Turkish Man living in France seeks to marry and bring a Turkish Woman to live with him in France.

Only that particular Woman had been accepted to college and has her heart set on attending.

So the Man promises the Woman that she will be able to go to university after the marriage.

So the Woman marries the Man.

But he does not allow the Woman to go to college.

In fact, he literally locks Woman inside the house in France.

To do housework.

Woman returns to Turkey and files for divorce.

Woman alleges that Husband is violent and that his family mistreats her.

The Court grants the divorce and, concluding that this case is not that different from a case of physical violence:

• orders alimony for Woman
• orders actual damages for Man’s “social violence” toward Woman
• orders emotional damages for Man’s “social violence” toward Woman

Read more in this Hurriyet [Turkey] Daily News article: Man found guilty of ’social violence’.

Financial columnists recommend the less than romantic activity of reviewing each other’s credit reports before tying the knot again.

Overlooked or forgotten accounts with an ex-spouse can rear their ugly heads even after a divorce.

Times two can make for a double whammy.

Before the marriage is the time to address these issues squarely and assess what you’re getting into.

Truth be told, checking your credit report is a pretty good idea during the divorce as well.

Read more in this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article: Family Finances: Know how credit impacts your marriage.

Husband and Wife married twenty-seven years.

Husband, former CEO of corporation, convicted of accounting fraud.

Husband ordered to pay over $3 billion as restitution.

Divorce filed. Uncontested.

In divorce settlement, Husband sells home to Wife for $10.

Prosecutors seek to intervene, contending that Husband bought assets using fraudulently procured funds and Husband should not be able to shield them through a sham divorce.

This is the latest in a veritable rash of reportedly sham divorces that authorities or private corporations have sought to intervene in to preserve access to allegedly misappropriated assets.

Read more in this American Bar Association Journal article: Feds Intervene in Exec’s Divorce, Argue It’s a Ruse to Avoid $3.3B Restitution.

Consciously or unconsciouly, one or both parents in divorce sometimes draw their children into the following roles:

1. Spy on the Other Parent
2. Side-Taker against the Other Parent
3. Messengers to the Other Parent
4. Partner or Confidante
5. Household Finances Stretcher
6. Teenager Peer
7. Spoiled as Compensation
8. Pawns in Visitation and Custody Battles
9. Captive Audience to Disparagement of Other Parent
10. Tool Wielded to Manipulate or Control the Other Parent

Drawing children in to the divorce is damaging to them both psychologically and emotionally.

Read more in this Tampa Bay [FL] Examiner article: Divorce and the games parents play.

New York state Husband and Wife have four children together.

Husband sustained a brain injury in a car accident several years ago and has a “mental health history”.

Wife files for divorce and child custody.

Husband allegedly stabs Son in the chest during a “domestic incident” at home.

Husband is charged with attempted murder of Son.

Husband is incarcerated pending his trial.

And the Court enters an injunction for protection against domestic violence, or order of protection, prohibiting Husband from writing or calling Wife or their four children.

The charge against Husband carries a maximum sentence of 25 years.

Read more in this Buffalo News article: West Seneca man indicted for stabbing his six-year-old son and this WIVB TV 4 article: Father charged with
stabbing son.

Haitian immigrant Mother thinks 6 year old Daughter is possessed by evil spirits.

Mother resolves to rid Daughter of them. With a voodoo ritual.

Mother allegedly pours rum on the floor in a circle surrounding Daughter and then pours some more on Daughter’s head and then … sets fire to Daughter.

When Daughter is engulfed in flames, Grandmother puts the fire out with water.

Then Mother and Grandmother simply bathe and put Daughter to bed, without any medical treatment.

Not until the next day, at a relative’s urging, does Mother take Daughter to a hospital.

Daughter has second and third degree burns over twenty-five percent of her body.

Mother is charged with assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

Mother denies her guilt and tells police the incident was an accident caused by Daughter startling her while she was boiling rice.

Mother also denies awareness of Daughter’s burns.

Mother blames Grandmother for putting Daughter to bed without medical treatment.

Grandmother is charged with reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child.

Daughter, still in the hospital in a medically induced coma, is now in child protective custody.

