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

In the US, the number of adults who are not married has surpassed the number of adults who are married. A record forty-six percent of young adults have never married.

Both statistics are firsts in a hundred years.

It has something to do with the weak economy. Something.

But the diminishing popularity of marriage is also an evolving trend. The poor economy has just intensified it.

Romantic partners are more likely to simply cohabit these days. That’s less scary in these uncertain economic times.

Sociologists do anticipate pent-up demand for marriage to get triggered when the economy picks up. But probably only temporarily.

Read more in this New York Times article: Saying No to ‘I Do,’ With the Economy in Mind.

Thirty years ago, Florida outlawed adoption of children by gay couples. And that’s been the law here ever since.

However inconsistent though, gay couples have been allowed to serve as foster parents for foster children.

Setting up the situation where children live for extended periods with gay parents, with neither the parents nor the children permitted to harbor hopes of becoming legally related to each other through adoption.

And so it is for a gay man who has been caring for two foster children as his own for the past five years, since the younger child was only four months old. He refuses to accept that outcome.

At trial, the court found there was no credible evidence that children raised by gay parents did any less well than children raised by heterosexual parents.

Florida is the last remaining state to prohibit all adoptions by any gay people. And that is the basis of an appeal that was just decided.

An intermediate appellate court has struck down Florida’s law as violating constitutional guarantees of equal protection of the law.

An appeal to Florida’s highest court is anticipated.

In the meantime, the state will no longer enforce the statutory prohibition of adoption by gay parents.

One thing is clear. For the many children in foster care in Florida, the pool of prospective parents who just may adopt them has suddenly grown a lot larger.

Read more in this New York Times article: Florida Court Calls Ban on Gay Adoptions Unlawful and this Miami Herald article: Appeals court: Florida ban on gay adoption unconstitutional.

Father and Mother are engaged in a child custody legal battle in Michigan.

According to Father’s own attorney, Father has made threats against the presiding family court judge – and also has threatened to blow up the county judicial building.

Father is now under arrest for felony terror and bomb threats, and remains held in confinement.

A visiting judge may have to be assigned to hear Father’s criminal case due to potential conflicts of interest.

Father faces up to twenty-four years’ imprisonment if convicted of the charges against him.

Read more in this [Adrian, MI] Daily Telegram article: Indiana man faces trial for Lenawee County court threats

2010 brings new concerns to the world of divorce. And calls for new measures.

And so it is that some divorcing couples are starting to adopt divorce social media policies and put them in writing. A targeted species of nondisclosure agreement, concentrated on keeping the details of a divorce off of social media.

That’s right.

Couples are coming to terms about how much or how little of their divorce they want to see aired on social networking sites. Where it will be there for all the world to see. Forever.

No photos. Keep the kids out of it. Too soon to talk about new significant others. No character assassinations. Synchronized “no comments”.

What’s off limits. Including that everything is off limits, and it’s best to just take a break from social networking until it’s all over.

Such social media divorce agreements will undoubtedly find their way into prenuptial agreements of the future.

Read more in this [Ontario] National Post article: Divorcing spouses quit Facebook in favour of privacy.

Texas Father and Mother have three year old Son.

Father and Mother divorce.

At trial, the divorce court awards Mother primary custody of Son.

So Father allegedly abducts Son … for seventeen years.

Mother and Son have apparently had no contact for all those years.

Now twenty years old, Son reads a newspaper article about his own kidnapping as a child.

Son tells Father to turn himself in.

Father is charged with interference with child custody.

Read more in this Associated Press article: Texas woman’s ex-spouse, son emerge after 17 years and this Houston Chronicle article: Taken as boy, solves case as a man.

Father has four daughters by more than one woman.

Father is arrested for beating his third wife, with a bed post – while she is seven months pregnant.

Father takes a plea bargain and is sentenced to probation only.

Father is also granted only supervised visitation and timesharing with their children together.

In addition to Father’s abusive behavior, it is alleged that he has also driven their children in his vehicle while he was under the influence of alcohol.

Now Father is accused of beating his fourth wife.

The mother of the children with whom father has supervised visitation seeks to terminate his timesharing with their children.

Father goes her one better and agrees to terminate his parental rights.

Who is this Father / Husband, with this history of domestic violence and substance abuse?

Father is a Texas medical doctor. The owner of a surgical clinic with multiple locations.

Father’s medical license is reportedly revoked due to illegal drug use.

Read more in this Houston Chronicle article: Ex-hand surgeon forfeits parental rights to 2 kids.

California Mother and Father, never married, have two Children.

