Some parents caught up in child custody disputes have added high-tech ammunition to their arsenals. It is no longer unusual for children to be carriers of secretly-hidden devices to track and record an ex-spouse's conversations and actions.
]]> A survey of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers found that couples are increasingly employing electronic technology to influence divorce cases. More than 80 percent of respondents reported upticks in the use of GPS devices and hidden video or audio recorders in divorce cases.Analysts say the ease of use and relative low costs of electronic devices have encouraged disputing parents to turn into digital spies. A child's story of an ex-spouse's unsavory conversations or deeds might not be as accurate as a hidden recorder.
A Texas parent recently hid a microphone in her child's clothing to snag the audio of an ex-spouse. Another parent stitched an audio recorder into a daughter's teddy bear and downloaded an ex's conversations from a weekend visitation.
A court banned the teddy bear tapes from court and charged the spying spouse with breaking federal wiretapping laws. She was fined $10,000.
The acts of surreptitiously tracking or recording a former spouse's voice and behaviors stand on shaky legal ground. Some states rule the actions are illegal, in line with federal wiretapping rules. Family law judges in other states accept the secret material despite federal guidelines.
Children are the ones with the most to lose in the controversy. Seeing parents use deception to spy on one another to gain a custody advantage offers zero benefit to the children caught in a legal tug of war.
Source: ABC News, "Spouses Use Spy Tools to Get Custody of Children," Jim Avila and Ben Forer, May 3, 2012
]]>What if a couple misses the prenuptial boat and wants to sign a financial contract with a partner after a wedding has already taken place? Postnuptial agreements, similar in every way to prenuptial contracts except for the exchange of wedding vows, are documents that help already married couples clear the hurdles of asset assignment and distribution.
]]> Experts say there are several reasons why couples should consider a financial agreement. If a couple has accumulated significant wealth, it can be beneficial to the spouses to hammer out a contract.Fiancées often cringe at the idea of discussing something as pragmatic as money before the day wedding. Married couples usually have the advantage of experience and may be more open to creating a financial plan.
Most couples, engaged or married, realize that divorce is a risk with every marriage. Mapping a financial route to clarify what's his and hers makes sense to couples who like to know what will happen "in case."
If disagreements over money are resolved before or early in marriage, the chances that finances will create spousal shock later become fewer.
Crafting a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement takes a willingness to compromise and can be costly. Spouses must hire separate legal and financial representatives to provide advice. Among the topics for spouses to consider are spousal debt loads, individual spending habits, hidden or undisclosed assets, existing estate plan documents and family expectations for asset distribution.
An accounting of real estate, investments, income, insurances, retirement plans and business values for both parties is necessary.
After a financial agreement is signed, the parties walk away with a new, clear knowledge of the things they own and can expect to have no matter what happens in the future.
Source: WMUR, "Is A Postnuptial Agreement Right For You?" Apr. 26, 2012
]]>Child custody issues intensify when one parent increases the distance from a former partner. The National Center for State Courts reports that 35 million U.S. children have divorced or separated parents, and 25 percent of those children are coping with a long-distance parent.
]]> Nearly 10 million children and their noncustodial parents face communication challenges. Family law courts recognize the propensity for couples to create physical distance after the end of a relationship and have turned to technology to help bridge the parent-child gap. Judges may order "virtual visitation" rights for noncustodial parents that guarantee an electronic link with kids. Faraway parents stay connected with their children's lives through texts, emails, social media websites and webcams."Virtual" or electronic visitations are legal rights available for parents living in Texas and five other states. Almost two-dozen other states are considering legislation that would include "virtual visitation" among the options for closing the parent-child distance.
Family law courts may make the electronic communications part of a parenting plan, detailing when and how often the "virtual visits" take place. Judges still view virtual meetings between parents and kids as second-best compared to face-to-face meetings.
Critics complain that parents can manipulate circumstances surrounding electronic meetings. A parent could use the virtual availability as an excuse to move farther away from children. Misuse of the medium is also possible if parents use webcams to spy on an ex-spouse.
