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

In a significant number of divorces, the divorcing couple have one or more pets.

Under the law, pets are characterized as property and treated accordingly.

But some, if not all, family members, think of family pets as part of the family, even like children.

And the fate of the family pet or pets in divorce court can be complicated … and cold.

A pet health information website recently sponsored a study of the role and influence of pets in family life. It can be substantial.

Among other things, the survey concluded that a whopping ninety percent of pet parents (sometimes called “owners”) would give up money in a divorce in exchange for their pets.

And fight harder over their pets than over money.

Domestic abusers often use family pets to exert control over their victims. And victims of domestic abuse often remain with their abuser longer than they otherwise would out of concern for their pets.

Read more in this Huliq article: Animal lovers choose pets over alimony and presidential candidates.

Oklahoma Husband and Wife are divorcing.

Husband and Wife have Children together.

Children are removed and taken into protective custody because Husband uses a “sex toy” in the presence of one of their Children.

Wife drops Husband off at a lake for a fishing trip.

After Husband’s scheduled return, Wife allegedly files a report with the police to the effect that Husband has gone missing.

Due to changes in Wife’s account, police arrest her.

Wife later reportedly admits that Husband solicited her assistance in staging his death.

Husband is said to have been looking to avoid outstanding warrants for his arrest. And to start a new life after a sex change surgery.

Wife reportedly went along with Husband’s plan to be done with Husband and in the hope of re-gaining custody of Children.

Both Husband and Wife now stand charged with conspiracy to commit a crime by filing a false police report.

Read more in this Oklahoman news article: Divorcing Stillwater couple accused of trying to fake man’s death.

Five rules of divorce from North Dakota:

1. Cheating doesn’t matter. In the no-fault divorce world, that’s generally true. (Although this may vary from state to state.) Unless marital assets are squandered on the affair, anyway.

2. You can’t hide your assets. Well, strictly speaking, that may not be true. But it’s certainly risky business and inadvisable.

3. It’s never over. All too often, that does prove to be true … over and over and over again.

4. Get a prenup. Never a bad idea.

5. You’re not alone. Well, actually, this depends. Some spouses really are. They may not have to be, if they avail themselves of all available community resources. But some are. And some would be better off if they were, or at least had a smaller support team. It really is possible to have too much help, too much input, especially when it tugs you in too many different directions.

Read more in this [Fargo ND] KVLY & KXJB TV news article: 5 Rules of Divorce.

South Carolina Husband and Wife divorce.

The family court awards Wife permanent alimony and spousal support.

The family court also awards Wife a portion of Husband’s pension toward her share of equitable distribution and property division.

Some time after the divorce, Husband presses a modification action to terminate alimony or, at the least, reduce alimony.

Husband contends that there has been a substantial change in circumstances in that Husband (and Wife) are now receiving payouts from Husband’s pension. Husband argues that Wife’s alimony should be reduced dollar for dollar by the amount of the pension that she is now receiving.

The family court now rules that there is a substantial change of circumstances. And reduces, but does not terminate, the amount of alimony payable to Wife.

The family court also awards Wife her attorney’s fees in this modification proceeding.

Husband appeals the family court’s ruling on his modification case.

The appellate court holds that the alimony rulings made by the family court are within the family court’s exercise of discretion and affirms the family court’s rulings.

The appellate court also holds that the original property division award of the pension cannot be factored in to any modification, because the family court originally took it into account when it fashioned the original property division and alimony awards. Lastly, the appellate court upholds the award of attorney’s fees to Wife.

Read more in this [Orangeburg SC] Times and Democrat article: Court upholds divorce order.

Generally, withdrawing money from an IRA or similar retirement account prematurely is costly, in taxes and penalties. But this is exactly what must often happen in a divorce.

Giving rise to special exceptions rendering retirement account transfers incident to a divorce free of taxes or penalties.

If an entire IRA account is going to be transferred, it is permissible to simply change the name on the account from the original spouse-owner to the other spouse.