After Mother and Father part company, Children, now legal adults, sue Father for child support for the period since Mother and Father separated.

The amount? In round numbers, $134 million.

After all, Father is a billionaire, in fact, a multi-billionaire. And all Father paid in child support was a measly $3 million.

Children argue that is far less than the court would have awarded had Mother and Father gone to court in the first place. Only they didn’t go to court in the first place.

They allegedly reach an amicable agreement while they were still seeing each other.

Father shows a jury that Father supported the Children in grand style, paying for grad school and giving them luxury cars once they had their licenses.

After a trial to a jury, the jury took Father’s view of the case: enough is enough.

Read more in this Southern California Public Radio KPCC 89.3 news article: Irvine billionare Donald Bren’s adult children fail to win back child support and this Calgary Herald article: Jury sides with billionaire on child support.

According to a recent study, women have far less retirements savings invested in IRA accounts than men.

Women are both less likely to have IRAs, and likely to have less money deposited in any IRAs they do have.

There are several reasons for these statistics, including that women are more likely to be out of the workforce during childrearing years and, therefore, without earned income entitling them to make deposits toward retirement.

In light of these statistics, it bears repeating that:

1. Under Florida law, pensions and other retirement accounts accumulated by either spouse during a marriage are marital property and are subject to property division in divorce. If a retirement account was opened prior to marriage, the portion of the account accumulated during the marriage is still considered marital property.

2. A divorced alimony recipient responsible for the income taxes on his or her alimony may contribute to an IRA because of their alimony income, even if they don’t have earned income.

Read more in this Forbes commentary: Women Need To Play Catch-Up With IRA Savings.

Italian Wife, American Husband and their five year old Son live in Georgia.

Husband is arrested for domestic violence.

Wife takes Son back to live in Italy.

Wife files for divorce in Italy, where Wife and Husband were married.

Husband challenges jurisdiction in Italy, and files for divorce in Georgia.

Georgia family court awards Husband temporary custody of Son.

Italy grants Wife a divorce, and awards Wife custody of Son.

Georgia divorce court holds that Italy has jurisdiction and dismisses Husband’s divorce case in Georgia.

Husband appeals the Georgia divorce court’s dismissal of his case.

Even where the courts of a jurisdiction may exercise jurisdiction, they may also decline to exercise jurisdiction.

In ruling on jurisdiction, the Court may also consider domestic violence and likelihood of harm to the child.

A ruling from Georgia’s appellate court is not expected for months.

A Washington state Woman has successfully managed to collect child support.

No mean feat, considering that she doesn’t even have a child.

She reportedly deceived the Man who paid her the “child support” into believing that she was pregnant with his child.

It seems the Woman may have falsified an initial home pregnancy test which gave a positive result.

Within a month, however, further pregancy tests gave negative results … which she failed to disclose to the Man.

In fact, she allegedly repeatedly maintained the falsehood before the Seattle family court.

And collected about $3,500 in “child support” before the Man got wise to her.

But at least he did catch on before paying the roughly $10,000 hospital bill.

The Woman has been charged with theft, perjury and forgery.

Read more in this KOMO 4 TV news article: Not guilty plea in fake pregnancy case.

The time arrives for Father’s court-ordered bi-weekly timesharing, a full weekend with Child.

Father’s parents (Grandparents) pick Child up at Mother’s home.

Father is often delayed at work.

Assuming that Father will have Child, Mother departs on her planned weekend trip out of state.

Actually, Father is not at work. And he will not have Child either. He is away for the weekend too.

Grandparents anticipate having and spoiling Child for an entire weekend.

On Saturday, though, Grandparents and Child are involved in an accident.

Child requires surgery.

Hospital requires parental consent.

Both parents are out of state, however, … and cannot be reached.

This dilemma plays out all too often.

As well as variations with various other relatives or friends serving as the temporary caregivers.

And other variations where the child’s parents remain at home and the Grandparents (or relatives or friends) take the child away with them on a weekend (or longer) trip.

And injury or illness befalls Child while away from parents.

Whichever variation applies, there is no one available with legal authority to grant consent to medical treatment for Child.

Of course, attorneys can draft documents, which both parents can execute, to delegate authority to temporary caregivers to grant medical consent on behalf of a child.

But this process entails some expense and requires some thought and advance planning and implementation.

As a result, in the event of an unforeseen need for medical treatment for a child, there can be detrimental delays.

But no longer, at least, not in West Virginia.

A new statute there authorizes temporary caregivers to sign an affidavit granting consent to medical treatment for a minor child in their temporary care.

