General legal information furnished as a service of Fort Lauderdale / West Palm Beach family law attorney Janet Langjahr
Man marries woman. Couple has child.
Man becomes city manager of a Florida town.
Man has sex change operation.
Man-turned-woman gets discharged from city manager job.
Couple begins divorce.
Couple reaches agreement under which former husband pays former wife alimony and child support.
In an unusual property division provision of the marital settlement agreement, former wife will be entitled to one-half of any monies former husband receives from selling his / her story to the media in the form of a book or movie.
Read more in this Tampa Tribune article: Transgendered Ex-Largo Manager Gets Divorce Terms
Although they remain one of the most common reasons for breakups of relationships, affairs may just be going out of style.
Not so much because people no longer want to have them. But more because they are getting harder and harder to carry on in secret, at least for any length of time.
Imagine, a Nintendo Wii toy that saves player profiles and information about “games”. That is how a homecoming soldier learned of his wife’s affair with another player.
Between gadgets like Nintendo Wii, computers, smart phones, spy software, e-mails, text messages and social networking websites, who isn’t in over their head, playing with fire?
Most of us have little idea how to control or conceal the information left behind - if we even realize the information is being saved.
But it’s easy to stumble upon. And even when it isn’t, there are experts who can find it for a price.
This can end up spoiling a primary relationship, leading to divorce, potentially affecting rulings in a divorce and generally wreaking havoc with a person’s life.
On the other hand, a technological problem usually inspires a technological solution. Undoubtedly, such solutions will come to market (or “black market”), if they haven’t already.
So, for better or worse, it may be just a trifle premature to sound the death knell of the affair.
Read more in this Irish Evening Herald article: Technological end to the affair.
They used to be primarily about how property would be divided in the event of divorce - or death of a spouse.
And perhaps alimony and attorney’s fees in the event of a divorce.
In the old days.
Modern prenups have gotten more expansive … and creative.
He wants guarantees about how frequently they will have sex.
They each want promises that the other will maintain - or lose - weight.
He wants a guarantee she will get pregnant - within a certain number of years, months, days, etc.
She wants a “no smoking pledge”.
And on and on.
Social promises, for a social contract.
Morally binding perhaps. Not legally enforceable.
The sole remedy: take it - or leave it (also known as divorce).
But such provisions are more and more common. Kind of like personalized wedding vows.
One newer promise finding its way into prenups is in the more traditional vein, but updated and enforceable.
A promise to pay or provide health insurance to the other spouse.
This makes perfect sense in times where people are often driven to marriage to obtain affordable health insurance coverage.
Read more in this US News & World Report article: Prenuptial Agreements to Lose Weight, Have Sex.
An attorney who concentrates on representing only men offers the following mistakes that men make in divorce. Truth is, women can and do make the same mistakes.
They are not (generally) legal mistakes per se, but rather tactical mistakes that both men and women usually come to regret - in time.
Read more in this Askmen.com article: Top 10: Mistakes Men Make In Divorce.
Abuse victims can obtain orders of protection, called injunctions for protection against domestic violence in Florida.
The purpose of these orders is to deter further violence. And to facilitate a swift and appropriate remedy for any violations of the order.
Now Illinois has taken an additional step. Under a new law, violators of orders of protection must wear global positioning devices (GPSs) as a condition of parole and judges may order accused violators to wear them as a condition of bail.
The devices will keep authorities and victims apprised of enjoined aggressors’ whereabouts - and, hopefully, one step ahead of aggressors, if necessary. It is hoped that the technology will ease victims’ minds, facilitate assessment of threats and act as an early warning signal of true danger.
Illinois follows in Massachusetts footsteps with this legislation. Presumably, other states will follow suit in time.
Read more in this Chicago Sun-Times article: New law allows judges to order GPS on violators of order of protection
A Canadian Wife recently challenged her divorce attorney’s invoice in Canadian court.
That’s a pretty extraordinary thing to do. And, not surprisingly, she wasn’t successful in it.
After a thorough review of the record, which took more than 10 days, the British Columbia Court of Appeal found the attorney’s invoice was reasonable under all of the circumstances of the case.
The divorce was between a wealthy couple who had accumulated an approximately $12 million fortune over approximately 42 years of marriage.
The couple were pretty litigious and chose to litigate just about any issue that could be litigated - both at trial and all the way through appeal.
Family businesses, real estate, art, jewelry, inheritance, airline points, etc., you name it, they litigated it.
