Florida Divorce * Child Custody * Domestic Violence Law Lawyer | Boca Raton

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.

Long Island stay-at-home Wife files for divorce in 2008, after twenty-one years of marriage.

Husband owns a contracting business.

Shortly before trial in their divorce, Husband, acting unilaterally and of his own volition, files amended joint tax returns for 2004 through 2007.

In the amended returns, which do not bear Wife’s signature, Husband confesses (or discloses) $1.6 million in income he previously did not report for his business.

Husband also includes a list of marital assets from which the Internal Revenue Service may collect the back taxes, including the couple’s million dollar home.

At trial, the Husband presents no evidence as to any legitimate reason for suddenly becoming a good citizen and amending the tax returns.

Instead, the divorce court holds that Husband acted solely out of malice, with the intention that Wife bear the brunt of at least half of the tax liability eroding her award of her share of marital property in their divorce.

And the family court does something quite extraordinary. It hoists the Husband on his own petard.

The court allocates the entire tax liability to the Husband and his share of the marital property, in effect, insulating the Wife from liability for the couple’s taxes for those years.

Absent Husband’s malicious, egregrious conduct toward the Wife, Wife would be responsible for half of the couple’s tax liability.

Read more in this New York Law Journal article: N.Y. Judge Calls Husband’s Pre-Divorce Filing of Back Taxes ‘Despicable’.

A new study concludes that husbands without incomes, or with incomes significantly lower than their wives, are substantially more likely to cheat on their wives than husbands married to women with similar incomes.

And it may seem counterintuitive but, according to the study, husbands without incomes of their own, are a whopping five times more likely to be unfaithful to their wives than husbands with incomes similar to their wives.

Such husbands may be straying to compensate for their insecurities.

Yet, on the other side of the coin, husbands who earn a lot more than their wives are also more likely to commit adultery than earners at similar levels as their wives.

The sweetest spot for marital fidelity appears to be when the wife earns twenty-five percent less than her husband.

To put things into perspective though, the study finds that only seven percent of men have affairs, compared to three percent of wives.

The study followed married and cohabiting couples established for at least a year over a six year period. Note that the researchers are quick to point out that income is not the only determinant of whether a spouse will have an affair.

Read more in this MSNBC article: Guys more likely to cheat on high-earning women.

There is a popular belief that when parents divorce, children may be adversely impacted in a significant way.

There are some studies that reveal correlations … but they do not really prove causation.

Now, unrelated studies, having nothing to do with divorce, are revealing that very young children, perhaps even as young as two or three years old … may experience depression, and exhibit signs of depression. Even children from happy, intact homes.

It could be in the genes … or in the nurturing by similarly afflicted parents … or a combination of both … as well as other factors.

For numerous reasons, such depression may not be officially diagnosed or classified, or may be diluted down to a so-called “risk factor” or predisposition, or other similar terms.

Regardless, something to be reckoned with.

Imparting a new dimension to consideration of the potential impact of divorce on children.

And of the potential impact on children of living in unhappy home environments for extended periods of time.

Read more in this New York Times article: Can Preschoolers Be Depressed?

People contemplating divorce often ask at their initial divorce consultation how long it will take. Unfortunately, the answer generally is: It depends.

Every case is different. It is – rarely – possible to complete a divorce in about a month. Some cases take years. Most cases fall somewhere in between.

A California billionaire-Husband and Wife have been going through their divorce for … eight years. No, that’s not a typo.

That’s on the long side. But there are special circumstances.

In this particular case, Wife’s allegations against Husband range from death threats to illegal drug stashes accessible to their children in the marital home to cheating near the marital home.

Husband has also previously been on the receiving end of serious allegations by US attorneys pursuing criminal prosecutions.

So, the divorce has not been the most amicable. And some of the issues are sensitive. And the parties have three minor children.

In California – and Florida – divorce proceedings are not confidential. Although many participants in the process wish they were.

So Husband and Wife have actually agreed to keep certain things in their case quiet. And, to a degree, the court has approved. Along the way, numerous orders sealing particular documents or categories of documents were entered.

