Or, stated otherwise, requiring adults to assume responsibility for making adult decisions. It was with no small measure of incredulity that I recently read an opinion piece in the New York Times Sunday Review by Ruth Bettelheim, who claims to have “over 40 years of practice as a family and child therapist.” According to Ms. […]
“Many divorcing parents are aware of how stressful change can be for their children, and they do all that is in their power to contain it. Other parents seem oblivious to the price they ask their children to pay.” Hon. Anne Kass, District Court Judge, 2nd Judicial District, New Mexico. I could not agree more […]
On July 9, 2015, I blogged about the ongoing saga of the Maya vs Omer Tsimhoni case, currently pending in the Oakland County Family Court (Michigan). This is a high-conflict custody and parenting time case involving allegations that the mother, through brainwashing the children, has so alienated the children from their father that they refuse […]
I was surprised to learn that Michigan has one of the highest vaccine-waiver rates for kindergartners in the country. The CDC reports that Michigan has three times the national average in vaccine waivers. The controversy over childhood vaccination has gone on for decades, but it has largely been a quiet one. The recent measles outbreak […]
Parental Alienation is a term that family law professionals use to describe what happens when one parent attempts to sabotage the relationship between the children and the other parent. Wikipedia describes it as follows: “a group of behaviors that are damaging to children’s mental and emotional well-being, and can interfere with a relationship of a […]
It is indeed an exciting time to be practicing family law – there are changes in the wind, and today, I would like to remark on one of them that I see coming – prenuptial agreements and gay married couples. Once upon a time prenuptial agreements (prenups) were the sole province of the rich and […]
I put the title of this blog in quotation marks because that was the search I googled this morning while contemplating the framework for these comments. Given the extraordinary number of “hits” mostly to posts which have occurred since the US Supreme Court ruling on June 26, 2015, I am not the only one who […]
Criminal defense attorneys are known for saying – tongue-in-cheek – that they only represent clients who are not guilty. The obvious truth is that criminal defense lawyers take their clients as they find them – without regarding to guilt or innocence. The defense attorney understands his/her responsibilities – to defend the client’s right to a […]
If there is one thing I have learned in almost 30 years of family law practice, it is that children are the constant victims of divorce and other family court disputes. Whether the divorce is amicable or whether the parents engage in a brutal battle over custody and parenting time, I am willing to bet that […]
Anyone who has owned a pet knows that our pets are members of our family. We love them and care for them like any cherished member of the family. And, our pets love us! We receive affection, comfort and companionship from our family pets. For this reason, it is shocking to pet owners involved in […]
