Husband, previously adjudicated to be disabled and incompetent, filed for divorce from his wife, who was also his guardian and conservator. The trial court entered an order dismissing husband’s Petition for Dissolution, as “an incompetent person cannot bring or maintain an action for dissolution of marriage” in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Husband appealed arguing he has standing to bring the dissolution action and should not be limited by the finding of disability and incompetence.

Husband argues that the “lucid interval” doctrine used in certain probate cases should be extended to enable an incompetent individual to dissolve his or her marriage. The Appellate Court declines to extend the doctrine to dissolution proceedings. Husband also argues that KRS 403.150 contemplates a dissolution petition being filed by someone other than a member of a married couple, but the Court of Appeals holds the statute “unambiguously indicate[s] that only the actual parties to the marriage may commence the dissolution action.” Finally, husband makes a public policy argument. The Court of Appeals looks to the Kentucky Supreme Court Case of Johnson v. Johnson, 294 Ky. 77, 170 S.W.2d 889 (1943), holding Johnson is binding precedent preventing the court from allowing an incompetent person to bring an action for divorce even after considering the public policy implications. Ultimately, the Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court order dismissing the petition for dissolution of marriage.

Digested by Elizabeth M. Howell

The post Published Divorce Law Opinion from Ky Court of Appeals October 30,2015: Disability Affecting Ability to File for Divorce appeared first on Goldberg Simpson - Family Law Group.

The Administrative Office of the Courts announced changes to its service that provides criminal background reports.

AOC Announces Changes

The Administrative Office of the Courts announced changes to its service that provides criminal background reports.

The following changes will be effective Jan. 19, 2010:
– There will be a standard fee of $15 for all criminal background reports;
– A new automated program, AOCFastCheck, will allow the public to request and receive reports online;
– There will be only three ways to request records online, by drive-thru service in Frankfort and by mail.

The increase from $10 to $15 will be the first fee increase the AOC has implemented since 2003. At $15, the fee is still less than the amount charged by several other states for background reports.

The AOC Records Unit processes approximately 950,000 criminal record reports each year. The reports are produced from data stored in CourtNet, the statewide database used by the Kentucky Court of Justice to collect information from the court case management system in each county. About 60 percent of those reports are provided free to schools and government agencies. Reports to schools and government agencies will not be affected by the fee increase and will continue to be provided free of charge.

In an effort to more quickly fill requests for criminal record reports, the AOC will make AOCFastCheck, a new automated online system, available to anyone who wants to become a registered user. This new service begins Jan. 19.

AOCFastCheck represents a huge technological leap in our ability to meet the demand for criminal record reports, said Jason Cloyd, manager of the AOC Division of Records and Statistics. The limitations of our manual system have made it challenging to respond to the growing volume of record requests in a timely way.

The AOC first offered AOCFastCheck to Kentucky schools in August 2009 as a way to quickly turn around the thousands of criminal record reports requested annually for school personnel and volunteers. Cloyd said that the test run of AOCFastCheck proved to be a great success and he looks forward to providing this online option to the public.

The AOC hosts AOCFastCheck on a secure server. To establish a free account beginning Jan. 19, individuals can visit www.courts.ky.gov and click on Obtain a Criminal Background Report under Helpful Links. Once users have an account, they can submit a request at any time and be notified by e-mail when the criminal record report is available. They log onto the same account to submit requests, track the progress of requests and receive reports. AOCFastCheck users pay online per request using certain credit and debit cards or an electronic check.

For more information, call the AOC Records Unit at 800-928-6381 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

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These Standards of Practice (2007) are available online from the American Bar Association, Commission On Domestic Violence. Adopted by the American Bar Association House of Delegates in August 2007, these black letter Standards of Practice are intended to improve the quality of legal representation of victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking; to enable lawyers to effectively, ethically, and holistically represent victims in civil protection order cases; and to raise awareness about the need for high-quality representation for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking in civil protection order cases. Our hope is that the Standards (and additional commentary) will be integrated into trainings for new and/or pro bono attorneys representing victims in protection order cases and provide guidance for organizations advocating for victims of domestic violence. Download StandardsBlackLetter.pdf

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From the American Bar Association, Lawyers who represent victims of domestic violence in custody matters often encounter these common myths. This one-page tip sheet provides facts and recent statistics for use in litigation.Download custody_myths.pdf

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The post 10 Myths About Custody And Domestic Violence And How To Counter Them appeared first on Goldberg Simpson - Family Law Group.

Check out Beyond googling: More and more, lawyers are using social networking sites as litigation tools at Indiana Law Blog. We routinely Google. Guess it’s time to get with the times and add Facebook and MySpace.

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