For partial transfers of an account, the methodology is “direct transfer”. In a nutshell, the owner spouse instructs the trustee to transfer a specified amount of the account’s funds to a retirement account in the other spouse’s name.

The transfer must be in accordance with a divorce judgment, so timing is important.

Pensions are divided via a different procedure, which I posted about in
Floridians: Don’t Take Your QDROs for Granted If You Are Entitled to Share in Your Ex’s Pension..

Read more in this Fox Business news article: Moving IRA Assets Under Divorce Decree.

One and one-half year old marriage of Russian Husband and Wife breaks down.

Couple and their child have apparently divided their time between England and Russia.

English wives reportedly typically receive more generous equitable distributions of marital assets than Russian wives.

Husband races to file for divorce in Russia and Wife races to file in England.

Husband wins that race. Sort of.

The British Court of Appeal has held that Wife is entitled to an additional equitable distribution property division award in England, upholding an award of 3 million UK pounds plus legal fees.

Only Husband hasn’t paid, and hasn’t set foot back in England since the court ruled … for fear of arrest.

The ruling undoubtedly bolsters England’s reputation as the so-called “divorce capital of the world”, and its popularity with international wives.

Read more in this UK Daily Mail article: Race to divorce: Russian wife, 27, wins £2.8million payout after just 18 months of marriage in UK

Canadian Husband is convicted of rape and murder.

Husband and Wife are divorcing.

Wife seeks to seal records in their divorce, allegedly to protect her privacy.

Some of Husband’s alleged victims contend that Husband began fraudulently transferring assets to Wife shortly after his arrest to avoid anticipated payouts which may be ordered to them and other judgment creditors.

Media attorneys also oppose sealing of the records or court-ordered bans on publication.

The Canadian family court has ordered that a written agreement between Husband and Wife be disclosed to media attorneys only, until the family court’s ruling after a full hearing on the merits of sealing or prohibiting publication.

As in Florida, Canada reportedly has a strong policy favoring treating divorce court case files as public records and disfavoring sealing records or prohibiting publication.

Read more in this CBC News article: Williams’s wife wants divorce records sealed and this Ottawa Citizen article: Judge: Russell Williams’ wife must disclose contract transferring marital assets.

Husband thinks Wife is having an affair.

Husband allegedly murders Wife’s suspected paramour.

Husband and Wife divorce.

Husband injures family court judge presiding over Husband’s and Wife’s divorce.

Husband allegedly also injures Wife’s divorce attorney.

Husband is under arrest for first degree murder of the believed paramour and two counts of attempted murder for the family court judge and his Wife’s divorce lawyer.

Husband seeks legal representation in his criminal cases by a public defender.

Husband is, however, denied a public defender because he reportedly has over $200,000 in assets.

Read more in this [Columbus, IN] Republic article: Man accused in Colo. Springs slaying, wounding of judge, to get private attorneys.

A new University of Michigan study concludes that twenty-eight percent of American mothers with two or more children have them with different fathers.

The study has 4000 women as participants.

The study also reports a substantial variance based on ethnicity, with:

• African American mothers at fifty-nine percent

• Hispancics at thirty-five percent and

• caucasians twenty-two percent

Factors making it more likely that children in a family would have different fathers include:

1. not living with a man at the time of birth

2. low income

3. limited education

Despite that, multiple fathers for multiple children in a family is pervasive at all income and educational levels.

Further, the phenomenon is more common among divorcees than single mothers.

The study has not yet been published and peer-reviewed.

Read more in this Business Week article: Many Moms Have Kids With Different Dads, U.S. Study Finds.

A personal finance expert opines that “modern” divorce is about money. And to a large extent, that’s true.

Of course, there may also be important noneconomic issues pertaining to parental responsibility and timesharing. But those are outside the focus of a personal finance expert.

