The reason?

Because, a now-suspended attorney and father says, there is no accountability.

To whom?

Not specified.

In his view, child support is, apparently, routinely diverted to:

• drug abuse
• gambling addiction
• “lawyer-generated controversies”
• partner support
• income destruction and
• father replacement agendas

And, in his opinion, the government’s mandating of the payment of child support to the custodial parent is unconstitutional governmental interference in childrearing, and slavery.

In his view, his child support obligations are satisfied by providing a home with play areas for his children during their timesharing with him.

His implied premise: his children’s support during the other parent’s timesharing, even if that is the vast majority of the time, is entirely the sole concern and responsibility of the other parent … unless, perhaps, there is accountability … presumably, to him.

Read more in this Utica Observer-Dispatch guest opinion: Child support is welfare because it lacks accountability.

In Kansas, severe child abuse is on the decline, reportedly largely because of years of “evidence-based prevention strategies” supported by years of generous government funding.

Evidence-based prevention measures include:

1. home-visitation by social workers to families at high risk of abandonment, abuse or neglect of children
2. parent support and
3. education and information on early childhood development

Although these strategies are expensive, they are reportedly seven times less expensive than addressing the abandonment, abuse and neglect of children that would result from not funding these initiatives.

The federal government expends over $100 billion each year due to mistreatment of children.

Home visitation professionals work closely with families in distress to educate parents, assist parents in arranging medical care and direct them to community resources that can help them.

In some ways, these professionals are modern surrogates for longstanding family and friends from whom families may be distanced in our mobile society.

Read more in this Wichita [KS] Eagle article: Prevention effort saves kids, money.

Times are tough. Especially for those wishfully contemplating divorce.

Even more especially for those who are upside down in their homes and possibly facing foreclosure and/or overburdened by credit card debt.

For some, bankruptcy may be the best or only way not only to escape a bad marriage, but also to get their love lives and financial lives back on track, according to a bankruptcy attorney.

This strategy may work best where both spouses are on board with it and go through bankruptcy prior to final judgment in their divorce.

It is important to realize that bankruptcy cannot discharge alimony or child support obligations, past, present or future.

Also, the law has changed over the last several years, and debt may not be as freely dischargeable and marital property settlements may not be as easy to circumvent as in the past.

Still, consulting with a bankruptcy attorney knowledgeable of bankruptcy law as it applies to divorce and paternity-related issues just may make all the difference to those wishfully contemplating divorce but saddled with overwhelming debt.

Read more in this Bankrate website article: 5 money jams bankruptcy can fix.

Mother and Father divorce.

Father is awarded custody of Daughter.

Ninety percent of children abducted in California are the subject of a child custody dispute.

And so it was with eight year old Daughter, who went missing fourteen years ago.

Now twenty-two years old, Daughter has recently been found alive and well.

Mother has been arrested for kidnapping though.

This case stands out for its resolution so long after the abduction.

Only six percent of child abduction cases open more than six months are ever solved.

Mother and Daughter moved frequently throughout Daughter’s childhood after the abduction.

Daughter no longer lives with Mother.

Because Daughter is a legal adult, authorities will not provide Father with the name she goes by or her contact information.

Read more in this San Jose Mercury News article: Resurfacing of Walnut Creek girl highlights strains of parental abductions and this CBS Early Show news article: Girl Gone 14 Years Found Safe; Mom Charged.

What’s the relationship between premarital cohabitation and divorce?

Contrary to earlier research (based on smaller samplings), a new study suggests that there isn’t much of a relationship between cohabitation and divorce.

Interestingly, the variable that did have slight statistical significance was the degree of commitment between the cohabitors at the time of moving in together.

Specifically, couples who begin cohabiting prior to becoming engaged or otherwise commiting to future marriage with each other are more likely to divorce if they eventually marry.

On the other hand, couples who move in together only after becoming engaged or making some other mutual commitment to marry each other later have about the same odds of later divorcing as couples who did not cohabit prior to marriage.

This newer study is based on larger samplings, because these days two thirds of married couples live together before tying the knot.

The likelihood of divorce was determined based on a ten year window from the date of marriage.

Earlier studies suggested that cohabitation before marriage actually increased the odds of later divorce.