And, eventually, no less than the Los Angeles Times intervened in the case, in the hope of gaining greater access to sealed records in this “juicy” divorce case. And different judges rotated in and out of the case.

Sealing orders were variously entered, amended, and superseded, etc., etc. And Husband appealed.

But Husband’s appeal was unsuccessful. And more of the eight years’ worth of this divorce court case file is now accessible to the public, including the media.

Read more in this Forbes piece:Billionaire or Not: No Special Treatment.

In a word, no. Although spouses often view themselves as “pet parents” of their pets, divorce law does not (currently) equate pets with children in any way, shape or form.

Quite the contrary, the law casts pets as property. A fair market value is assigned to the pet.

Like any other asset or debt, the pet is assigned to one spouse and some other similarly valued asset is assigned to the other spouse.

The choice of “assignee” (recipient) may be enlightened by consideration of the pet’s needs and which spouse has already demonstrated that they are better equipped to meet them. Or the ruling may be fairly arbitrary.

So what’s a pet lover to do?

The Law is what controls in divorce court, and the matter is before the divorce court because the spouses can’t agree upon a resolution.

But The Law may not produce a result that is in the pet’s best interests, if the spouses care about that.

Alternatively, the spouses can reach their own agreement as to which spouse keeps the pet full-time, they can agree to some sort of timesharing or visitation schedule, the spouses can agree to rotate physical custody, or the parties can agree to designate someone else (like a mediator or arbitrator, a trusted mutual friend or relative or, for that matter, the pet’s veterinarian or groomer) to choose the superior pet caregiver.

In general, animals are less adaptable than people (or children) and crave routine, structure and a stable territory they can make home.

Read more in this CNN American Morning AM Fix piece: Gut Check: Should pets be considered like a child in divorce court?

British law allows admission into evidence of assets a spouse’s private documents obtained by the other spouse peacefully but by stealth.

Until now. The British Court of Appeal, an intermediate appellate court, just struck down that vast body of law.

In the case before the appellate court, office mates of the Husband copied files from office computers for Wife’s use in their divorce court case.

The holding will make it more difficult and expensive for spouses ignorant of the other spouse’s financial affairs to prove their spouse’s income and assets for purposes of determining child support, alimony and property division.

The Court’s justifications? Concerns about violating privilege and encouraging illegal and / or unethical conduct.

The appellate court has denied leave to appeal to Britain’s highest court.

Read more in this Forbes article: Private documents no longer allowed in divorce and this UK Guardian article: Covertly found assets no longer valid in divorce.

Ohio Husband and Wife have Children. Husband and Wife divorce.

Wife and Children move to another state. Wife withholds timesharing and visitation from Husband starting in late 2006.

In Fall of 2009, there is a trial regarding Wife’s alleged noncompliance with visitation and timesharing ordered in Husband and Wife’s divorce.

Husband prevails at trial, and Wife is ordered to allow Husband makeup timesharing and visitation.

But Husband’s victory is hollow. In the intervening months and years, Wife has successfully alienated Children from Husband.

Husband is bitter.

Husband suggests that a presumption of rotating equal timesharing between the parents and expedited enforcement proceedings would have prevented his plight.

But is Husband’s perception correct? Or did Husband himself miss opportunities to avoid or promptly remedy the situation?

Nothing is known of Husband’s specific case beyond what was published in the attributed letter below. Rather, the remarks below are based on a composite of countless Husbands (and Wives) who have had similar experiences.

Husband indicates that timesharing was first denied after Wife and Children relocated.

Huh? How is it that Children relocated? Did Wife’s relocation with Children comply with Ohio law?

Did Husband timely challenge it legally? Had he done so, successfully, that might have solved the problem before it started.

And whatever one’s opinion about rotating equal timesharing may be, it simply is not practicable long distance. So such a presumption would not have helped Husband here.

Wife’s first alleged violation was in 2006. Trial was late in 2009.

While justice in family court is, admittedly, not especially swift, by the same token, three years seems like an excessive delay.

Was there really a three year wait for a trial date? Or did Husband delay pursuing enforcement through the courts, instead waiting and hoping that things would somehow just improve on their own?

An astonishing number of parties wait an astonishingly long time before taking enforcement action through the courts. And then chafe when resolution isn’t instantaneous when they finally do take legal action.