Relative to the money aspects of divorce, however, here are some tips from the personal finance expert:

1. Follow the money. Copy records you can gain access to. Tax returns. Savings account statements. Retirement plans. Insurance policies. Financial statements. Wills. Trusts. Brokerage account statements. Credit card statements. Credit reports. Etc.

2. Poke around in the business. Business records. If the stakes are high enough, a forensic accountant may be warranted.

3. Protect yourself. Squirrel away a nest egg to see you through the case. A separate savings account is prudent. Ditto a separate credit card. Freeze the joint credit cards and any home equity lines of credit to avoid your spouse maxing them out.

4. Itemize premarital / nonmarital assets. Identify which were maintained separately and which were commingled with marital assets.

5. Don’t overlook your spouse’s pension and retirement accounts.

6. Be realistic in your expectations for alimony under the circumstances of your case and the law of your state. Also be aware that this is a rapidly evolving area of the law in many states. Depending upon both, you may want to have good handle on your reasonable employment and salary expectations.

7. Don’t overlook health care coverage and COBRA benefits.

8. If the assets and/or income involved are substantial, a tax advisor can be helpful in structuring a settlement to get the most tax-bang for your bucks.

9. Similarly, a divorce financial planner can also be helpful in evaluating settlement proposals and making your money work as hard for you as possible.

10. Bitter, protracted legal battles cost money. It is worth considering whether the reasonably anticipated benefits really justify the costs.

Read more in this CBS TV Money Watch article: 10 Steps to Avoid Losing Your Shirt in a Divorce.

As recently as the 1970s, rural Iowa boasted a divorce rate out of 1910s America at large.

And there were hardly any paternity cases for child support and/or child custody, between parents who were not married.

Rural Iowans went to church regularly, mothers stayed at home with children and, well, people in their world did not divorce.

But forty years later, things have changed … in a big way.

Except for the fact that most rural Iowans still belong to a church and attend regularly, now, rural Iowa pretty much mirrors the rest of America.

Rural Iowa women today are more likely to be college-educated than in the past … and more likely to be college-educated than rural men.

They are out in the workforce.

Being divorced no longer carries much of a stigma in rural Iowa.

And divorce has multiplied there by a magnitude of seven times.

And rural Iowa now has its share of paternity cases for child support and custody disputes between unmarried parents.

Read more in this New York Times article: Once Rare in Rural America, Divorce Is Changing the Face of Its Families.

It seems that tens of millions of people are burning their keyboards up on social networking sites, especially Facebook.

Interacting with everyone from friends and colleagues to friends from college and grad school … including long lost loves.

Apparently, there is something about the internet that tends to strip away restraints and inhibitions and lends itself to secrecy.

Permitting what would undoubtedly be innocent, casual, occasional contacts in the brick and mortar world into ongoing connections.

The difference between accidentally running into someone from your past and re-discovering someone from your past … and re-igniting an old flame.

So dramatic is this trend that Loyola University is warning couples against using Facebook, to guard against them becoming the one in five marriages allegedly “ruined” by Facebook.

Experts conclude that, in most cases, innocent curiosity and secrecy can turn into dangerous intimacy.

Read more in this [North Carolina] Huliq article: Divorce rates rise, curiosity and Facebook major culprits.

OK. Maybe it’s not your absolute worst nightmare, but it’s probably close.

You die. Your ex inherits some of your property.

What! How can that be? you ask.

Actually, in some states, there may be more than one way.

In Florida and many states though, the way this happens is that a spouse forgets to change their beneficiary designations on their nonprobate assets upon their divorce.

Clients always have a hard time getting this one when I raise this subject with them.

At risk of being simplistic, there are two kinds of property: probate property and nonprobate property.

Probate property is inherited as directed in the owner’s will.

So if you make a will during your marriage and don’t update it upon your divorce, your will still names your ex as your beneficiary. But Florida and many other states have laws that, in effect, write your ex out of your will if your will was made before your divorce was final.

So much for probate property.

