Florida Mother goes to a Social Security office with her four year old and her five year old.

While she is in the office, she apparently spots repossessors preparing to tow her car away.

Intending to save her car, Mother runs out of the Social Security office, after her car.

Mother makes it into her car and with one thing and another, is driving around in it for the better part of an hour.

When she eventually makes it back to the Social Security office to collect her kids, well, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) beat her to it.

Police arrest  Mother for child neglect and DCF takes her children into protective custody.

As if this isn’t enough for one day, law enforcement issues Mother a federal citation for causing a disturbance in a federal building.

Read more in this Miami Herald news article: Florida mom accused of abandoning 2 children to block car repossession .

Therapists spot the following patterns to the arguments that seem to foreshadow a divorce (and hint at the fix):

1. Just assuming that you know what your spouse is thinking or feeling without actually checking.
2. Less sex, and no clue why.
3. One – or both – spouses become disengaged from the relationship.
4. Dragging the kids into the middle.
5. Can’t even get on the same page about what they are arguing about; and
6. Communication breaks down completely, possibly even replaced by purposeful secrecy.

Read more in this Huffington Post piece: 6 Arguments All Couples Have Before They Divorce.

Prior to the recent US Supreme Court rulings, Tennessee did not recognize gay marriage.

Now it does, arguably having rejected the definitions adopted by the Tennessee electorate.

Heterosexual Tennessee couple seeks divorce.

Tennessee family court judge declines to grant their divorce though, pending a ruling by the Supreme Court to clarify / redefine the meaning of divorce previously adopted by the Tennessee electorate.

It is unknown how far said Tennessee family court judge took his political statement … or whether the aforementioned heterosexual couple – or others in that Tennessee county – have since been able to get divorced.

Read more in this Huffington Post Weird News article: Judge Won’t Divorce Straight Couple Because Gay Marriage Is Legal .

Queens, New York Girlfriend reportedly confronts Boyfriend over his alleged affair.

Girlfriend allegedly shoots Boyfriend … two times. Boyfriend dies.

Girlfriend and her Son move Boyfriend’s body, with great difficulty, to an alley next to Girlfriend’s apartment building.

In the process, some of Boyfriend’s blood stains the rear bumper of Girlfriend’s car, and Girlfriend apparently dislodges an artificial fingernail … which lands on Boyfriend’s body.

Unable to move Boyfriend’s body any further, Girlfriend starts a fire to dispose of the evidence against her and her Son.

When police arrive on the scene, in due course, they note that Girlfriend is missing a fingernail … and that there is a broken artificial fingernail on Boyfriend’s body.

Police challenge Girlfriend on that point.

Girlfriend spontaneously confesses to killing Boyfriend.

Girlfriend is arrested for murder and Son for tampering with evidence.

At their arraignment, Girlfriend’s defense counsel argues that Girlfriend is a victim of domestic violence. Another woman filed several domestic violence complaints against Boyfriend several years ago.

Girlfriend is still denied bond, but Son is granted bonded of $5,000.

Read more in

1. this New York Post news article: Broken fingernail leads police to woman arrested in boyfriend’s murder and
2. this New York Daily News article: Judge refuses to set bail for Queens woman accused of shooting boyfriend to death and burning his body .

Mother and Father have Baby.

After an evening out, Mother and Father return home to find their Baby appearing ill.

The next morning, although a pediatrician is not concerned, Mother and Father take Baby to the emergency room. Luckily.

There, Baby is diagnosed with broken ribs and bleeding behind his eyes, consistent with shaken baby syndrome.

Mother and Father are stumped, until they learn of their friend and babysitter’s confession to a third party.

Despite the babysitter’s confession though, Baby is taken into protective custody (and placed with his grandmother) for two more weeks as a result of the apparent abuse.

The Babysitter has been charged with felony child abuse but, fortunately, Baby is expected to make a full recovery.

Read more in this

• St Louis Fox 2 Now TV news article: Baby taken from parents after sitter confesses to shaking and
• St. Louis KPLR11 TV news article: Babysitter facing jail time for shaking a 5-month-old .

Florida Husband and Wife have two Children together.

Wife serves in the armed forces and expects to be deployed to the Middle East.

As dictated by the military and sound parental judgment, Wife prepares and files with the military a Family Care Plan, designating who will care for her Children in her absence – and if anything should happen to her.

Wife designates Husband, who is also the father of Children.

As many prospective clients like to describe their situations, this sounds “straightforward”, right?

But the devil is always in the details.

