Child Abuse Law

Child abuse refers to the physical, mental, and sexual abuse or exploitation of the child, and the parents' or guardians' neglect of the child. The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act specifically defines child abuse and neglect, and the accompanying penalties for specific violations. A "child" is legally defined as any person younger than 18 years old or who is not an emancipated minor. While federal legislation sets minimum standards for states that accept federal funding, each state provides its own definitions of maltreatment within civil and criminal statutes.

Physical abuse is easily identified in child abuse cases. The more difficult difficult forms of child abuse come in the form of mental and sexual abuse. Federal legislation defines "mental injury" to include harm inflicted to a child's psychological or intellectual functioning, demonstrated by a change in the child's behavior, emotional response or cognition. Determination of mental child abuse needs the assessment of psychiatrist as these, excluding in cases of outward aggressive behavior, are not usually outwardly manifested. This form of child abuse needs the assessment of psychiatrists. Sexual abuse is the most difficult form of abuse to prove because a child typically shies away from disclosing this kind of abuse for fear of embarrassment or retaliation by the parent. Sexual abuse includes the coercion of a child to engage in sexually explicit conduct, rape, molestation, prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation. Sexual abuse also includes incest with children. Sexual abuse further include sexual intercourse, sexual contact, and other acts of lasciviousness towards the child.

Neglect, under federal legislation, is a parent or a guardian's failure to provide the basic necessities of a child, such as food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and education. Neglect should also result to the child being in seriously endangered. The federal and state government have in place programs assisting parents in taking care of children as poverty as the most common defense parents have for neglecting children.

One of the issues in relation to child abuse is the often fine line between discipline and abuse. Federal legislation provides that child abuse excludes discipline provided that the discipline is reasonable, moderate in degree, and does not constitute cruelty. Federal legislation enumerates the differences between discipline and child abuse. Nevertheless, as persons who are responsible for the upbringing of the child, parents or caretakers, at spur of the moments, often employ corporal punishment to teach the child a lesson for any wrongdoing. Corporal punishment is typically frowned upon, regardless of the cultural context of such, and is the subject of many child abuse cases throughout the country. The federal government encourages positive discipline rather than corporal punishment.

Federal and state governments are in concerted efforts in implementing anti-child abuse laws by making visible campaigns against such acts. Anyone who has knowledge of any form of abuse may report to the local police department. While in joint efforts aimed to put a stop to abusive acts, federal and state child abuse laws have specific jurisdictions and may not interfere with each other. When facing a charge of child abuse, the defendant must hire an expert child abuse law attorney to defend himself as an ordinary person may not be able to discern which laws to use to protect him. Both federal and state governments are zealous in their anti-child abuse programs, and courts are not lenient on child abusers.


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Estate Planning Law - Legal Information and Resources

Estate Planning Law

Estate planning law governs the laws and procedures involved in the administration of an individual's estate while still alive and the process by which the estate will be distributed in the event the individual becomes incapacitated or when the individual is deceased. An estate consists of all of the individual's property, including house and other real estate; and tangible and intangible property. Estate planning also takes into consideration taxes to be paid during the distribution of assets and the selection of appropriate heirs.

The Uniform Probate Code seeks to clarify, unify and modernize estate planning laws throughout the United States and Washington, D.C.; however, only 30% of the states have completely adopted the Code, while the remaining 70% of states adopted only a portion of the Code. Thus, estate planning law vary greatly from state to state.

An estate plan must include the following: (1) a will; (2) assignment of power of attorney; (3) a living will or health-care proxy; and (4) for some people, a trust. Estate planning is for everyone, not just for the wealthy. Estate planning is for anyone who has property, regardless of whether it is in millions or in hundreds. Estate planning is also not just for older people because time will never tell when an individual will be incapacitated or will die. Estate planning is straightening an individual's life so that when that person can no longer make sane decisions, he or she will continue to live his or her life according to how he or she wants to live.

Drafting estate planning documents is relatively easy and may be completed without the guidance of an attorney. However, there may be unknown complicating issues that need legal advice. Thus it is advisable to have an expert estate planning attorney run through the documents. In addition, there is the issue on probate, the court process to determine whether a will is valid or not. A will is not a guarantee that the probate process will be easy. Probate is usually a lengthy and expensive process, which may involve different courts. If an individual has numerous properties in different states, each property may have to go through probate in accordance with the laws of the state where it is located. State laws on estate planning differ greatly, thus, an attorney who is knowledgeable on the myriad of laws involved in estate planning need to be retained.

Another area in estate planning that would require the expertise of an attorney would be the drafting of a trust. Trusts are draft to mainly avoid probate. An expert on estate planning would know other ways to avoid probate, aside from the drafting of a trust. Probate can be avoided when the property is jointly owned, in the case of spouses, or when the property is life insurance, annuities, or retirement plans.

An estate planning law attorney can greatly help in making sure that all properties are accounted for, the applicable taxes are taken into consideration, and all appropriate heirs are include to cut short the lengthy and expensive probate.

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