But for many people, the majority, if not all of their assets are the other type of property, called nonprobate property. Some examples of nonprobate property include life insurance policies; IRAs, 401Ks and pension plans; a home or other property held in a trust; many bank accounts that are not titled in just one name, and so on.

Nonprobate assets have designated beneficiaries spelled out in their title documents. Wills don’t apply to them at all (unless the named beneficiary is an “estate”).

Suppose a spouse is named as the other spouse’s beneficiary for one of these assets during their marriage. Does the law write the ex out of the beneficiary designation after their divorce?

No, it doesn’t. If the owner-spouse doesn’t change their beneficiary designation after their divorce, their ex remains their beneficiary and inherits from them upon their death.

This was upheld by the US Supreme Court as recently as 2009.

Nightmare come true.

Easily avoided by immediately heeding your divorce lawyer’s advice to update all beneficiary designations and, just to be on the safe side, your will, immediately upon your divorce.

And while your at it, that’s also a good time to consider and address whether your ex is the right person to manage the assets you leave to your children in the unhappy event that you die while your children are still minors. Even if your ex is a wonderful parent, they may not be wonderful at managing those assets … especially if they are significant.

Read more in this Financial Planning article: Heir Loss.

Under current Utah law, no-fault divorce is available. And in such a divorce, fault is not a factor in determining alimony.

Proposed legislation is pending in Utah to modify this approach.

The bill would allow a judge to consider whether a stay-at-home, custodial parent was at fault in the divorce and, if not, award additional alimony toward the goal that they remain stay-at-home parents after the divorce.

Paradoxically, a different bill pending in Utah seeks to phase out permanent or long term (greater than five years) alimony. This mirrors debates and shifts in law playing out across the nation.

The role of fault in alimony and / or property division in no-fault divorce states such as Florida can be confusing. Some believe fault should be irrelevant.

Others believe that courts should be permitted to consider fault. Still others believe that economic fault alone should be considered.

Here in Florida, although divorce itself is granted without consideration of fault, the court may consider fault in both alimony or spousal support awards and in property division or equitable distribution. However, in practice, fault rarely comes into play unless the fault is economic in nature or the fault imposes an economic impact on the other spouse.

Read more in this [Salt Lake City] Desert News article: Bills would allow Utah judges to consider fault when awarding alimony.

UK Husband is injured in car accident and his leg is amputated.

Husband receives a substantial legal recovery due to the accident.

Husband and Wife later meet and marry. They have two children.

Husband and Wife decide to divorce. Wife seeks half of Husband’s legal recovery.

UK court awards Wife more than half of Husband’s legal recovery.

In light of the Court’s awards, Husband reportedly will have to sell his disabled-friendly home to move away from his children to a less expensive area.

Husband may appeal.

This ruling seems questionable in several respects were Florida law applicable.

Read more in this [UK] Daily Mirror article: Amputee has to give more than half his crash compo to wife in divorce.

Husband and Wife are unhappy.

They decide to get a divorce.

Wife files first. Or Husband does.

They agree on everything, making theirs an uncontested divorce.

They’d both like to get it over with quickly, but …

They have to wait a year – and attend state-mandated marriage counseling.

This is the scenario some North Dakota Republicans are looking to legislate in North Dakota. To lower the divorce rate.

There would be an exception for victims of domestic violence, where allegations are substantiated.

Some North Dakotans think this scheme sounds heavy handed and oppressive.

Read more in this WDAY News 6 970 AM news article: ND Bill would require mandatory marriage counseling for those seeking a divorce.

According to a divorce financial analyst, the following are the Top Five financial mistakes people make in divorce:

1. Not appreciating the liquidity or illiquidity of each asset

2. Not appreciating the consequence of taxes on each asset and transfer

3. Not appreciating the special considerations associated with retirement assets (taxes, early withdrawal penalties, etc.)

4. Not appreciating legal obligations regarding debt, and how credit ratings work

5. Not appreciating the unpleasant consequences of trying to hide / transfer marital assets

Read more in this [State College, PA] Centre Daily Times article: Identify all assets in divorce.