Husband has some mental health issues and becomes unable to care for Children.

Wife is summoned home to pull together alternative arrangements in a flash.

Wife re-designates her StepMother as caregiver of Children.

Again, sounds “straightforward”, right?

Again, not so much.

StepMother has a falling out with other relatives and takes it upon herself to relocate herself and the Children to New Jersey. StepMother had no right to do that, but that is just the tip of the iceberg.

On top of that, StepMother falls down on the job of caregiving and the Children are taken into protective custody by the child welfare agency in New Jersey.

Wife returns from her deployment about two years ago, to find this mess, which sounds like a law school essay exam question on child custody and jurisdiction.

The good news for Wife is that both Florida’s and New Jersey’s respective child welfare agencies now agree that it would be desirable to reunite Children with Wife, in Florida. But not so fast (two years in).

New Jersey’s child welfare agency believes Children are in need of significant services – and insists that Florida’s child welfare agency agree to provide them before Children will be released from their custody. Florida’s child welfare agency doesn’t appreciate its New Jersey counterpart’s attempts to dictate to it

But, after a conference call between the family courts in both states, it appears that everything is on track for Children to return to their anxiously waiting mother. All that remains to be ironed out is the timeframe.

Read more in

1. this Orlando News 13 TV article: Florida military mom to regain custody of kids in NJ foster care and
2. this [Chicago] ABC News 7 article: Army vet mom fights for custody of special needs children after tours of duty .

Chinese Boyfriend and Girlfriend meet in New York’s Chinatown, where the families of each own Chinese takeout restaurants.

Boyfriend and Girlfriend become engaged.

Custom mandates that Boyfriend’s family pay a dowry of $60,000.

In fact, Boyfriend’s family pays Girlfriend $123,000 in money and personal property.

Four months after the engagement and transfer of the dowry, Girlfriend stops communicating with Boyfriend.

Under the circumstances, Boyfriends asks Girlfriend to return the dowry.

Girlfriend disappears.

Boyfriend and his family then file a lawsuit against Girlfriend for return of the dowry.

Read more in this New York Post article: Fiancée skips town after receiving $123K ‘reverse dowry’: suit .

Nigerian Husband and Wife have been married for twenty-five years.

Husband files for divorce … citing very grave grounds:

Husband is hungry every evening because Wife feeds him his dinner too late.

Despite several warnings.

The Nigerian family court judge reportedly tries to smooth things over, but Husband isn’t having it.

The couple’s differences having proved irreconcilable, the Nigerian family court, though ambivalently, grants the Husband a divorce.

Read more in this UK Daily Mail article: ‘I am totally fed up’: Nigerian man divorces his wife of 25 years because she took too long to cook him dinner .

Kansas Father was court-ordered to pay child support for his now seventeen year old Daughter.

Father recently began receiving periodically in his mail postcards from the Kansas Department of Families.

Emblazoned on the postcard in large bold white letters against a bright red background is the message:

“Have you paid your child support this month?”

It doesn’t state that the recipient of the postcard is behind on their payments. (Although they reportedly are if they receive the postcard.)  And it doesn’t display personal financial details.

Still, one resident of a small town in Kansas was both “shocked” and embarrassed by the postcards. He thinks the reminders, if necessary, should be sealed away in an envelope to protect his privacy.

But the state is standing firm on its cost-effective reminder system, defending that child support is a matter of public record in Kansas.

Just as it is in Florida …

Read more in this [Wichita] KWCH TV 12 news article: Dad says child support postcard is “invasion of privacy” .

Pennsylvania Husband and Wife enter a prenuptial agreement … the day before their wedding (please don’t try that here in Florida).

The prenup precludes either spouse from receiving temporary or permanent alimony.

The antenuptial agreement also allows a spouse to recover their attorney’s fees for enforcing the agreement against the other spouse’s breach.

Approximately ten years after the wedding, the couple splits and Wife seeks alimony.

At trial, the Pennsylvania family court denied Wife’s alimony request based on the prenuptial agreement.

Husband seeks attorney’s fees of about $25,000.

The family court denies Husband’s claim for attorney’s fees.

On appeal, the intermediate level appellate court reverses, holding that Husband is entitled to his “reasonable attorney’s fees”, whether the agreement specified “reasonableness” as a criterion or not.

The appellate court remands for the family court to determine whether the $25,000 requested was indeed “reasonable”.

Read more in this JD Supra article: Husband Permitted to Seek Attorney’s Fees Against Wife for Her Failure to Comply with Prenuptial Agreement .