March 2010 Archives

Social networking sites are increasingly playing a role in the dissolution of marriages and partnerships. A recent survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers found that 66 percent of its divorce attorney respondents used Facebook as a source for evidence in divorce proceedings. Social network users have been caught by spouses rekindling past relationships or misrepresenting themselves as "single" during the marriage. Estranged spouses and their attorneys have also found photos that prove adultery or document other bad behavior, such as alcohol or drug abuse.

In no-fault divorce, this evidence doesn't necessarily come into play beyond sparking the divorce proceedings. Where this evidence could play a greater role is in child custody proceedings, and determining alimony and child custody payments.

Southern California resident Jackson Katz has built a career around ending domestic violence. At the core of his message: domestic violence is as much men's problem as it is women's. He has written books, developed training programs and given frequent lectures on the role men can play in educating their peers and preventing violence against women.

The programs seek to counteract what the founders saw as a pervasive message of sexual violence in the country and to combat gender violence, school bullying and school violence. The programs hope to inspire and encourage young people to take leadership roles and confront wrongheaded attitudes and behaviors around them. Part of his message is that men are also affected negatively by domestic violence and are sometimes victims of domestic violence. Boys as well as girls can be witnesses of domestic violence in the home.

Katz is the author of the books, Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help and More than a Few Good Men. He also is a co-founder of the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program. The MVP program has been used widely by schools and by high school, college and professional sports teams. In the mid-90s, Katz was approached by the U.S. Marines and asked to begin leading training sessions. Recently, he facilitated training sessions with military personnel in Iraq.

Ohio Republican Representative Michael Turner believes that U.S. service members are too often fighting two wars -- one for their country, and one to keep custody of their children. A bill by Rep. Turner is currently being reviewed by a House Subcommittee on Veterans' Affairs that would protect the child custody rights of deployed U.S. service members.

The proposed legislation would protect the existing child custody arrangements of troops deployed in support of a contingency operation by prohibiting courts from making permanent changes to the custody arrangements while the service member was deployed. 

Temporary changes deemed in the best interest of the child could be made, but they must revert to the original orders upon the service member's return. If changes are made upon the soldier's return, the courts cannot consider the service member's deployment or possible re-deployment as factors in their decision.

Los Angeles Dodger's owner Frank McCourt's divorce from his wife, Jamie McCourt, could cost $19 million, likely the most expensive divorce in California's history. The Los Angeles Times reports that in the history of high-profile divorces in California, no one can remember a divorce being this costly. The Times reported that the Britney Spears-Kevin Federline divorce cost $835,000, and that the average high-profile case costs around $5 million.  

While the high cost is unusual, the matters involved in the contentious divorce are highly complex. Some say that the fact that both parties are reporting possible fees of around $10 million shows the costs could be necessary. Also unusual is that both Jamie and Frank McCourt have retained multiple attorneys and accountants. Once again, this could be due to the complexity involved in this high asset divorce. 

According to a report in the Contra Costa Times, 97 percent of child abductions reported in California are parental and family abductions. The recent discovery of a girl abducted by her mother from the San Francisco Bay area 15 years ago has given hope to other parents in similar situations.

Dean Click's daughter, Jessica, was abducted by her mother in 1995 when the girl was 8 years old. She is now 22 and lives in another state apart from her mother. Dean Click has said he wants his daughter to know that he always wanted to see her. He hopes they can reunite, but he's also apprehensive about what she thinks of him after all the years away.

Unfortunately, discovering children who were abducted by their parents becomes much more unlikely as time goes by. Justice Department Data cited by The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) states that only 6 percent of children abducted by parents are found if they are still missing 6 months after being reported abducted. For children reported abducted by relatives and missing for over 10 years, the NCMEC reports that between 1990 and 2009, only 0.9 percent were found. 

In 1995, Dean Click and his estranged wife, Wendy Hill, were in the middle of a contentious child custody battle over their daughter in the San Francisco Bay area when Wendy ran away with the eight-year-old. Last week, Wendy was arrested in Los Angeles County on suspicion of parental abduction.

Fifteen years have passed since Click's daughter disappeared. She is now an adult and living apart from her mother in another state, but Click hopes his daughter can get past whatever she thinks of him after all these years. Click says authorities won't release his daughter's contact information to him, but they will forward his contact information to his daughter. He's hopeful she will reach out and that they can reconnect and move forward.

The next round in the acrimonious McCourt divorce comes March 29th in Los Angeles County Superior Court where a hearing will be held to determine alimony. Jamie McCourt is asking for $989,000 spousal support each month to support the marital lifestyle she's accustomed to. Frank McCourt's attorneys have claimed he no longer has the assets to offer the level of support requested by Jamie.

Both sides have filed documents to support their version of the level of assets controlled by Frank's enterprises. Jamie's side claims Frank has undervalued his personal finances by hundreds of millions of dollars. Her filings say that between 2004 and 2009 the two received on average $2.3 million per month in payouts from their enterprises. Jamie's side also claims the net equity value of all Frank's assets to be over $2 billion. Frank's attorneys contest Jamie's calculations, claiming she is vastly overestimating Frank's fortune in order to harm him.

The fortune's dollar amount is not the only highly contested issue in this divorce. A trial is set to begin May 24 to determine ownership of the LA Dodgers.

Proposition 8's constitutional ban of gay marriage was on trial for twelve days in January. On Friday, just before a midnight deadline, both sides filed their take on what was heard during that trial. The two takes on the evidence presented in the same trial are decidedly different, with both those defending and those challenging Proposition 8 arguing that their stance on marriage will clearly strengthen the institution and benefit children.

Attorneys on each side provided the post-trial scope of their arguments in writing for Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker. In their arguments, the attorneys consider the nature of marriage, the status of gays and lesbians in society, and the motives behind the passage of Proposition 8 in November 2008. Judge Walker will review the material before hearing the attorneys' closing arguments, which are yet to be scheduled.