A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to be in Washington D.C. during the running of the “Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life” exhibition at the National Museum of American History. The exhibition was wide-ranging in scale, but of particular interest to me was the portion describing Lincoln’s 23-year career as a “prairie lawyer” in Springfield, Illinois. I was…
On a global level, the law regarding same sex marriage seems to be changing every day. Here in Washington, where”everything but marriage” domestic partnerships have been in effect since 2007, the state legislature appears to be on the verge of making same sex marriage legal. And of course, there are six other states in the United States, as well…
In this three-part series, we’re examining the Washington common law remedy of “de facto parentage,” which will sometimes afford parental rights to individuals who are not legally considered parents to a child, if they can prove that they have – in the words of the Washington Supreme Court – “fully and completely undertaken a permanent, unequivocal, committed, and responsible parental…
According to an ABC Action News report, at least three U.S. states have enacted, or are considering enacting, drastic changes to their spousal support laws. At the forefront of the reform trend (if three states a trend makes), is Massachusetts. The legislature there is changing state law to eliminate life time alimony, and to enact a formula by which…
It’s probably not altogether uncommon for unhappy brides or grooms to sue over sloppy wedding photos or terrible food. But Todd Remis of New York has taken the wedding vendor lawsuit to the next level. He’s suing the photographer and the photography studio for failing to capture every precious moment of his 2003 wedding (specifically, the last dance and the…
And we should have guessed it’d arrive in one of America’s favorite formats – reality television. That’s right, Jim Halfens, the man who brought the upscale “Divorce Hotel” to wealthy and unhappily marrieds in the Netherlands, has teamed up with an American television producer to bring the Divorce Hotel to American television. And what better way to drum up…
The hit television show Glee has been lauded for its tolerance and diversity, as well as its soundtrack, since it first came on the air in 2009. The show has tackled a host of story lines that have been both controversial and groundbreaking for a prime-time television about high school students, including homosexuality, teen pregnancy, developmental disability, obsessive compulsive disorder,…
When most people think of adoption, they think of babies or children. However, in many states (including Washington), a person may be adopted at any age.
Any person may be adopted, regardless of his or her age or residence.
RCW 26.33.140
Washington law requires that a person who is over the age of 14 consent to being adopted. Thus, the…
Last Friday the New York Times ran a story detailing the messy divorce of supermodel Stephanie Seymour and media mogul/art collector Peter Brant. Seymour and Brant, who’ve been married since 1995 and have three children, have apparently become near-fixtures at a Stamford, Connecticut courthouse as they’ve battled over drug tests, jewels, and Warhol paintings since Seymour filed for divorce…
A news story out of Chicago tells the tale of a Laura Derbigney, a Hispanic Catholic woman who claims to have recently been ordered by a court to obey Orthodox Jewish dietary restrictions and keep the Sabbath. The reason? Laura’s husband has a son with an ex-wife – an ex-wife who follows the strict dietary and other rules of…
