North Carolina Trial Judges’ Bench Book, District Court, Family Law

North Carolina Trial Judges’ Bench Book, District Court, Family Law
2024 Edition

Cheryl D. Howell
Jan S. Simmons
Danielle M. Ward

Published April 16, 2025
978-1-64238-116-0

The North Carolina Trial Judges' Bench Book, District Court, Family Law, 2024 is a comprehensive legal reference created for North Carolina district court judges. The 2024 edition provides summaries of North Carolina law governing family law cases routinely heard in district court, with statutory and case law updated through October 15, 2024.

This publication updates the 2021 edition of the North Carolina Trial Judges' Bench Book, District Court, Volume 1, Family Law and replaces Volume 2. Beginning with the 2024 edition, there is only one volume.

Because of its size, the print edition is published in two bound parts: Part A and Part B (the digital edition is offered as a combined PDF with all chapters included). It is divided by topic into twelve chapters:

Part A (chapters 1–4)

  1. Spousal Agreements
  2. Postseparation Support and Alimony
  3. Child Support
  4. Child Custody

Part B (chapters 5–12)

  1. Divorce and Annulment
  2. Equitable Distribution
  3. Domestic Violence
  4. Adoption
  5. Judicial Waiver of Parental Consent Requirement for a Minor’s Abortion
  6. Paternity
  7. Civil No-Contact Orders
  8. Contempt of Court

The PDF chapters also include the following navigational features:

  • Each chapter has an interactive table of contents. Clicking on a section in the table of contents will navigate to that section.
  • At the top of each page, the button labeled TOC will take you back to the table of contents for that chapter.
  • Within a single-chapter PDF, clicking on an underlined cross-reference to another section in the current chapter will navigate to that section.
  • In order to access cross-references to all chapters, choose the Full Book option from the bottom of the drop-down menu. Clicking a cross-reference to another chapter in the Full Book PDF will navigate to the relevant section within that chapter.
  • References to blog posts and other online documents also appear as hyperlinks. It is recommended that you navigate to these external hyperlinks by holding down Ctrl (on a PC) or Cmd (on Mac) while clicking those links in order to open them in a new tab and avoid losing your place.
About the Author

Cheryl Howell joined the School of Government (then the Institute of Government) in 1992. Prior to that, she practiced law in Winston-Salem and Fayetteville and worked as a research assistant to Chief Judge R.A. Hedrick of the NC Court of Appeals. Currently, Howell teaches, consults, and writes about family law and other issues, and she works with the NC Association of District Court Judges and the North Carolina Judicial College in planning and coordinating judicial branch education programs. She is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association. She also has served as a member of the Family Court Advisory Committee, appointed by the Chief Justice of the NC Supreme Court, since its creation in 1998, and also serves as a member of the NC Child Custody and Visitation Mediation Advisory Committee, appointed by the director of the Administrative Office of the Courts. Her publications include articles and bulletins relating to family law and family court. Howell earned a B.A., magna cum laude, from Appalachian State University and a J.D., with honors, Order of the Coif, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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North Carolina Trial Judges’ Bench Book, District Court, Family Law

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North Carolina Trial Judges’ Bench Book, District Court, Family Law