Jeffery M. Leving

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Jeffery M. Leving
JML+Obama.jpg
Jeffery M. Leving (right) with Barack Obama
Born
Jeffery M. Leving

(1951-07-02) July 2, 1951 (age 73) [1]
Chicago, Illinois, U.S. [2]
Nationality American
Alma mater
OccupationFamily law attorney
Known forAttorney, author
Website www.dadsrights.com

Jeffery M. Leving (born July 2, 1951) is an American divorce attorney and author who specializes in matrimonial and family law. He is known primarily for his vocal advocacy of fathers' rights and hosts two radio shows. His television and radio commercials are well known in the Chicago area. [4]

Contents

Early life and education

Leving was born in Chicago and raised on its South Side. His father worked as a bartender and tailor while pursuing success as an artist. [2] Leving was deeply affected by the divorce of his parents in 1967, when he was 16. [5]

Leving attended Senn High School [5] on Chicago's North Side then graduated from Southern Illinois University in 1974 with a Bachelor of Science in Radio and Television. [3] He received his Juris Doctor from the Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1979. [3] [4]

Leving is licensed to practice in Illinois, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. [3]

Leving helped pioneer the Fathers' Rights Movement when he discovered a gap in the judicial system. He started seeking equality and due process for fathers everywhere. [6] In 1979, Leving became a staff attorney for the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation, [4] [5] and in 1981 joined a firm that allowed him to use their offices to start his own practice during his spare hours, [5] "focusing on family law, divorce, paternity, and child custody". [3] Leving's accomplishments include the co-authorship of the Illinois Joint Custody Law, Illinois Virtual Visitation, Right to DNA Testing Notice, and Unlawful Visitation or Parenting time Interference Laws. [7] [8] He also delivered testimony before both branches of the Illinois Legislature on Joint Custody, Grandparent's Visitation and Child Support Accountability bills. [5]

Leving and father's rights activist Glenn Sacks have argued that parenting time interference can result from the custodial parent's relocation beyond a practical distance from the noncustodial parent, and have campaigned for a rebuttable presumption prohibiting such relocations. [9] In 1985, Leving helped draft the Illinois Joint Custody Law, allowing judges to assign divorcing parents equal responsibility for raising their children. [5] Leving worked for its passage in the Illinois General Assembly, and "is credited with generating much of the pressure that got the bill passed". [5] [4] By 1991, Leving was described as "one of the most recognizable names among Chicago lawyers". [4]

In 2000, Leving was a lawyer in the case of 6-year-old Elián González, [2] who was rescued after being found tied to an inner tube off the coast of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Gonzalez's mother drowned in her attempt to flee Cuba to the United States, and the child's presence in the U.S. involved contentious court proceedings. When the case was considered by the U.S. Supreme Court, Leving had previously spearheaded the amicus brief, which set the foundation of the custody case to reunite Elian Gonzalez with his father, Juan Miguel, in Cuba. [10] Manuel Gonzalez, Elian Gonzalez’s great uncle, later retained Leving to reunite Elian with his father. [1] [11] [12] Leving appeared as an expert on CNN , CNBC , MSNBC , Fox National News and Court TV to analyze the Elian Gonzalez case. [1]

In 2011 Leving represented 20-year-old Mariah Yeater in a paternity claim against singer Justin Bieber, accused by Yeater of impregnating her following a reported brief sexual encounter after one of his Los Angeles concerts. Leving actively pushed for Bieber's legal team to arrange a DNA test. [13]

Leving has frequently espoused legal reforms on radio and television shows, such as the Oprah Winfrey Show. [5]

In 2023 Leving was honored with the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award from President Biden.[ citation needed ]

Writing and artistry

Leving is the author of three books:

Leving is also the publisher of Leving's Divorce Magazine, [3] a new magazine for divorced men that focuses on parenting and men's legal issues.[ citation needed ]

In addition to his writing, Leving is a painter, and showcases his artwork in an online gallery. In 2013, Leving sold an abstract piece memorializing the Elián González case. [2]

