Vol. 74 – Why Court Appearances Should Be Remote By Default
A legal note from Marshal Willick about the pending decisions about how court proceedings should normally be handled – in person, or by remote electronic appearances. For lots of reasons, remote court appearances should be the default going forward for all proceedings...
Vol. 73 – Closed Hearings, Sealed Files, Privacy, and Public Access: Why the Rules Are the Way They Are, and What They Should Be Going Forward
A legal note from Marshal Willick about the statutory, case law, and court rule history involving closed hearings and sealed files, what happened to change them and why, and what is needed going forward. There is a huge amount of misinformation about these topics...
Vol. 72 – The Nevada Supreme Court Fails to Clean Up Its Survivorship Benefits Mess — Again
A legal note from Marshal Willick about how the Nevada Supreme Court again ducked by footnote an opportunity to correct errors it has known about for decades about retirement and survivorship benefits, effectively passing the buck to the Legislature. For years,...
Vol. 71 – Engagement Rings and the Nevada Law of Gifts
A legal note from Marshal Willick about the law concerning engagement rings in Nevada – how and when are they considered gifts, and under what circumstances they must be returned to the giver. This is a surprisingly consistent source of inquiries, and litigation, and...
Vol. 70 – Property Transfers Between Cohabitants After Howard v. Hughes
A legal note from Marshal Willick about how the Nevada law governing property transfers between unmarried persons is different from – and less predictable than – the law governing property transfers within a marriage. For married persons, Nevada law has evolved, from...
Vol. 69 – MLAW 3 & 4: Malmquistizer and Child Support Calculator
A legal note from Marshal Willick announcing two new tools for the family law legal community, one of which is free, and the other of which is free to all subscribers. The change from child support statutes to regulations has made the calculation of support more...
Vol. 68 – The Past, Present, and Future of CLE in Nevada
A legal note from Marshal Willick concluding (for now) a series about Continuing Legal Education (“CLE”) of Lawyers in Nevada: how it got here, what just happened, and where it is likely to go in the future – including a startling admission from the folks running the...
Vol. 67 – Merit Selection of Judges
A legal note from Marshal Willick about the most recent proposal to move Nevada to a merit selection system for picking judges, and how and why it should be implemented in the next Legislature. The Nevada Legislature missed an opportunity to put beneficial reforms...
Vol. 66 – The New CLE Fee Structure Stinks and Should Be Changed
A legal note from Marshal Willick about how Nevada’s CLE system has been made destructive to both education and scholarship while increasing dramatically in cost, and why only the Nevada Supreme Court – which ultimately is responsible for this mess – can do anything...
Vol. 65 – Shrinks Gone Wild 5: “Immersion Therapy”
A legal note from Marshal Willick about a particularly pernicious practice being pushed blindly by certain Mental Health Professionals (“MHPs”) who should know better, to the damage of innocent children and their parents. I. BACKGROUND MHPs in Family Court have a...
Vol. 64 – Major Changes to Military Retirement
A legal note from Marshal Willick about the federal government injecting itself into state divorce law by enacting changes to the Uniformed Service Former Spouses Protection Act (“USFSPA”) that impede the property rights of former spouses of military members, make the...
Vol. 63 – Recreational Marijuana and Child Custody in Nevada
A legal note from Marshal Willick about the impact of approval of “Question 2 – Initiative to Regulate and Tax Marijuana” on child custody matters in Nevada. In 2001, Nevada voters approved the “Nevada Medical Marijuana Act.” In 2017, possession of less than 1 ounce...
Vol. 62 – Shrinks Gone Wild 4: Minimum Legal Requirements for MHPs
A legal note from Marshal Willick about continuing pervasive problems in Nevada where Family Court involves Mental Health Professionals (“MHPs”), despite recent controlling authority intended to provide limits. I. BACKGROUND OF CONTINUING PROBLEMS WITH MHPs MHPs in...
Vol. 61 – Document Retention Rule
A legal note from Marshal Willick about the worst court rule now on the books in Nevada, requiring lawyers to warehouse vast amounts of useless paper at their clients’ expense for no valid purpose. Lawyers live in a world of rules. This is part of an occasional series...
Vol. 60 — The Farce of E-filing “Audits”
Vol. 60 -- The Farce of E-filing "Audits" A legal note from Marshal Willick about the farce of the “audits” of the Clark County e-filing system being used as a cover for the excessive fees being paid by every lawyer and litigant to the continued enrichment of an...
Vol 59 – Calculating Judgment Arrearages
Just as there is more than one way to skin a cat, there is more than one way to calculate an arrearage – and it can make a big difference in the total owed. For many years, Nevada lawyers have relied on little but logic and the words of the controlling statutes, but now there is some guidance from the Nevada Supreme Court. Lawyers who represent both those who are owed money, and those who owe it, must be up on the matter to competently represent their clients’ interests.
Vol. 58 — Video Conference Rule
Vol. 58 -- Video Conference Rule A legal note from Marshal Willick about the failure of court administrators to carry into effect the Nevada Supreme Court’s video and audio appearance rules (and an explanation for my lengthy hiatus). Lawyers live in a world of rules. ...
Vol. 57 — Friedman, Vaile, and Evolving Interstate Uniformity
Vol. 57 -- Friedman, Vaile, and Evolving Interstate Uniformity A legal note from Marshal Willick about Nevada cases properly considering the bigger picture of consistent interpretation of uniform laws. For many years, family law in America has become increasingly...