Article by Aaron Dishon

Talking about the salary of divorce lawyers and other lawyers, both these lawyers earn money based on the geographical area, skills they have, workload and billable hours. There are a few lawyers who set a fix pay from their clients. Divorce lawyers are known as family lawyers who are able to manage other family-related legal problems as well like child custody arguments and adoptions. It has been observed that divorce lawyers usually get a less pay scale as compared to other lawyers.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are a few divorce lawyers who do not get a fixed salary like the lawyers who work for the government. Rather, they get the pay scale on the basis of how much time they spend on the particular case. The range for such hourly rates is from to 0 for an hour. Divorce lawyers can even claim flat fees for a particular action like 0 for filing a divorce appeal.

Read the rest of this entry

Read the rest of this entry

MOLLIE DIANE PEDDAR vs. JOHN LEONARD PEDDAR
APPEALS COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS
April 11, 1997, Argued
July 22, 1997, Decided

In 1990, the plaintiff moved to Massachusetts with the children of the marriage, and they now reside within the Commonwealth. In 1995, the plaintiff filed a complaint for modification of the Georgia divorce judgment pursuant to G. L. c. 208, § 29.  Her complaint seeks, inter alia, modifications to the orders of the Georgia Superior Court regarding child support. The judge dismissed, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, so much of the complaint as related to the child support orders. The plaintiff filed a timely appeal from the allowance of the defendant’s motion to dismiss.

Issues:

Read the rest of this entry

TERESA H. SHINGLEDECKER, Plaintiff v. TERRY ALLAN SHINGLEDECKER, Defendant
COURT OF APPEALS OF NORTH CAROLINA
March 13, 1991, Heard in the Court of Appeals
August 20, 1991, Filed

Plaintiff and defendant were married on 28 January 1989 in Jackson County, North Carolina. Thereafter, the parties moved to the State of Florida on a temporary basis, although the family home remained in the State of North Carolina.  In January 1990, plaintiff instituted this action seeking a divorce from bed and board and alleging, as grounds therefor, constructive abandonment, cruel and barbarous treatment and indignities.  Plaintiff also requested both temporary and permanent child custody and child support.  Defendant filed a pre-answer motions to dismiss plaintiff’s complaint based upon North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2) and 12(b)(6), lack of personal jurisdiction and failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.  On 26 April 1990, Judge Steven J. Bryant entered a judgment granting plaintiff a divorce from bed and board, permanent child custody and child support.  From the Order denying his motions to dismiss, defendant appealed.

Read the rest of this entry

Thomas W. Arnold, Respondent, v. Orly Harari, Appellant.
SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, THIRD DEPARTMENT

February 19, 2004, Decided
February 19, 2004, Entered

Facts:

Read the rest of this entry

Leslie S. Hays, Petitioner, v. John Hays, Respondent
Supreme Court of New York, Special Term, Nassau County

November 26, 1982

Facts:

The petitioner mother and the respondent father were married in the State of California and that the child was born there on July 25, 1980. As the result of marital problems she decides to flee to New York without advising respondent. Two days before the flight, respondent discovered the tickets and immediately sought legal assistance. A summons and petition for divorce and custody together with a temporary restraining order preventing petitioner from removing the child from the State were served the following day, but petitioner flew to New York as planned, taking the child with her. She arranged for an attorney to represent her at the hearing in California. California court proceeded to grant a divorce and custody to the father, after which he obtained a California warrant for the mother’s arrest. The petitioner brought a custody proceeding pursuant to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (Act), N.Y. Dom. Rel. Law § 5-A, asking the court to exercise its jurisdiction to modify a custody decree entered by a California court, which had granted custody to respondent father

Issue:

Read the rest of this entry

SYLVIA BENFIELD STEGALL v. ERNEST WILLIAM STEGALL
SUPREME COURT OF NORTH CAROLINA
December 6, 1993, Heard in the Supreme Court
June 17, 1994, Filed

On 13 March 1989 judgment of absolute divorce was granted in defendant’s action. Thereafter, plaintiff on 8 October 1990 voluntarily dismissed her action pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 1A-1, Rule 41(a)(1) but filed a new action asserting her claims for alimony and equitable distribution on 18 February 1991 within the one-year period permitted under Rule 41(a)(1). Defendant moved under N.C.G.S. § 1A-1, Rule 12(b)(6) to dismiss the action, and the trial court granted the motion. Plaintiff appealed and the Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal.  The Plaintiff appealed.

Issue:

Read the rest of this entry

COLBY v. COLBY
Court of Appeals of Maryland

May 20, 1958

Benjamin and Sarah Colby were married in Chicago in 1927, had three children, and lived together in Chevy Chase for over four years prior to March 4, 1955. On the latter date, the wife, without prior notice to her husband, took their fifteen year old daughter and went to the home of the wife’s mother in Glencoe, Illinois, and immediately thereafter, went to Las Vegas, Nevada. Exactly six weeks after her arrival, she filed suit for a divorce in Nevada on the ground of extreme mental cruelty. She made plans to return to Washington after the divorce proceedings by making a reservation at a Washington hotel. On June 9, the husband was served in Washington with Nevada process, and twenty-one days later, the Nevada court granted a decree of divorce.

The husband made no appearance and the divorce was granted. The husband later filed an action for a divorce a mensa et thoro in Maryland. The Maryland trial court declared the Nevada divorce null and void and granted the husband’s petition for a divorce.  Appellant wife sought review of a decision by the Circuit Court for Montgomery County Maryland.

Read the rest of this entry

Patricia F. Moller v. Leif Moller

CIRCUIT COURT OF LOUDOUN COUNTY, VIRGINIA

September 25, 1987

Facts:

The plaintiff former wife Mrs. Moller filed suit against former husband that the property settlement agreement that both had signed, and which was incorporated in their final divorce decree entered by this Court on May 7, 1984, be set aside on the grounds of fraud and duress perpetrated by the former husband inducing her to sign the agreement. Because the agreement was incorporated in and became a part of the aforesaid divorce decree, the agreement becomes a part of the judgment of the divorce court. She did not contest the agreement or its incorporation in the final divorce decree. The husband filed a demurrer to the complaint.

Issue:

Read the rest of this entry

DAY v. DAY
Court of Appeals of Maryland

FACTS:

Appellants, a husband and his alleged current wife, sought review of a decision of a Circuit Court for Montgomery County (Maryland), which decreed that an Alabama divorce obtained by the husband was null and void, that the subsequent marriage of the husband to his current wife was invalid, and that appellee wife was the legal wife of the husband.  The appellee, Alice W. Day (the wife) brought suit in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County for a declaratory judgment that the Alabama decree was invalid and for an order against Nancy H. Stone, the other appellant, also known as Nancy H. Day, enjoining her from using the name Day or representing herself as the lawful wife of the husband.  After the taking of testimony, the lower court decreed that the Alabama divorce was null and void, that the subsequent marriage of the husband to Mrs. Stone was invalid, and that the wife is the legal wife of the husband.  The husband and Mrs. Stone have appealed.

ISSUES:

Read the rest of this entry