Related Research Articles

Family law is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elián González</span> Cuban boy in 2000 international custody dispute

Elián González Brotons is a Cuban engineer and politician. As a young child, he was at the center of a high-profile international custody dispute between family members and involving Cuba and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Father</span> Male parent

A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological father is the male genetic contributor to the creation of the infant, through sexual intercourse or sperm donation. A biological father may have legal obligations to a child not raised by him, such as an obligation of monetary support. An adoptive father is a man who has become the child's parent through the legal process of adoption. A putative father is a man whose biological relationship to a child is alleged but has not been established. A stepfather is a non-biological male parent married to a child's preexisting parent and may form a family unit but generally does not have the legal rights and responsibilities of a parent in relation to the child.

Child custody, conservatorship and guardianship describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent and the parent's child, such as the right of the parent to make decisions for the child, and the parent's duty to care for the child.

Child support is an ongoing, periodic payment made by a parent for the financial benefit of a child following the end of a marriage or other similar relationship. Child maintenance is paid directly or indirectly by an obligor to an obligee for the care and support of children of a relationship that has been terminated, or in some cases never existed. Often the obligor is a non-custodial parent. The obligee is typically a custodial parent, a caregiver, or a guardian.

Paternity law refers to body of law underlying legal relationship between a father and his biological or adopted children and deals with the rights and obligations of both the father and the child to each other as well as to others. A child's paternity may be relevant in relation to issues of legitimacy, inheritance and rights to a putative father's title or surname, as well as the biological father's rights to child custody in the case of separation or divorce and obligations for child support.

The fathers' rights movement is a social movement whose members are primarily interested in issues related to family law, including child custody and child support, that affect fathers and their children. Many of its members are fathers who desire to share the parenting of their children equally with their children's mothers—either after divorce or marital separation. The movement includes men as well as women, often the second wives of divorced fathers or other family members of men who have had some engagement with family law. Most Fathers' rights advocates argue for formal gender equality.

Deadbeat parent is a pejorative term referring to parents who do not fulfill their parental responsibilities, especially when they evade court-ordered child support obligations or custody arrangements. They are also referred to as absentee fathers and mothers. The gender-specific deadbeat father and deadbeat mother are commonly used to refer to people who have parented a child and intentionally fail to pay child support ordered by a family law court or statutory agency such as the Child Maintenance Service.

The fathers' rights movement in Italy is dedicated to achieving equal parental rights and obligations and shared parenting of children after divorce or separation. It consists of a number of diverse organizations, ranging from social charities and self-help groups to civil disobedience activists. At the local level, organizations offer support to newly separated fathers, many of whom are highly distraught.

Joint custody is a court order whereby custody of a child is awarded to both parties. In the United States, there are two forms of joint custody, joint physical custody and joint legal custody. In joint physical custody, the lodging and care of the child is shared according to a court-ordered parenting schedule with equal or close to equal parenting time. In joint legal custody, both parents share the ability to make decisions about the child, regarding e.g. education, medical care and religion, and both can access their children's educational and health records.

Child custody is a legal term regarding guardianship which is used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent or guardian and a child in that person's care. Child custody consists of legal custody, which is the right to make decisions about the child, and physical custody, which is the right and duty to house, provide and care for the child. Married parents normally have joint legal and physical custody of their children. Decisions about child custody typically arise in proceedings involving divorce, annulment, separation, adoption or parental death. In most jurisdictions child custody is determined in accordance with the best interests of the child standard.

Paternity fraud is one form of misattributed paternity or paternal discrepancy. Specifically, paternity fraud is the intentional misidentification of a child's biological father. Paternity fraud is distinct from other, unintentional misattribution, which may arise from simple error, an accident such as a mix-up during fertility treatment, or a sexual assault.

The fathers' rights movement in the United States is a group that provides fathers with education, support and advocacy on family law issues of child custody, access, child support, domestic violence and child abuse. Members protest what they see as evidence of gender bias against fathers in the branches and departments of various governments, including the family courts.