Israel recognizes two types of marriages, those solemnized by a religious authority and those solemnized by a civil or secular authority.

Historically, ending of a marriage solemnized civilly is heard in a civil or secular family court, and ending of a marriage solemnized by a religious authority is heard in a religious court.

But in recent power plays, religious courts have claimed and exercised divorce jurisdiction over secular marriages. Including jurisdiction over child support, child custody and property division.

In effect overruling a 2006 decision of Israel’s High Court of Justice, holding that civil marriages can only be ended in secular family courts.

Two religious courts have gone so far as to hold that they have authority to resolve disputes over conditions husbands may impose to agree to a divorce. In one such case, the court denied a divorce to a wife who asserted that she is a victim of domestic violence by her husband.

Religious divorce law applied by religious courts may reflect gender bias that favors husbands in property division.

Read more in this Haaretz article: Rabbis claim new powers in divorces of couples married in civil unions.

Trying to decide whether you want a divorce?

Does the answer turn solely on finances?

The British government apparently believes that it does.

And has accordingly developed a controversial resource to assist residents of England and Wales with “running the numbers” (under English and Welsh law) to aid English and Welsh spouses in coming to a decision.

The “divorce calculator” may beat tossing a coin.

And it may actually be a great help to separating spouses in projecting post-breakup budgets.

But the divorce calculator also may be lacking in insight into what truly motivates spouses to divorce and how all the variables are weighed in the decisionmaking process.

Regardless, the calculator has quite a few Brits up in arms.

Read more in this [UK] Daily Mail’s This Is Money article: Divorce calculator puts price on your marriage.

Budget cuts have been impacting the courts, including family courts, for years now – with no end in sight.

Leaving more cases, with fewer personnel and resources to process them.

Coaxing out every efficiency imaginable.

Encouraging introduction of electronic filing and eventual phasing out of paper filing.

All the while relentlessly inching ever-closer to testing the very limits of justice.

The above is from and about the courts of Oregon.

But it would seem to apply equally as well to Florida’s courts, including Florida’s divorce courts, in recent years.

Read more in this Yamhill Valley [OR] News Register article: Judge worries about court cuts.

Some clients (or opposing parties) are really quite businesslike in their approach to divorce.

They know they want to settle and it is just a question of arriving at the right numbers through negotiation.

They almost always have very specific final numbers in mind.

It is not unheard of for them to encourage their partner to sign an agreement behind their attorney’s back if they have an attorney or, better yet, before they hire an attorney.

After all, it’s all about the numbers. Not words.

Right? Wrong.

When it comes to legal matters, the words actually matter quite a lot.

As just one example …

Imagine a one paragraph marital settlement agreement. Yes, there really are such things out there.

Such an agreement always gets straight to the point – and the number(s).

“Husband agrees to pay Wife $1 million as full settlement.”

Do-it-yourselfers too often favor this type of language.

But what does that $1 million payment represent?

Is it lump sum alimony?

Is it lump sum child support?

Is it property division?

Is it a combination of all of the above?

Who cares?

Well, the Internal Revenue Service for one.

Precisely what the money represents will bear directly on the tax consequences, if any, associated with the payment.

As a result, both spouses will become interested as well, sooner or later.

For example, unless there is an agreement otherwise, alimony payments are deductible by the spouse who makes them … and taxable as income to the spouse who receives them.

Child support is neither includible nor deductible.

Equalization payments are generally neither includible nor deductible, but payments made in kind (by transferring things) may have tax consequences, sometimes unforeseen and undesirable.

The point is, settlement isn’t just about the numbers at all. The words count a lot.

In the end, all that really matters is the bottom line numbers, not the numbers that may be referred to in the agreement. If the words aren’t right, the bottom line numbers may be very, very different from the numbers specified in the settlement.

And that can be an unpleasant surprise that can hit you between the eyes.

Read more in this Florida Times Union article: TTT – December 28, 2010, Divorce & Alimony.

