Former Stepparent Visitation Rights

A stepparent is considered a legal stranger to a child and is not automatically entitled to visitation rights. However, where a close relationship between the child and the stepparent has been established, a court will consider granting rights of visitation and in some case, stepparents have been awarded legal custody.

Retroactive Child Support Awards

In most states, initial child support awards may be made retroactive to the date of filing and modifications may be retroaction to the date a modification is requested. In some states, retroactivity is mandatory, and in others, it is discretionary.

Dependent Adult Support: Dependent Parents

Statutes in 30 states impose a filial obligation on children to support their indigent or disabled parents. Indigence is not defined as completely destitute, but rather in terms of the parent's financial ability to meet his or her basic needs.

The Parental Preference Standard in Custody Disputes

A parent has a constitutional right to raise his or her child. That right is recognized in child custody proceedings by the "parental preference" standard. The standard, which is also known as the unfitness or extraordinary circumstances rule, requires that in a child custody dispute between a child's parent and a non-parent, placement of the child with the parent is preferred. Some courts have concluded that parental placement is in the best interests of the child. However, if the parent is unfit to parent the child or extraordinary circumstances exist that caution against placing the child with the parent, then custody of the child could be award to a non-parent.

Expert Witnesses in Child Custody Proceedings

The rules of evidence employed by the courts in legal actions set out the qualifications for expert witnesses, which may be said in a general way to consist of a level of education, training, or experience that has created in such a witness a degree of knowledge about a particular scientific or technical subject that is greater than the knowledge of such a subject possessed by people lacking such education, training, or experience. Unlike most witnesses, whose testimony in court proceedings is limited to factual matters actually known to them, expert witnesses are permitted, based on the factual evidence that has been presented in court, to express their opinions on issues related to the technical subjects within their areas of expertise. Extensive use of expert witnesses is made in both civil and criminal proceedings in the United States.