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

Maryland is poised to become what may be the first state to treat pets of divorcing couples as more than mere property.

Under proposed legislation, the family court would be authorized to establish visitation with a pet just as family courts establish timesharing for children.

The one glaring difference is that the family court would not be authorized to order payment of “pet support” or reimbursement of pet-related expenses by one spouse to the other.

If passed, this proposed legislation would represent a significant advance in the status of pets in divorces.

Currently, although spouses may agree to any arrangement they wish regarding their pets, the law views them as merely personal property to be awarded just the same as any other tangible property, based on fair market value.

Read more in this Washington Examiner article: When mom and dad split up, it’s the pets that suffer.

Illinois Husband and Wife are divorcing.

They have a three year old Daughter together.

Husband is killed. Wife’s grandmother is convicted of murdering him.

Husband’s parents, Grandparents, seek visitation and timesharing with Daughter.

The court grants Grandparents’ request for visitation.

Wife reportedly has refused to comply with the court’s order for Grandparents’ timesharing since last November.

Wife expresses a desire to relocate to Florida.

Grandparents ask the court to hold Wife in contempt.

Wife does not appear at hearing on contempt.

Court finds Wife to be in contempt and issues a warrant for Wife’s arrest.

Read more in this [Illinois] State Journal-Register article: Arrest warrant issued for Jennifer Watkins in visitation case.

Kentucky Father places Infant son into an oven. A cold one, but an oven.

Father is arrested for this conduct.

A Kentucky criminal court judge bars Father from having any contact with Infant.

Close to a year ago.

Now, Father’s attorney requests supervised visitation for Father, since Father is at-large on bail.

However, the criminal court judge denies Father’s request, and extends his earlier ruling absolutely prohibiting any contact with Infant.

Read more in this Paducah Sun article: Dad in oven case gets no visitation and this Lex 18 NBC TV News article: Man Not Allowed Contact With Infant Son He Put In Cold Oven.

Arkansas Mother and Girlfriend are gay.

Mother gives birth to Baby.

Baby is given Girlfriend’s last name.

Girlfriend is Baby’s primary caregiver for next few years.

Mother and Girlfriend break up.

Girlfriend seeks timesharing and visitation with Baby.

Arkansas does not permit same-sex marriages.

Nonetheless, an Arkansas family court awards Girlfriend timesharing and visitation with Baby.

And, on appeal, Arkansas’ Supreme Court recognizes Girlfriend’s right to timesharing and visitation with Baby.

The Arkansas court places great weight on the fact that Girlfriend has been Baby’s primary caregiver, and both paratners clearly intended that they would co-parent Baby together. This, in effect, equates Girlfriend with a parent.

Read more in this KATV 7 news article: Non-parent in same-sex bond gets visitation rights and this Arkansas Times piece: Supreme Court upholds visitation for same-sex ex

Florida Husband and Wife are divorced.

Husband and Wife have an eleven year old Son together.

Husband exercises visitation and timesharing with Son last October.

As Husband prepares to return Son to Wife at the conclusion of his timesharing, Husband discovers that there is a civil warrant out for his arrest. Husband allegedly failed to comply with the final judgment in his divorce.

When Husband arrives to drop off Son, Husband spots a law enforcement officer. Husband panics and takes off – with Son.

Not to return. They eventually end up in Michigan.

Where Son is found.

Husband is arrested for felony interference with child custody.

Read more in this Fort Myers News Press article: Missing Fort Myers boy found in Michigan.

After a breakup, parenting takes on a new dimension.

For some parents, they really begin learning how to parent themselves for the first time.

One of the things the noncustodial parent must now do is find meaningful yet enjoyable activities to do with their child during their visitation or timesharing.

One father shares some resources he has come to rely on:

• visitors bureaus can acquaint you with activities and attractions you probably don’t know about.

• local public libraries sponsor many activities and events that appeal to children, as well as provide information about even more.

• you can fashion a tour or itinerary for each day you have timesharing and visitation. Take advantage of the changes of season (if applicable) where you are enjoying your timesharing and visitation.

• put on a “kid’s thinking cap” to help you evaluate all the possibilities from a child’s – your child’s – point of view.