New York Husband and Pennsylvania Wife marry in New York in 2006. In time, they move to Maryland for Husband’s legal work in the Republican political organization.

By 2008, Wife decides she wants a divorce and returns, with their baby Daughter, to Pennsylvania.

Husband attempts to get a divorce court order for Wife to return to Maryland with Daughter, but the Maryland family court rejects Husband’s so-called emergency motion.

The family court awards Husband seemingly generous timesharing and visitation on three weekends of each month, with the qualification that only one of them may be exercised in Maryland.

But, because Husband, an Orthodox Jew, is forbidden by the strictures of his religion from traveling on Fridays from sundown until sundown on Saturdays, in practice, Husband avails himself of much less timesharing than he is actually awarded. Husband is reportedly angry and bitter over the visitation award.

In 2010, the family court grants Husband and Wife their divorce. But in the eyes of their religion and their religious community, Husband and Wife are still married – and not free to remarry others.

Because Husband refuses to grant Wife a “get”, an Orthodox Jewish religious divorce. Husband apparently feels that his dissatisfaction with the court-ordered timesharing arrangement justifies his withholding of consent to a get.

As a result, Husband is now the target of American Jewish media and American Jewish religious leaders and many individuals in Husband’s and Wife’s shared religious community. Hostilities toward Husband have even reached into Husband’s very secular workplace.

Read more in this New York Times article: Religious Divorce Dispute Leads to Secular Protest.

Colorado Husband and Wife have two Daughters together, ages two and four.

Wife is from Argentina.

Husband and Wife divorce.

Custody evaluator appointed by the divorce court reportedly believes that Wife poses an abduction risk to Daughters.

Family court awards primary custody of Daughters to Husband.

Wife is awarded liberal timesharing with Daughters in the US. Wife is also granted the right to take Daughters to Argentina in the summer and in the spring.

During her timesharing with Daughters shortly after the divorce is finalized, Wife takes them to Argentina – for good.

Family court orders that Wife return Daughters to the US right away.

Wife pays no attention to divorce court orders.

Argentina is a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

Husband files an application for return of Daughters to the US.

Husband is advised that the process could take eighteen months.

Read more in this [Glenwood Springs, CO] Post Independent article: Snowmass man haunted by international abduction.

A study of about 9,000 people over a period of several years concludes that divorcees and never-marrieds are a bit more physically fit than married couples.

According to treadmill performance testing and physical examinations, both men and women experience a decline in cardiovascular wellness during marriage.

Men who divorced during the study improved their fitness level. Women, who represented a much smaller segment of the population studied, did not exhibit the increase in fitness upon divorce. But other variables can explain that.

The study does not demonstrate causality between marital status and fitness. It is believed that social factors are the driving forces: dating singles pay greater attention to their physical fitness and settled couples tend to be more relaxed about it.

Women who were single throughout the study tended to become more fit over time. Both married and single men’s fitness diminished over time, but more so for married men.

Scientists conclude that people must be mindful of how life changes affect fitness and plan accordingly.

Read more in this Reuters article: Is marriage bad for your physical fitness?.

UK Husband and Wife divorce.

Husband, a multi-millionaire, allegedly “overlooks” some assets in his required disclosures … about 2 million pounds’ worth.

Such as three gold bars smuggled out of Austria in the 1930s, and offshore bank accounts.

Husband claims not to have the “overlooked” assets.

The divorce court doesn’t buy that.

And awards Wife 2.4 million pounds.

Husband appeals.

The appellate court dismisses Husband’s appeal of the divorce trial court’s property award to Wife.

Husband now lives in Florida …

Read more in this UK Daily Mail article: Wife wins battle of the Nazi gold: £2.4m divorce payout after husband hid assets.

A family court judge in Canada was presiding over a divorce involving a minor Child.

