Case Background On August 17, 1988, Nadine Fortenberry challenged the will of her late husband, Cobert C. Blackwell. The will left property and a portion of his estate to Blackwell’s first wife, who was deceased by that time. The siblings of Cobert Blackwell, led by Mary Ella B. Magee, claimed that Fortenberry and the deceased Read More

In a recent criminal court case, which concerns a religious dispute between different Amish sects, an Amish bishop by the name of Raymond Hershberger claimed that a group that broke off from his community to form their own Amish sect in eastern Ohio attacked him. The son of Mr. Hershberger, Andy Hershberger, testified against this Read More

Case Background In the case of Lynch v. Universal Life Church, Sandra Lynch initially took the Church to court for allegedly committing fraud. She claimed that the ULC of Modesto, CA guaranteed that their ordained ministers would be able to perform valid marriage ceremonies in the state of North Carolina. The verdict found that the Read More

Court Case Background Robert V. Fike appealed a decision made against him by the IRS to charge him personal income tax and penalties. He was charged $490.01 for the year 1983 and $449.22 for the year 1984. Fike’s argument was that he should have been entitled to charitable deductions for those years due to the Read More

Case Background In the case of Ravenal v. Ravenal, Richard S. Ravenal asked the Supreme Court of New York County for an annulment of his marriage to Cathy Linton Ravenal on the grounds that the individual who solemnized the marriage was not authorized to do so. Cathy Linton Ravenal appeared in court but did not Read More

Case Background On August 14, 1997 the Universal Life Church took the United States of America to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals arguing that the automatic stay provision of bankruptcy law had been violated in the case of the Universal Life Church vs. the United States of America. The automatic stay provision provides that Read More

Case Background On March 5, 1985, Lynn Stone Fulton appealed the Superior Court of Orange County, North Carolina decision in the case Fulton vs. Vickery. Lynn Fulton charged Charles E. Vickery and the Universal Life Church, Inc (an organization unaffiliated with the original ULC of Modesto, CA that Vickery was a member of) of having Read More

Case Background In the matter of the court case Anthony Rubino et al, vs. the City of New York, argued on June 8, 1984, a group of ministers ordained by the Universal Life Church petitioned the New York County Supreme Court to allow them the right to perform marriage rites. The petitioning ministers believed that Read More

Case Background Summary: The Superior Court of North Carolina convicted James Roberts Lynch of bigamy. He appealed the decision to the Court of Appeals, but the decision stood. Lynch then took his appeal to the North Carolina Supreme Court. The decision was reversed when it was found that his first marriage was solemnized by someone who Read More

Case Background This case concerned Jason B. O’Neill and Jennifer R. O’Neill as they submitted to the Court of Common Please of Bucks County, PA for a decision regarding the validity of their marriage. They had been married by a minister who was ordained by the Universal Life Church. The court had to decide whether Read More