Assuming that you and your child’s other parent have shared parental responsibility:
is your child is ever left in the care of a third party who is not your child’s other parent or a legal guardian of your child, when both you and your child’s other parent will be at a distance and/or incommunicado?

If so, you and your child’s other parent may want to address this potential risk to your child.

If you have sole parental responsibility or ultimate decisionmaking authority over your child’s medical care:
you may want to address this potential risk to your child.

Otherwise, your child’s health and welfare may be subject to statutory provisions that may not give effect to your child’s other parent’s or your wishes.

Read more in this Harrisonburg [VA] WHSV-TV 3 news article: New Law Allows Caregiver to Sign Affidavit for Child’s Care.

Michigan Mother has two year old Daughter and one year old Son.

Boyfriend is the father of Son.

Boyfriend and Mother both reportedly occasionally use drugs in the home.

The child welfare agency investigates Mother’s home twice in recent weeks, but takes no action..

Daughter dies.

Boyfriend allegedly admits pressing his knee on Daughter’s chest, resulting in her suffocation. He reportedly indicated that he was tired of her yelling and crying.

Boyfriend is arrested on charges of murdering Daughter.

Child welfare agency removes Son from Mother’s home, and places him in foster care.

Now Mother accuses Boyfriend of hurting Daughter in the past.

And tries to win back custody of Son.

Read more in this Grand Rapids [MI] Press news article: Watchdog group critical of child welfare workers in case of alleged 2-year-old murder victim Jozlynn Martinez.

When it comes to collecting child support, Pittsburgh seems to be doing something right.

Compared to other similarly sized communities, Pittsburgh has a significantly higher rate of collections of current child support. The area also fares significantly better at collecting past due child support.

One reason cited for Pittsburgh’s support collections success is a program to enroll unemployed parents in job training, so that they can qualify for jobs.

Another reason cited is that the community establishes support payments that are realistic. But, for that reason, enforcement is reportedly strict.

Another local initiative aims to divert parents required to pay support from jobs paying them “under the table”.

Read more in this Pittsburgh Tribune-Review news article: Allegheny County child-support plan hailed

New Jersey Husband and schoolteacher-Wife have a toddler Daughter.

Husband and Wife divorce.

Father has reasonable visitation and timesharing.

Husband and Wife experience conflict over co-parenting, especially Daughter’s diet and sleep requirements.

According to Mother’s attorney, Mother is overprotective of Daughter, insisting on extremely detailed accounts of both during Husband’s timesharing. To get them, Wife reportedly calls Husband two to four, or even more times per day during Husband’s timesharing with Daughter.

Wife plans to relocate to Florida. Husband plans to follow them.

Husband’s and Wife’s settlement agreement requires Wife to provide reduced-rental housing for Husband in Florida for the first five years.

The agreement also requires Wife’s father to help Husband get a new job in Florida, and waives child support until Husband gets a job.

And then Husband is found murdered.

The unlikely suspects?

Schoolteacher-Wife and her businessman-father.

Husband and Wife’s divorce settlement agreement provides that, if either parent dies, the other gets custody of Daughter. Exactly what the law would normally provide without an agreement, or if the agreement were silent on this issue.

Wife and her father are arrested in Husband’s murder.

Read more in this Asbury Park [NJ] Press article: Murder victim, ex-wife were at odds over child.

Father has a five month old Son.

Father seeks visitation and timesharing with Son.

One problem.

Father is a convicted sex offender.

Another problem.

Father is about to be arrested on new charges, of exposing himself to two children.

Although the new charges are misdemeanors, normally punishable by confinement for no longer than a year, the prosecution is seeking an enhancement that could subject Father to incarceration for life.

Father’s parental rights to two other children of his have previously been terminated.

The family court denies Father visitation with Son.

But sets another hearing regarding psychological counseling Father will be required to undergo before timesharing with Son can be considered.

Mother has supervised visitation with Son.

Read more in this Huron [MI] Daily Tribune article: Welshans jailed on charges.

An Ohio attorney submits a letter to the editor in regard to a case where her client won a hollow victory in an international parental child abduction case.

A US Court apparently awarded her client custody of his children.

Unfortunately, the mother of the children has them with her in Japan. And Japan won’t honor the US judgment and return the children.

The attorney’s message is, in a nutshell, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

If minor American children don’t have passports, the very best prevention of international parental child abduction is to block their issuance.

This can be accomplished by either parent registering in the US Department of State’s Children’s Passport Issuance Alert Program.