The fathers' rights movement has simultaneously evolved in many countries, advocating for shared parenting after divorce or separation, and the right of children and fathers to have close and meaningful relationships. This article provides details about the fathers' rights movement in specific countries.

The Canadian Children's Rights Council Inc. (CCRC); is a non-governmental organization that is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and was founded in 1991. The CCRC describe themselves as a nonprofit, educational and advocacy organization dedicated to supporting the rights and responsibilities of Canadian children and providing critical analysis of governments' policies at all levels of government in Canada.

A noncustodial parent is a parent who does not have physical custody of his or her minor child as the result of a court order. When the child lives with only one parent, in a sole custody arrangement, then the parent with which the child lives is the custodial parent while the other parent is the non-custodial parent. The non-custodial parent may have contact or visitation rights. In a shared parenting arrangement, where the child lives an equal or approximately equal amount of time with the mother and father, both are custodial parents and neither is a non-custodial parent.

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Donald Clayton Hubin is an American philosopher, specializing in ethics, legal philosophy and political philosophy. He has published research on justice and future generations, parental rights, paternity, instrumental rationality and benefit-cost analysis, among other topics. Hubin is a professor emeritus in the Department of Philosophy at Ohio State University and the Founding Director Emeritus of its Center for Ethics and Human Values. He serves as the Chair of the national board of National Parents Organization.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Martindale-Hubbell, The Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory - Volume 7 (2001), p. 1893.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Kapos, Shia (November 5, 2013). "Elian Gonzalez case comes full circle for Jeffery Leving". Crain's Chicago Business .
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "2012 Professional Achievement Award, Jeffery Leving (JD '79)". Illinois Institute of Technology. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Vicke Quade, "Our Court Systems Are Biased Against Men", Barrister (1991-1992), vol. 18, p. 23.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 McClory, Robert (February 22, 1990). "The Rights of Men: As Declared by Divorce Lawyer Jeffery Leving". Chicago Reader .
  6. ↑ Leving, Jeffery M.; Sacks, Glenn (August 9, 2006). "Respect a Man's Choice, Too". National Ledger. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
  7. ↑ Thompson, D; Sacks, G (2002-09-26). "Equal Parents Week Highlights Need for Family Court Reform". GlennSacks.Com. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
  8. ↑ Jump up to: a b Buchanan, KS (2007). "Lawrence v. Geduldig: Regulating Women's Sexuality" (pdf). Emory Law Journal 56: 1235–1290. (parental and reproductive rights).
  9. ↑ Leving, Jeffery; Sacks, Glenn (2005-06-17). "AB 400 Will Help Wisconsin's Children of Divorce". glennsacks.com. Archived from the original on 2007-02-10. Retrieved 2007-05-12.
  10. ↑ The Group Who Filed Elian Gonzalez Brief, Supports INS Decision, PR Newswire, January 7, 2000. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  11. ↑ Jeffery Leving, attorney for Elian's great uncle Manuel Gonzalez, discusses the Elian Gonzalez custody hearing, CNN, May 11, 2000. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  12. ↑ Intervenor Applicant’s Resp. to Pls.’ and Defs.’ Opp’n to Mot. to Intervene and Mot. for Relief Under Rule 17(c) at 1, 14., Gonzalez v. Reno, 86 F. Supp. 2d (S.D. Fla. 2000) (No. 00-0206).
  13. ↑ "Justin Bieber paternity suit dropped, but fight is just beginning". The Oregonian. November 18, 2011.
  14. ↑ Subercaseaux, Bernardo (2004). Mis queridos hijos. LOM Ediciones. p. 10. ISBN   978-956-282-452-1 . Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  15. ↑ Valrie Chambers, "Rules Clarified for Claiming the Exemption (and Related Tax Breaks) for Children of Divorced Parents", Journal of Accountancy (2008).
  16. ↑ Khepri Rising, The Family Court Industrial Complex and Post Traumatic Family Court Disorder (2012), p. 244.
  17. ↑ Hoey, Kim (May 4, 2015). "15 ways to be a good divorced dad". The News Journal .
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