Read more in this Cleveland Plain Dealer letter to the editor: Adopt laws to prevent parental alienation.

Husband * controls the pursestrings. Tightly.

* The gender of abusers varies, but “Husband” is used here for illustrative purposes.

Wife must account for every penny given to her.

Wife has no access to funds, except what Husband doles out to her. Not even her own paycheck.

Husband uses Wife’s credit card as his own, running up debt without Wife’s knowledge.

Husband puts obligations in Wife’s name. And doesn’t take care of them.

Husband tries to sabotage Wife’s employment.

Rutgers University is conducting a study of the relationship between domestic violence and economic abuse.

Domestic abuse is all about control and finances are just another means with which to exert control.

The study offers participants instruction to overcome economic abuse.

Read more in this [Central New Jersey] Home News Tribune article: Rutgers professor studies ‘economic abuse’ as tactic to control women in relationship.

Many people think filing for divorce in Florida is expensive.

They might want to re-think that.

The York County area in Virginia has come up with a creative solution to rising public costs and shrinking public budgets for contentious family court litigation of contested divorce cases and contested child custody cases.

Namely, shift the costs to the litigating spouses and parents.

The York County area courts have no full-time professional judges on salary to hear divorce court cases involving disputes over property division! None. At all.

Instead, this part of Virginia taps practicing local attorneys to hear family court cases on an independent contractor basis, over the course of their day juggling cases in their law practices.

With the spouses and parents picking up the tab to have a hearing officer for their contested divorce cases and contested child custody cases, at a cost of about $250 per hour in court.

Payable in advance, in the form of a $2,000 “retainer” from each party, held in an escrow account for the hearing officer.

Just another expense of divorce and child custody battles? An omen of the future here in Florida and other jurisdictions?

There is some backlash among local attorneys practicing in the area, who view this requirement as shutting some litigants out of divorce court (or family court) … in violation of constitutional equal protection principles … and in just one county of the state. Among other concerns.

On another level, funding and operation of the legal justice system is generally perceived as a uniquely governmental function.

Raising the question: where should privatization end?

Read more in this Newport News Virginia Daily Press article: Pay-for-judge requirement for disputed divorces

Washington State Husband and Wife have Son together.

Wife is allegedly threatened and abused by Husband. Husband denies such allegations.

Wife flees with Son to live in Senegal and Thailand.

After Son reaches the age of eighteen, Wife and Son return to Washington.

And Wife is arrested on charges of custodial interference.

Wife enters plea bargain under which prosecutors recommend a sentence of thirty days’ incarceration.

The trial court, however, repudiates the prosecution’s sentence recommendation and instead sentences Wife to one hundred eighty days’ confinement, with credit for time served. Leaving almost three months to go on Wife’s sentence.

Neither Senegal nor Thailand are parties to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

Read more in this Seattle Times news article: Chehalis woman sentenced in child custody case.

Texas Husband, a firefighter, has Children from his first marriage, to Mother.

Husband remarries Wife.

Husband dies fighting a fire.

Husband’s legal beneficiaries can expect to receive death benefits and insurance proceeds in an amount close to $600,000. Wife has already collected $60,000.

The issue: who should Husband’s legal beneficiaries be deemed to be under Texas law?

It turns out that Wife was born a man, and subsequently had a sex change operation.

Texas law does not recognize same sex marriages.

Husband’s mother has filed suit to have Husband’s marriage to Wife annulled as void, as though Husband and Wife had never been legally married. That would leave Children as Husband’s sole heirs.

Husband’s family asserts that Husband only found out about Wife’s sex change operation a few months before his death and, because of it, wanted a divorce from Wife.

Prior to Husband’s death, Mother tried to modify custody of Children to strip Husband of joint custody, to keep Children away from Wife. In those proceedings, both Husband and Wife testified that Husband did not know that Wife was transgender.

E-mails support Wife’s assertion that Husband knew her genetic history from the get-go, and that they were still together at the time of Husband’s death.

Regardless of when Husband learned that Wife was transgender, Husband hadn’t filed for divorce … or taken steps to disinherit Wife before his death.

