Ind. Code 31-9-2-35.5, defining a de facto custodian, applies only to custody proceedings after a paternity determination, actions for child custody or modification of custody, and temporary placement of a child in need of services taken into custody; it does not apply in the case of visitation rights of a boyfriend over an ex-girlfriend’s child.
Civil
Lucas v. U.S. Bank, N.A., No. 28S01-1102-CV-78, ___ N.E.2d ___ (Ind., Sept. 15, 2011)
“If equitable and legal causes of action or defenses are present in the same lawsuit, the court must examine several factors of each joined claim — its substance and character, the rights and interests involved, and the relief requested. After that examination, the trial court must decide whether core questions presented in any of the joined legal claims significantly overlap with the subject matter that invokes the equitable jurisdiction of the court. If so, equity subsumes those particular legal claims to obtain more final and effectual relief for the parties despite the presence of peripheral questions of a legal nature. Conversely, the unrelated legal claims are entitled to a trial by jury.”
In re: The Order of Contempt Against Benson, et al v. Co-Alliance, LLP, No. 55A04-1010-CC-64, ___ N.E.2d ___ (Ind. Ct. App., Sept. 6, 2011)
Trial court had jurisdiction to order an attorney to pay funds for attorney’s contempt in an action stayed by the bankruptcy court because the funds paid were not property of the bankruptcy estate, but the attorney’s personal money and for damages resulting from the attorney’s contempt.
Kitchen v. Kitchen, et al, No. 27A04-1101-DR-1, ___ N.E.2d ___ (Ind. Ct. App., Aug. 29, 2011)
Only parents, grandparents and step-parents have standing to pursue visitation with a child.
Branham v. Varble & Chastain, No. 62S01-1103-SC-14, ___ N.E.2d ___ (Ind., Aug. 30, 2011)
Self-represented parties in small claims court do not forfeit the generic exemption statute and the Social Security exemptions even if the litigants do not know enough to plead them; even if an information of contempt has not been filed, a court does not err when it orders a party to return for status checks a limited number of times; orders to seek employment or to seek better employment are not a proper part of a proceeding supplemental.