Rhode Island Real Estate Lawyer Blog

Generally, parents are able to take their children anywhere they want to. However, there are important exceptions to this rule. One common situation is if you share custody of your child with someone else. Another time where you are not allowed to take your child out of the state is if they are in custody…

Trusts are a common part of estate planning. Essentially, a trust is useful when you want to put aside property for someone else to manage for the benefit of a third party. For example, a grandparent may put money aside for their grandchild to be used for certain purposes or to be released to them…

It has been five years since Rhode Island legalized same-sex marriage. However, many Rhode Island LGBTQ advocates feel that there are still other rights related to families and parenting that still need to be won. A big concern involves the way that parental rights are bestowed in the state and how that affects same-sex couples.…

When a couple gets divorced, one of the first things the court needs to figure out is which property is marital property and which property is separate property. Typically, any property brought into the household during the marriage will be considered marital property. The biggest exceptions to this rule are when the property is given…

If you are considering adoption, one of the things that needs to happen is for the parental rights of the biological parent or parents to be terminated. In a step-parent adoption case, only one parent needs to give up their parental rights. However, sometimes the other biological parent does not consent to the adoption. In…

Adverse possession is a real estate concept under which one party can take ownership of the land that another person owned by occupying it for a certain amount of time and meeting certain criteria. Adverse possession allows the person who is actually occupying the property to have official ownership after a period of time. It…

Rhode Island is one of the minority of states that recognize common-law marriage. However, there are certain things that are required in order for a court to decide that a couple is in a common-law marriage. One requirement specifically was recently found to be determinative in a case before the Rhode Island Supreme Court. They…

The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit recently held that the ex-spouse of a deceased man was entitled to the proceeds of his IRA account. This case is informative for people who are going through divorce and having their soon to be ex-spouse named as a beneficiary on their investment or insurance…

There is a long history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people both adopting children, but also being discriminated against in the adoption process. Even though Rhode Island has a state law that prohibits discrimination against people on the basis of sexual orientation, they may suffer consequences if this law passes. If you…

The Rhode Island Supreme Court recently issued an opinion that discusses when an arbitration award is allowed to stand. This is important for accident victims because many insurance policies include an arbitration provision. Arbitration may be required instead of traditional judicial proceedings under your policy. The difference between traditional legal remedies and arbitration is that…