Victims of domestic violence are finding aid and comfort in an unexpected place – digital cameras.

Since the introduction of digital cameras to New York City police, criminal convictions for domestic violence charges have risen noticeably, in some areas dramatically – even where the victims recant by the time of trial.

Prosecutors can extract more and deeper evidentiary values from digital images than from traditional “Polaroid” pictures.

Digital evidence can be processed much more rapidly, and catalogued faster for easier retrieval.

And digital images carry greater impact for the judge and/or jury, at every stage of the case.

Digital photos are even credited with increasing the odds of incarceration pending trial and of higher bails where defendants are released pending trial.

Even willingness to enter plea bargains faster is attributed to digital “snapshots”.

Last but not least, digital images may even spare traumatized victims from having to re-tell their stories at trial.

Because a picture is worth a 1,000 words … and many convictions.

Read more in this New York Times article: In Domestic Abuse, Digital Photos Can Say More Than Victims.

What do all of the above have in common?

They are all professionals who may be sole or part owners of a private professional practice.

Therefore, in the event of a divorce, a key concern of such a professional is likely going to be what rights, if any, his or her spouse may have to the practice.

An excellent introduction to how a professional practice will be valued and divided in a divorce appears in an article by my North Carolina colleague, Lee Rosen, in the Carolina NewsWire: When A Professional Divorces – Protecting a Professional Practice.

One particularly important component of value in a professional practice is probably goodwill. As Lee explains, there are two types of goodwill, personal and enterprise, – and different states treat each type differently in the event of a divorce.

As Lee explains, in a professional practice, the personal goodwill of the professional may be significant. What that means is that, without that particular individual professional, the practice may have little or no value.

There is a fairly even split among states as to whether personal goodwill of one spouse is marital property which should be divided in a divorce. (Of course, property division of a professional practice in a divorce refers only to division of the value, not of the practice itself.)

Unlike Lee’s North Carolina, in Florida, personal goodwill of a spouse is not marital property and should not be divided in a divorce.

This article is well worth reading for all stakeholders in professional practices.

Today, there are support groups and boot camps for every conceivable purpose.

Now, one divorcee has made it her mission to be a booster for women going through divorce. Her objective is to empower women with helpful resources and to inform them that life will be good again.

Her tools include a workbook and a book, and, most recently, a daylong boot camp featuring workshops with speakers in complementary disciplines, such as psychology, personal training, etc.

Read more in this Kansas City.com article: Moving on: Living beyond midlife divorce.

A divorce case in which the parties are disputing whether Spain or the UK is the proper jurisdiction for division of the marital assets really needn’t be noteworthy.

But one such case is. Because the parties have spent £ 1.5 million in legal fees.

Merely disputing jurisdiction.

Of course, the precise amount of legal fees does depend upon the exchange rate in effect. Yet, any way you cut it, that’s an awful lot of money.

And the fight over the actual division of assets hasn’t started yet. But it has been decided that that will be duked out in the UK.

One can only imagine what the total legal fees for the entire case will be…

On the other hand, it could be worse. The couple still have about £ 133 million between them.

Read more in this article in The Independent from the UK: Judges attack millionaire’s divorce battle as ‘grotesque’.

An Arizona mother going through a divorce had a lot more than her divorce on her plate.

Her four year old special needs child was stagnating in preschool, unable to speak or communicate. The girl is autistic, has cerebral palsy and is mildly mentally retarded.

Frustrated and desperate, her mother enrolled the child in a private school for autistic children.

The divorcing mother didn’t know how she’d keep up with the tuition, but her parents funded her daughter’s start in the school and she plowed ahead.

A short year later, her daughter is thriving. She communicates with sign language, verbalizes, makes eye contact and interacts with the people surrounding her.

Arizona passed a school voucher program that allows disabled children to attend private schools. That program has enabled this little girl to remain in the private school that has benefited her so greatly.

Despite success stories like this, the Arizona program is dramatically under-utilized. In very sharp contrast to a similar program here in Florida.

How come? Commentators attribute poor response to several factors, ranging from low public awareness to ongoing legal challenges that foster a perception of precariousness and instability. Opponents argue that there is simply little interest.

Despite improvements in public education of special needs students nationwide, local public schools in Arizona were reportedly simply inadequate to this little girl’s needs and, according to her mother, many other area children whose parents struggle to keep them in special private schools.

Private school vouchers, once under hot debate, are again being hotly debated in a dozen or so states.

Read more in this East Valley [Phoenix] Tribune article: Vouchers for disabled students go unused.

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month.

One child in four is reportedly abused by the time of their eighteenth birthday.

Abusers are getting younger.

Abuse is becoming more severe.

Read more in this Chattanooga [TN] WDEF News 12 article: April Is Child Abuse Prevention Month.

The European Union is entertaining a proposal that would require member nations to apply the divorce law of another member nation under certain conditions.

The proposal is reportedly favored by most member countries.

Sweden, Finland and Malta, however, are against the proposal.

Read more in this Swedish radio news article: Sweden Opposes EU Divorce Plan.

An interesting report out of Cornell University offers two key conclusions.

First, men contemplating divorce tend to cut back their efforts on the job. Anecdotal evidence strongly supports this conclusion.

The study does not really analyze the reason behind the finding, simply stating that men “do not throw themselves into work” when things turn unpleasant at home. But one might plausibly explain the conclusion of the study by a desire to weaken a claim for spousal support.

The second conclusion, at the opposite end of the spectrum, is more interesting.

Women contemplating divorce tend to increase their efforts on the job. This is less obvious, although also supported by anecdotal evidence.

The study rationalizes this conclusion in part by the explanation that women throw themselves into the happier environment at work when things turn unpleasant at home. But the larger part of the explanation is that women facing divorce try to prepare themselves to be financially self-sufficient.

Read more in this Australian Sunday Times article: Wives work longer as divorce looms.

It isn’t mentioned whether their divorce court case was nasty. Only that it was in progess.

You can’t help but wonder…

But the outcome of the case was sealed, outside the courtroom, on Easter Sunday, with final and absolute clarity.

There will be no final judgment in court. No modifications or enforcement actions in the future.

Because an Alabama man allegedly shot his wife to death, with a shotgun, that morning, when she approached her front door in response to his knock on it.

She was reportedly killed instantly.

After 16 years of marriage and two sons together.

Accounts indicate that the husband quietly surrendered to authorities afterwards.

There was no mention of whether there had been any history of domestic violence in the marriage. Or any hint or sign of what was to come that morning…

Read more in this Huntsville [AL] WAFF News article: Divorce ends in murder.

A Scottish court has ordered the return of a teenaged girl to Australian under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

The Court dismissed the child’s history of repetitive vomiting and stomach pains based on its finding that the girl’s habitual residence had been Australia.

This although the court concluded that an Australian court would likely extend considerable deference to the girl’s preference to live with her mother in Scotland.

The court concluded that the mother’s presence in Australia should reassure the girl while she was awaiting a custody decision there.

Read more in this BBC News article: Abduction law decides girl’s fate.