Read more in this AOL Travel article on Gadling:Divorced Dads: Five travel tools and ideas to make visitation more fun.

A sad statistic admitted in Australia.

Ten percent of children whose parents have split up never see their fathers a year after the breakup.

And another.

Twenty-five percent of the children that do see their fathers have only daytime visits, without overnights.

These Australian fathers generally have the least contact with their babies and toddlers under two years of age – and their older teens.

It is not clear that most Australian fathers understand their rights under the child custody agreements or child visitation orders applicable to them, let alone the law that should guide the entered child custody agreements and/or child visitation orders.

It is also unclear whether these fathers’ limited contact with their children is in compliance with child timesharing orders and timesharing agreements or the result of the other parents’ arbitrary withholding of their visitation or interference with their timesharing.

It should be noted that families in which allegations of domestic violence have been made may be overrepresented in the population to which these sad statistics apply.

Researchers attribute the limited contact to significant conflict in the family, as well as distance.

At the same time, Australian researchers also conclude that young children do better residing in one primary residence with one primary caregiver, and having only limited visitation with the other parent.

Nonetheless, the current government of Australia is reportedly working on improving fathers’ access to and contact with their children.

Read more in this Sydney Morning Herald article: Many children still do not see their fathers.

New Mexico Mother and Father have Daughter together in the US.

After Mother and Father break up, Father moves to Mexico.

Now, Father wants to exercise his timesharing and visitation with Daughter … in Mexico.

Mother does not speak Spanish and has never been to Mexico before.

Presumably, Daughter has never been to Mexico before.

Mexico is under travel advisories by the US Department of State due to violence and crime there, and Mother is concerned for their safety and freedom.

Mother has no problem with Father exercising visitation and timesharing – here in the US.

But a New Mexico family court judge orders Mother, a US citizen, to bring now eight year old Daughter, a US citizen, to Mexico to visit with Father for a week.

The presiding judge was unavailable to the media for timely comment.

Mother asserts that she does not have the resources to appeal the ruling.

Read more in this Eyewitness News 4 KOB TV article: Mother, child ordered to visit Mexico in custody case.

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.

Husband and Wife have two Children together.

The time of Husband and Wife’s exchange of the Children approaches.

And Husband allegedly punches Wife in the face … and knocks her out.

Police arrive. And taser Husband.

Who resists arrest.

Husband is arrested on charges of domestic violence and criminal threats.

Read more in this San Jose Mercury News article: Woman punched unconscious during child custody dispute.

Some New York children don’t get to see their fathers regularly.

It’s not because their parents have divorced, or voluntarily parted company.

It’s because their fathers are incarcerated.

For these dads and their children, the New York Department of Corrections has launched a program called “Daddy and Me”.

The program gets fathers reading children’s books, and recording the stories for their children.

At the conclusion of the program, the children will come to the jail and their fathers will present them with the CDs the dads recorded for their children.

The program’s primary, stated purpose is to promote literacy.

But it offers the implicit additional fringe benefit of fostering parent-child bonds.

Read more in this New York Times article: ‘Daddy, Read for Me’.

Husband and Wife’s four year old Child is in foster care, placed with Wife’s ex-boss.

Husband and Wife are now seeking custody of Child.

Child is in foster care because Wife pleaded guilty to statutory rape.

Because Wife became pregant with Child when she was in her thirties … and Husband was fifteen years old.

And that is when Husband and Wife married, despite the twenty-two year difference between their ages, and Husband being a child under the law.

(The marriage was allowed under Georgia law – at that time – due to Wife’s pregnancy. The law has since changed, reportedly.)

Husband and Wife’s efforts to gain custody of Child are denied. But Husband is awarded greater timesharing with Child.

Read more in this UPI article: Judge nixes custody request of teen, wife.

Mother and Father have twenty-one month old Baby together.

Mother and Father break up.

Baby lives with Mother.

Mother and Father are competing for custody of Baby.

Suspect breaks into Mother’s parents home and kills Mother’s parents and one of Mother’s brothers.

Mother manages to hide and then escape.

Suspect claims Father hired him to murder Mother so that Father could win custody of Baby.

