The Court of Appeals in McDIARMID v. McDIARMID, for the first time in the District addressed whether goodwill of a law firm partnership interest is an asset subject to distribution upon dissolution of marriage. The trial court had established some value associated with the goodwill partnership and had ruled in favor of awarding a specific sum to the wife during the distribution of assets phase of the divorce trial. Appellant husband had argued primarily that: Professional goodwill is not a tangible asset, and thus not a marital property subject to distribution. In the alternative, if professional goodwill is marital property,
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The Court of Appeals in Hipps v. Cabrera, specifically addressed continuing jurisdiction in the child custody litigation and its limitations. The Child Custody Order in dispute, and litigation had bestowed physical custody with the father, limited visitation schedule for the mother, and the father had retained the tie break or final decision-making authority.  Within one year of the order being issued, the father had moved the children to NY and mother’s visitation rights were gradually curtailed.  By the time the mother had court involved the matter to restore regular visits, the children had been away from the District for significant
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The Court of Appeals in Tydings v. Tydings, despite a large martial settlement, awarded additional attorney fees, which was the subject of this appeal. After extensive litigation requiring expert witnesses and financial forensics, Ms. Tydings was awarded a significant portion of marital assets.  She sought to recover over 250k in attorney fees which the trial court granted. The primary issue on appeal was whether the trial court had discretion to require husband to pay any portion of his spouse’s attorney and witness fees given the fact that wife had already become a very wealthy woman as a result of the
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The Court of Appeals in Powell v. Powell, focused on distribution of stocks acquired during marriage but after separation. The trial court had distributed stock options and share equally until the separation, and after separation, the vested stocks were allocated and distributed to the appellee giving rise to this appeal. The appellant essentially argued that the trial court should have also equally transferred to him the stocks that were vested after separation but before the final decree of divorce. As a rule, upon entry of a final divorce decree, the court shall: Assign to each party his or her sole
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The Court of Appeals in Wilson v. Craig, highlighted that child custody and support can be modifying after the final decree of divorce and execution of a separation agreement essentially nullifying the agreement. Parties had reached a comprehensive separation agreement, which was incorporated by reference but not merged into the final divorce decree addressing property distribution, child custody, and child support.  The child custody provision of the agreement called for joint legal and physical custody of the children. Ms. Craig subsequently filed for modification of child custody agreement requesting sole physical and legal custody of the children.  The trial court
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The Court of Appeals in Wilkins v. Ferguson reversed the trial court’s order granting the biological father unsupervised visits and further expounded on modification of visitation orders when there is evidence of intrafamily offenses. After filing for absolute divorce, and seeking custody award from the court, the trial court granted joint legal custody with primary physical custody with the mother, Ms. Wilkins.  The trial court also found compelling evidence that husband had committed, and wife had suffered substantial physical, verbal and psychological abuse with the pattern of abuse existed throughout the marriage. The father-child visitation was later suspended due to
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The Court of Appeals in the IN RE PETITION OF A.T.J. AND L.D.J., decided on March 18, 2021, further clarified the meaning of “grasping parental opportunity interest” in context of adoption petitions. At trial, the biological father’s rights were terminated during adoption litigation for the minor child with the father objecting to the proceeding. The biological father had primarily argued in the case that the trial court did not properly apply a parental presumption: that is, it terminated his parental rights without first making a finding of parental unfitness. Prior caselaw had established that the presumption in favor of a
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The Court of Appeals in Boyd v. Boyd, for the first time analyzed and addressed whether an inchoate personal injury claim during the marriage is considered a marital property or a sole and separate property. Shortly before divorce was finalized, the wife had incurred an accident giving rise to a personal injury claim which was not yet initiated or resolved. The trial court there had held that an inchoate personal injury claim was not a marital asset because there was: No way of valuing it, and that Pain and suffering from the accident were “intensely personal,” and any recovery for
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