Develop a legal research plan.

Instructions

For your course project you will be creating a research plan for a legal problem. Your facts are located in Doc Sharing. You will then be asked to apply the findings of your research to the legal problem in the form of an opinion letter to the client. This letter should be addressed to the client and should inform them of their basic rights under the law. It should be objective in nature and highlight both sides of the law.

Part 1:

1. Provide 3 secondary sources that you would consult regarding this legal issue. Include a 2-3 sentence summary of each source and also the proper Bluebook citation.

2. Provide 2 cases that discuss your legal issue. Provide The Bluebook citation to each case and the Facts, Issue, Rule, Analysis, and Conclusion of each case.

3. Provide 2 statutes that are pertinent to this legal issue. Give the full Bluebook citation and a breakdown of each statute.

4. Provide two administrative agencies that may have resources regarding this issue. Provide a link to each agency's website, the agency's mission and why you think that the agency would be helpful.

5. Provide two reliable websites that you could consult regarding this issue. Provide the link to the website and a description as to what type of information you located on the website.

6. Provide a short explanation of how you conducted this research. What type of plan did you follow?

Part 2:

Now that the research is complete your supervising attorney has asked you to draft a letter to the client. Please explain to them the law. You should include citations, but should try to avoid legalese. Also provide them with any of the websites that you think they could visit to provide more information. It is important to clearly outline the basics of the research plan used and how you went about prioritizing the sources and statutes. Make sure to provide the client with your contact information, so they can contact you with any further questions they might have.

FACTS:

Re: Michelle Smith grandparent visitation  

Here are the facts for the research plan project:  

Michelle and Tom Harbin have just come into our office seeking some legal advice.  It seems that they have two grandchildren that they would like to visit and have not been able to for about six months now. The grandchildren are the children of their deceased son Troy. 

Troy was killed in a car accident about one year ago. Before the accident he had been living with his girlfriend Becky Smith for about 10 years. They had 2 children together, a boy named Sam, who is 5, and a girl named Lola, who is now 2.  Before Troy died, Michelle and Tom had a very close relationship with the two children, and would babysit them on numerous occasions.  Michelle and Tom would even keep the children overnight, so Troy and Becky could go out of town. 

After the accident, Becky continued to allow Michelle and Tom to visit with the children.  They even watched them during the week, so she could go back to work.  However, about six months ago Becky met another man and is now getting married.  He also has two children of his own.  After she met her new fiancé, she abruptly stopped letting the Harbins see their grandchildren.  She did not explain anything to Michelle and Tom. 

After a few phone calls, Michelle and Tom found out Becky is planning on moving once she gets married. She currently resides in Oregon, but plans to move to Indiana.