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

Wife obtains injunction for protection against domestic violence, or order of protection, against Husband.

Husband violates restraining order by repeatedly stalking Wife.

Husband admits to stalking Wife and loitering near her home.

Husband may be sentenced to up to five years’ incarceration for aggravated stalking. He could have faced an additional five years but for the prosecution dropping three additional felony stalking counts.

Husband plans to request probation without confinement.

Read more in this Chicago Daily Herald article: Carpentersville man admits stalking estranged wife, now faces prison.

Two hundred thousand American children are abducted from the US each year, most often by a parent or extended family member.

Such abductions are federal crimes.

But in too many of those cases, the child ends up being raised in a country foreign to them by the abducting family member.

Even when the country the child is abducted to is a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

An international lawyer traveled to his wife’s native Switzerland with her and their one year old son. Switzerland is a party to the Hague Convention.

At the airport for their return trip, his wife refused to give permission for their son to board a plane to the US. The authorities there would not help.

The lawyer later obtained a US judgment awarding him sole custody of his son, and filed an application for return of the boy to the US under the Hague Convention.

Four years later, the man has spent a total of five hours with his son – all in Switzerland – since the abduction and he is no closer to bringing him home.

That is one many such cases, some receiving considerable media atttention, others barely any.

Read more in this Voice of America News article: Where in the World Are America’s Missing Children?

Illinois Man is incarcerated for about a year for a violation of an injunction for protection against domestic violence, or order of protection.

Man has history of other criminal charges of domestic battery and other violations of restraining orders against other victims.

While Man is confined, he allegedly makes nearly three (300) hundred phone calls to a different victim who reportedly also has an injunction for protection against domestic violence against him.

Calls in the corrections facility are monitored.

Man is convicted of a felony over the stalking phone calls made from jail and sentenced to another five years’ incarceration.

It is unclear why, since the calls were monitored, law enforcement took no action until nearly 300 unlawful calls had been made.

Read more in this Pekin Daily Times article: Man gets five years for telephone calls.

Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are proliferating, and not just for guiding drivers.

As I’ve previously posted, some states use them to track movements of people subject to orders of protection.

And in some states, one divorcing spouse is increasingly likely to be planting one in or on the other spouse’s car.

And police in some states are using them in criminal cases.

However, constitutional and other privacy issues may impact admissibility in court of information from these devices.

Read more in this Ogden [UT] Standard-Examiner article: Issue to track.

Three years ago, a then 20 year old South Florida Man purchased a sledgehammer.

After his girlfriend (Woman), a then 19 year old aspiring dancer and singer, arrived, the Man bludgeoned her in the face and head over and over again.

The Woman survived, despite extensive brain injuries.

But now she has a mental age between 12 and 15 years old and spends her time watching children’s television.

The jury convicted the Man of first degree attempted murder after just half an hour of deliberating.

They were not persuaded by the insanity defense he put on.

The judge sentenced the Man to 99 years in prison.

He can’t be released from incarceration until after his 100th birthday.

Read more in this South Florida Sun Sentinel article: 99 years in prison for ex-boyfriend convicted of beating Broward woman with sledgehammer.

Equitable distribution or property division can be deceptive.

In Florida, and other states, the law presumes a fifty-fifty split of assets and debts.

But even where that is the agreed upon goal, the devil is in the details.

Some proposals can look like an even split right down to the penny.

Yet be anything but.

How so?

Thanks to taxes.

Taxes can have a significant impact on the ultimate value of certain assets.

By not taking the tax impact into account, a seemingly even split can turn decidedly unequal.

Tax credits, tax deductions, ordinary income taxes, capital gains taxes, etc., may eventually apply to transfer of any distributed marital asset.

To take an extreme example, suppose the wife receives all marital assets that will be subject to capital gains tax. Further suppose that the husband receives only assets that will not be subject to capital gains tax.

In that event, the husband’s fifty (50%) percent distribution of marital assets will in effect be worth more than the wife’s fifty (50%) percent distribution of marital assets.

So it’s important to be tax-aware in reviewing or presenting alternative distribution scenarios – or to have a tax professional involved in that process.

Read more in this Wall Street Journal article: Divvying Up? Check Taxes.

Domestic abuse conjures images of physical violence.

That is abuse.

But it’s far from the only form that domestic abuse takes.

Domestic abuse is, fundamentally, about power and control as much, if not more, than violence.

One way to maintain absolute power and control in a relationship is to hold the purse strings, all of them.

And so abusers may block their victim from getting or keeping a job (and paycheck) of their own.

Or run up debt behind their significant other’s back.

Or deny their victim access to “their” money.

That’s economic abuse, a form of domestic abuse.