"Virtual visits" provide an avenue for divorced or separated parents to communicate with kids as long as courts and parents are watchful that the experience remains in the best interests of children.
Source: Washington Times, "Virtual visitation: A sensible child custody option," Myra Fleischer, Apr. 15, 2012
]]>A child support order followed. The alleged father, reunited with his wife, did not dispute the woman's paternity claim legally, although he suspected he was not the child's biological dad. He also did not make monetary contributions toward the support of the child.
]]> Child support enforcement agents caught up with the Texas man earlier this year and slapped him with a bill for $50,000. The man was sent to jail for three months on the nonpayment charge, until the lawyer representing him suggested that the man take advantage of a Texas law that could clear his name.The attorney purchased a standard DNA test kit, and the samples and legal documents were filed. Paternity results showed the man was not the child's father. The courts severed the present and future parent-child support relationship.
The Texas statute allows fathers who question a child's biological inheritance to use DNA tests to clarify paternity. Claims must be made by doubtful fathers by Sept. 1 of this year. Courts will recognize test results that eliminate the chance that a man has fathered a child.
The results can absolve an accused parent of future support obligations, but they cannot erase the child support bills of the past that have gone unpaid. The Dallas man was out of jail but still on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars in back support. Fortunately for him, the woman dropped her claim for the money. Perhaps Texas politicians need to ensure that child support collection complies with the new law. Why should a man still owe thousands if it's been proven that the child isn't his?
Source: DFW CBS, "Man Jailed For Child Support For Baby That Wasn't His," Carol Cavazos, Apr. 12, 2012
]]>Myron A. Wright, the late CEO of Exxon Mobil, apparently engaged in an affair more than half a century ago with a woman he met on a bus. The product of that short, unmarried relationship was a child, who was put up for adoption in the mid-1950s.
]]> When the adoptive mother was nearing death in 1989, her daughter received a phone call from the biological mother, who told her that Wright was her biological father.The woman phoned the Exxon Mobil CEO, who admitted he was her father. The father-daughter relationship was confined to phone calls, but through it, she learned of her past.
Wright sent $144,000 to the woman's biological mother to help raise the couple's secret child. The CEO claimed he never knew his daughter was put up for adoption. The support money he paid may have been spent by the biological mother's family, including a husband who reportedly tried to blackmail the CEO.
The adopted woman filed a case against her biological mother and half-brother, claiming the two had stolen her rightful inheritance. Twenty years after learning her true identity, the woman claims the lawsuit has little to do with money.
The woman wants the courts to agree that her father was extorted for money that was never used to support his biological child; a daughter he never realized was adopted. While a parent who cannot raise a child should be respected for making the difficult choice of putting the child up for adoption, if they receive money from the noncustodial parent to provide for the child, then that is what the money should be used for.
Source: Carthage Press, "Texas court: Carthage woman is oilman's daughter," John Hacker, Mar. 27, 2012
]]>The 49-year-old CEO claimed he could not live up to a prenuptial agreement that would give his wife half of the couple's property, up to $5 million. The executive's wife told the court her husband is far from insolvent. He reportedly pays $20,000 in monthly spousal support and owes his wife more than $100,000. The judge in the case must decide whether the wife's spousal support is necessary and if the husband must pay her legal fees.
]]> The man's company had $23 billion in assets at the start of 2012. The figure sounds healthy, but the CEO claims the firm was worth a lot more before the recession. In 2007, the company had an estimated value of $39 billion.The husband stated that under business accounting rules, he and his Dallas-headquartered company would show a "negative net worth" due to pending lawsuits.
A company statement read before the court seemed to conflict with the CEO's opinions. Officials stated the debt-investment firm is not insolvent. Company authorities claimed the business made several positive financial strides with investors and was in the process of expanding internationally.
A former employee testified for the CEO's wife. The man told the judge he had a lunch meeting with the CEO, in which the husband allegedly said that he was working to minimize his net worth to avoid payments to his wife.