Father is arrested and confined without bail until trial.

Family court judge orders that Father and his family have no contact with Baby.

Father now seeks to modify that order to allow visitation and timesharing with Baby for himself and for his family.

Mother’s family oppose Father’s family having timesharing and visitation with Baby.

Father does not appear to have been present at the scene of the murders.

The family court will hold a hearing on Father’s request for visitation and timesharing.

Read more in this Chicago Tribune article: Grandparents of Darien slaying suspect seek access to baby

Indian Husband and Wife marry in a Hindu wedding ceremony.

Husband and Wife have two Sons together.

Family lives in Malaysia.

Husband unilaterally converts to Islam during marriage.

Husband converts young Sons to Islam without Wife’s agreement – or knowledge.

Husband and Wife separate.

Wife takes Sons to live in Australia.

Wife brings a constitutional case over Husband’s secret conversion of Sons, seeking custody of them.

Malaysian Court enters temporary timesharing order requiring Wife to bring Sons to Malaysia so that Husband may exercise visitation with Sons.

Wife allegedly does not comply with temporary order.

Husband presses Wife’s contempt and objects to her case being heard because of it.

Malaysian Court holds that Wife has no right to put on her case, because she is in violation of the court’s order by withholding Husband’s access to Sons. Wife must return to Malaysia to earn the right to press her case … or her case will be dismissed.

Read more in
this MSN article: Shamala cannot be heard as she breached visitation rights and
this Malaysian Digest article: Federal Court Dismisses Shamala’s Referral Application.

Lesbian Couple have two Children via artificial insemination. They are and have been the Children’s primary caregivers.

But Bio Father, the sperm donor, has had shared parental responsibility for Children.

Bio Father, who is gay, now seeks timesharing with Children, although he had represented to the Lesbian Couple that he “require[s] little involvement”.

This year, when the Children are nine and seven years old, the UK trial court awards Bio Father equal timesharing with Children.

Lesbian Couple appeals.

And the UK appellate court has taken the high profile, politically charged case under advisement.

Read more in this Australian news article: Lesbian mother, gay father in court over children.

Husband and Wife have three Children together.

Husband is arrested for allegedly murdering Wife … before Children’s eyes.

And then fleeing from the scene with the Children in tow.

Husband is now in jail awaiting trial.

Children are in foster care.

Both sets of Children’s Grandparents are in the process of qualifying as foster parents for Children.

At a family court hearing concerning the Children, Husband requests that the Children visit Husband in jail. Husband believes that the Children would like to visit him in jail.

The Children’s paternal Grandparents support the Children visiting Husband in jail.

The Children’s maternal Grandparents object to any such timesharing with Husband.

The attorney appointed to represent the Children also objects to any timesharing with Husband, because the Children may be called as witnesses at Husband’s criminal trial and Husband might attempt to influence the Children’s testimony during visitation.

Husband’s attorney counters by proposing electronic monitoring to guard against witness-tampering. It is unclear how effectively such monitoring could guard against manipulation.

The Children’s attorney asks the Court to speak with the Children’s therapists before ruling on visitation.

The family court judge indicates he will consider Husband’s request for timesharing but that he will take no action regarding any existing criminal court orders barring or limiting contact with the Children or witnesses in general.

One can only speculate about Husband’s motivations for timesharing.

Read more in this Mankato [MN] Free Press article: Murder suspect requests visitation for kids.

Internet visitation for parents separated from their children by distance has gained increasing popularity over the last decade.

It began with more expensive add-on web cameras, which required advanced technical hardware and software knowledge to hook up and make work.

But now the options have expanded and simplified.

Many cellular phones come standard with built-in video cameras today.

Internet telephone services offer video phone conferencing. Even online chat applications and text messaging often feature video now.

In short, video communications are now readily accessible to many, many ordinary Americans, often without special equipment or specialized technical knowledge.

Making internet timesharing better, easier and cheaper than ever before.

Which is why more and more states are recognizing it, approving agreements for it and even providing a statutory and/or case law framework for ordering it.

And, despite closer scrutiny of parental relocation in many states, with the recession and weak job market persisting, virtual timesharing is here to stay.

