New York's top court: Parents can legally eavesdrop on kids

Legal Events

New York's highest court says parents can legally eavesdrop on young children, establishing an exception to state law against wiretaps without the consent of at least one person on a call.

The Court of Appeals split 4-3 in deciding such monitoring is justified when a parent or guardian reasonably believes it would be in the child's best interests to listen to and tape phone conversations.

Tuesday's ruling is in a case involving a cellphone recording of Anthony Badalamenti threatening to beat a 5-year-old boy. The boy's biological father made the recording.

Badalamenti lived with the boy's mother. He was convicted of child endangerment, assault and weapon possession.

His attorney challenged the tape as inadmissible evidence.

The ruling upheld a decision by a mid-level appeals court.

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Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC

A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party

Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party

However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.

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