Florida Divorce * Child Custody * Domestic Violence Law Lawyer | Boynton Beach

Sometimes people become foster parents when they are in search of children to adopt.

But, sometimes, they just want to help other families get through a difficult time and then reunite.

One Utah couple is in the latter category.

They actually mentor the parents whose children are in their foster care.

Some of their former foster kids, and their parents, visit them years later.

This couple has fostered thirty-two children over ten years.

In the part of Utah they live in, there are 356 foster families … for 630 children in foster care.

More than half of foster children are eventually reunited with their parents or placed with extended family members.

May is National Foster Care Month.

Read more in this Utah Standard-Examiner article: Layton couple’s goal as foster parents: Get parents and children back together.

In British Columbia, Canada, divorce and custody litigation – or, for that matter, any litigation – can be really expensive.

It’s not the legal fees, as some might leap to conclude.

It’s the court clerk fees, which are substantially higher than elsewhere in Canada.

A litigant must rent the courtroom.

That might run $15,000, payable in advance.

And then there is the cost of the jury.

That might run $25,000, also payable in advance.

And then there might be the cost of witnesses.

That might run another $15,000, also payable in advance.

Giving new meaning to the cliche, “justice isn’t cheap”…

Husband and Wife are from England, but have been living with Child in British Columbia, Canada.

When the marriage breaks down, Wife wants to take Child to live in Europe.

The Court rules that the Child should remain in British Columbia.

Wife is awarded transitional alimony.

At the ten day trial, both parties represent themselves.

At the end of it, Wife asks the Court to waive a court fee … of $3,600.

Chaos in the courtroom.

Wife was supposed to pay in advance.

Court will now consider whether British Columbian court fees are unconstitutional as impeding access to the courts.

There is some Canadian authority to support that conclusion.

Wife is unemployed, but not indigent.

Court wishes to hear from the Attorney General and stays payment of the fee until it does so.

Read more in this Vancouver Sun article: Do B.C.’s court costs impede justice?.

One might not think of a legal dispute over jurisdiction with our neighbor to the north as being an international jurisdiction battle.

But …

Canadian Husband and American Wife live in British Columbia.

Couple divorce.

Husband is awarded sole custody of Daughter by Canadian court.

Wife moves to Nebraska.

Husband and Wife work out timesharing and Wife has Daughter over much of the summer.

Then Wife accuses Husband of abusing Daughter.

Husband denies it, backed by a lie detector test and lack of criminal charges.

Wife retains Daughter and Husband doesn’t see her for two years.

Wife hasn’t been able to transfer jurisdiction from Canada to Nebraska, but neither has Nebraska honored the Canadian custody order and ordered that Daughter be returned to Husband.

Wife does succeed in getting Nebraska to pass legislation to the effect that Nebraska need not honor custody orders from outside the US.

One must speculate that the constitutionality of that statute will be tested soon.

Nebraska may have rejected the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

Husband is pursuing political intervention by the Canadian government.

Some Canadians are concerned that it isn’t safe to allow visitation in the US anymore.

Read more in this [British Columbia, Canada] Richmond Review article: Richmond educator fights for daughter.

Husband and Wife marry.

Husband and Wife have Children.

West Virginia Grandparents see Children.

Wife dies.

Husband inherits Wife’s custody of Children.

Grandparents don’t see Children.

Ever.

For nine years and counting.

Grandparents appeal to the courts for visitation with Children.

Over and over.

With no luck.

Because under current law, Grandparents generally have no rights where a fit parent denies them visitation.

Grandparents are campaigning for support of a petition for grandparents’ rights to take to their legislature.

Read more in this Steubenville, OH WOTV 9 news article: Grandparents Fight For Visitation Rights.

Injunctions for Protection against Domestic Violence. Orders of Protection. A rose by any other name.

Court orders all. Literally, pieces of paper.

According to a Justice Department study, more than 3 million people are stalked in a single year.

In Massachusetts, one-quarter of all restraining orders in effect each year are violated. Twenty-five percent.

It is reported that one-quarter of domestic homicide victims in Massachusetts had orders of protection in place against their murderers. Twenty-five percent.

