Newsletters

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.

Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act

Problems arise where a parent and a child do not reside in the same state. To deal with jurisdictional problems in establishing and enforcing child support obligations, the federal government enacted the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act in the 1950s. Although it has been mostly replaced by the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, enacted in 1998, URESA still applies in some situations.

Emergency Modification of Child Custody Awards

When an emergency arises, courts in any State have the power to enter a temporary order of custody under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act. Under the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act, the court in the state where the child lives has primary and continuing jurisdiction over the custody of a child, and it may issue a permanent change in custody, whether or not there is an emergency.

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.

Change of Residence in Child Custody

The change of residence of the person who has physical custody of a child does not automatically require a change of custody of the child or relitigation of the issue. The laws vary from state to state as to who has the burden of proving that the relocation will constitute a material change of circumstances affecting the child and whether the change is in the child's best interests.