It is one of the strongest holds that abusers have on their victims.

And it inflicts real anguish – and ultimate control – on its victims.

That is even more true in a weak economy, such as we have now.

A helpful resource for victims of economic abuse: Click to Empower Domestic Violence Survivors.

Read more in this Public News Service – Florida article: Study: Abusers Control Their Partners Through the Pocketbook.

In Pennsylvania, divorce rates have dropped by more than ten (10%) percent in the last decade or so. In some counties in the state, the decline was even sharper, as much as twenty-five (25%) percent.

Are we doing something very right to account for the reduction in divorces?

Well, yes and no.

The most likely reasons for it are:

• couples delaying marriage until they are older
• couples being generally more educated than ever when they marry
• premarital and marital counseling becoming more accepted and more common
• more testing of premarital couples, with trial cohabitation discouraging more mismatches and
• marriages are just plain fewer in number

Read more in this [PA] Morning Call article: Divorce rates fall as couples marry later.

In Brevard County, Florida, over half of the women killed by intimate partners had in the last three years turned to the police or the domestic violence courts for assistance, in the form of arrests or restraining orders.

In many of those cases, the abuse victim did not follow through, recanting or simply not appearing in court to testify.

Too often, such victims fall through the cracks.

Abusers can exert a powerful control over their victims, causing them to stay with their abuser year after year.

And, unfortunately, the most dangerous time for a victim can be the time when they do try to break away.

Read more in this [Brevard County] Florida Today article: Homicides can follow years of abuse.

Oregon Wife and Greek immigrant Husband marry.

Husband and Wife have Son.

Husband and Wife raise Son with awareness of his dual heritage.

Husband and Wife travel with Son to Greece for his baptism and when Husband’s father passes away.

In September of 2008, when Son is two years old, Husband takes Son to Greece to visit extended family for 3 weeks.

Wife cannot get time off from work.

Husband postpones the return trip, claiming Son has an earache.

Then Husband informs Wife that he and Son will not be returning.

Wife eventually finds out that Husband consulted a lawyer before he left Oregon …

That Husband had quit his job, sold his car, drained a bank account in just his separate name, and taken Son’s birth certificate.

Wife calls various authorities and finally hires a lawyer to help her bring an application for Son’s return to the US under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

Eventually, the case goes to court in Greece. The Greek court awards Wife custody of Son and orders Husband to take Son back to the US.

Husband’s time to appeal has expired.

But Son remains in Greece.

Husband expresses concern about the missing child report Wife filed in Oregon, fearing his arrest.

Apparently the Greek courts provide no mechanism for enforcement of a custody order for return of a child.

In fact, Wife could be targeted by Greek law enforcement if she goes to Greece to try to bring Son back herself, without Husband’s written consent.

Read more in this Yamhill Valley [OR] News Register article: ‘I just want my son back’.

Wife files a petition for injunction for protection against domestic violence for a restraining order against Husband.

Husband is not yet served with order of protection against him.

Husband had moved out of marital home.

But was there one Saturday evening, trying to break in.

He succeeds.

Wife calls police. They arrive.

Husband locks himself in the house.

Husband shoots Wife.

Wife is taken to hospital, where she is expected to recover.

Husband is later found in the house, dead.

Although a police officer had shot at Husband, it is not believed that the bullets hit him.

Read more in this Orlando [FL] Sentinel article: Man found dead after shooting wife and barricading himself in house.

Adoption can be a complex legal process and a costly social process.

It can also be the answer to a couple’s prayers.

There are several types of adoptions:

1. domestic private, through an agency or direct
2. domestic foster care
3. international private
4. foreign or domestic special needs

Eachy type of adoption typically imposes different costs and expense, offers different potential tax benefits and other government support and follows a somewhat different process.

Read more in this Southgate [MI] News Herald article: Adopting a child can be a long, costly journey.

No matter what we as a society throw at it, domestic violence remains an intractable problem.

Impacting perhaps twenty-five percent of women in the US.

So the President is appointing a White House advisor on domestic violence.

The appointee is tasked with reaching across agencies to better coordinate governmental action.

The appointment comes as domestic violence is, despite our efforts to date, on the rise rather than a decline, presumably as a result of the stresses of the weak economy and high unemployment.

Read more in this New York Times editorial: An Advocate for Women.

Of course, not all victims of domestic violence are women…

As part of a series of articles about divorce, the Tampa Bay Examiner takes the opportunity to reprint one version of the Children’s Bill of Rights. There are many versions, that express similar sentiments in somewhat different ways.