This couple was in court for nearly a month of days, spread out over a three and a half month period.
The Wife was awarded well over half (64%, to be precise) of the family’s remaining fortune, approximately $6 million.
The Wife chose a commercial litigator as her lead counsel, rather than a divorce lawyer. As a result, a divorce lawyer had to be consulted as well.
All told, the case took about 2,500 lawyer-hours of effort on behalf of the Wife.
The total fees and costs billed to the Wife: over $1 million.
Read more in this Toronto Globe and Mail article: B.C. court upholds $1-million legal bill for complex divorce.
California Husband wanted a divorce. A special kind of divorce.
Outside the courts …
He did not want to divide the marital assets with Wife. Or to pay her alimony.
He wanted everything for himself. But he had put everything in Wife’s name.
Husband’s solution to his dilemma?
He abducted Wife, drugged her and tortured her for five days.
Until she managed to escape.
At which point he was arrested and charged with kidnapping and kidnapping for ransom, grand theft of personal property, making a criminal threat and corporal injury to a spouse.
The Husband’s accomplice has not been taken into custody yet.
Now Husband is in jail with his bail set at $10 million …
Read more in this [LA] Daily Breeze article: Hawthorne man accused of torturing his wife; second suspect remains at large.
Maryland Husband is charged with murdering his three children, ranging in ages from 2 to 6.
For five months, Husband, who confessed to the murders, has tried to change his defense counsel’s plea to guilty, and now has requested to represent himself.
Before the court rules on his request to reprsent himself, a competency evaluation will be performed. A psychiatric evaluation for purposes of an insanity plea was never completed.
But a different psychiatric evaluation was completed for purposes of Husband’s divorce and child custody case.
The psychological expert in family court diagnosed Husband with “mood and narcissistic personality disorders and borderline and histrionic personality traits.” All very serious and difficult to treat diagnoses.
The Husband allegedly had made threats to murder his children - because Wife had reported them to the police.
Nonetheless, the Maryland family court had awarded Husband unsupervised visitation.
And, had the Wife not complied with the Court’s visitation order, she might have been held in contempt. Or the court might even have found her guilty of trying to alienate the children from the Husband - and transferred primary residential custody to the Husband as her punishment.
But the Wife complied with the Court’s order. And now the children are dead. And the Husband admits that he is responsible.
Read more in this Baltimore Sun article: Father seeks to plead guilty to killing children.
Nineteen year old woman (Mother) and a fifteen year old boy (Boy) have sex, and a Baby is conceived.
The Mother is under a grand jury indictment for unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, which could lead to incarceration for a year and one-half as well as having to register as a sex offender.
Mother got acquainted with Boy and moved in with the Boy’s family after complaining of abuse by her stepfather.
Mother’s stepfather was allegedly convicted of domestic violence against Mother’s minor sister, specifically, striking, choking and pointing a gun at her.
For now, Mother and Baby are living with the Mother’s family, including the stepfather.
The Boy’s parents are seeking to obtain custody of the Baby due to the asserted unfitness of Mother and reported abusiveness of Mother’s stepfather.
In the meantime, an Ohio Family Court has ordered the Boy-victim to pay Mother $50 per month in child support.
It is unknown whether the amount of child support was based on an afterschool job or on the Boy’s allowance from his parents.
The Boy was also awarded seven hours per week of visitation with the Baby.
Read more in this Columbus Dispatch article: Boy’s Parents Sue to Get His Baby From Mom, 21.
A spouse wants to be able to spend money without having to account to or justify the expenditure to the other spouse.
How to accomplish it?
Either hidden savings or hidden credit cards.
According to surveys, anywhere from 40% to over 80% of couples have money secrets from each other or lie to each other about spending and/or credit.
According to financial counselors, concealing these financial misdeeds can place a strain on the offender and the marriage.
Sometimes it even drives a spouse to drinking or drugs.
“Financial infidelity” is most often discovered by accident.
According to a survey, 9% of couples felt this misconduct was “grounds” for divorce and 55% agreed it was a “major violation” of the marriage contract.
But in a no-fault state such as Florida, none of that really matters. What does matter is how that misconduct may end up haunting the unwitting spouse.
Some spouses may want to act to take steps to protect themselves from the other spouse’s debt, whether it is debt run up on a joint credit account on which a creditor may collect from either spouse, or marital debt that may have to be answered for in family court.
The easy ounce of prevention: frequent credit reports on the other spouse.
