“Eliminate Access to Civil Justice Funds” – that is the ominous title of a provision in the North Carolina’s House of Representatives Appropriations Committee’s proposed 2017 Budget. Not cut, eliminate. If passed, this provision would be devastating to legal services available to low-income North Carolinians who cannot otherwise hire an attorney, but are in desperate situations. Those hurt would be domestic violence victims, people on the verge of homelessness, and veterans trying to access benefits they earned with service to this country. The proposed budget provision would eliminate $1.7 million in funding for Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC), Legal Services of the Southern Piedmont (LSSP), and Pisgah Legal…
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Mental Incompetency in Guardianship and Divorce
It is not uncommon for courts to name one’s spouse as their guardian, but what happens when the incompetent party wants to get divorced from his wife and guardian? Can one be incompetent, yet understand the consequences of and express a desire to get divorced? Carolyn, the wife of an eighty-eight year old Kentucky man, Elmer Riehle, petitioned the court to appoint a guardian for her husband for financial reasons – to protect both herself and Elmer.[1] Carolyn decided to file the petition after Elmer sent thousands of dollars of the couple’s money to an e-mail scammer claiming to…