One domestic violence victim insists her abuser violated the restraining order she had against him thirty times over four years. Thirty times.

These are the reasons why a growing number of states are putting teeth behind those pieces of paper called injunctions for protection against domestic violence …

Global positioning devices, worn by violators of restraining orders against them.

The devices serve to prove where the abuser was and, even more importantly, notify police when the abuser is somewhere he or she is not supposed to be under the terms of the restraining order against them.

So far, twelve states are using global positioning technology to enforce orders of protection, with some 5,000 abusers wearing the devices.

Both numbers will likely rise in time.

Read more in this New York Times article: More States Use GPS to Track Abusers .

Florida does not allow adoptions by a homosexual couple.

Washington state does.

A lesbian couple living in Washington state each give birth to a child.

And each partner adopts the other’s biological child as permitted under Washington law.

Lesbian couple relocates to Florida.

And eventually breaks up.

At first, they agree to share legal and physical custody of both children, so that the children can spend most of their time together.

The next year, however, one of the couple “goes straight” and becomes engaged to marry a man.

Who wants to adopt his fiance’s biological child.

At that point, when the child is about 9 years old, her mother denies any timesharing to her former partner.

The frustrated partner brings suit to determine parental responsibility and timesharing.

At trial, the court denies the frustrated partner any parental responsibility or timesharing with the denying partner’s biological child.

On appeal to an intermediate level appellate court, that ruling is reversed.

The Florida appellate court holds that Florida has to give full faith and credit to the Washington state adoption and the rights and obligations flowing from it.

Without regard to Florida’s law and policy against gay adoption.

The birth mother intends to appeal to the Florida Supreme Court.

Read more in this Courthouse News Service article: Fla. Must Recognize Gay Adoptions, Court Rules and this Sarasota Herald Tribune article: Adoption by Sarasota lesbian is upheld on appeal.

Husband is convicted of sexually assaulting Wife.

Wife is terrified that Husband will kill her.

Husband allegedly threatens to dismember her.

Wife flees to Australia with their two Children.

But the Australian courts rule that England has child custody jurisdiction under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

Wife returns to England with Children.

Police are summoned to intervene in domestic clashes several times.

Police give Wife a “panic alarm”.

About a year after Wife’s return, Husband allegedly drags her from a car and stabs her to death … in front of her own mother and their Children.

Just a few hours after she begged British police for protection.

While she was in the midst of trying to flee from Husband again.

Husband is convicted of murder.

He will serve at least eighteen years in confinement.

Read more in this Brisbane [Australia] Times article: Young mother fled to Sydney to save her life.

It is almost cliche that divorce is one of the most stressful events in a person’s life.

It certainly was for a California veterinarian.

She channeled her stress productively though.

She fantasized about a haven where she could break things.

And, born of her fantasy came … Sarah’s Smash Shack.

A place where angry or stressed folks – or anyone else – can go to smash plates, vases and other stuff, against walls.

Safely.

To the accompaniment of their favorite music.

And they actually pay for the pleasure of doing this damage to someone else’s stuff.

Read more in this San Diego News Network article: Downtown business wants you to break its stuff.

Alabama takes domestic violence seriously, with a progessive new infrastructure.

Now, victims of domestic violence can prepare their petitions for an injunction for protection against domestic violence on any internet-connected computer.

From there, the data in the petition is electronically transmitted via the internet to law enforcement.

When domestic violence victims arrive at the courthouse, they can simply print out their waiting petitions for orders of protection and sign them.

Then the information will be electronically transmitted to the domestic violence judge on duty.

One of the communities where the new system will launch typically enters 25 injunctions for protection against domestic violence per week.

Read more in this Huntsville [AL] WHNT News 19 article: Protection From Abuse Orders Going Online.

Mother, Grandparents and 3 year old Child go to mall.

Mother and Child become separated from Grandparents.

Mother and Child leave mall.

Amber Alert goes out.

Grandparents have legal custody of Child.

Mother is only allowed supervised visitation with Child.

Warrants for Mother’s arrest for kidnapping are issued.

Mother is suspected to have abducted Child to Georgia.

Child is not believed to be in danger of violence from Mother.

But Child is still missing.

