The Attorneys at Dixon & Moseley, P.C.
Strong, Trial-Ready Advocates Protecting Your Rights
Extended family, such as grandparents, can play a big role in a child’s life when his or her parents are getting divorced. The love and support of family is important, especially when a child is dealing with the life changes that come when his or her parents separate. Often, one parent will move back in with his or her parents…
Only a few years ago, most communications were face-to-face and in person, secondarily by phone or letter. Most of these allowed time to pass between a thought and transmittal to a third-party. The first two forms of communication were hard to memorialize (i.e., record in audio or video format). This kept ill-conceived statements to a minimum compared to present before…
Over the past few decades, there have been significant strides in the area of science, and specifically in family planning. Persons wishing to have children are presented with more and more options than the traditional routes of being married and having a biological child. But what do these advances in technology and science have to do with the law? A…
As a general rule, in matters where child custody and child support are at issue, the Court will grant parents joint or sole custody and Order an obligation for child support to be paid. Often, the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines (IPTG)1 are used as a baseline for determining parenting time for the non-custodial parent. For older children, IPTG parenting time…
There is no escaping the endless news stories involving the controversial issue of gay marriage lately, and Wednesday June 26, 2013, was no different. In fact, if you have twitter, facebook, or internet access for that matter, there was no escaping the conversations about the United States Supreme Court decision holding that DOMA is unconstitutional. DOMA stands for the “Defense…
A recent USA Today article focused on the resurgence in marriage after its decline during the economic recession.1 The article reported that there was a 5% decline in marriage rates during the recent recession, coupled with cultural changes about whether and when to marry, with two-thirds (2/3) of first marriages are being proceeded with cohabitation (living together), the projections in…
During the course of domestic proceedings, paternity may be at issue. There are, of course, original paternity actions, but paternity may also be at issue for related cases. For example, a third party seeking to modify custody or get a guardianship of a child will need to explore if paternity has been established before filing. So, who can file a…
There are two general types of adoptions of a minor child. The new family adoption, and the step-parent adoption. First, the new family adoption, which terminates both the Mother and Father’s parental rights, and the new family (new mother and father) acquire the same parental rights as the biological parents once had.1 The second type of adoption is commonly known…
In domestic cases, there may be a number of experts that are called upon to testify during a hearing. For example, a doctor may testify about a child’s medical condition, a CPA may testify about the value of a business, or a clinical psychologist may testify about a custody evaluation performed. However, there are limitations to who is an expert…
Adoption laws and cases can often be complex and full of many twists and turns. Today I want to focus on adoptions involving family members, close friends, or often Foster parents vs. new family type adoptions. In many cases, family members, friends, or foster parents spend significant time raising a child, and/or a natural becomes unable to care for his…