Family Law
GHMA | LAW is pleased to announce that Patrick McCroskey has been included in the Business North Carolina Legal Elite 2020 Family Law Section for the 7th consecutive year. Patrick McCroskey is a North Carolina Board Certified Legal Specialist in Family Law and Fellow in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. He is also consistently recognized through peer review in the Family Law Section at Best Lawyers in America where he has been named Lawyer…
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Elise Putnam is a vastly experienced Family Law and Appellate attorney. She has dedicated her career and practice to helping people throughout Western North Carolina. Elise has handled numerous appeals and argued successfully before the highest courts in the state.
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Open vs. Closed Adoptions Adoptions can be either open or closed. In a closed adoption the identify of the biological parents remains annonymous. In an open adoption the biological parent identify is known. In addition, other background and medical information is disclosed to the adopting parents. The parties also may meet one another, and can remain in contact after the adoption is finalized, if that is the desire of all parties. Private Independent Adoptions When biological…
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The beginning of a new school year is a time when many parents are faced with making a decision regarding where their child should be enrolled in school. Where a child attends school may impact the quality of the child’s education, as well as the child’s happiness and overall development. Parents often feel strongly about decisions that can have a long-term impact on their child.
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Under North Carolina law, the legal parents (either biological or adoptive) of a child are deemed to be primarily responsible for the child’s financial support. As such, a stepparent has no legal duty to pay child support for the benefit of a stepchild in the event the stepparent’s marriage to the child’s parent ends, either by death or divorce. However, a stepparent who has acted “in loco parentis”
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