Read more in this Mooresville [NC] Tribune article: Warrants issued for mother of missing 3-year-old.

In Detroit, felony non-payment of child support is truly at the noncustodial parent’s peril.

The punishment for criminal non-support includes … court-ordered television.

Really.

A Detroit criminal court judge requires monthly viewing of a daytime television talk show as a condition of probation for felony non-payment of support.

The show reportedly focuses on paternity-related disputes with some frequency, and paints the proverbial “deadbeat dads” unfavorably.

The judge also requires the convicted parent to review and discuss the program with their probation officer.

Since beginning this practice, the judge has been a guest on the television program.

And the show’s host is a fan of the judge.

Presumably, the court-ordered TV is not the only punishment meted out in this judge’s courtroom for criminal non-payment of child support.

Read more in this Detroit [MI] Free Press article: Behind in child support? ‘Maury’ may be in your future.

In one North Carolina county, the number of children in foster care has gone down, pretty dramatically, over the last several years.

How did they accomplish it?

The child welfare agency there has been experimenting with several preventative, early intervention programs, using government and charitable funds grants.

Each program or service has a different focus, such as:

1. maintaining the involvement of fathers in their children’s lives
2. assigning a nurse to each new mother during her baby’s first two years
3. promoting relationships between parents and extended family members
4. offering therapeutic foster care services, to train and support parents of children with special needs
5. placing removed children with extended family members rather than in foster care with strangers

Between 2002 and 2009, the number of children in foster care in this North Carolina county shrank from 573 to 396.

Read more in this [Greensboro, NC] News & Record article: Editorial: Keeping families whole.

Central Florida Husband and Wife, a nurse, are going through a divorce three years into their marriage.

Wife reportedly enters Husband’s home to collect things, expecting him to be away.

Husband drives a truck, and had previously purchased a taser gun, reportedly for protection from Wife (and, possibly, others, while on the road on his truck).

Husband returns.

Couple argue.

Wife allegedly punches Husband in nose.

Husband shoots Wife with his taser gun, allegedly in self-defense and to stop her from getting a kitchen knife.

Wife is arrested for battery.

Husband is not arrested.

Read more in this Orlando Fox TV 35 News article: Man says he tasered wife in defense and this Phoenix Fox KSAZ TV 10 news article: Husband uses Taser on Wife to stop Beating.

Canadian Husband and Wife separate and later divorce.

Wife gets custody of their three Boys, who are all close with each other.

About 10 years after Husband and Wife’s separation, Boys choose to move in with Husband. Boys are about 10, 12 and 17 years old at that time.

Boys allege that Wife is physically and verbally abusive toward them.

Wife insists Husband has alienated the Boys from her. For what it’s worth, a social worker agrees.

The oldest boy reaches 18 years of age.

The trial court orders the two younger boys into treatment for parental alienation.

The boys reportedly resist the “treatment”. Sometimes referred to as “deprogramming”.

The two younger boys are placed in foster care.

Psychiatrist concludes the boys have no psychiatric disorder, recommends suspending treatment for alienation, and recommends resuming contact between the younger boys, their older brother and Husband.

Court disregards psychiatrist’s professional opinion, orders that younger boys continue treatment for alienation and continues to bar contact with older brother and Husband.

Five months later, the two younger boys remain in foster care.

With case in limbo and contact between brothers still prohibited, older brother decides to seek custody of his younger brothers.

The court holds that the older brother has standing.

Predictably, Wife appeals.

Read more in this Toronto Star article: Custody battle ‘beyond tragic’.

Florida Husband and Wife divorce.

Husband is ordered to pay Wife alimony.

Husband moves to Indonesia.

Husband allegedly stops paying support.

Indonesia apparently does not honor or enforce US court orders on support.

Husband’s support arrears are reportedly close to $200,000.

Husband returns to US to attend a wedding.

Husband is arrested.

Husband is held without bail.

Read more in this [Jacksonville] Florida Times-Union article: Busted: Exiled, alimony-owing ex returns to Jacksonville and stakeout and this News 4 Jax article: Man Owing $188K In Alimony Arrested.

Seventy year old New Mexico Father is behind on child support, to the tune of $13,500.