But, legally, under Texas law, what is the gender of a born male who undergoes a sex change operation? And can such a person legally marry a male under Texas law?

A Texas trial court has temporarily frozen Husband’s estate’s assets (except for needed support for Children) pending ruling on Husband’s mother’s action for annulment.

Read more in

• this Houston KRIV Fox 26 TV news article: Wharton Firefighter’s Assets Frozen

• this Houston KRIV Fox 26 TV news article: Nikki Araguz Bares Soul on FOX 26 Morning News

• this Fox News Network article: Transgender Widow in Texas Says E-mail Proves Husband Knew About Sex Change and

• this Houston Chronicle news article: Deposition: Firefighter unaware wife born a man

Immigrant Man and Woman have two month old Baby.

Florida Wife allegedly tells undocumented Man and Woman that she is an agent with the office of Immigration Services and that they will be deported.

Wife says she must take Baby into custody, and Man and Woman give her Baby.

Man and Woman realize that something is not right and report incident to authorities.

Wife pleads guilty to charges of kidnapping and impersonating a public officer, and could get sentenced to life in prison.

Wife is married to a professional baseball player.

Wife previously served time for arson, grand theft and forgery.

Read more in

• this FanHouse news article: Wife of Pirates Outfielder Could Face Life in Prison for Kidnapping
• this Tampa Tribune article: Woman pleads guilty in kidnapping of migrant workers’ baby and
• this Tampa Tribune article: Woman could get life for taking infant

Divorce is complicated.

When the spouses have a special needs child, it gets a a lot more complicated.

Parents of special needs children have to plan together for their child’s future … even if they won’t be together themselves.

In the specific context of the parents’ divorce or separation, the parents should know that child support obligations for a dependent child may continue beyond the age for children who don’t have special needs. Possibly indefinitely.

And that support may include significant health-related expenses that don’t apply to children without special needs.

Additionally, timesharing with a special needs child may involve significant expenses that don’t apply to a child without special needs.

Both support and access expenses should be addressed by the parents’ divorce or custody case.

Especially if a special needs child receives or will be eligible to receive benefits or government services related to their special needs, it may be advisable to establish a special needs trust to protect the child’s right to those benefits and to ensure compliance with the applicable law so that benefits and/or services are not inadvertently forfeited.

Additional matters to cover in such a trust are future housing, medical insurance and potential inheritances for the child.

Beyond the financial aspects, caregiving for a special needs child is more complex and demanding than for a child without special needs.

If responsibilities are going to be allocated, there should be a clear and comprehensive allocation of responsibilities.

If not, one parent should be designated as primary custodian and caregiver and be awarded sufficient parental responsibility and authority to provide appropriate care unfettered.

Designation of an alternate legal guardian should be made in the event that the primary caregiver dies or becomes unable to care for the special needs child. In appropriate cases, a legal guardian may be appointed for a special needs child who is an adult based on chronological age but nonetheless in need of a legal guardian.

A primary caregiver should maintain a care journal that captures the daily caregiving routine, to aid any successor guardian. It should include information about the child’s preferences and behaviors.

Read more in this Lexington [Kentucky] Herald-Leader article: Divorce planning for children with special needs.

I previously posted in Minnesota Pleased with Early Results in Pilot Program to Resolve Custody Issues Amicably Outside Court about a pilot program in Minnesota using Early Neutral Evaluation.

The program is still going strong, and has expanded to other counties in Minnesota and to divorce cases with disputes over more varied issues, including financial disputes.

In this variation on mediation, both parties meet with two different evaluators, who each offer their own opinion as to the outcome on that issue if taken to court.

The program still boasts a settlement rate of between seventy and even eighty percent. After an investment of just six to fourteen hours of time.

The program’s proponents concede that early neutral evaluation is not suitable in cases where there is a history of domestic violence or other abuse.

The statistics on early neutral evaluation are certainly promising.

Some other metrics of the program’s success are whether participants feel satisfied with the outcome afterwards.

Unfortunately, a significant number of participants in ordinary pro se (without lawyers) mediation don’t totally understand that they aren’t required to reach agreement or to “give in” to the proposal that the mediator (here, evaluator) seems to be directing them toward.