If the man is lying about his financial situation, he could have to honor the prenuptial agreement. If he was worried about giving too much away in a divorce, he should have tried to negotiate an agreement more acceptable to him before marrying.
Source: Bloomberg, "Highland Capital Chief Tells Divorce Judge He's Insolvent," Tom Korosec, Mar. 29, 2012
]]>The sect, called the Fundamentalist Church, is a Mormon offshoot with about 10,000 North American followers. Members believe men must have a minimum of three wives to reach a high status in heaven. The accused is believed to have accumulated 35 wives, one legal wife and 34 so-called spiritual wives.
]]> Third-degree felony charges against the former sect president include three counts of bigamy. A conviction on every count could mean a total of 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $30,000.During opening arguments in Midland, prosecutors claimed to have evidence of the ex-sect president's multiple marriages. The defendant's attorney claims the extra, illegal wives the state claims his client has are not wives by law, but celestial spouses by belief. Prosecutors contend the accused bigamist and his wives cohabitated and represented themselves as legal spouses.
A seven-man, five-woman jury is expected to hear testimony from former Fundamentalist Church believers about the marriages. Jurors are also likely to see documentation found in a police raid on a sect ranch in Texas.
The raid at the Yearning for Zion Ranch in 2008 ended with accusations of fake marriages, bigamy and child sexual assault against a dozen men, including the defendant. Ten were convicted.
Two church members entered no contest pleas to bigamy charges and are serving seven- and eight-year prison sentences. The Midland case is the first bigamy trial among the dozen sect members charged with the crime. For women who have been in the sect and were forced into a marriage, hopefully the criminal trial can help them move on with their lives and get the divorces they need.
Source: Reuters, "Texas trial to focus on whether sect marriages broke bigamy law," Matthew Waller, March 22, 2012
]]>U.S. Census Bureau statistics say the occurrence of older-age divorce has increased sharply in the last two decades. A 50 percent increase in divorces for those between 48 and 66 years of age has given rise to the need for financial experts who specialize in the division of marital assets.
]]> An estimated 1,500 Certified Divorce Financial Analysts now serve clients in the United States and Canada, a number that has doubled every year for the last decade.Advisers who specialize in money matters are frequently called to help retirement-age clients plot a safe course for estate plans and non-working years. CFDAs do double duty by advising older spouses who are also getting divorced.
Divorcing later in life combines worries about retirement comfort levels and older-age singlehood. Assets that couples shared and built through possible decades of marriage -- marital homes, pensions and long-term investments -- must be tallied, examined, valued and divvied up.
CDFAs often meet with divorcing spouses together with hopes that sensitive money issues can be resolved reasonably. Cases for clients undergoing contentious marital breakups might lead to a recommendation for separate financial advisers.
And just like many attorneys suggest with negotiating prenuptial agreements, CFDAs encourage couples of every age to seek help with asset division as soon as possible, before a divorce settlement is reached. Battling about assets after a divorce decree is issued can be litigious or expensive.
Source: The Huffington Post, "Divorce Retirement: Financial Advisors Face Challenges When Couples Split Later," Jessica Toonkel, Mar. 12, 2012
]]>Whatever marital status a person had on December 31, 2011, is the status used for filing income taxes for the entire 2011 tax year. The tax-filing situation gets confusing when married couples in Texas and elsewhere enter the relationship limbo of separation.
]]> Whether spouses' tax statuses are considered married during separation depends on state laws. The IRS defers to states on the matter of marital and tax filing status since laws among states differ. The IRS views couples with divorce and legal separate maintenance decrees -- not informal separation arrangements -- as unmarried individuals. Some states have no separate maintenance decrees. In those states, including Texas, a separated couple's status remains "married" until a divorce is finalized.The tax-filing options for married or some legally separated taxpayers are either "married filing jointly" or "married filing separately." Legal and financial experts caution separated joint filers to be aware of the consequences.
The downside for a couple heading toward divorce is that joint married filers are equally responsible for a tax burden. If taxes are underpaid or owed in a joint return, both spouses are held liable for payment.
