Cumming Family Law Blog

This scenario seems likely to play out more and more in the future due to two factors. First, according to the AARP, grandparents are spending more and more on their grandkids. Indeed, 25 percent of grandparents reported spending more than $1,000 per year on their grandkids while 37 percent provided daily living expenses.

Second, in a 2000 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one state's law that permitted courts to award grandparents visitation rights when such visitation was found to be in the best interest of the grandchild.

Grandparents from Georgia who both want to help out financially and enjoy frequent contact with their grandkids when parents are divorced should know several things before proceeding.

Georgia's 2004 constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage left some issues up in the air. Specifically, the amendment did not directly address whether adoption by same-sex couples is also illegal. In a decision in mid-July, the Georgia Court of Appeals sidestepped an opportunity to resolve the issue.

The case arose out of the break-up of a lesbian couple. Before the break-up, one of the women was artificially inseminated. After she gave birth, she wanted her partner to also be a legal parent. Her partner legally adopted the child in Fulton County in what is known as a "second-parent" adoption.

It's looking like what was thought to be a mission impossible can be chalked up as a mission accomplished. Georgia readers will likely already have guessed that what we're talking about here is the divorce and child custody battle of actors Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

Lawyers for Holmes have announced that the two stars have reached an agreement, including over matters of child custody and support. The action comes less than two weeks after Holmes filed to end her five-year marriage to the "Mission: Impossible" hero. And it comes as something of a surprise to a lot of observers.

Georgia residents who have served or are serving in the armed forces may be interested in a bill recently passed by the U.S. House. The bill, which easily passed by a vote of 390-2, would add precautions to prevent members of the armed forces from losing custody of their children solely because of a military deployment.

While the child custody bill, titled the Servicemember Family Protection Act, enjoyed lopsided support in the House, it will likely receive a much less friendly reception in the Senate due to a wide spectrum of opponents.