General legal information furnished as a service of Fort Lauderdale / West Palm Beach family law attorney Janet Langjahr
Postcards from Splitsville.
It sounds like a joke. But it’s actually about a very serious subject …
A tool for helping kids (and adults) cope with divorce - and express their true feelings in a safe, supportive environment.
All as part of an eight week divorce recovery workshop started in Arizona for kids three and up.
It’s also for their parents, as participants - or as observers of the impact of their divorce on their kids.
This volunteer-led workshop could catch on and spread.
Read more in this Arizona Daily Star article: Group lets kids share sad sentiments and the Divorce Recovery website.
Ohio man is convicted of bigamy.
Man is sentenced to probation - and ordered to get a divorce from one of his three wives within six months.
Man fails to get divorce.
Man is arrested for probation violation.
Man is confined to house arrest.
Man is again ordered to get divorce.
Man faces jail time for probation violation and, presumably, original offense.
But the judge doesn’t want to put Man in jail. The judge just wants Man to get a divorce from one of his wives.
However, that still appears to leave Man with one wife too many …
Read more in this Cincinnati Enquirer article: Bigamist gets time to divorce a wife.
Florida has had at least its fair share of scandal over sealing of court records in violation of the law and open public records policy of this state. But we’re not alone.
A Nevada judge ordered that a child support case against another, former Nevada judge be sealed - unilaterally and summarily - and also entered a gag order in the case. The judge benefiting from the sealing and gag order was seeking to get back into the judiciary.
The sealing judge reportedly did not comply with Nevada legal requirements for sealing court records. But she defended her actions as being for the protection of the minor child.
The Nevada Supreme Court reversed and ruled that the sealing judge abused her discretion.
Further, according to the Los Angeles Times, which had her under investigation, the same judge allegedly presided over cases where friends or business associates were parties - on more than one occasion.
Read more in this Los Angeles Times article: Nevada judge abused authority, court rules.
Massachusetts man buys lottery ticket.
Man wins $1 million lottery.
All is good in his universe.
Until …
Man gets charged with violating terms of his probation on bank robbery charges.
Not his first probation violation.
Then man is served with contempt of court papers for failure to pay almost $40,000 in back alimony and child support.
Man will not know his fate until next year.
Man’s story illustrates the saying: “be careful what you wish for…”.
Support recipients everywhere got what they wished for in this instance too.
A spokesman for the state lottery issued a statement that state lottery officials would comply with any court order for support.
Read more in this Cape Cod Times article: More bad news for lottery winner.
Immigrant woman marries American from Wisconsin.
Due to birth defects, for most of the American’s life, this individual could have been denominated either a male or a female. But the original birth certificate designated this individual a male.
Prior to the marriage, this individual had surgical removal of male genitalia, reportedly solely for health reasons. The individual’s birth certificate was subsequently amended and her gender was re-designated as female.
The month after the marriage, the American went to court to amend the birth certificate to again designate him as male. The American argued that the original amendment was an error.
But the trial court and, later, an appellate court, refused, holding that the American was time-barred from challenging the original amendment of the birth certificate.
The couple’s marriage license was revoked and the marriage annulled, because same sex marriage is not legal in Wisconsin.
As a result, the New Zealand woman was denied a visa to remain in the US.
The American is quite distressed over the woman’s loss of legal status in the US and plans to appeal to the highest court available.
Read more in this Fairfax New Zealand Limited article: Marriage struck down as husband fails to change gender.
An undoubtedly controversial Australian husband and wife urge couples whose relationships are afflicted by domestic violence to stay together and work through their issues. They say it worked for them.
They believe that domestic violence issues tend to travel with each partner to their next relationship -and expose their children to greater risk of abuse.
They also recognize that sometimes there is no place for the parties to go away to anyway.
The couple, who are not mental health professionals, report that many abusers suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder. They claim that many professionals now classify narcissistic personality disorder as a “developmental gap”, rather than as a mental illness or true personality disorder.
But healing the relationship takes work, the couple admit.
Read more in this PRWeb press release: Don’t Say, ‘Just Leave him’ - There are Better Solutions to Domestic Violence.
Every divorce is different. But few participants escape unscathed emotionally.
An English professor and poet has published a prize-winning collection of poems including “What to Wear for Divorce”.
The author felt that the grim reality of divorce should be depicted through “nonsense” and emotion-charged imagery.
Writing about her divorce was cathartic for the poet.
Perhaps reading it would be cathartic to other people going through divorce.
Read more in this South Mississippi Sun Herald article: A poet walks us through her divorce.
A multimillionaire and his wife are going through a hotly contested, expensive divorce in which the parties are disputing property division and support issues. Hardly surprising or unusual.
The couple currently live in the UK, although they reportedly manage, quite legally, not to pay any taxes on their wealth. Much of the Husband’s wealth is tied up in trusts.
The couple have two children who have financial interests and needs. But how to protect them from their parents battle?
The British court awarded the children UK 30,000 pounds to retain legal counsel to protect their interests - at taxpayer expense.
A British judge commented that it is “exquisitely ironical”. Those probably aren’t the words British taxpayers would use.
Except for the attorney for the children, which is not so common in conventional family cases, the case is not that different from many cases where the parties have far more modest means.
For example, one spouse is paying a fortune to its lawyers to avoid paying anything to the other spouse - and succeeding too well so far.
Read more in this UK Guardian article: Children of multimillionaire given legal aid in divorce battle.
A divorced psychologist determined that something important was missing from her legal divorce, making it feel incomplete and unfinished in her mind.
Yearning for something more to help her achieve closure and move on, she researched an ancient divorce ritual in her religion.
The formal, funeral-like ceremony she participated in was both life-altering and empowering for the psychologist. It transformed her and her perception of her former husband, and revealed to her his new role in her life.
Drawing upon her own roots and experience, the psychologist has generalized and expanded the concept of the divorce ritual and now adapts it to fit any couple’s religion, ethnicity and personal experiences.
Friends, relatives and spiritual advisors may witness or even participate in the ceremony.
The psychologist feels it is a critical step to divorced people finding peace and moving on with their own lives without animosity toward their former spouse.
The psychologist is now on a kind of mission to bring the divorce ritual to those who can benefit from it.
She will even be teaching her concepts at Harvard Law School next summer.
For those who may be struggling in their efforts to start over after divorce, it may be another option for them to consider.
Husband abandons Wife and kids.
Under religious Jewish law, Wife is stuck in limbo and cannot divorce or remarry.
Wife tries but, despite best efforts, is unable to locate Husband.
Twenty years go by.
Wife learns that the Husband is incarcerated in Israel.
Rabbis intervene with the Husband on the Wife’s behalf.
And Husband agrees to sign off on papers giving the Wife a divorce.
After twenty years.
Now that’s a slow divorce. Makes any American state’s family court system look fast by comparison.
Well illustrates that “things could always be worse”.
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