The Attorneys at Dixon & Moseley, P.C.
Strong, Trial-Ready Advocates Protecting Your Rights
With divorce statistics indicating one in two marriages ends in divorce, many people—from those who have heard divorce horror stories to those who have had their own divorces—sometimes contract for terms to divide their estate (assets – liabilities = net marital estate) in the event of a divorce. There are three ways to do so, all with risks and specific…
The Indiana Civil Order Protection Act focuses on rapid intervention where domestic violence occurs and/or stalking and/or certain sex offenses. This allows a trial court to review a petition alleging such offenses and issue an ex parte order (without a hearing based on the petition). As a general constitutional principle, due process requires a hearing with all parties present before…
While real life domestic litigation is gritty and full of harsh realities of relationships and what happens when they end, there are three important legal lessons Indiana divorce or domestic litigants can take from the new movie or sequel “Ted.” First, everything that is not a child, even a family heirloom, beloved toy or pet is property. There is not…
The United States Supreme Court’s decision to allow same sex couples to marry may be just the beginning of the legal impact of recognition of a fundamental right of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. There is a push for further protection of the LGBT community to add sexual orientation and gender identity to civil rights laws to protect them…
The right to marry and divorce in Indiana has historically been limited to male-female relationships. The statutes providing this right remain the same. However, constitutional law is superior to statutes. There have been claims that Indiana’s Marriage and Dissolution statutes are unconstitutional as it relates to unions between same-sex coupled. On September 4, 2014, on appeal from a federal trial…
Federal, state and local gun laws are sometimes driven by emotion following a high profile event in the news as well as policy. Understanding four key dynamics of the law will allow you to stay out of jail and be a respectful gun owner. First, firearms are by design, much like chain saws, gasoline, and baseball bats, inherently dangerous items.…
The General Assembly, trial courts, and Indiana appellate courts all are active in protecting children caught in a divorce or paternity cases and in modification proceedings afterwards. The policy, which is a basic tenet of psychology, is aimed at the disruptive effect of moving children back and forth between divorced parents and to discourage the parents from using child custody…
Tens of thousands of cases are filed and decided by Indiana’s trial court judges each year. Every judge and attorney knows the importance of telling the story of your position to give you your best day in court. However, for the legal system to work as it should, litigants themselves play a key role at trial. These may seem obvious,…
Indiana law changed several years ago to terminate a parent’s general duty to pay child support at 19. However, this law left in place language that allowed a trial court to have the discretion to award higher education expenses.1 Courts frequently award such colleges expenses. This has been subject to great debate among Hoosiers as many states end all support…
Anger. Heartbreak. Loss. All are words that may be associated with an affair and its impact on a relationship. Divorce lawyers and judges hear such all of the time. Sometimes this is coupled with the desire for revenge by disclosing or using such a correspondent’s name in any legal proceeding Under a relatively unknown Indiana statute, it is unlawful for…