This divorce court judge apparently found that:

1. Wife tried to run Husband over with a van.

2. Wife’s relatives have made threats against Husband.

3. Husband is verbally abusive.

4. Wife has alienated Child from Husband.

5. Husband has no clue how to parent.

This family court judge has served on the bench for fifteen years.

And this particular case appears to have gotten to him.

So much so that he wrote a scathing thirty-one page opinion taking both Husband and Wife to task for their behavior toward each other and their Child.

On a roll, the divorce court judge even has at the Canadian family court legal system.

The lengthy vent may have improved this family court judge’s mood, but it did not conclude Husband and Wife’s case.

It would be interesting to know whether it made any impression on Husband and Wife.

Read more in this [Canadian] Globe and Mail article: In family court, a judge turns to ridicule to defuse the rage.

Michigan Husband and Wife are going through a divorce.

They have three Sons ranging in age from 5 to 9 years old.

Husband has the Sons for timesharing on Thanksgiving.

Afterward, Husband does not return Sons to Wife, variously claiming that he handed the boys over to a woman he knows through the internet or to an “organization”.

Husband reportedly tries to commit suicide the next day.

Husband insists that Sons are OK but that he is protecting them from Wife, who he asserts is sexually abusing Sons.

Husband is arrested on charges of parental kidnapping, a misdemeanor.

Read more in this Toledo WTOL CBS TV 11 news article: Father of missing Morenci boys arraigned in Michigan and this CBS TV News article: John Skelton Waives Right to Key Hearing.

A couple marry in Massachusetts. The couple adopt a child.

The couple move to Texas. One partner files for divorce.

The divorce culminates in a two day trial deciding proerty division and parenting of the couple’s child.

The family court in Austin, Texas grants the couple’s divorce. Subsequently, the Texas Attorney General intervenes to challenge the divorce.

The couple are lesbians. And Texas does not recognize homosexual marriages.

Where there is no legally valid marriage, there can be no divorce. Or so the Attorney General maintains.

And so an appellate court in Dallas concluded on similar facts. But that was Dallas.

Once the intermediate level appellate court in Austin rules, the losing party will likely take the case to the state’s supreme court.

Read more in this Austin Statesman article: Court urged to void Travis County gay divorce.

Fourteen member nations of the European Union have agreed to adopt special rules governing divorces of international couples. The new rules will go into effect in a year and a half.

International couples are couples where each partner is from, or lives in, a different European Union nation.

About thirteen percent of the European Union’s one hundred twenty-two million marriages involve international couples.

Under these rules, the couple can agree upon which nation’s rules will control their divorce, provided that the couple has a strong connection to the chosen country.

If the couple can’t reach agreement, then the new rules determine which nation’s law will apply to an international couple’s divorce.

The claimed purpose of the new rules is to squelch the filing spouse shopping for the most advantageous country to file in and then racing the other spouse to file first.

The new procedures have some glaring omissions though.

No country will be required to end a marriage that its own law does not recognize as valid.

Further, the choice of law really only applies to grounds for divorce and/or separation, as the case may be.

The new rules do not apply to legal capacity, annulment, property division, parental responsibility, child support or spousal support.

It’s not clear that the new rules will really thwart shopping for the nation with the most favorable divorce laws, but they may be a first step in that direction.

Read more in this European Parliament press release: Divorcing international couples can choose which law governs their break-up.

As the song says, breaking up is hard to do.

In fact, it is dreaded so much by so many, that one stalwart soul has decided to offer to do it for pretty much anyone who doesn’t want to do it themselves … for a nominal fee, of course.

So, operating under the says-it-all trade name “iDump4U”, said stalwart soul will be the bearer of the following bad breakup news:

• you want to end a casual dating relationship

• you want to call off your engagement

• you want a divorce

For between $10 and $50, your unpleasant message is delivered with, uh, style … by someone who is … not you …

Via video and/or phone call.

Many people do obsess over how to broach the subject of divorce with their spouse.

For some of them, this may be an option to consider. Or not …

Read more in this [Northern] Kentucky Post article: Website offers break-up services.