Read more in this CreditCards.com article: Hiding credit card debt - Secret credit cards and hidden debt exact high toll on couples.
Parents of a preschool child live several states apart.
How do they timeshare? One possibility …
The preschooler “rotates” from one parent’s home to the other’s, on a monthly basis.
That is possible (if not beneficial) before the child begins school.
But what about after the child starts school?
Typically, where the parents are separated by great distances, one parent or the other will be the primary residential parent.
The other parent may have liberal visitation over summer and other extended school vacations.
The nonresidential parent can have telephone and webcam visitation on a daily basis if desired.
A far less common arrangement is to continue rotating physical custody, but on an annual, rather than monthly, basis.
It can be done. But should it?
Many therapists consider this type of arrangement to be hard on kids, although perhaps “fair” to the non-custodial parent.
Historically, courts have not favored such arrangements.
But that may be starting to change under newer statutory schemes that strive to be more fair to both parents.
For better or worse …
Read more in this Newsday article: Shuttled school-age child can see both parents.
There’s a lot more to divorce than the legal aspects of it, of course. For the other aspects, there are a lot of books out there.
By women. For women.
So one Connecticut man decided it was time for a book by a man - for men. And so he took a stab at writing that book.
The author endeavors to prepare and advise men on successfully coping with the entire divorce process, all told from the male perspective.
Interestingly, the author reportedly describes the divorce as a contract to end a marriage. Perhaps a reference to a marital settlement agreement?
Catering to men, the book is presented as a how-to manual that is about a two hour read.
For just two hours’ investment of time, it might be a valuable read for women too - for insight into their spouses and their cases.
Read more in this Hartford [CT] Courant review: Divorced man uses own experiences to help other men.
Thirty-five year old Indian house-painter has affair with teen-aged girl. He decides to marry her.
Problem: He is already married to a woman of his own age.
Wife leaves Husband due to affair, returning to her parents’ home.
Husband asks for divorce and presents divorce papers to Wife to sign. Wife refuses.
Husband consults attorney.
Husband again demands that Wife sign divorce papers. Wife again refuses.
This time Husband does not take “no” for an answer.
Husband produces a knife and stabs Wife twice. To her death.
Indian police arrest Husband and take his knife into evidence.
Husband’s remarriage to teenager seems less likely now.
Read more in this Times of India article: Man kills wife for refusing to sign divorce papers.
The foster care system falls far short of our society’s needs and expectations. But measures are afoot to help improve it.
Some of the improvements relate to kinship foster care, child care provided to dependent children by extended family members instead of strangers.
Two and one-half million American children live with extended family members, whether within or outside the foster care system.
In New York State, 400,000 kids live with relatives, as compared to 27,000 children in foster care with non-relatives.
Kinship foster care is more successful than foster care by strangers. The caregivers simply have greater commitment.
But they get a lot less support from the child welfare system, both financial and otherwise. Until, perhaps, now.
The House of Representatives has passed a bill called Fostering Connections To Success Act.
Among other things, the bill would provide funding for kinship foster care and kinship guardianship.
Similar bills are pending in the Senate.
If passed by both houses, this type of legislation could make an enormous difference to millions of children in foster care and their caregivers, including extended family members.
Read more in this Rochester Democrat & Chronicle article: Help relatives caring for kids.
Baby disappeared during religious riots in India in 2002, which left approximately 1,000 people dead.
Baby’s Muslim family eventually gave him up for dead.
Recently, Baby’s family discovered that he was still alive.
A Hindu police officer had allegedly found Baby and more or less gave him to relatives to raise as their own child.
The police reportedly did not investigate Baby’s family’s missing person reports very thoroughly, or Baby would have been found in 2002.
Now, Baby no longer remembers his biological parents, and is attached to his “foster” mother.
Six years after Baby’s disappearance, Baby’s biological parents go to court in India to secure Baby’s return to their family.
But the Indian Court rules in favor of the so-called “foster” mother and denies Baby’s biological parents’ appeal.
The biological parents have not given up on getting their son back legally, now that they know he is alive.
In India, most commentators appear to side with the “foster” mother.
Are they guided by family law or religious law - or the law of politics?
Read more in this Washington Times article: Child custody case stirs Hindus, Muslims.
Ex-Husband has custody of Child. Ex-Wife is ordered to maintain medical insurance for Child.
Child seriously injured in bad accident. Dad discovers that Child’s insurance lapsed several weeks before.
Finding out that your child’s or your insurance coverage has been canceled or modified just when you need it most is a nightmare.