This can lead to “settlements” that are, in essence, coerced and don’t keep the peace for long.

Read more in this press release: Early Neutral Evaluation Pilot Showing Great Promise in Minnesota.

Sign of the times.

Arizona Husband and Wife’ s marriage has broken down.

Husband and Wife have three Children.

Husband and Wife can’t sell their home in the current economy.

So Husband and Wife – and Children – are all still living together … going on nine months into their “divorce”.

Along the way, Husband and Wife attend mediations – and family counseling.

And it’s all being filmed for public airing on primetime television.

Still living together. Nine months. Dirty laundry on TV.

And yet another three months of “living together” after Husband and Wife reach a settlement.

It would appear to be somewhat subjective whether so-called amicable resolution via mediation is always better than not-so-amicable resolution via litigation (which can also place people in mediation and result in settlement – and separation … faster).

Husband, Wife and Children’s psychologist doesn’t recommend the “living together” approach to divorce that Husband and Wife have adopted.

But different strokes …

Read more in this ABC News Primetime article: House of Hurt: ‘Separated’ Couple Stuck Living Together Through Divorce.

Texas Father has a five year old Son. Father leaves Son with his Girlfriend, who is not Son’s mother.

Son dies after reportedly being beaten by Girlfriend while in Girlfriend’s care for a week.

Girlfriend is charged with injury to a child.

Girlfriend has a Baby and six year old Daughter.

Girlfriend is not allowed timesharing with Daughter.

But Girlfriend is allowed two hours of visitation per week with Baby.

Son is one of two hundred children in Texas who die from abuse and neglect each year.

Texas’ child welfare agency offers warning signs that should tip adults off to neglect or abuse of children and the need to make a report to the child abuse hotline.

Read more in this Austin [TX] KVUE ABC TV news article: Woman arrested for abuse allowed visitation and How to Recognize Child Abuse .

Research indicates that people afflicted by Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, popularly known as ADHD, are two times more likely than other people to be divorced. Fully sixty percent of their marriages are in trouble.

How come?

In a nutshell, they don’t pull their weight in a marriage.

They don’t attend to things that need to be attended to.

They miss appointments.

Break commitments.

Forget about drop offs, pick ups.

Leave their spouse feeling ignored, neglected, unappreciated, unloved.

Their spouses come to feel that they cannot depend on them.

Some liken being married to their spouse to having another child to care for.

Eventually, this can breed resentment, anger and frustration in the spouse who doesn’t have the condition.

The spouse with the condition, feeling overwhelmed, may retreat or withdraw.

Four percent or more of adults suffer from ADHD. Many people don’t even know they have it.

Before giving up on their marriage, couples might wish to explore implementing coping strategies.

For example, one researcher and author reports getting very good results with priority-sorted flash cards, each listing just one task she needs her husband to attend to.

Read more in this New York Times piece: Attention Disorders Can Take a Toll on Marriage

“We stayed together for the kids”. Everyone knows someone who can say that.

So how’d that work out?

A New Jersey university’s researchers’ nationwide study in the US suggests that the answer is “not so good”.

According to the findings in the study, the high conflict imposed on the children’s home life haunts children throughout their lives, leading to greater conflict in their own adult relationships.

The researchers theorize that the prolonged conflict is what impacts children’s experience with relationships.

By contrast, children of divorce experience a tough period surrounding the divorce, but then get over it.

Presumably because the hostilities fade as their parents disengage from each other.

Read more in this Times of India article: Divorce ‘may be better for kids’.

Mother and Father have a 9 year old Son.

Mother and Son live in New York.

Father lives in Arizona.

Mother agrees to twice a year visitation between Son and Father, and the New York Family Court so orders.

Mother changes her mind. Mother refuses to send Son for his timesharing with Father.

Father is serving a twenty-seven year sentence in an Arizona prison for rape of three women.

The trial judge holds Mother in contempt of court, reportedly for missing several court appearances at which she would have had the opportunity to defend herself …

And the Court sentences Mother to fifty days in jail. Without providing for bail.

