General legal information furnished as a service of Fort Lauderdale / West Palm Beach family law attorney Janet Langjahr
More marriage and divorce statistics.
According to the Pew Forum, among US residents, of all religions, followers of Hindu are the most likely to be married and the least likely to be divorced.
However, the sampling of Hindus was the smallest, so that was where the greatest margin of error existed.
Next least likely to be divorced were Jews, Muslims and Mormons, all coming in four percent higher than Hindus.
Next were Catholics, at one percent more likely to be divorced.
Read more in this India West article: U.S. Hindus Least Likely to Divorce: Survey.
A millionaire and his wife are pitted against each other in an ongoing custody battle … over their dog.
The “father”, who has no children, has spent over $60,000 to win custody of the pooch.
At first, the couple engaged in roughly equal timesharing, by agreement.
Then the “mother” accused the “father” of abuse.
The judge didn’t buy it, and the “father”’s timesharing resumed …
Until the “mother” moved to Connecticut.
Since then, the “father” has had no time with their pet.
The “father” is filing an appeal.
Read more in this New York Daily News article: Fur flies over dog custody.
About half of American marriages end in divorce.
But they tend to last a bit longer today (8 years) than in the past (7 years).
Teen marriages, the most susceptible to failure, have declined.
Most couples are tending to marry a bit later in life.
About two-thirds of all American breakups are initiated by the wife.
Couples who are very demonstratively affectionate in public settings are most likely headed for trouble.
Modern divorces can be nasty and expensive.
Last month I posted Canada to Enforce Premarital Agreements Crossing into Religious Issues.
In that case, the Canadian Supreme Court ordered a man to pay his ex-wife nearly $50,ooo for making her wait 15 years for a religious divorce - in violation of their prenuptial agreement.
The Canadian high Court based its ruling both on the contract and a Canadian statute that penalizes spouses who hold up religious divorces.
Now the ex-husband is seeking an appeal to challenge the statute as interfering with freedom of religion and as being discriminatory, because he argues that it targets Jews.
It is anticipated that the Canadian Supreme Court will decline to hear the appeal, possibly because the ruling was supported on contract grounds independent of the challenged statute.
Read more in this Montreal Gazette article: Man challenges divorce law.
Here in South Florida, we have a lot of unmarried senior couples, in “second-time around” relationships, cohabiting with each other. The reasons for not remarrying vary.
Although Florida is not a common law marriage state, bare cohabiting can leave some important things up in the air - or up to a judge. A cohabitation agreement may avoid either outcome and facilitate clarity and control.
The agreement can set out household financial arrangements and expectations in the event of death or breakup.
The agreement, with companion documents, can give a cohabitant medical decision-making authority they would not otherwise have.
The agreement, with companion documents, can give the right to manage business / financial affairs of the cohabitant in the event the cohabitant is unable to do so.
The agreement, with companion documents, can provide for disposition of part or all of an estate to a cohabitant.
Little is automatic for an unmarried couple and extra effort may be required to “take care of” the surviving cohabitant - if that is the intention.
A cohabitation agreement is a starting point toward that goal, but not the ending point.
Although it is not specfic to Florida, more can be read in this ElderLawAnswers’ article - Cohabiting Seniors: Protect Your Rights.
A Michigan senator believes divorce runs roughshod, without any consideration - over pets.
Under the current law of most states, pets are relegated to personal property status.
“You want Rover? … I’ll take the silverware then. Deal.”
The senator has sponsored legislation to remedy that, requiring divorcing spouses to list all of their pets and when they were adopted.
Further, it would require the spouses to file a custody plan for the pet with the court - or take the matter up before the judge presiding over their case.
The Michigan senator was reportedly inspired by Wisconsin legislation that he read about.
But most Michigan commentators have criticized the proposed legislation as adding to the problem of too much family court litigation rather than helping solve the problem.
Oddly enough, the senator does not have a pet. He must think he has a lot of pet lovers among his constituency …
Read more in this Grand Rapids Press article: Bill dictates pet custody in divorce cases.
The Arizona Daily Star brought a lawsuit to compel Arizona’s Child Protective Services (CPS) to disclose records in two cases culminating in the deaths of three children.
In Arizona, as in many states, including Florida, juvenile dependency cases are sealed and confidential.
The problem with that is that it all but eliminates oversight by the legislature and accountability to the public.
When there are deaths or near-deaths of children, some Arizona legislators believe that records should have to be turned over to anyone making a request for them, unless disclosure would impede an investigation. Legislation to implement that policy is pending in Arizona.
More pending legislation would
Notwithstanding opening of hearings, the proposed legislation prohibits disclosing personal identifying information about children outside the courtroom.
Some legislators fear that too much information will be made public - and haunt the children involved.
Read more in this Arizona Daily Star article: House discusses opening some CPS files.
Continuances are a fact of life in the legal system, for many reasons. But, in some cases, things really get out of hand. And judges usually don’t like it.
Take this California case. Many court appearances and many continuances.
The wife had two types of cancer and suffered from bipolar disorder. Out of money, she was representing herself.
And she checked herself into the hospital because of her psychiatric condition on the day before her re-set trial.
The trial judge decided that enough was enough and proceeded with the trial in the wife’s absence.
On appeal, the court reversed. The appellate court held that the woman was entitled to an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act and a related California court rule.
The court ruled that the trial court did not have the same degree of discretion in denying a continuance as an accommodation to a disability as for other reasons.
Read more in this Los Angeles Metropolitan News-Enterprise article: C.A.: Judges Violated ADA by Denying Trial Delay to Bipolar Pro Per.
Ten years ago a young Australian man wrote a book setting out all the questions and issues to consider before deciding to marry someone.
Using his own book as the determinant of whether to marry a young Utah woman, the young man opted to marry her.
The book garnered the young man significant media attention and launched his career as a marriage advisor.
Only a few years later, the couple divorced.
So then the young man wrote another book setting out all the questions and issues to consider before deciding to divorce your spouse.
Now I suppose he can say he has re-launched his career as divorce advisor.
Good save?!
One thing is certain. The decision whether to divorce is a complex one, which typically must take many issues and circumstances into account.
Read more in this Salt Lake Tribune article: Marriage guru’s own wedded bliss amiss, so he writes book on divorce.
Payment - or non-payment - of child support may affect children in ways that go beyond money and are, sometimes, unintended.
For noncustodial parents who are struggling to meet their legal obligations, it may mean children making do with less during visitation - and the rest of the time too.
For parents fighting about child support, it may mean children experiencing misguided guilt - or anger and frustration - toward one or both parents.
Children may act out.
They may empathize with the nonpaying parent.
Or they may experience denial of a deadbeat parent’s delingquency - or resulting low self-esteem.
Or it may affect them years later.
Children may imitate a responsible parent - or an irresponsible parent.
And they may learn the value of a dollar.
Read more in this South Texas Monitor article: For children, child support can’t buy peace of mind.
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