News & Events

My Amityville Horror is a new movie about the haunting of a house in Amityville, New York. Has your home become a house of horrors because you own it with an ex-husband or wife? In Louisiana, divorced couples remain co-owners of all community property that they have not divided up in a community property partition [...]

According to the April 8, 2013 edition of People magazine, television newswomen Jenna Wolfe and Stephanie Gosk are having a baby. Or are they? If they lived in Louisiana, only one of them would be having the baby, its mother, Jenna. Louisiana does not recognize marriage between two women. If Jenna and Stephanie broke up, [...]

According to the February 25, 2013 issue of US Weekly, Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn are romantically involved. If they marry and Tiger goes back on the prowl can Lindsey complain? In Louisiana, married persons owe each other “fidelity, support, and assistance”. Each spouse must be sexually loyal to the other, adultery is forbidden. But [...]

As reported in US Weekly’s February 25, 2013 edition, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are expecting a baby although Kim’s marriage to Kris Humphries has not yet been dissolved. Who will be the baby’s legal father? In Louisiana, Kris would be presumed to be the father because he is the husband of the mother. However, [...]

In Carpenter v. McDonald, 2012-CU-1460, the First Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed a trial judge’s decision to give custody of two young children to their grandmother. At the first custody hearing between the mother and father, the evidence established that the family lived in a “yurt”, a structure used by nomads on the steppes of [...]

Lawyers are obliged to provide clients with objective advice. They must remain cool under pressure even in the face of obnoxious behavior by other lawyers, their clients, and witnesses. In a tight spot, they must put their mask on first and then go to work helping you. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal recently upheld [...]

In Blanchard v. Blanchard, 2012-0106, the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal considered a divorced wife’s contention that the lawyers for a divorced husband had improperly calculated her agreed share of his personal injury settlement proceeds. Mrs. Blanchard contended that she was entitled to 1/3rd of the gross settlement proceeds of $500,000. Mr. Blanchard and [...]

Wynonna Judd is seen supporting her husband, Cactus Moser, on stage in the November 19, 2012, issue of US Weekly. Moser lost a leg in an August 2012 motorcycle accident. What are your obligations if your spouse becomes disabled or diseased and you no longer want to remain married? Louisiana law permits a divorce under [...]

The same question might be asked by a divorcing couple whose stock in Hostess Brands lost value during its recent financial difficulties. What can you do if your property, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars when you divorced, loses value before you are able to divide things up? The short answer is that there is [...]

Economic hard times and a bad job market have sent many men and women out of state to find work. The December 3, 2012 issue of People describes the lives of workers who live in camps, prefabricated dormitories, while they earn a living and send money home. Unfortunately, separations do not always make hearts grow [...]