Father is held in contempt of court.

As punishment for his contempt, Father is sentenced to up to three months of incarceration.

Who is the insolent Father who appears to have no respect for the Court’s child support order or the law?

None other than a former municipal court judge.

Who was reportedly also previously accused of sexual harassment by three court clerks.

Read more in this [Midland, TX] KWES NewsWest 9 TV news article: Former Santa Fe judge jailed over child support.

Russian Mother and French Father divorce in France, where they have been living.

French court awards custody of their then 1 year old Child to Father.

Mother returns to former Soviet Union.

Child is reportedly abducted back and forth multiple times over last two years since divorce, most recently allegedly by Mother, to former Soviet Union.

During a previous abduction, Child did not see Father for 10 months and knew Mother’s new partner as her father.

What of the future?

Father opposes sharing joint legal custody with Mother but is not opposed to Mother having two months’ (or even equal) timesharing with Child in the former Soviet Union … as long as the Child’s return to France is guaranteed, he has ongoing video and phone contact with Child while she is in the former Soviet Union and Child attends a French-speaking school.

Meanwhile, Mother is under arrest and being detained in Hungary for up to 40 days pending a request for extradition from France.

But Father does not want to see Mother jailed for kidnapping Child.

Read more in this [Russian] RIA Novosti article: French father dismisses joint custody, in favor of visitation.

Mother and Father have Baby.

Mother lives in North Carolina with Baby.

Father, a member of the armed forces, removes Baby and brings Baby to live with him on base in California.

Implication is that Baby may be at risk with Mother.

There is no information as to whether a court ever determined custody or whether Mother ever sought Baby’s return.

Some time later, seven month old Baby dies while in Father’s care.

Of blunt force trauma to head and abdomen.

Father arrested for child abuse causing death.

Father faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Read more in this [Barstow, CA] Desert Dispatch article:Former soldier charged in fatal child abuse case goes to trial.

Georgia Mother and Father separate.

Mother reports Father for child abuse.

Mother’s allegations are determined to be unfounded.

Father is awarded sole custody of their two Children in divorce.

While she has visitation with the Children, Mother reportedly flees.

First to Texas, where she has relatives.

And again reports Father for child abuse.

Texas authorities decline to take Mother into custody despite knowing of arrest warrant.

Then, allegedly, to Mexico, where she is from.

Authorities are looking for Mother in connection with federal charges of international parental kidnapping and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution and state charges of felony interference with child custody.

If caught and convicted, Mother faces incarceration for up to five years.

Read more in this Jacksonville [FL] Times-Union article: Kids believed hidden in Mexico.

Today, mothers celebrate Mother’s Day with their children.

A foster mother and adoptive mother is among them.

While she is celebrating Mother’s Day, she also celebrates the selflessness of the birth mothers of her adopted children.

And she wishes those birth mothers a Happy Mother’s Day as well.

Read more in this Examiner editorial: Happy Mother’s Day to my children’s birthmoms and this Woonsocket Call article: There’s plenty of love to go around on Mother’s Day.

Some Nebraska legislators are working to change the state’s child custody laws.

Current law is couched in terms of the best interests of the children.

But some say that test leads to conflict … and the court unnecessarily inquiring into which parent is the better parent.

Advocates for changing the law contend that current law almost always translates into the mother being awarded primary custody in Nebraska.

Proposed legislation would presume that both parents are equally fit and presume that both parents should have equal decision-making and equal timesharing with their children.

That means that if one parent is not fit for equal timesharing, the burden is on the other parent to prove it, sometimes by clear and convincing evidence. Almost as tough as proving beyond a reasonable doubt, the state’s burden in criminal cases.

Proponents of the bill favor both parents being able to share their children.

The proposed legislation is not expected to pass anytime soon.

Although fathers’ rights groups tend to favor such legislation, advocates against domestic violence maintain that such laws too often place children in the custody of abusers.

This same battle is or has been fought in a number of other states.

Read more in this Nebraska TV article: State Child Custody Law: 50-50 Split?.

There’s an epidemic sweeping parts of Florida, maybe more. It’s not swine flu.

It’s domestic violence.

