Jeffrey A. and Andrew Grossman

The Columbus Dispatch

Q: My husband moved out of our home after three years of marriage. He has been staying with another woman from time to time. We have been separated for two years. I would have sued him for divorce, but I don’t have enough money to hire a lawyer.

I told him that he should hire a lawyer to end the marriage, as we have no joint assets or debts. He said he isn’t going to do anything because he is getting along very well without spending money on lawyers. How can I bring this nightmare to an end? I have a good job, but I don’t want to spend a fortune paying for a lawyer when he is the one who moved out. What can I do?

Source: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/life/stories/2010/02/07/wholly-matrimony.html?sid=101

24-7PressRelease

Is 50/50 unfair?  This breakdown has become increasingly common in divorce cases involving children, where fathers who seek primary physical custody are now awarded primary custody about 50 percent of the time, according to Working Mother Magazine. Should we be surprised by this? On the face, it seems fair, but some casual digging reveals just how jarring this is for the family law system.

Traditionally, mothers could expect a certain degree of sympathy in child custody cases. They were widely considered the nurturing parent — packing lunches and bandaging scrapes while the father worked. When marriages fell apart and parents sought custody, the mother often had the stronger case.  However, this is gradually changing. The increasing number of fathers being granted primary custody is most likely the result of a few, major factors.

Source: http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/more-fathers-awarded-primary-child-custody-following-divorce-135961.php

Brant Hemingway

Albert Lea Tribune

It has been three years, four months and four days since I last saw my four beautiful children: Benjamin, 16; Daniel, 14; Naomi, 11; and Sarah, 8. In our April 2008 divorce settlement my former wife and I agreed that we would share “joint legal custody” of our four children and that all four kids and myself would participate in “reunification therapy.” That’s because at that point I had not been allowed to see my children for over a year and a half because she accused me of domestic abuse in November 2006. I denied her accusations but my attorney at the time convinced me to voluntarily agree to abide by an order for protection with “no findings of abuse.” 

Over the past three years I have been before Freeborn County District Court Judge John Chesterman numerous times and have paid attorneys over $30,000 but have yet to have even one supervised visit with all of my four children! I have swallowed my pride and jumped through every imaginable hoop in an effort to reconnect with the four kids who are so precious to me but have seen no positive results.

Source: http://www.albertleatribune.com/news/2010/feb/04/are-judges-still-biased-against-fathers/

Terrie Morgan-Besecker

The Times Leader

A state appellate court has reversed a Luzerne County judge’s ruling that ordered Wilkes-Barre city to continue paying pension benefits to the ex-wife of a police officer after the officer died. Shirley L. Kenney filed suit against the city last year after the pension board cut off the $546.43 monthly benefit she had been receiving as part of a divorce settlement with her husband, Bernard Kenney.

Bernard Kenney had been employed as a police officer until his retirement in 1992. He and his wife divorced in 2000. A divorce settlement reached in 2003 awarded Shirley Kenney 50 percent of Bernard’s monthly pension payment. The city ceased payments to Shirley Kenney after Bernard died in December 2006. The decision was based on the city’s pension ordinance, which does not provide for survivor benefits to ex-spouses.

Source: http://www.timesleader.com/news/Ex-wife_won_rsquo_t_get_pension_of_deceased_cop__rules_court_in_reversal_02-04-2010.html

NPR.org

Steve Christie cannot see his son because his Japanese ex-wife has sole custody, a typical arrangement in Japan. He is one of about 70 American parents in that position, and the U.S. warned Tokyo on Tuesday that it must revise its family laws or risk hurting ties between the two longtime allies.

Laws that allow only one parent to have custody of children in cases of divorce — nearly always the mother — set Japan apart from most other developed countries. They also leave most fathers, including foreigners, unable to see their children until they are grown.

Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123259204