Besides making long distance visitation possible, at least in some cases, internet visitation adds a meaningful dimension to ordinary phone conversations .. and has resulted in longer-lasting phone contact.

But opponents of virtual visitation fear that its availability may encourage courts to allow relocation more freely.

Read more in this FindLaw article: Parenting in Cyberspace? Virtual Visitation and the Court-Ordered Use of Technology Become Realities In Tough Economic Times.

In Tennesee, an unusual custody battle is brewing. The subject of the battle is a thirty-six year old female …

Elephant.

Woman, one of the most prominent experts in the world on elephant rehabilitation, raised the Elephant in the circus from a tender age.

Woman eventually founded, ran and lived in the nation’s first habitat for “retired” elephants past their performing prime.

Until, after fifteen years of service, the sanctuary reportedly fired her.

After her discharge, Woman was initially allowed “supervised visitation” with Elephant. The justification for the supervision was alleged roughness toward Elephant.

Later, Woman was barred from any contact with Elephant.

The habitat has grown to 2,700 acres and $23 million, with tens of thousands of benefactors.

Woman has now filed a lawsuit, and many supporters of the sanctuary are rallying to her cause. Among other things Woman is seeking in her suit, Woman is still seeking visitation with Elephant.

Woman contends that politics and personal greed led to her termination, rather than alleged aggression.

The court’s view remains to be seen but the public or, at least, the supporters of the habitat, appear to be sympathetic to Woman’s position.

After all, the Elephant is like family to Woman. Firing Woman is one thing. Cutting her off from Elephant is another.

Read more in this New York Times article: Sanctuary in Custody Fight Over Elephant.

Texas Husband and Wife have stormy fifteen year marriage.

Husband allegedly physically abuses Wife throughout it.

Husband and Wife have three Children together.

In 2006, Husband, intoxicated, carrying a gun, chases Wife into Daughter’s room, and threatens to shoot and kill Wife … if she doesn’t reveal the name of a man Husband believes asked her out.

Husband then gives the gun to Wife, and asks her to shoot him. When Wife disarms the gun though, Husband beats her.

That incident drives Wife to seek a domestic violence restraining order against Husband.

That incident also leads to Husband being convicted of assault on Wife. But the court withholds adjudication in the case.

In 2008, Husband allegedly abducts the Children to Pakistan. But Wife is able to secure their return to the US after about a year.

Wife files for divorce from Husband.

A guardian ad litem is appointed by the court to look out for the best interests of the Children.

Neither the guardian ad litem or Wife opposes unrestricted visitation by Husband.

In their divorce, Husband is awarded timesharing with Children.

And during Husband’s timesharing, Husband allegedly murders all three Children.

And wounds himself as well.

Husband is now charged with three counts of murder.

October is national domestic violence awareness month.

Read more in this Houston Chronicle article: Slain kids’ mom tells of abusive marriage.

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.

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.

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.

As children of divorce blossom into their teens, visitation and timesharing becomes more of a challenge for parent and child, especially if the parent lives a significant distance from the child.

Unlike younger children, teens have active, semi-independent lives filled with friends, school, extracurricular activities, other interests, etc.

It can be more difficult for parents to impose their will on their children – and the price of doing so may be too high.

In some cases, extended summertime visitation bears the brunt of sustaining and nurturing the parent-child relationship.

During extended summer timesharing, children should not engage excessively with the parent left behind. This is supposed to be the child’s time with their other parent.

Read more in this Atlanta Journal Constitution article: Summer fun helps kids, divorced parents strengthen bond.

Research studies sponsored by the Australian government raise troubling implications for rotating physical custody arrangements with roughly equal timesharing with children after divorce or separation.

In a nutshell, the studies conclude that young children are happier and do better developmentally living primarily with only one of their parents.

More specifically, babies up to two years old having overnights away from their primary caregiver tend to be more irritable, experience separation anxiety and cling to the parent who is their primary caregiver.

Toddlers from two to three years old having several overnights away from their primary caregiver also tend to experience separation anxiety, as well as more turmoil, eating disorders, aggression and difficulties maintaining concentration.