Remember though that some children may have dual citizenship by virtue of one parent’s foreign citizenship. If so, the foreign parent may be able to obtain a foreign passport for the children, sometimes without the American parent’s knowledge or consent.

Once a passport has been issued to a child, there is no way to ensure that that child cannot travel abroad.

Many common carriers do require written consent of both parents to each trip abroad, but this is not a legal requirement.

Once a family court case is filed, a court may issue an order to secure children’s passports and prohibit foreign travel, but it doesn’t happen automatically.

Read more in this Dayton [OH] Daily News piece: Parents can take preventive steps to prevent abductions.

About to stand trial for beheading his wife, Husband wins permission to try to show that he was a victim of domestic abuse by Wife.

Husband reportedly has a forensic psychiatrist and a psychologist prepared to testify that he suffers from “battered spouse syndrome”.

And e-mails that supposedly corroborate his claim.

Husband maintains that Wife threatened to kill him, regularly kicked and struck him, threatened to set fire to their house, and threatened to abscond to Pakistan with the couple’s children.

On the other hand, the prosecution intends to offer proof that Wife was a victim of domestic violence by Husband.

Wife had reportedly called the police on Husband numerous times over the years, but never pressed charges. Their divorce was pending at the time of her murder two years ago.

The criminal case has been dragging for two years due to Husband’s changes of attorneys and other experts in the case and, now, changes in defense legal strategy and newly disclosed evidence.

Before his arrest, Husband ran a cable TV station with programming catering to a Muslim audience.

Read more in this Buffalo News article: ‘Battered spouse’ defense allowed in beheading trial.

Father is court-ordered to pay child support.

The amount of Father’s child support obligation is unknown.

But Father pays his child support.

Father allegedly raises funds to pay his child support by buying over 5,000 cold pills and then re-selling them. Father makes nearly four hundred “shopping trips” to pharmacies.

The buyers reportedly buy the pills from Father to use them in the process of producing “meth”, an illegal drug. Father allegedly knows this.

Father enters a plea bargain with federal law enforcement authorities under which Father pleads guilty to possession of narcotics.

At sentencing, Father faces between nine and eleven years’ incarceration in a federal facility.

It is unknown whether Father has a conventional job by virtue of which he could have paid his child support.

Read more in this St. Louis Post Dispatch article: Arnold man admits selling cold pills to pay child support and this KDSK TV 5 news article: Arnold man sells cold pills to pay bills and child support.

One state’s child welfare agency removes children from their parents’ homes, due to perceived abandonment, abuse or neglect, at a pace equal to two times the national average.

A whopping fifty thousand of that state’s three million residents are listed in a child abuse registry … although not convicted of – or even charged with – any crime.

These residents make the list because a single child welfare investigator (with a supervisor’s rubber stamp) concludes that it is more likely than not, however slightly, that they abused a child.

As a result, the listed residents face loss of employment and loss of child custody.

They do have a right of appeal … to the same child welfare agency.

The state under consideration? Midwestern Iowa.

But forty-five other states’ laws and procedures are not all that different from Iowa’s in regard to “qualifying” for listing in such child abuse registries.

The federal government reports that many states list residents on abuse registries with appallingly little evidence. Many abusers aren’t even informed that they have been placed on the list. Those who press appeals, often aren’t ever advised of the outcome.

Iowa’s Supreme Court reviewed the state’s system recently and reportedly found it lacking in constitutional safeguards. Now the state legislature is working on reforms.

But what about the other forty-five states doing things similarly?

Read more in this Washington [DC] Times editorial: Abusing due process.

Bio Mother of one year old Baby is just sixteen. Bio Mother has two adult Sisters.

Bio Mother and Baby live with Bio Mother’s mother, but Sisters worry over boyfriends Bio Mother is involved with.

Bio Mother’s boyfriend reportedly has made threats of violence against one of the Sisters. Bio Mother allegedly leaves Baby in the care of her teenaged friends overnight.

But child welfare agency investigates Bio Mother – twice – and investigation finds no evidence of abuse or neglect of Baby.

Bio Mother leaves Baby with Younger Sister for two weeks to go on vacation.

When Bio Mother returns, Younger Sister doesn’t give Baby back.

Bio Mother files criminal complaint for kidnapping.

Older Sister, a nurse, files a legal case in family court to obtain guardianship of Baby. Older Sister makes numerous serious allegations in her case against Bio Mother.

Family court judge grants Older Sister temporary guardianship of Baby on an expedited (if not emergency) basis.

Bio Mother is not given an opportunity to respond to the allegations before the family court judge rules.

Two months later, Older Sister admits in court that she has no hard evidence to back up any of her allegations.

