Charlottesville Divorce Lawyer Rob Hagy

Legal Malpractice Suit Proceeds Separate Property

A California court has held in the case of In Re in the Marriage of Klug that the proceeds of a legal malpractice action constitute separate property where the cause of action arose after separation.

Parent Couldn't Bring IDEA Suit on Behalf of Child

In Tindall v. Poultney High Sch. Dist., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that a parent who was not admitted to the bar could not bring an action pro se in federal court on behalf of his or her child in this case brought under the the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

No New Cases...

Neither the Virginia Supreme Court or the Virginia Court of Appeals issued any new family law opinions, published or unpublished, for the week of July 12, 2005.

Just Got Back From the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association's 2005 Annual Family Law Seminar

Last week, I attended the VTLA's Family Law Seminar.  Here is some of the information I picked up that I hope to be able to use to help my clients.  I received concentrated information on the following topics:

-an Annual Legislative/Case Law Update (covering June 2004 to June 2005).

-Trying Family Law Cases in a Short Period of Time (which is especially important for court's in the 16th Circuit Where Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court cases are limited to two hours per custody and visitation case).

-A Primer on Hearsay and Authentication Issues in Family Law.

-Fifth Amendment Issues in Family Law Adultery Cases.  This section of the seminar dealt with the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court and Virginia cases, Lawrence v. Texas and Martin v. Ziherl.  With this cases decided, it appears a strong argument can be made that a party to a divorce where adultery is an issue may not be able to assert their 5th Amendment rights against self-incrimination when asked about divorce.  I was particularly interested in this section of the seminar because the Martin v. Ziherl case overruled the case of Zysk v. Zysk, which was the case I analyzed in the case note I wrote while a member of the George Mason Law Review.