After three or four years of living with rotating physical custody with roughly equal timesharing, children tend to exhibit poorer attention spans and focus, and boys tend to suffer from clinical ADHD.

More generally, fixed rotating physical custody with roughly equal timesharing schedules, such as are spelled out in court orders, correlate with symptoms of depression and anxiety in young children and are disliked by the children – and their mothers.

The only ones who favor rotating physical custody arrangements with roughly equal timesharing are generally fathers.

The head researcher concludes that rotating physical custody with roughly equal timesharing adversely affects emotional and behavioral development in young children, and that having a primary residence benefits young children.

For children four years and older though, the children’s difficulties are attributed to parental conflict and detached parenting rather than rotating physical custody arrangements with roughly equal timesharing.

Read more in this Health Canal Health News article: Infants struggle in shared care while rigid, shared parenting puts school aged children at risk – new reports.

Ohio Father and Mother have Daughter.

Father and Mother divorce.

Father is awarded visitation and timesharing.

Father is behind in his child support payments.

Mother allegedly withholds timesharing since April.

Father, who has served time for nonpayment of child support, questions why child support orders are enforced with jail, but visitation orders aren’t enforced at all.

More likely, the parents trying to enforce timesharing orders are not going about it the proper way to obtain results under the law. Generally, that will be a contempt proceeding initiated by a motion for contempt.

Under Florida law, timesharing is separate and independent of payment of child support.

Read more in this Cleveland Plain Dealer article: Child visitation rights go unenforced, fathers complain.

Another Florida teacher in the news…

Southwest Florida Husband and Wife have two young children together, two and four years old. The four year old has autism.

Husband and Wife are going through a divorce.

Wife is a special education instructor in an elementary school.

Wife undergoes a psychological evaluation. And is ordered to complete an anger management course and parenting classes.

A truck driver finds the older child wandering the streets, dressed in pajamas.

The Department of Children & Families (DCF) removes both children from Wife’s care.

Wife is arrested for child neglect, a felony.

Wife is suspended from teaching children and assigned to an administrative position.

The trial judge temporarily denies Wife any contact with their four year old, but allows a short weekly unsupervised visitation with their two year old.

Inappropriate and provocative images, allegedly of Wife, are posted on the internet on websites apparently owned by Wife.

Images of the couples’ children, unclothed, are also posted on the internet.

Husband contends that Wife posted the images. Wife denies the charge.

There is no solid proof that Wife posted the images. That would require a computer expert.

Husband’s attorney argues that merely posing for the images, even if she hasn’t posted them, calls Wife’s parental fitness into question.

Trial judge orders that all such images be removed from the internet.

Trial judge orders that Wife undergo a psychosexual evaluation regarding Wife’s sexual propensities.

New images are posted on the internet.

DCF approves Husband as a fit parent.

Husband obtains a domestic violence restraining order against Wife.

Father moves to northeastern Florida, with the former couple’s children, now in his care.

Wife follows.

Wife violates the order of protection by showing up at Husband’s workplace. She denies knowledge.

Trial judge considers that Wife may require more social services, pending her psychosexual evaluation.

Read more in this Marco [Island, FL] Eagle article: Judge orders psychosexual evaluation of former teacher charged with posting naked photos of her children on Web.

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.

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.

You have to think twice about having a child with someone from Japan. Even if you’re from Japan.

If the parents break up, one gets sole custody of their children and the other gets … absolutely nothing. No custody. No visitation. No contact.

Ever. As though that parent had died.

Unless the custodial parent chooses to allow it.

Who gets custody in Japan?

If one of the parents is not Japanese, the Japanese parent almost always is the one to win custody.

Regardless of what any prior foreign custody determinations may have been.

Making Japan the ideal place for a Japanese parent living abroad to flee with their children.

Other nations have been increasingly vocal in insisting that Japan enter the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

As well as many Japanese family lawyers and parents.

But that would be only the first step necessary to protect the parental rights of foreigners.

Japan’s archaic domestic family law would have to change dramatically as well.

Read more in this Inter Press Service article: Left-Behind Parents Want End to Single Child Custody System and this Conducive Chronicle article: Left Behind Parents.