In fact, Mother spends eighteen days in solitary confinement, before the trial judge changes his mind and releases Mother into her attorney’s custody.

Read more in this Gothamist article: “Unusual” Case of Mom, Rapist Dad and Visitation Rights and this New York Daily News article: Judge frees mom jailed for keeping son from rapist dad.

There are, of course, many different reasons why a spouse might want a divorce:
disputes about money and property, infidelity, incompatibility, etc.

Here’s a “ground” for divorce you may not have thought of.

One spouse expects to be buried or cremated when they die, and the other expects …

To be frozen and preserved – in the hope of eventual revival and restoration to health and longevity.

You may have heard of cryogenics.

But did you know it places a great strain on a marriage?

One couple has managed to live for 28 years with this one chasm dividing them – bitterly. But the spouse who wants to be frozen, the husband, isn’t trusting his wife to see that his final wishes are carried out as he has painstakingly planned.

The originator of cryogenics reportedly advocated divorce in the event that the spouse who does not wish to be frozen will not cooperate with their partner being frozen.

But some spouses are not willing to go quite that far. They make their arrangements to be frozen behind their spouse’s back – for fear that their spouse will divorce them over their choice.

Disagreement over whether to go the cryogenics route probably isn’t a ground for divorce in too many cases right now. But time will tell about the future …

Read more in this New York Times Magazine article: Until Cryonics Do Us Part.

Social scientists followed participants in a study of risk factors for heart disease for thirty-two years.

And learned that divorce is a social condition. When divorce penetrates a social circle, it is much more likely to strike within that social circle again.

This finding confirms what many people likely observe around them.

The corollary is that where divorce has not yet penetrated a social circle, a first divorce within that social circle is less likely to occur.

Some ancillary findings.

Having children tends to counter social impetus toward divorce.

Remarriages are more likely to result in divorce than first marriages, with each successive walk down the aisle facing escalating risk of divorce.

Read more in this New York Times piece: Is Divorce Contagious? and this Huffington Post piece: Is Divorce Contagious?

Tennessee Husband and Wife divorce.

Husband keeps marital business that sells wetsuits over the internet.

Wife goes to work with some competitors of Husband’s business during the divorce, if not sooner.

Husband’s business gradually fails.

Husband brings a federal civil lawsuit against Wife, two companies she works with and the principals of both companies.

The lawsuit alleges a conspiracy to steal Husband’s customers and business name.

The family court already found the elements of fact to support Husband’s allegations … and that Wife had lied under oath repeatedly.

Husband is pursuing compensation and punitive damages in the civil lawsuit.

In addition to the alimony and attorney’s fees Wife was ordered to pay Husband in the original divorce, and the marital assets awarded to Husband in the original divorce.

Wie is appealing the final judgment in her divorce from Husband.

Read more in this Nashville Post article: Nashville at law: eBay merchant accuses ex-wife of swiping his business.

Washington state Father and Mother have two Sons together. They broke up some time ago.

Father and ex-Girlfriend have a Daughter together. They have also broken up.

Father is a glassblower who also runs an organic farm.

Father has no criminal convictions and has never been accused of child abuse or domestic violence.

Father’s timesharing and visitation with all three of his children is restricted.

His timesharing with all three children is required to be supervised. And takes place only twice a month.

At a supervised visitation center. Sons are not legally permitted to enter Father’s house.

Why the requirement of supervision?

Father uses and grows marijuana for medical purposes, in compliance with Washington state law.

Under Washington law, medical marijuana patients “shall not be penalized in any manner or denied any right or privilege”.

Still, family court judges routinely consider state-sanctioned medical marijuana use in making child custody rulings and visitation and timesharing rulings.

Such rulings arguably are not exercises of the court’s power to punish or disciminatory against medical marijuana patients.

They are arguably exercises of the family court’s sound discretion in carrying out their charge to rule in the best interests of the children who are the subjects of the divorce and child custody cases they preside over.

The other parent of the children arguably has an interest in insulating their children from illegal drugs and illegal drug use (under federal law).

And in their children not being left in the care of a parent whose judgment is or may be impaired.

Courts in other states that permit medical marijuana use, such as Colorado, have ruled similarly to the Washington court presiding over Father’s case regarding his Sons.

