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Legal Articles, Divorce & Family Law

A Court’s Quick Legal Discussion on Visitation, Custody, and Alimony in CT

A Connecticut case, Baker v. Baker, succinctly laid out the basic legal rules regarding visitation, custody, and alimony in CT. Sometimes a quick overview of the law is enough to help figure out what the law is and how it might apply to a particular issue. For help on these subjects we look to the court’s summation of the law in the following:

Despite Child’s Wishes, Mother Awarded Custody

In a Superior Court decision, Sorrell v. Sorrell, the court awarded the mother primary custody of all three children despite the eldest child’s clear wishes. The parties had been married 15 years before the dissolution of marriage action had been brought because of irretrievable breakdown. The court found there was no hope for reconciliation and dissolved the marriage accordingly. Custody of the ex-couple’s three children became the real issue.

A Case For a Child’s Wishes Over Court Determined Best Interests

In Connecticut, like many jurisdictions, the prevailing view on awarding custody is what is in the child’s best interests. But what about that child’s wishes? With minor children this may be difficult, but what about when children are of age? Should the best interest standard work alongside a child’s wishes, or completely dominate them like court decisions of years past? A recent article by Ruth Bettelheim from the New York Times has shed some interesting light on the subject, and suggested a new view on the best interests standard. The article “In whose best interests?” is quoted in the following:

Domestic Violence and Divorce Litigation

Domestic Violence and Divorce Litigation

If A Court Order of Visitation Stipulates for Joint Custody, Can One Party Not Allow the Child to Visit the Other in Connecticut?

If A Court Order of Visitation Stipulates for Joint Custody, Can One Party Not Allow the Child to Visit the Other in Connecticut?

Can I Stipulate in My Divorce for There to Be No Unmarried Cohabitation While Our Child Is Present in Connecticut?

Can I Stipulate in My Divorce for There to Be No Unmarried Cohabitation While Our Child Is Present in Connecticut?

Can A Divorce Record Be Removed from the Judicial Website in Connecticut?

Can A Divorce Record Be Removed from the Judicial Website in Connecticut?

Can I Ask a Connecticut Court to Enforce or Modify a Divorce Judgment Issued in Another State?

Can I Ask a Connecticut Court to Enforce or Modify a Divorce Judgment Issued in Another State?

What Has The Guardian Been Doing? GAL Disclosure in Divorce Proceedings

In contested child custody matters, it is common for a court to appoint a Guardian ad litem to represent the interests of minor children for that particular lawsuit or proceeding.  While Guardians ad litem (or “GAL’s”) are often attorneys, they are less frequently psychologists, social workers, or other individuals with experience representing children’s interests. The duty of a GAL is to speak on behalf of the “best interests” of the child, without necessarily being bound by a child’s expressed preferences, even when those preferences conflict with the perceived “best interests” of the child.

When Tug-of-War is Not a Game: Relocation After Divorce

Lawyers often find ourselves telling clients that their divorce is never truly “final” when there are children involved.  Regrettably, many of the symptoms that bring spouses to our offices in the first place –the arguing, the conflict, certain confines and restrictions – may continue to exist on some level even after the lawyers have done their jobs and a judge signs a final judgment, especially when the divorcing parents are now entrusted with the responsibility to co-parent young children, from different homes, and from new perspectives.

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