When signing a joint return appears more advantageous than filing as separate, married individuals, experts advise divorcing spouses to get a professional opinion. Indemnification agreements arranged through a competent attorney can limit how much tax burden a spouse must share.
Source: Forbes, "Tax Tips for Women Going Through Divorce," Jeff Landers, Mar. 7, 2012
]]>The last thing many spouses in Texas and elsewhere want after parting ways is to cooperate or coexist with a former partner. Experts suggest that parents should temporarily sacrifice individual comfort and talk about the divorce with children together.
]]> The timing is critical. Specialists say parents and children should not be caught up in outside commitments on the day \news is broken. Clearing schedules can be tricky, but it's necessary to allow children the opportunity to react, absorb, process and ask questions.Parents should be aware that talking about a divorce with kids should not coincide with an otherwise memorable occasion. The announcement of a divorce during a day like Thanksgiving or a birthday may ruin future celebrations for the child.
Deciding on what will be said as a parental team in advance is advised. Shying away from the word "divorce" is not recommended. Advisers say adults should not try to soft sell the truth. At the same time, full disclosures of details surrounding the divorce may not be helpful or wise for children to know.
Parents should expect children to respond emotionally. Making room for a child's feelings is part of delivering the news. Children may pepper parents with questions, which may or may not be anticipated.
Spouses should try to work out responses to expected questions before meeting with children, including an answer to the question "Why?" It might be tempting for a parent to blurt out that a spouse has been unfaithful, but adult disputes should be reserved for times when children are not present.
Source: The Huffington Post, "How to Tell Your Children You Are Getting Divorced: 5 Tips," Kathryn Murphy and Linda Solomon, Mar. 2, 2012
]]>As this blog reported on just last week, divorce courts have seen an upswing of evidence from electronic devices. Laws governing the use of digital records in divorce litigation are tentative. Judges struggle with the application of laws that have a difficult time keeping pace with fast-changing technology.
]]> Legal questions swirl around rights of individual privacy, authorized account access and the use of tech-based evidence. The answers are not always easy. Can an ex who knows a former spouse's passwords use them? What if the password remains unchanged after separation or divorce? How far can a spouse go before breaking the law?Wiretaps of smartphone conversations or secretly-installed tracking software are more obvious law violations than poking around in an ex's publically available Facebook page or email account. Many divorce attorneys warn clients to change Internet account passwords much the same way spouses change door locks after a break up.
Evidence laws are not clear-cut with social media sites, where the openness of postings depend upon site owner and user-directed privacy controls. Many courts feel if the public can access a user's online comments the content is evidential open game.
If evidence from a computer, phone or other digital device becomes crucial in a divorce proceeding, lawyers frequently recommend getting the court's permission to obtain it. Advisers say it is better to have the court's blessing to use digital evidence before lifting the information through spy tactics.
Source: usatoday.com, "Cyber-snoops often cross legal line in divorce wars," Brian Haas, Feb. 23, 2012
]]>According to two recent surveys conducted by a prominent association of family law attorneys, the use of electronic evidence is becoming a common trend in many divorce cases. Sleuthing spouses and private investigators can retrieve posts or images from social networking sites or texts and other data stored on a spouse's smartphone.
]]> Two separate surveys from the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers show that a vast majority of members have seen an increase in the use of evidence from social networking sites and smartphones. Around 94 percent stated that there has been a rise in the use of text messages as evidence.Attorneys caution that digital social footprints are the easiest way to undermine a spouse's credibility during a divorce. Images posted on Facebook or messages sent to friends can quickly become evidence of one person's dishonesty.
Text messages can also be especially incriminating, because instead of saying something in the heat of the moment that can be misconstrued, the incriminating evidence is captured permanently.
Even if electronic communications are never introduced in a family law case, computer, cellphone and Internet activity can contribute to the demise of a union when one spouse uncovers proof of an extramarital affair. The bottom line, according to the group's president, is to never put anything in writing that you wouldn't want a judge to see.