Any version is worth every separating parent’s review:

1. The right to be treated as important human beings, with unique feelings, ideas and desires, and not as a source of argument between parents.
2. The right to a continuing relationship with both parents and the freedom to receive love from and express love for both.
3. The right to express love and affection for each parent without having to stifle that love because of fear of disapproval by the other parent.
4. The right to know that their parents’ decision to divorce is not their responsibility and that they will live with one parent and visit the other.
5. The right to continuing care and guidance from both parents.
6. The right to honest answers to questions about the changing family relationships.
7. The right to know and appreciate what is good in each parent without one parent degrading the other.
8. The right to have a relaxed, secure relationshp with both parents without being placed in a position to manipulate one parent against the other.
9. The right to have the custodial parent not undermine visitation by suggesting tempting alternatives or by threatening to withhold visitation as a punishment for the children’s wrongdoing.
10. The right to be able to experience regular and consistent visitation and the right to know the reason for cancelled visits.

Read more in this Tampa Bay [FL] Examiner article: Divorce and the children’s bill of rights.

Although not unique in this respect, Los Angelenos recognize that too many deaths of children from abandonment, abuse or neglect could have been – but weren’t – avoided, as a result of lack of communication between agencies.

Now, county officials are finally calling for sharing of information between county agencies, including potential red flags in criminal, domestic violence, educational, medical and psychological histories of family members.

Free availability of information is tempered by privacy concerns though.

While flags will be visible via computer, full data will not.

Social workers will have to request more detailed information directly from the agency in possession of the information sought. But they will at least know that there is something worth requesting and who has it.

The system is expected to take eighteen months to implement.

Read more in this Los Angeles Times article: Data-sharing system to curb child abuse is proposed by L.A. County supervisors.

Maryland recently added a second facility for children in foster care to have visitation with their biological parents and siblings – under supervision of social workers.

The facility is actually a house, minus televisions, computers and similar modern distractions found in most homes.

Visitation in this home-like setting aids in the assessment and facilitation of interactions to support eventual reunification of foster children with their biological families. That typically takes about eighteen months.

This facility is different from most supervised visitation centers, which simply try to keep the peace and maintain safety.

Much of the work to renovate and adapt the house to its new purpose was done with donated labor and funds.

Read more in this Maryland Gazette article: Home opens for foster children, biological parents.

Seven year old boy (Son) lives with his Grandmother in Alabama.

Massachusetts biological Father wants visitation with Son.

Father goes to court seeking visitation.

Father reportedly wants to build a relationship with Son.

It is unclear whether a court ever grants visitation or any custodial rights to Father.

But Father apparently convinces Grandmother that it has.

Father has Son with him on Father’s Day.

And Father allegedly beats Son on Father’s Day.

Into a coma.

Son dies.

There is no indication that Father has ever previously been convicted of domestic violence or child abuse, or even whether Father has ever been subject to an injunction for protection against domestic violence or order of protection.

Father is now charged with homicide in Son’s death.

Read more in this [Chattanooga, TN] WRCB TV 3 Eyewitness news article: Father accused in boy’s beating pleaded for visits and this [Montgomery, AL] WSFA 12 News article: Shocking revelation in boy’s beating death.

Tennessee has gone one better on a trend toward protecting custodial and visitation rights of parents deployed in the military.

Under a brand new law, a parent deployed for at least ninety days can assign his or her visitation rights to a relative, subject to the court’s authority to veto the surrogate’s visitation if it is not in the child’s best interests.

This is an interesting expansion of the widespread view that visitation is a fundamental personal privilege of a parent.

But for now, deployed parents can presumably transfer their visitation rights to, say, stepparents who are their new spouses.

Legal challenges will likely follow in short order.

Read more in this [Chattanooga, TN] WRCB 3 Eyewitness News TV article: Military visitation rights bill signed by governor.

Mentally disabled young Woman lives with her Mother.

Twenty year old Man pursues “relationship” with Woman.

Mother seeks and obtains an order of protection against Man for benefit of Woman.

That reportedly does not stop Man.

After being served with the domestic violence restraining order, Man allegedly lures Woman to his parents’ home and sexually assaults her.

He also reportedly takes her cell phone and threatens to hurt her if she notifies authorities of the assault.

Woman’s injuries from assault require medical treatment at hospital.

Man is charged with aggravated criminal sexual assaut, criminal sexual assault, intimidation, unlawful interference with the reporting of domestic violence and unlawful violation of an order of protection.

Man reportedly has a history of exposing himself in public and inappropriate conduct toward another mentally challenged young woman.

Man is confined pending posting of a $2 million bond. Should he be released, he will be required to wear an ankle bracelet to enforce restriction to his residence.

Read more in this [Suburban Chicago] Daily Herald article: $2 million bond for man accused of assaulting disabled woman.

