the agreement was likely to promote divorce, was written with the intention of divorcing or was entered into unfairly. A premarital agreement may also be known as a 'prenuptial agreement.'

NEXT FRIEND

A person, usually a relative, who appears in court on behalf of a minor or incompetent plaintiff, but who is not a party to the lawsuit. For example, children a... (more...)
A person, usually a relative, who appears in court on behalf of a minor or incompetent plaintiff, but who is not a party to the lawsuit. For example, children are often represented in court by their parents as 'next friends.'

MARITAL TERMINATION AGREEMENT

See divorce agreement.

HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD

A person who supports and maintains, in one household, one or more people who are closely related to him by blood, marriage or adoption. Under federal income ta... (more...)
A person who supports and maintains, in one household, one or more people who are closely related to him by blood, marriage or adoption. Under federal income tax law, you are eligible for favorable tax treatment as the head of household only if you are unmarried and you manage a household which is the principal residence (for more than half of the year) of dependent children or other dependent relatives. Under bankruptcy homestead and exemption laws, the terms householder and 'head of household' mean the same thing. Examples include a single woman supporting her disabled sister and her own children or a bachelor supporting his parents. Many states consider a single person supporting only himself to be a head of household as well.

TENANCY BY THE ENTIRETY

A special kind of property ownership that's only for married couples. Both spouses have the right to enjoy the entire property, and when one spouse dies, the su... (more...)
A special kind of property ownership that's only for married couples. Both spouses have the right to enjoy the entire property, and when one spouse dies, the surviving spouse gets title to the property (called a right of survivorship). It is similar to joint tenancy, but it is available in only about half the states.

SAMPLE LEGAL CASES

State v. Greenberg

... In Jennings, we were faced with the question of whether the Superior Court or the Family Court had jurisdiction over a violation of GL1956 § 11-9-5.3, entitled "Brendan's Law," when a jurisdictional statute was amended, subsequent to Jennings's arrest, but before the Attorney ...

State v. Jennings

... The defendant was charged with violating § 11-9-5.3, known as Brendan's Law. [3] At the arraignment, in January 2007, defendant pled not guilty. Two months later, a Family Court justice dismissed the case, without prejudice, for lack of jurisdiction, pursuant to § 11-9-9, which ...

Sidell v. Sidell

... jurisdictions. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Congress sought to address the problem of an inefficient nationwide system of family law jurisprudence that allowed for multiple and often inconsistent child-support orders. Spencer ...