Hearings continue.

Read more in this Des Moines Register article: Sisters tussle over tot’s guardianship.

When either spouse starts a business or practice during a marriage, that business is marital property.

If one spouse earns his or her living working in that business or practice, that is the source of the couple’s income.

A Wisconsin dentist-Husband and his Wife were married for twenty years. During the marriage, Husband started his dental practice and Wife stayed home.

The practice is valued at $1 million and Husband is ordered to pay alimony of $16,000 per month.

Husband appeals the trial court’s rulings, asserting that a significant portion of the practice’s value represents goodwill and that that portion is nonmarital and should not be divided between the spouses but retained by Husband.

Husband also asserts that the alimony award double-dips into the cash flow encapsulated into the valuation of the practice.

On appeal, Wisconsin’s intermediate appellate court upheld the trial court’s rulings, finding that marketable goodwill is subject to equitable distribution between spouses.

The appellate court felt that Husband had not fully developed this argument and was not persuasive on this point.

Florida case law applies different terminology (”personal goodwill” versus “enterprise goodwill”) and engages in a different analysis of the facts. This would likely lead to a somewhat different result in a similar case to the one reported.

Read more in this Wisconsin Law Journal article: Commentary: Salable professional goodwill as divisible property.

International child abduction is not a new problem, but it is a growing problem.

A comprehensive, if somewhat dated list of steps a parent may take if their child is abducted is excerpted and cited below.

• Request revocation of the other parent’s passport
• Request revocation or suspension of the other parent’s green card.
• Request assistance from INTERPOL.
• Follow / trace the money that the other parent is using.
• File in a US court for custody and return of your child
• File in the foreign court for custody and return of your child
• and much more.

Read much more in this disjointed San Francisco All Voices news article: How do mainstream media cover international child custody disputes? because there is still some good information there.

Father and five month old Son are staying with relatives in Florida.

Father falls asleep with Son lying on a queen-sized bed.

When Father awakens, Son is face-down at the edge of the bed, stuck against a dresser.

Son isn’t breathing.

Father administers CPR but is unable to revive Son.

Father yells for help and Aunt calls 911.

Paramedics are also unable to revive Son.

Father is very distraught and police Baker Act him (that is, take him into protective custody for psychiatric evaluation).

Medical examiners call Son’s death a homicide due to presence of extensive injuries, including broken ribs, ruptured bowel and internal bleeding.

Police eventually arrest Father for first degree murder and aggravated child abuse.

At his trial, Father maintains that Son’s ribs were broken in a fall weeks before Son’s death. Father reasons that the other injuries resulted from his failed CPR efforts.

Jury acquits Father on both murder and child abuse charges.

Read more in this Tampa Tribune article: Hillsborough jury acquits father in son’s death.

Husband and Wife divorce. Husband is ordered to pay child support for Daughter.

Husband stops paying child support in the fall of 2009. Husband alleges that he was unable to work due to illness, but produces no corroboration.

Law enforcement authorities set out to attach some of Husband’s property to auction it off to reduce Husband’s child support arrearages.

And the authorities do in fact seize … four beehives on Husband’s property. Worth less than one fifth of the amount of Husband’s arrearages.

Read more in this Russian News and Information Agency RIA Novosti article: Bees seized.

Out of India …

Wife files for divorce from Husband in twenty year marriage.

Wife asks the Indian divorce court to award her alimony and spousal support.

Wife alleges that she converted to the Hindu religion prior to their marriage, and that she and Husband had a religious wedding ceremony in accordance with the Hindu religion.

Under Indian divorce law governing marriages between spouses of the Hindu faith, a wife may seek alimony – but apparently not so between spouses of other faiths.

Despite the length of this couple’s marriage, however, the Indian high court denies Wife’s request for alimony, finding that Wife has not proved that she did in fact convert to Hindu prior to the marriage and that the marriage may therefore not have been valid from its inception.

The Indian court appears to rationalize, in essence, that too many Indians insincerely convert from one religion to another, not for spiritual motivations, but to manipulate the law to their own legal advantage in family court, or otherwise.

With regard to the particular case before it, the appellate court apparently finds that Wife duplicitously spent twenty years of her life in a sham and/or fraudulent marriage, scheming all along to capitalize on the alimony law available to Indian Hindus, in the event the couple ever divorced.

While this case is from India, spouses should be aware that alimony laws in the United States are being reviewed, challenged and, in some cases, updated to reflect changes in the times.

Read more in this Times of India article: HC refuses alimony to ‘converted’ woman.