A seven month old Las Vegas baby recently died as a result of an intentional blunt force trauma to his head, according to authorities.

His foster mother awaits trial for murder, but remains on house arrest.

Surprisingly, under the circumstances, the woman reportedly pleaded no contest to civil charges of abuse and neglect in connection with his death.

According to her attorney, that’s only because, as a result of the incident, she has been barred from any in-person contact with her own two young children, and has been required to move out of her own home while her mother and husband care for them.

The mother reportedly looks forward to the prospect of having face-to-face visits with her kids, albeit supervised visits.

The mother of two worked as a teacher for more than fifteen years and is said to have no criminal or similar history, despite having cared for thirteen other foster children.

Read more in this Las Vegas Review-Journal article: Suspect focused on getting her kids back.

A divorced woman brought a fraud claim against her former TV-writer ex-husband for allegedly hiding millions in assets at the time that they entered their divorce settlement.

She argued that she was pushed into accepting millions less than she should have received, because he “cried poverty”.

Yet then he reportedly turned around and bought a mansion on Central Park West.

The court found for her ex, because it ruled that she hadn’t proved her case.

Illustrating yet again that, in court, the difference between knowing and being able to prove is all the difference in the world.

Read more in this United Press International article: Claim ex-writer hid assets doesn’t fly.

A few days ago, ainesville, Florida had a bomb scare that emptied a three square block area.

What sent everyone scrambling was a black gadget found on the bottom of a woman’s car.

Only it turned out it wasn’t a bomb at all.

It was a global positioning system device …

Intended to track the car’s owner …

A wife in the middle of a divorce from the alleged installer of the gizmo.

Read more in this WABC TV New York article: Nasty divorce battle and nosy husband lead to bomb scare.

A Canadian woman awaits news of her two daughters, of whom she has sole custody.

Back in July, their father took them on vacation to visit his relatives in Australia – but they reportedly didn’t return on schedule.

Instead, their father, who has dual Lebanese-Australian citizenship, allegedly took them to Lebanon, in the midst of the war between Hezbollah and Israel.

Their mother is waiting for a hearing in Australia, to question the father’s relatives about their whereabouts.

The father reportedly wants sole custody of the girls and for them to live with him permanently in Australia.

Canada has issued international warrants and an extradition order.

But neither Australia or Lebanon will honor the extradition order. Under Lebanese law, there can be no such thing as parental kidnapping.

Although Australia is a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, Lebanon is not.

Read more in this Calgary Herald article: Mother fights to get abducted girls back and this Star Phoenix article: Children taken away to Lebanon by father.

An Orlando area attorney has obtained a domestic violence injunction against her husband – a judge.

For his part, the judge claims she is just looking for revenge because he filed for divorce.

Due to the potential conflicts of interest, judges outside the area have been dragged into the case. And a judicial ethics review board may draw more in before all is said and done.

The domestic violence injunction is not anticipated to affect the judge’s job in any way.

Ironically, this particular judge is well known for dishing out anti-divorce lectures to parties who come before him in his courtroom. In fact, he was involved in trying to pass legislation to make it more difficult for Floridians to get a divorce.

Read more in this WESH TV 2 article: Judge Who Discourages Divorce Embroiled In Bitter Divorce.

Although most of us aren’t actively aware of it, much of what we do on a personal computer leaves a digital trail that can be picked up by an expert.

Where someone wants to know what someone else has done and where someone else has been with their computer, there are so-called spyware and keylogger programs that can tell just about all.

Sometimes a spouse or parent thinks such digital evidence can help with, or even clinch their case. And, in many states, this is undoubtedly true.

But digging up the digital goods can backfire, because some or all types of digital spying may be illegal in certain states. If so, the digital dirt can’t be used in court – and may result in criminal charges against the “spy”.

Florida is one of the states that, for example, criminalizes the real-time interception of electronic communications, such as in internet chat or instant messaging.

Read more in this St. Louis KDSK TV article: You Got Nailed! How Cheaters Get Busted.

A former New York judge has reportedly accrued $200,000 in arrearages in child support and spousal support since garnishment of his wages ceased when he was thrown off the bench for misconduct.

His ex-wife is doing her best to support their three kids in their metropolitan NYC home on $9.45 per hour.

The ex-judge earned more than $135,000 a year during the marriage.

The deadbeat dad has since moved out-of-state and taken up working as a realtor.

It is unclear why Georgia support enforcement has not enforced New York’s support orders with garnishments of his commissions. It is also unclear whether the former judge has ever been held in contempt of court.

Read more in this New York Daily News article: Ex-judge a real stiff.

A Toronto man is in jail for conspiracy to murder his ex-wife.

His motive: he reportedly didn’t want to pay child support or alimony.

Now his ex-wife is apparently looking to collect previously ordered, unpaid support.

The man allegedly has substantial savings from the sale of a house.

But he reportedly argued in court that he can’t pay support because he is in jail and unable to earn money.

The woman’s attorney had this to say about his argument:

“It’s like the child who kills the parents and then throws himself at the mercy of the court because he’s an orphan”.

Although the judge in the case reserved on his ruling, he did suggest that he expects to order a substantial lump sum award to the ex-wife.

Read more in this Reuters article: Man hopes jail means no support payments.

An Arkansas court terminated a mother’s parental rights to her three children – even though the State’s Department of Human Services recommended against it and the mother complied with all pertinent court orders, made a substantial effort to improve her parenting skills and was in fact making good progress.

In these types of cases, the goal is normally to provide services to get the parent(s) back on track so that the family can stay together, without the children being at risk.

But, in this case, according to the appellate court, the Department of Human Services and the children’s guardian ad litem did not take the case seriously enough and were ineffectual.

Accordingly, the appellate court reversed and reinstated the mother’s parental rights to her three children.

Read more in this Arkansas News Bureau article: Court restores woman’s parental rights.

A young mother, and a platonic friend who worked with her, were gunned down in front of her house – allegedly by her husband.

The abrubt end to their stormy marriage left their young children without a mother and with a father under arrest for murder.

The husband had reportedly previously been charged with aggravated assault with a weapon – but his wife dropped the charges that time.

The couple had been together for 10 years, playing out a destructive and tortured pattern all too common in relationships with abusers.

Perhaps the saddest part of the story is that the young mother had finally broken free of his hold and was about to start a promsing new career and a happy new life with their children.

The woman’s family hopes their tragedy will inspire other women enmeshed in abusive relationships to get out – before it’s too late for them too.

Read more in this El Paso Times article: Homicide ‘devastates’ woman’s family.