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26 N.C. Cent. L.J. 155 (2003-2004)
McKinney v. Richitelli: Abandoning Parents and Presumptive Penalties

handle is hein.journals/ncclj26 and id is 161 raw text is: MCKINNEY V. RICHITELLI: ABANDONING PARENTS AND PRESUMPTIVE PENALTIES EUGENE H. SOAR* I. INTRODUCTION The tired adage bad facts make bad law is given new life in a recent decision by the North Carolina Supreme Court. While the court's logic in deciding McKinney v. Richitelli is sound when viewed on its face, problems arise when that same logic is applied in other cases. The problem in McKinney occurs because the Supreme Court interprets law, but cannot make factual judgments. Therefore, the court crafts its decision to create an outcome dictated by the facts, instead of an outcome based on proper legal analysis. II. BACKGROUND This case involves the interpretation of North Carolina General Statute Section 31A-2, Acts barring rights of parents. This statute provides: Any parent who has willfully abandoned the care and maintenance of his or her child shall lose all right to intestate succession in any part of the child's estate and all right to administer the estate of the child, except - (1) Where the abandoning parent resumed its care and maintenance at least one year prior to the death of the child and continued the same until its death; or (2) Where a parent has been deprived of the custody of his or her child under an order of a court of competent jurisdiction and the parent has substantially complied with all orders of the court re- quiring contribution to the support of the child.' Here, this statute was applied in a wrongful death action brought by the mother of a decedent who had been abandoned by his father. However, the decedent child had reconciled with his father after at- taining the age of majority. North Carolina's wrongful death statute provides that: * Second-year law student at the North Carolina Central University School of Law, JD Candidate, May 2005. He would like to thank Christina Thompson for her help with this casenote. 1. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 31A-2 (2001).

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