One of the areas in which it is most pervasive is Orange County, in central Florida. Ironically, Disney territory.

Not only poor areas. But also areas near the University of Central Florida.

The police, sheriff’s office, the Department of Children and Family Services and Harbor House, a shelter for victims of domestic violence, are joining forces to take aim at the problem.

Drop in centers to educate victims on their options are planned for domestic violence hotspots throughout the county, based on what is being called a “domestic abuse map”.

Mapped hotspots correspond to transient communities.

Last year, 5000 incidents of family violence were reported in Orange County.

As of the year 2000, the county’s population was under 900,000.

Shelters and related facilities in Orange County are already strained to capacity.

Read more in this Orlando Sentinel article: Domestic-abuse map points the way for help and the portal About’s Central Florida Statistics.

Woman alleges that North Carolina Man is father of her child and should pay child support.

Man is certain he is not the father and willingly submits to DNA paternity test.

Test results arrive in Man’s mail.

Cover letter concludes that Man is the father.

Man reads on …

Actual report of test results states that Man is not the father.

Man reports inconsistency to testing company.

Company maintains that this is an unusual clerical mistake, which would have been caught even if Man didn’t catch the error.

In any event, Woman’s case is dismissed and Man can go on with his life, free of years of child support obligations.

Moral: When it comes to legal proceedings, read everything … all the way through.

Read more in this Charlotte [NC] Observer article: Office error could have cost Garner man thousands in child support payments..

Will a spouse’s marriage last, or end in divorce?

Research psychologists from DePauw University think they can predict with some degree of accuracy.

It all depends on the spouse’s smile … when he or she was a child.

Specifically, the frequency and intensity of the smile in youth.

That’s right.

Smilers and, especially, big smilers, were considerably less likely to get divorced.

In the study, no participants in the top ten percent of smilers divorced.

In contrast, twenty-five percent of the least smiley had an unsuccessful marriage.

Statistically, the biggest smilers have only an eleven percent likelihood of divorcing.

The least smiley have a thirty-one percent chance of divorcing.

Why?

It’s not clear.

Smilers may simply be happier and attract happier people into their lives.

Or they accept bumps in the road more happily.

Or they have a larger support network to help them get through tough times.

Or there may be some other reason entirely.

Read more in this Money Times article: Childhood smile could predict your risk of divorce.

Deja vu.

A Maryland man working for the state’s child support enforcement agency collected more than just a paycheck.

He also had child support checks made out to his own wife … and deposited them into his account.

Over a seven year period.

The man pled guilty and was sentenced to 10 years’ incarceration and restitution of $49,000.

Read more in this Baltimore Sun article: Man admits stealing child-support checks.

Husband and Wife’s divorce trial was just a few days away.

But no one saw anything amiss.

There was no history of police reports of domestic violence at their home during their twenty-two year marriage.

But Wife alleged both physical and emotional abuse in her divorce filings.

Husband’s sister flew in from out of town to testify for him at the trial.

And when Husband and his two children were alone with hs sister, Husband allegedly shot and killed them all, including himself.

Husband’s parents and lawyer couldn’t believe he was capable of such acts.

Read more in this [Huntsville, AL] WHNT-TV article: Inside Look: Kevin and Tammy Garner’s Divorce Papers.

It works for grandparents and extended family members.

It also works for parents who, for whatever reason, are far away from where their kids are.

It’s virtual visitation via the internet.

Thanks to widespread high speed internet access, parents can do practically anything with their kids via web conferencing.

Look each other in the eye while talking. Play board games. Etc., etc.

It’s the next best thing to being there, in the flesh. And, in many ways, it negates the feeling of distance between parents and their kids.

Several states specifically provide for web-based visitation by statute.

Although some noncustodial parents argue it is used as a justification to deprive them of in-person access to their children, some custodial parents argue that it is so popular with the kids that it cuts into the custodial parents’ time with their kids.

Clearly, though, it well serves a valuable purpose in our mobile society, where relocation is a frequent issue.

It can also be useful in certain situations otherwise managed with supervised visitation.

Read more in this Toronto Metro News article: Virtually there – Cyberspace helps divorced parents keep in touch with kids.