Posts Categorized: Articles

Maine Redefines How You Become a Parent (Legally)

The Maine Legislature has created a new law, becoming effective in July 2016, that redefines how a person becomes a parent, legally speaking. The new law is a drastic departure from existing Maine law and it creates several “new” ways that a person could become a legal parent of a child. There are many ways… Read more »

Use of experts in divorce litigation

Divorces, like general civil litigation, involve the use of experts in a variety of areas. The two principle issues in any divorce involve parental rights and responsibilities with respect to minor children and the identification and valuation of marital property. Expert testimony can be utilized to establish a variety of facts with respect to the… Read more »

Appeal of Maine criminal cases to be considered by U.S. Supreme Court

On October 30, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari (Voisine, et al., v. United States, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 14-10154 )to two petitioners who have been convicted in the State of Maine for charges of misdemeanor domestic violence.  More plainly stated this means that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to review… Read more »

Maine Estate Tax Update

On June 30, 2015 the Maine Legislature voted to override Governor LePage’s veto of the State Budget, which means the proposed Budget became law.   Among the changes to Maine law as a result of the veto override was a change to the Maine Estate Tax Law, codified as 36 M.R.S.A. §§ 4101-4118, which is set… Read more »

Libby O’Brien Kingsley & Champion, LLC selected by U.S. News & World Report for “Best Law Firms 2015 – Maine”

Libby O’Brien Kingsley & Champion, LLC has been recently honored with a recognition by U.S. News & World Report  in its selection of “Best Law Firms 2015 – Maine.”   Selection is based on a rigorous evaluation process that includes the collection of client and lawyer evaluations and peer review from leading attorneys in their field.   Clients were… Read more »

NLRB reverses its course on e-mail policies

Historically, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) stated in its 2007 Register Guard case that employees did not enjoy rights granted to them by Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act in the context of using company e-mail. The Board concluded in a 3-2 decision that employees had no Section 7 rights to use company… Read more »