Arizona Mother has sole custody of nine year old Son.

Father takes Son for a week of visitation as per court order.

In the past, Father has taken Son to Hawaii, a place that Father has said he would like to live.

At the end of the permitted weeklong visitation, Father and Son fail to return … even after a month.

Father’s home appears to be abandoned.

For now, both Father and Son are listed as missing

Authorities are seeking information as to their whereabouts.

Son is on daily prescription medication which Father has not always administered.

Read more in this [Chandler, AZ] ABC TV 15 article: Valley boy and dad remain missing after weeklong trip and this Chandler Police Department press release: Father and Child Missing For Over A Month.

Husband and Wife have one child together, Son.

In 1997, Husband, a police officer at the time, allegedly shot Wife in the hand while they were arguing.

In 2001, Wife obtained an injunction for protection against domestic violence, or order of protection, against Husband. Wife alleged that Husband dragged her by her legs, down stairs and out of a house, while threatening to kill her.

Wife dismissed her case a few weeks later.

Recently, Husband and Wife were in the process of divorcing.

Wife went missing.

Police found Wife’s body in the trunk of her car. On the day they had a hearing in divorce court. She had been shot to death.

Wife’s Sister has Son with her.

Sister and Son are reportedly terrified of Husband, with Son believing that Husband murdered Wife.

At the suggestion of police, Sister seeks an emergency injunction for protection against domestic violence, or order of protection, against Husband for the protection of Son and his half-siblings and Sister’s entire family.

Husband has not been named as a suspect at this time.

Husband’s whereabouts are unknown.

Read more in this Chicago Southtown Star article: Family of murdered mom fears husband.

South Carolina Man and Woman live together.

Woman has a Son.

Man acts like any good father would toward Son.

Drives him to school. Roots for him at his ball games. Attends parent-teacher conferences. Etc., etc.

One thing is missing …

A paternity test does not bear out a biological connection between Man and Son.

Man and Woman eventually break up.

But Man and Son do not want to break up with each other.

Man goes to court to obtain visitation, arguing that he is Son’s psychological parent, the father figure in Son’s life.

But the court rules against him, because Son knows that Man is not his biological father and that someone else is.

Man appeals. And the South Carolina Court of Appeals agrees with Man.

Court awards Man visitation with Son.

Shortly before Father’s Day, Man won full custody of Son by agreement with Woman after a six year court battle.

Read more in this [Charleston, SC] Post and Courier article: Helping set legal precedent, man gains custody of boy he helped raise.

Husband and Wife divorce.

Husband used to work for large software company.

Husband’s financial disclosure in divorce reveals two large payments and anticipates a further large payment from a so-called hedge fund.

Wife seeks a share of such monies. Husband impliedly disputes her right.

Further complication …

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reportedly previously investigated suspicions of insider trading between Husband and the hedge fund in stock of Husband’s former employer.

SEC has reopened the investigation since certain information and evidence came to light in the divorce case.

Wife was supposedly in possession of Husband’s computer’s hard drive, which may have had evidence stored on it. The SEC subpoenaed the drive.

Family court judge ordered that $250,000 of past payments from the hedge fund to Husband be held in escrow pending outcome of the SEC investigation.

Read more in this Washington [DC] Examiner article: Conn. divorce judge puts $250K into escrow and this Washington [DC] Post article: SEC Reopens Insider-Trading Probe

In the criminal courts, the defendant can insist on speedy justice.

Not so the litigants in family court, which often operates in a virtual time warp.

Husband and Wife live in North Carolina. They have two children.

Wife files for divorce.

North Carolina Court grants permission for Wife to relocate to Rhode Island, but allows for visitation by Husband each month in both states.

The Wife reportedly tries to block Husband’s visitation and cut Husband out of the children’s lives by accusing Husband of everything from harsh discipline of the children to neglecting them to watch pornography on the internet.

Wife also obtains an injunction for protection against domestic violence, or order of protection, against Husband – in Rhode Island.

Not buying it, the North Carolina Court orders Wife to return with the children to live in North Carolina.

Unhappy with the North Carolina ruling, Wife tries to do an end run around the North Carolina courts and seeks emergency jurisdiction in Rhode Island.

Which Rhode Island’s family courts exercise … repeatedly.

Having apparently exhausted his remedies in North Carolina, Husband appeals in Rhode Island.

And Husband wins …

A mere seven years later.

The reasons Husband wins are because:

1. North Carolina validly exercised jurisdiction in the first place and
2. Emergency jurisdiction is inherently temporary in nature

.

Read more in this Providence Journal news blog post: R.I. Supreme Court: Mother, children must return to N.C.