Read more in this USA Today article: Report: Cohabiting has little effect on marriage success and this New York Daily News article: Living together before marriage doesn’t significantly raise likelihood of divorce: study.

Husband is court-ordered to pay support. Child support or spousal support or both.

Husband gets laid off and his only income is from unemployment.

He cannot afford to pay his court-ordered support.

He stops paying entirely. Or pays what he can.

Leaving a large monthly deficiency.

In the current economy, getting a comparable job could take a while.

What should Husband do?

Well, too often Husband just continues to limp along, month after month, his back support obligation growing larger and larger by the month.

Naively thinking that his unemployment will excuse his nonpayment of support and get him off the hook.

Unfortunately for him, no such luck.

The only way Husband can contain the damage is to file for a modification of support. Immediately.

Read more in this Daily Breeze [LA] column: Ask the Lawyer.

People often ask “how long does a divorce take?”

What most people really mean is “how fast can my divorce go through?”

The answer to both questions can vary widely from case to case depending on many factors.

Many states impose a minimum waiting period before a divorce can go through to final judgment.

In Arizona, the current wait is sixty days – but some Arizonians think that’s too soon (ones who are not seeking a divorce).

And so a state legislator has introduced a bill to lengthen Arizona’s waiting period for a divorce to one hundred eighty days! Six months.

The same bill also increases mandatory divorce education, presumably on co-parenting after divorce.

A psychologist opposes the bill as forcing children to live in a hostile environment for longer.

The legislator reportedly will be amending the bill to create an exemption for victims of domestic violence though.

Florida’s waiting period is twenty days from the date of filing.

But, in practice, rarely are any but the simplest of uncontested divorces completed anywhere near that quickly.

Read more in this Arizona Republic article: Panel OKs bill to extend divorce waiting period.

Seemingly ordinary California family, if a bit large.

Six biological children.

Three children adopted from Africa.

Homeschooled.

Fundamentalist Christians.

The folks next door.

Until one of their children, 7 years old, dies of cardiac arrest.

And, it turns out, two of their other children have serious injuries and conditions, including kidney failure.

The dead girl mispronounced a word while reading her lesson aloud.

Parents are arrested on charges of murder, felony torture and misdemeanor cruelty to a child. In other words, child abuse.

Children are taken into protective custody by child welfare agency.

Parents have no prior arrests or child protective services investigations records.

Parents allegedly use a punishment device advocated by a well-known Christian fundamentalist couple holding themselves out as child-rearing experts.

Parents have retained separate counsel.

Read more in this Chico [CA] News Review article: Child-abuse case shines light on Paradise couple.

Husband and Wife are divorced.

Wife is a singer who has recorded music that has sold well and earns her recurring royalties.

Under the terms of their divorce, Husband is entitled to half of Wife’s royalties on certain music she recorded during their marriage.

Wife reportedly has not cooperated in producing information to Husband regarding the royalties she has earned, and reportedly failed to comply with a court order that she sign authorizations for a court-appointed expert on recording contracts to independently gather the information for the court.

Court orders Wife to appear at a contempt hearing.

Wife tells the court that she does not want to go to jail, but Wife takes exception to certain language in the proposed letters that Wife claims is broader and more inclusive than similar letters from her original divorce.

Court orders the expert to meet with Wife in an effort to resolve the disputed language … and does not sentence Wife to jail – or even hold her in contempt.

The original divorce file is sealed. The court orders that documents gathered in these enforcement proceedings be kept confidential as well.

Read more in this Detroit News article: Anita Baker avoids jail in court battle.

Parental alienation.

Much has been written and said of it.

Yet neither the American Medical Association nor the American Psychological Association have recognized it.

Many courts have acknowledged it, however.

And confused it, at least in some cases, with trying to protect a child from a physically and/or psychologically abusive parent.

Resulting in some children being ordered into unsupervised timesharing and, in some cases, majority timesharing, with an abusing parent … to punish the so-called alienating (that is, protecting) parent.

In California, a legislator has sponsored a bill that, if passed, would deny the use of parental alienation in California’s family courts.

Is it better to err in favor of protecting an allegedly alienated parent’s “rights” or in favor of protecting a child from abuse?

Ultimately, that may be the real question on which use of parental alienation in court should turn.

Read more in this Capitol Weekly article: Parental Alienation must be excluded from all custody hearings.