Source: The Huffington Post "Getting Divorced? Stop Texting and Get Off Facebook," Ken Altshuler, Feb. 23, 2012
]]>The now-16-year-old boy lives with his mother, an American citizen, in Texas. According to the mother, the teen has no desire to see his British-born father who took his fight for child custody to the U.S. Supreme Court.
]]> According to court records, the boy's father -- who now lives in Chile -- accused the child's mother of fleeing Chile with the child to come to the United States. A court in Chile previously ruled that neither parent could take the boy out of the country without permission from the other parent.The couple was married in the United Kingdom, and the boy was born in Hawaii. The parents were estranged in early 2003. A Chilean court granted primary custody to the boy's mother and "limited power" and visitation rights to the father.
The wife left Chile when the boy was 10. The father used a private investigator to track the mother and son to San Antonio.
A federal appeals court granted the father the "right of access" so visitations could continue.
Supreme Court justices heard the case in 2010 and agreed that the father could pursue the legal custody action, but denied the parent a "right of access" and remanded the case to a lower federal court.
The teen recently told a judge he wanted to stay with his mother and did not wish to see his father. The Hague Convention's international child custody guidelines apply to children up to age 15. The boy at the heart of the dispute turned 16 recently, causing a U.S. federal judge to close the case.
Source: CNN, "Child at center of high court fight over custody gets closure," Bill Mears, Feb. 14, 2012
]]>With the divorce rate at 40 percent in the United States, more couples are considering prenuptial agreements. Seventy-five percent of American divorce lawyers say they have seen more prenups signed in the last half decade than in the more-distant past.
]]> Couples who enter sign a prenup may add more to an agreement than how to divide property. With prenuptial agreements, critical decisions about property, money and children are settled when couples are more likely to cooperate.During a divorce action, spousal negotiations frequently suffer from highly emotional choices. Practical or long-term decisions are more difficult during a divorce process, when psychological factors can influence sound judgment.
The existence of a prenup helps separate individual assets from marital ones. It can establish whether spousal support is necessary, for how long and under what conditions. They also help to decide asset distribution issues for children born of previous relationships, a precaution to help families avoid squabbles over an estate. The agreements may even stipulate that an unfaithful spouse forfeits rights to assets.
Divorce attorneys agree that the all-cards-on-the-table experience is a benefit to many couples planning to marry. Proponents say couples who sign them take a realistic approach to what might happen, rather than what will occur.
Source: ksat.com, "Is a prenuptial agreement right for you?" Feb. 8, 2012
]]>The state high civil court assigned a group of attorneys to come up with an answer to the problem of helping poorer Texans find adequate divorce court representation. The task force set about creating basic divorce forms, similar to ones already used in more than three dozen other states.
]]> Several family law attorneys of the Texas State Bar have objected to the simplification of divorce proceedings. Several lawyers have said they are worried divorcing spouses could cheat themselves using over-simplified forms.Divorce attorneys often deal with couples who flip-flop between an amicable divorce and a contentious one. If a couple initiates a divorce using generic forms but later disagrees, the legal fees to unravel the mess could be more costly than if the couple hired a lawyer from the start.
Some lawyers say that a multitude of poorer Texas couples already try to divorce using self-representation. Many employ complex, non-standard forms that cause wasted or lengthy bouts in court.
A number of Texas State Bar family law attorneys requested that the state Supreme Court stop the task force's work. The request was denied. One justice felt the simple divorce forms were necessary to meet the needs of "6 million Texans" who could qualify for legal aid.
The justice's admonishment came with a promise. Any divorce forms approved by the state Supreme Court would be acceptable only if they were helpful to divorce litigants and courts.
There are options available that are more affordable for divorcing couples than trying to go it alone and getting snagged up in the process. A no-fault divorce or using mediation could be a better way to reach an amicable settlement.
Source: Houston Chronicle, "Kilday Hart: Divorce forms divide two groups of Texas lawyers," Patricia Kilday Hart, Feb. 3, 2012
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