There was a hotly contested child custody case.

There were allegations of sexual abuse.

A custody evaluation was ordered.

The custody evaluator’s recommendation was adopted by the court and incorporated into a custody order …

Then the custody evaluator, a psychologist, was arrested for voyeurism.

Then his license was suspended.

Then he committed suicide.

Then what?

That is the question plaguing a lot of folks in Seattle, where the above reportedly befell a noted psychologist and custody evaluator.

Those involved in the family court system anticipate a greater than typical number of challenges to custody determinations as a result of the above events.

And that could mean future upheaval in the lives of many affected children.

Only time will tell whether his recommendations withstand any challenges which may be made.

Read more in this Seattle Times article: Therapist’s suicide could trigger challenges in legal cases.

A Massachusetts couple has the whole husband-wife spectrum covered.

He is a divorce attorney.

She is a minister and officiates at her fair share of weddings.

After a decade of marriage to each other, they appreciate the irony.

And they probably have accumulated a great deal of insight into which marriages fail and why.

Read more in this Cape Code Times article: Minister and divorce attorney counsel couples starting and ending marriages.

Chicago man and woman live together.

Woman adopts two children.

Man is de facto father.

When one girl is five and the other two, couple breaks up.

Woman denies man access to girls, for a year now.

Man moves for visitation.

Woman moves to dismiss motion for visitation.

How does the court rule?

An Illinois trial court refused to dismiss the motion for visitation, at least outright.

Only time will tell the ultimate outcome here.

In many respects, this case parallels where one partner in a same sex relationship adopts a child which the gay couple raises together – until they break up.

Read more in this Chicago Sun Times article: Man may get to see ex’s adopted girls.

Dad is murdered. Mother is convicted of the crime and sentenced to jail.

Mother’s sister and brother in law are appointed guardians of seven year old child.

Legal custody is shared by guardians and Dad’s parents, who live in another state.

Court orders guardians not to take child to visit Mother in jail.

Guardians later move for permission to do so.

Grandparents move to block visitation with mother.

Guardians move to change child’s last name to their own name, which is not Mother’s name or Father’s name.

Grandparents move to block name change as well.

This case takes shared parental responsibility to a whole new level, making consulting with the child’s other parent seem like a piece of cake by comparison.

Read more about this exotic co-parenting scheme in this [Raleigh, North Carolina] WRAL-TV 5 article: Kontz’s Family Seeks to Reinstate Visitation Rights.

It happens. The isolated case featured in the news where a husband allegedly kills his wife: to get custody of the kids, to avoid paying alimony, to evade paying child support, to avert parting with half of his “stuff”, etc.

But then if you review them all, it may appear that it’s not just an isolated case here and there at all. And maybe it’s not really about the kids or the money or the stuff.

Instead, a narcissistic sociopath is really just looking to keep his dirty little secrets secret.

That’s the chilling conclusion in this disturbing article in the Boston Globe: Why do men kill their wives? Could some of these murders really be no more than “divorce substitutes”?

For those interested in digging deeper into the pathos, whether for self-preservation or not, the article seems to be inspired at least in part by psychologist David Adams’ forthcoming book Why Do They Kill? Men Who Murder Their Intimate Partners.

As example after example faces trial in Boston alone, if nothing else, it should serve as a reminder that any kind of a divorce really would have been more tolerable than the possible reality of jail – or worse.

Under the law of California, Florida and many states, the obligation to pay alimony ends when the receiving spouse remarries, among other possibilities.

A divorcing California man agreed to pay his wife a certain sum of money each month as alimony.

After their divorce, his ex-wife registered her domestic partnership with another woman.

Believing the registered domestic partnership to be equivalent to marriage, the man thought he was released from the obligation to pay alimony.

But a California judge disagreed, ruling that the domestic partnership is mere cohabitation and not a marriage.

The man plans to appeal the court’s order that he continue to pay alimony.

The ruling highlights one of the less publicized impacts of the difference between marriage and civil unions or domestic partnerships.

Read more in this San Francisco Chronicle article: Man ordered to pay ex-wife alimony, despite domestic partnership.

Are divorce rates a function of nature or nurture?

According to studies, nurture. In fact, children of divorce are nearly twice as likely to divorce themselves.

But genetic predispositions or other inherited factors are not believed to be as significant as the social and emotional impacts of their parents’ divorce.

The study was conducted in Australia and followed twins and their families. For both reasons, conclusions may or may not hold up in the general global population.

Read more in this Forbes article: Family, More Than Genes, Helps Drive Divorce.

If you’ve ever wondered how to lose your rights to visit with your child, it’s really not that easy to do – in the US.

And it’s not necessarily any easier to do in Spain.

But it’s happened to a Spanish father there.

The father of a 10 year old boy took his son along to participate in the famous “running of the bulls” festivities.

The child was photographed and filmed with the bulls running just behind him.

The rules require that runners be 18 years of age.

Upon learning what had happened, the mother went straight to the police.

And in the end, a Spanish judge simply revoked the father’s rights of visitation.

Didn’t order supervised visitation, didn’t impose restrictions as to time and place and activities. Just out and out revoked them.

The father was also fined.

Read more in these articles:

1. the Ontario Chronicle Journal: Father denied visitation rights after running with son, 10, in bull festival
2. Boston Herald: Father denied visitation rights after running with 10-year-old son in bull festival
3. KARE 11 News: Judge revokes visitation rights over running with bulls
4. KVIA TV: Father denied visitation after running with 10-year-old son in bull festival
5. San Francisco Union Tribune: Father denied visitation rights after running with 10-year-old son in bull festival

Kansas, which reportedly has a large and growing number of grandparents raising their grandchildren, passed a law intended to provide financial assistance to those grandparents.

But it turns out that the statute is only aiding a tiny fraction of these grandparents (and only a tiny bit at that). The reason: as in other states, aid is limited to grandparents with formal legal custody of their grandchildren.

Yet many of these grandparents, de facto parents, don’t – and couldn’t – get formal legal custody of their grandchildren.

Ironically, the legal trend in most states makes it harder and harder for grandparents to obtain full legal custody of their grandchildren.

Read more in this Kansas Morning Sun editorial: We must find a way to help all custodial grandparents.

It has been almost fashionable for the last year or two to rail against “rampant paternity fraud” in the US. See my previous post, Paternity Fraud: How Much of It Is There Really?

So-called “rampant paternity fraud” may not be universal, however.

In Barbados, ninety-nine (99%) percent of unmarried fathers who challenge paternity reportedly are in fact the biological fathers! It is alleged that these fathers mount their challenges in bad faith, to delay the inevitable support obligation as long as possible.

Try reconciling these two extremely different portraits of the world of paternity cases …

Read more in this Barbados NationNews.com article: Fathers ‘using DNA testing as delay tactic’.