It is easy to get attached to a pet, especially cats and dogs. They bring us comfort, keep us company, and become part of the family. But what happens to those pets when their owners split? Pets are personal property When a relationship goes south, figuring out who gets to keep the pets can become a contentious fight and often pets are used as a bargaining chip in divorces. State laws, including North Carolina, consider… Read More
In Part 1, we discussed the use of AirTags to track your spouse and children and the implications in divorce and custody cases. Now you might be wondering, what can I do to protect myself or my child from being tracked? Manufacturers have taken steps to improve Security. The success of these trackers is based off their proximity to other devices they can ping off, and they can only ping off devices with Bluetooth turned… Read More
AirTags and other Bluetooth trackers, like Life360’s Tile, are coin-sized tracking devices. Using a Bluetooth signal, an AirTag pings off any Apple device using Apple’s Find My network and shows you the location of the AirTag. When out of range of the tracker, Tile’s app will show you the last location it was seen by your device and can ping off other Tile users to locate its current location. The benefit of these trackers is… Read More
Domestic violence and abuse can take the form of many behaviors and could be a one-time incident or a pattern of behaviors. In abusive relationships, an aggressor will use tactics such as bullying, manipulation, embarrassment, isolation, blame shifting, gaslighting, threatening, and injuring to control their victim. The abuser isn’t always a spouse/partner, they can be a person you are dating or even a family member. The most common forms of abuse are physical (hitting, punching,… Read More
Domestic violence has been labeled as an “epidemic” in our country. Statistics show that one in every three women and one in four men in the United States will experience some form of domestic violence at the hands of their intimate partner. Just as domestic violence can affect heterosexual relationships, it can affect LGBTQ+ relationships as well. North Carolina provides two avenues for individuals to seek relief from their abuser: N.C.G.S. § 50B and N.C.G.S…. Read More
Practically every aspect of our world has been drastically altered by the protections (and limitations) enacted to combat the spread of COVID-19. Our court system is no different. On March 13, 2020, Chief Justice Beasley of the Supreme Court of North Carolina issued an emergency order declaring the North Carolina courts “on hold” for a majority of matters. Over the course of the last few months, these directives have been extended in a number of… Read More
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and the statistics are sobering. • 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men aged 18 and older in the United States have been the victims of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. • 37.3% of women and 28.3% of men experienced intimate partner sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking at some point in their lives. • More than 12 million Americans are victims… Read More
For years, the media has perpetuated the belief that Super Bowl Sunday is the most dangerous day of the year. However, the research shows that this is just a myth, and there is no specific link between the Super Bowl and an increase in domestic violence. What the research does show is domestic violence spikes on weekends and holidays or on other special occasions that center around family and….alcohol. So, you might see increases in… Read More