Read more in this Associated Press article: Medical Pot Can Cost Parents In Custody Disputes and this San Francisco NBC TV news article: Medical Marijuana Weighing on Child Custody Disputes.

There’s a new way to celebrate independence. Not of a political sovereignty.

Of spouses. Or, actually, ex-spouses.

With a divorce ceremony. They’re catching on in Japan.

Couples (presumably amicable ones) invite friends and family to witness their separation and renewal of their lives. And their destruction of their wedding rings with a gavel.

At a “divorce mansion”. The flashy affair runs about $600.

The originator of the concept, a former salesman, is now exporting his creation to Korea.

And carries the distinction of being Japan’s (if not the world’s) first “divorce ceremony planner”, a brand new career.

Read more in this Reuters article: Japanese couples say “I do” – in divorce ceremonies.

Grandparents adore their grandchildren. And children often adore their grandparents.

But sometimes their parents or, their surviving parent, doesn’t.

And so it is that sometimes grandparents are denied contact with their grandchildren by one or both of their parents.

Prior to 2000, grandparents had various rights to visit with their grandchildren.

Often they were set out in expansive statutes … many still on the books.

But those rights were all but eliminated in a US Supreme Court decision that year that ultimately rocked the grandparents of the nation.

Today, grandparents’ rights are in truth a misnomer.

But in some states there are still certain situations where grandparents may be awarded custody of grandchildren or, to a lesser extent, visitation.

The most common reason though is temporary or more lasting unfitness (due to abandonment, abuse or neglect) of the parent or parents.

But grandparents haven’t given up. They are tirelessly lobbying to bring back grandparents’ rights to visitation under wider circumstances.

Read more in this Chillicothe [OH] Gazette article: Grandparent visitation rights can be a battle in Ohio.

A financial planner strongly recommends creating a budget after divorce to facilitate wise decisionmaking about finances.

(Actually, a budget should really be created prior to settlement or trial, for the same reason.)

Perspective is helpful in making any major purchases or financial decisions.

Depending on a person’s individual circumstances, their immediate priority may be education, training or financing a business, in order to increase their ability to generate long-term income. In the short run, this may need to take precedence over other purchases or investments.

Further, it may be prudent to favor liquid investments over others for some time after divorce – maybe even an emergency cash reserve.

For many people, major purposes should be deferred or subordinated temporarily to the two above priorities after divorce.

Marital settlements or awards are only made once and investment mistakes may be difficult to recover from.

A financial planner may be helpful and appropriate in this process.

Read more in this Primedia iAfrica article: Start over after divorce.

The final judgment is entered. The court case is over.

Next begins the aftermath of divorce. For some spouses, even spouses who initiated the divorce, this can be a very difficult time.

A lot of divorced spouses would benefit from some type of counseling and professional support to aid them in transitioning to their new life.

A couple of therapists in California have designed a therapeutic program specifically intended to take an ex-spouse through that emotional transition from grief to recovery and beyond.

They call it Divorce Detox.

They believe that proper treatment is necessary both to heal and to fully embrace and maximize the opportunity to start a fresh, new life.

Read more in this Earth Times press release: Emotional Cost of Divorce Skyrocketing Due to Lack of Treatment.

Rhode Island Father in prison.

Father’s Daughter is born.

Father moves multiple times for visitation or timesharing with Daughter.

Trial judge denies.

And, a matter of weeks to six months before Father’s release, terminates Father’s parental rights to Daughter on grounds of abandonment and serious detriment to Daughter.

At the trial, the only witness is Father himself.

No caseworkers on behalf of the child welfare agency.

No evidence about Father’s compliance or noncompliance with his case plan.

No testimony about what would be in Daughter’s best interests.

Father has completed drug treatment, anger management, domestic violence prevention and behavior therapy.

Father’s prison therapist recommends reunification of Father and Daughter.

Father appeals.

Rhode Island Supreme Court reverses, holding that the state’s child welfare agency has not met its burden of proof of Father’s unfitness as a parent.

Read more in this Providence [RI] Journal article: Family Court Judge Jeremiah criticized in R.I. Supreme Court ruling.