Adoption Bill Targets LGBTQ Individuals in Tennessee
Wednesday, January 22nd, 2020
Tennessee legislators have passed a new bill targeting LGBT individuals who hope to adopt or provide foster care in the state. This adoption bill allows child placement agencies to discriminate against any group that clashes with the organization’s religious ideals or internal policies. If Governor Bill Lee signs the bill into law, these agencies can legally […]
Read More »Fritts, Northcott Use Discretion to Discriminate
Monday, June 17th, 2019
Right now, Grayson Fritts and Craig Northcott are making headlines for choosing to discriminate (or advocating for worse) against the LGBTQ community. This is an abomination, but these ideas are not exactly news. Consider this: prior to 1989, Tennessee law labeled “sodomy” a crime against nature and declared it a felony. If convicted, you would go […]
Read More »The Literacy Project: Where are we now?
Tuesday, May 21st, 2019
In January of this year, Held Law Firm announced plans to work with Knox County’s Richard L. Bean Juvenile Service Center on a new initiative called The Literacy Project. We are thrilled that this project has been hugely successful thus far. The Latest As of mid-May and with the help of community partners, we have […]
Read More »Where to live during a divorce
Monday, April 22nd, 2019
When getting divorced, the last thing many of our clients want to do is go home at the end of every day to face their spouse. Divorce opens the door wide for conflict between soon-to-be exes. However, it can be difficult to decide where to live during a divorce. One of the first things many […]
Read More »The Literacy Project: Next Steps
Monday, April 1st, 2019
Held Law Firm staff has been hard at work on The Literacy Project since January. Recent law graduate and former Held Law Firm associate Jennifer Henszey first conceived of the idea for this project after she visited the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Service Center during her third year of law school. There, she was told […]
Read More »What the drug crisis means for grandparents
Friday, March 29th, 2019
What does the drug crisis mean for grandparents? Many children are placed in households headed by relatives due to the large number of parents who struggle with drug addiction in Tennessee. Nearly 8 million children across the country lived in these non-nuclear households in 2017. Many of those households were headed by grandparents. There is […]
Read More »Domestic Violence Series: Should I get an order of protection?
Friday, March 29th, 2019
.If you have been attacked, threatened, or otherwise put into fear by your partner or a member of your household, you may not know where to turn. You may be wondering: should I get an order of protection?Thankfully, in Tennessee, you have multiple options to deal with this situation should you ever face it. However, […]
Read More »Reporting Domestic Violence
Tuesday, March 26th, 2019
What should you expect when reporting domestic violence? No one wants to think of themselves as a victim of domestic violence, and many of us never saw it coming, but it is a reality of the world we live in. Over 77 thousand reports of domestic violence were made in Tennessee in 2017, according to the […]
Read More »Domestic Violence Series: What is Battered Woman Syndrome, and how can you help?
Thursday, January 31st, 2019
Battered Woman Syndrome is recognized in the psychological community as a subcategory of post-traumatic stress disorder. Women experiencing this syndrome often show shame, guilt or a false sense of responsibility for the abuse they have endured, in addition to typical PTSD symptoms; so, it is typically treated as a more complex form of PTSD. Women […]
Read More »Domestic Violence Series: Resources for Leaving an Abusive Relationship
Thursday, January 31st, 2019
There are many reasons that someone facing domestic violence may remain in an abusive environment, be it from a romantic partner, close friend or a family member. In fact, people in the midst of an abusive relationship might not even be fully aware that what they are experiencing “qualifies” as domestic violence or abuse. This […]
Read More »