There are a couple of ways to prevent that from happening.
The source article discussed the Qualified Medical Child Support Judgment Order required in every Missouri divorce involving minor children where insurance is available.
But an endorsement to any insurance can be negotiated and ordered which requires the insurance carrier to provide 30 - 90 days notice to the insured prior to canceling or modifying (reducing) coverage. That works whether the insured is a child or a former spouse.
The party required to provide the insurance should be required to deliver the certificate of insurance / declarations page reflecting the special endorsement to the insured within 10 days after final judgment.
Read more in this South Side Journal article - Fox Family Files: Do you have a “Q-order in your divorce decree?
India has a small but thriving industry. Surrogate mothering.
For poor, uneducated Indian women, being a surrogate is a way to earn the equivalent of $4 or $5,000.
And then the biological parents adopt the child.
But sometimes, things go wrong.
For example, a Japanese couple hired an Indian surrogate mother to carry their baby to term.
But before the baby was born, the couple divorced.
Now the biological mother no longer wants the baby. And the surrogate doesn’t want the baby.
The biological father does but, under Indian law, a single father cannot adopt.
So now the eleven (11) day old baby remains in the hospital, under the care of the biological father’s mother.
Awaiting someone who can take legal custody of her.
Read more in this Canadian Press article: Surrogate child custody case in limbo in India after Japanese parents divorce.
Elderly couple married twenty years.
Wife files for divorce.
Wife obtains restraining order against 75 year old Husband.
Case drags on.
Husband unhappy.
Husband sets Wife’s house on fire, starting it in the attached garage.
Husband posts sign on the fence blaming “family court” for the fire.
Husband then sets Wife’s adult daughter’s house on fire, also starting it in the garage there.
Then Husband shoots himself in the head with a nail gun.
Wife and stepdaughter survive.
Husband survives.
Husband charged with attempted murder and arson.
Seventy-five year old Husband faces life sentence.
Read more in this San Diego Union Tribune article: Man who went on rampage over pending divorce to stand trial.
Boy lives in Poland with Mother, Grandfather and Grandmother, after Father dies.
Mother moves out of area and leaves Boy with Grandparents, visiting only occasionally.
Court temporarily restricts Mother’s parental rights and awards custody to Grandmother.
Grandmother and Grandfather divorce. Grandfather continues to live in same home with Grandmother and Boy.
Grandmother dies.
Mother removes Boy from Grandfather and disappears.
Court places Boy in Grandfather’s foster care permanently.
Mother fails to return Boy to Grandfather’s care.
It is later found that Mother removed Boy from Poland to Ireland.
Upon locating Boy, Grandfather applies for return of the Boy to his custody in Poland under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
Mother claimed that she left Poland, among other reasons, because Grandfather had a preferential relationship with the local authorities in Poland. Mother presented no proof of that though.
Mother also denied Grandfather’s custodial rights at the time she removed Boy from Poland, despite Polish court orders restricting her custodial rights and awarding Grandfather custodial rights.
The Court also found that the Mother had done little to maintain a relationship with Boy and had repeatedly, willfully ignored lawful Polish court orders.
Although the Boy expressed the wish to remain with his Mother in Ireland, the Court found that the Boy was immature and subject to Mother’s influence.
The Mother was subject to an arrest warrant for abducting Boy.
The Court also found that the Boy had not really settled in Ireland and that there did not appear to be a risk to the Boy if returned to Poland.
For all of the above reasons, the Irish court ordered return of Boy to Poland, his place of habitual residence before his wrongful abduction.
The Irish court concluded that any further custody proceedings should take place in Poland. The Irish court did not decide who should have custody.
Read more in this Irish Times article: Boy must be returned to his grandfather in Poland.
International debt. The term conjures up notions of international balance of trade.
But it can have another meaning entirely.
International child support debt. What’s that?
That’s when a nation’s children are owed support by foreigners.
And also when a nation’s adults owe support to foreign children.
These are international financial transactions.
Foreigners, mostly New Zealanders and Americans, owe Australian children $235 million. Canada and Britain also have substantial international child support debt.
But the problem goes beyond even that.
Under the Hague Convention, Australia is obligated to collect from Australia residents monies owed to foreign children.
And other nations that are parties to the Hague Convention have reciprocal obligations to collect international child support for foreign children.
Read more in this Australian article: Foreign dads boost child support debt.
Flash backward:
Minnesota court finds that Husband physically abused Wife.
