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.

Ohio Father and Mother are divorced.

Mother has primary custody or timesharing with their three children.

Father sees the children every other weekend and once during most weeks, plus vacations and holidays. He talks and text messages with the kids daily.

Mother has remarried.

Mother’s new husband is being transferred roughly eighteen hundred miles away.

Mother intends to relocate the children with herself and her new husband.

Father objects.

Ohio attorneys suggest filing a motion to modify timesharing so that the children live primarily with Father, in Ohio.

It sounds as though Ohio courts are relatively liberal in permitting relocation, but the other parent can object under the right facts and circumstances.

The law governing relocation is an evolving area of the law in our mobile society and a volatile one.

Florida introduced its first statute governing relocation in 2006 and has already amended it significantly.

Read more in this Columbus [OH] Dispatch article: Court has final say in relocation of children.

Former Wife hasn’t had a credit card in years, since her ex refused to pay off a debt as court-ordered.

An accountant recommends the following steps to repair (or establish) your own credit after divorce:

1. Address any black marks on your credit history with the credit reporting agencies and clear things up as best you can.

2. Be prepared to start over, most likely with a secured credit card with a low credit limit. Apply for unsecured credit every year or so.

3. Earn more money.

Read more in this CreditCards.com article: Tips for rebuilding your credit after divorce.

I previously posted about the recently emerging medical specialty of child abuse pediatrics in Progressive? Advanced Study and Training in Child Abuse Emerges.

Since then, physicians have taken the board certification examination and 183 have become the first diplomates in child abuse pediatrics.

The Oklahoma physician who spearheaded recognition of this area of specialization believes this training will cause false allegations to break down and will facilitate building legal cases to address legitimate claims.

Discrediting false allegations keeps sound families intact.

Just in Tulsa County, twelve hundred kids are treated each year for child abuse, with two hundred of them being admitted to hospitals.

In the state of Oklahoma, the annual cost of child abuse and neglect is over $270 million for foster care and medical and psychological treatment.

Nationwide, approximately six million children each year are reported to be abused.

Read more in this Tulsa World article: OU-Tulsa pediatrics educator behind new child-abuse subspecialty.

Catholic Husband and Jewish Wife have three year old Daughter.

Husband and Wife are in the midst of a divorce.

Husband is currently a law student.

Court has awarded Wife temporary custody of Daughter.

Husband and Wife reportedly agree that Daughter will be raised in the Jewish faith.

Nonetheless, Husband has Daughter baptized … and doesn’t tell Wife about it until afterwards.

Upon Wife’s motion, Court then enters a temporary order enjoining or prohibiting Husband from schooling Daughter in any religion besides Judaism.

Then Husband takes Daughter to a Catholic mass … with TV reporters in tow.

Wife seeks to have Husband held in criminal contempt by the Court.

A new judge is assigned to the matter at the instance of Husband’s attorney.

The contempt hearing has yet to be set.

Read more in this UPI news article: Couple fight over 3-year-old’s religion.

Good question. Incapable of being answered accurately.

Certainly, domestic violence restraining orders tend to help the people who get them.

Tend to help.

The people who get them.

But lots of domestic abuse victims are too terrified to ever consider seeking one.

For instance, eighty-seven percent of New York City’s victims of “family-related” deaths last year did not have an injunction for protection against domestic violence against their abuser.

Even those victims of abuse who are brave enough to seek protection on a temporary basis often lose their nerve for making it last, after their abuser finds out about it. Such temporary orders of protection expire quickly.

Even where the abuse victim is brave enough to ask for protection at a full hearing, the Court will not always issue one for one reason or another.

Even where all of the above hurdles are overcome, sometimes it is very, very difficult to personally serve the abuser with a domestic violence restraining order.

That happens more frequently than you might imagine. At best, this can drag the entire process out and wear the victim (and his or her finances) down. At worst, the abuser cannot be served timely enough and the order of protection expires.

Last year a woman obtained a temporary injunction for protection against domestic violence against a top aide to New York State’s governor. The aide could not be served in compliance with applicable legal requirements (or he was but that was never communicated to the victim).

And then there are the cases where the abuser disregards the order of protection.

Clearly, injunctions for protection against domestic violence leave room for improvement.

Read more in this New York Times article: Case Revives Debate Over Protection Orders.

According to a website which appears to be published by Arabs living in the Arab world:

Groom, an Arab ambassador in the United Arab Emirates, enters a contract for marriage with Bride, a physician, without ever gazing directly upon her countenance (apparently because it is always partially concealed behind her veil).

Bride’s Mother reportedly shows Groom photographs that are supposed to be of Bride, but which are really of Bride’s sister.

When Groom finally sees Bride without her veil, after signing the marriage contract, Bride allegedly is cross-eyed and has a beard.

Groom is not happy.

Groom cancels wedding and files for divorce.

Groom also asks Bride to reimburse his expenditures on gifts of jewelry and clothes for Bride.

This may be an example of a situation where the permissible grounds for divorce may have great significance.

Read more in this Waleg article: Arab Man Seeks Divorce After Seeing His Wife’s Face.

Has your spouse hidden assets?

Is your spouse’s business doing a lot worse since you started discussing divorce?

Are you completely in the dark about your spouse’s income and assets?

All of these are circumstances in which it may be necessary or advantageous to retain forensic accountants to “follow the money”.

Especially where a stake in a closely held corporation is involved.

Forensic accountants are trained to ferret out diverted assets, hidden money and to uncover mismatches between reported income and lifestyle.

Of course, the specialized training and expertise of forensic accountants comes with a hefty price tag. Therefore, they may not be appropriate in all cases.

One thing to keep in mind is that forensic findings can have tax ramifications for one or both spouses.

The report can also facilitate valuation of the business for purposes of property division.

Read more in this Mondaq article: United States: The Role Of Forensic Accountants In Divorce Engagements.

French Husband and American Wife divorce in France, where Husband, Wife and Son have been living.

Husband and Wife enter agreement that Son will live with Husband in France.

Wife has timesharing with Son in US for last year’s Christmas holiday. Wife is expected to send Son back to France on January 3rd of this year.

But Wife keeps Son with her.

Husband files for Son’s return to France under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

In a Colorado trial court, Wife alleges that Husband perpetrated domestic violence against her in Son’s presence and that Son appears to be the victim of emotional abuse by Husband.

Wife also contends that Husband had her institutionalized in France to coerce her into divorce and into agreeing to give Husband custody of Son.

Husband does not deny these allegations. Husband’s position appears to be that they are irrelevant.

The trial court disagrees … and appoints a therapist to evaluate Son’s maturity and wishes.

Read more in this Pueblo [CO] Chieftain article: Pueblo woman embroiled in international custody case and this Pueblo [CO] Chieftain article: Mother: Coerced to give up son.