Daughter told her foster caregiver what happened.

Neighbors reportedly heard Mother and Grandmother yelling at Daughter to remain down on her knees for hours on end on various occasions.

It does not appear that any of the neighbors ever called the child abuse hotline or the police to intervene on Daughter’s behalf.

Read more in this New York Daily News article: Prosecutors: Queens mom Marie Lauradin performed voodoo fire ritual that left daughter, 6, scarred.

Washington state Mother and Father, both Indian immigrants, marry and have Son.

As part of their divorce, the Court permits Son to travel to India with either parent.

Mother allegedly takes three year old Son to India.

Nearly a year ago.

And Mother and Son reportedly have not returned to the US since.

Father is entitled to court-ordered visitation.

And, since the abduction, Father has been awarded custody of Son.

But both orders are just so much paper, without practical effect.

Because India is not a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

And India is indifferent to US court orders in family law cases.

Even the custodial interference charges filed against Mother in Washington state have no impact.

Practically speaking, Father has no legal recourse for return of his son.

Read more in this Kent [WA] Reporter article: A Father’s Day he won’t see: International child abduction devastates former Kent man.

Wisconsin couple files for divorce.

Big Corporation seeks to intervene in, or step into, the case…

To dismiss the couple’s divorce.

The presiding trial judge has one preliminary question before the Court will listen to the Corporation’s arguments for dismissal:

does the Corporation have standing to insinuate itself into the case?

Standing is a legal term that ponders what legal interest does this Corporation have that would entitle this Corporation to butt into this couple’s divorce?

A seemingly good question.

Here’s what the Corporation reportedly relies on to support its standing.

Apparently the Husband was indicted on 20 odd counts of defrauding Corporation by inflating invoices to the Corporation from his trucking businesses.

And then a civil court granted Corporation a judgment against Husband for over $200 million.

Several days later is when Wife filed for divorce from Husband.

In the divorce, Wife asks for pretty substantial sums for child support and alimony.

Corporation essentially alleges that the couple seeks to use the divorce as a way of shielding assets from the civil court money judgment in favor of Corporation.

And maintains that the couple took trips together just before and even after the divorce began.

Read more in this Madison & St Clair [WI] Record article: S.C. Johnson standing hearing Friday in Buske divorce.

An upstate New York Man doesn’t get the message.

On one occasion, the Man was found at a Woman’s home with a knife.

Man was sentenced to 2 years’ incarceration for stalking the Woman and criminal contempt for violating a no contact order.

The Man’s incarceration was concluded at a hospital. Upon his release from the hospital the Man went … to the Woman’s home.

The Woman called the police and the Man left … only to return later the same day. At which time he was arrested again.

Resisting arrest was added to the charges against the Man this time around.

The Man and Woman met online and had gone out a few times. The Man would not let the Woman break up with him.

The Man is obsessed. The Court let the Man off relatively easy, arguably perceiving the Man’s obsession with Woman as benign.

Read more in this Syracuse Post Standard article: Convicted stalker accused of stalking victim again.

According to a lawsuit filed by a Florida teenager’s mother, the athletic boy died of a heart attack … brought on by prescription psychiatric medications.

Allegedly, too many of them, including one to alleviate side effects of the others.

The boy’s psychiatrist reportedly prescribed sixteen different drugs for the boy over the course of a year.

The same doctor also allegedly prescribed a number of medications for a foster child … who subsequently committed suicide.

The Department of Children and Families (DCF) is investigating.

According to DCF, substantial numbers of children in the child welfare system, even those ranging in age from infants to 6 years old are on psychotropic drugs, that is, mind-altering drugs.

According to reports, one third of teens in the child welfare system are on at least one psychiatric medication.

Further, in all or nearly all of the cases of children in the child welfare system on these medications, neither the children’s parents nor a judge had consented to the treatment of the children with psychotropic pharmaceuticals – a prerequisite under the law.

In the case that is the subject of the lawsuit, it is also alleged that there was insufficient monitoring of children on these strong medications.

Food for thought … for any parent of a child from a broken – or intact – family.

Read more in this Miami Herald article: Lawsuit links psychiatric drugs to Tamarac child’s death.