Husband and Wife’s seven year old girl reveals to therapist that she is being physically abused by her father and that she doesn’t feel safe with him.
Girl reports the same thing to court-appointed investigators / advocates for her.
Ample artwork by both children seems to support their accounts of abuse and cries for help.
Outcome of this Minnesota child custody case?
The girl and her older brother are placed in the custody of her father.
The Court concluded that the abused Wife was unstable and had coached the children, and that the children were better off with the abusive Husband.
Flash forward:
The seven year old is now twenty-three years old. Now able to choose, she lives with Wife.
She maintains that she told the truth during the custody trial - and the legal system turned a deaf ear to her and her brother.
Grown up now, she wants to advocate for abused children and children’s rights in family court cases that, too often, are all about the parents and the parents’ rights - at the expense of their children.
Experts agree that all an abuser has to do to gain custody of innocent children in many courtrooms is utter the words “parental alienation syndrome” in the same breath with the other parent’s name.
And the abused parent who tries to protect their children from the abusive parent is labeled the bad parent whose visitation should be restricted.
Read more in this Minneapolis City Pages article: Reporter’s Notebook: Jennifer Collins speaks about her family’s case.
American Wife and Belgian Husband separate. Wife allows children to travel to Belgium to spend the entire summer of 2006 there with Husband.
Husband keeps children in Belgium beyond date they were supposed to return. Further, Husband, filed for - and won - sole custody of the children in a Belgian court.
This isn’t a case where the Wife was reckless or foolish in handing over the kids for this international jaunt. No, a US Court ordered Wife to send the kids to Belgium to visit Husband for the summer.
The US Court was presumably influenced by the fact that Belgium is a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. But Wife hasn’t seen her kids for two years now - except via webcam, on occasion.
The family did live in Belgium for a time, but it was reportedly agreed to be only on a temporary basis while Husband completed his studies there. Further, when Husband, according to Wife (and her mother), became physically and verbally abusive and threatening toward Wife and the children during a visit to the US in 2004, Wife refused to return with him to Belgium.
Due to the Husband’s defiance of US court orders, the first entered anywhere, the US court refuses to entertain any arguments by the Husband against child custody jurisdiction in the US.
But that doesn’t transport the children back to the US and their mother, Wife.
Read more in this Lake County [IL] News-Sun article: Couple’s custody dispute has a 4,000-mile barrier.
A 12 year old Illinois boy recently died, apparently, from beatings. His 16 year old brother’s face is scarred and his arm is in a sling.
The cause of their injuries? Likely, child abuse, according to reports.
By whom? Allegedly, their adoptive parents - who still had eight minor children in their home at the time of the boy’s death. There reportedly may have been additional abuse of the dead boy by an adoptive or foster sibling.
Several of these children are adopted, the rest, extended biological family of their “caregivers”. All are in the state’s protective custody at this time.
The adoptive / foster parents went to court to request visitation. Not surprisingly, their request was denied.
No charges have been filed yet. But child welfare agency investigations and police investigations continue.
Read more in this SouthTown Star article: Will County judge denies visitation to Crete parents.
On October 1, Florida’s new law governing co-parenting after separation goes into effect. The new law represents a major rewrite.
At least as far as definitions and terminology. No longer will the terms custody or primary residential parent or similar terms be used.
Instead, Florida will join the ranks of states in which separating parents will have to adopt a parenting plan … a very, very detailed parenting plan … to conclude their family court cases.
The new statute’s sponsor is of the opinion that child custody battles were just about labels. So now, separating parents won’t have any reason to fight over child issues. Therefore, family court litigation will diminish.
The new statute’s sponsor also describes the new law as giving both parents “equal rights”.
Some are hailing the new law as a dramatic substantive change.
Others are saying “the more things change, the more they stay the same; a rose by any other name”.
Soon enough, time - and Florida’s court dockets - will tell.
Read more in this [Central Florida] Voice article: Victory for fathers’ rights in divorces.
Some minor children were arrested on charges of killing swans and geese in a Kansas zoo. These are felony charges, including animal cruelty.
The youths are in juvenile justice detention and could remain there for some time.
Accordingly, the government has requested that the parents of the juveniles pay child support to save the taxpayers the cost of supporting the youths while they are in detention.
If this seems strange, it shouldn’t. It is not unusual to to require the non-indigent parents of minor children to pay support while their kids are in the extended care of the government.
Read more in this Kansas Emporia Gazette article: Parents are asked to pay support for juvenile suspects in zoo case.
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