Michigan Military Divorce

The Sean Goldman case takes a turn for the worse

A June 17, 2009 Op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal accuses Brazil of helping to kidnap American children. Former assistant secretary of state for Inter-American Affairs (1989-93) Bernard Aronson wrote in “Brazil helps kidnap American children”: “In the coming weeks, Brazil will define itself to the United States and to the wider international community by how it treats a 9-year-old boy.”

On September 24, 2008, I blogged about Sean Goldman, who was born and raised in Red Bank, N.J. Sean’s father, David Goldman, is an American father. His former wife was born in Brazil. Almost five years ago to the date, Sean’s mother flew to Brazil with him. She said it was a two-week vacation. Once there, however, she divorced David Goldman and re-married. Her new husband belongs to a powerful family of prominent Brazilian lawyers. Sean’s mother died tragically in childbirth one year ago, and her Brazilian family has used its powerful connections to prevent Sean's return to his biological father.

Disgracebook | Fools names and fools faces . . .

Yesterday we were talking about Facebook and mySpace pages. It amazes me how much personal information people will put up on the Internet for all the world to see. A wonderfully funny website The Disgracebook chronicles people's stupidity on the Web. The caption at the top: " The Disgracebook: Surprise! You just ruined your life with Facebook. Well played. "

Below the photo posted on Facebook is the caption "File under Facebook divorce" and the statement: "A furious fiancee dumped and dubbed her boyfriend "traitor pig" after catching him fondling another girl's boobs on Facebook just days before their wedding."

There is even a space for users to submit their own material.

There are only 8 pages of divorce-related Facebook submissions . . . not quite up to Google standards.

Social networking sites & divorce

Belinda Luscombe writes in the June 22, 2009 issue of Time Magazine "Divorce and Facebook"

"Not long after Patrick told his wife Tammie he wanted a divorce, she posted an angry, hurt note on "the wall," or public-comments section, of his Facebook page. Embarrassed that his colleagues, clients, church friends and family could see evidence of his marital woes, he deleted it and blocked his wife from seeing his page. A couple of days later, the IT worker in  Florida--who asked that his last name not be used in this story — found alarmed messages from two Facebook friends in his inbox. Tammie had used a mutual friend's account to view Patrick's wall and e-mailed several women he had had exchanges with. He says her e-mails were borderline defamatory. She says they merely noted that he was married with children, a fact he had left off his Facebook profile. Either way: Ouch."

Children | Protecting them online

NPR's techie Omar L. Gallaga, blogging on All Things Tech, writes on June 15, 2009 about how parents can protecting their kids online. The featured tech gadget is one that carefully allocates how much  time kids can spend on the Internet, playing computer games, watching TV. Hmmm What a way to tick off your kids! And how are they going to get their homework done if they cannot go online? See the Time-Scout Monitor (left), a way to limit and keep track of the amount of time kids spend on the computer. Card Access, Inc.

Here are some other ways you can protect your kids if they are online.

Rights regarding custody & parenting time | Unmarried parents

Recently, the following issues were raised concerning the custody and parenting time rights of an unmarried father after a breakup with the mother.

After the breakup, the father was able to file for custody and parenting time because he and Mom had signed an Acknowledgment of Parentage. His status as a legal father was thus already established. Dad requested joint legal and joint physical custody.

Mom objected to his proposal and asked for sole physical and sole legal custody. She claimed that Dad had a history of domestic abuse, of being an absent and uninvolved father. In her opinion, Dad posed a risk to the young child as demonstrated by earlier incidents.

While Dad's motion is pending and before any order for custody or parenting time was issued, Mom allows Dad to have parenting time on the condition that the paternal grandmother would be there to supervise. Dad promises that he will exercise his parenting time at his mother's house. However, during one of the parenting times, the grandmother leaves to run errands. Dad and his girlfriend then put the 2 1/2 year old child in Dad's car without any proper car seat or proper child restraints.

Preventing parental kidnapping

On the ABA Listserv, we've been discussing ways to build orders that help prevent  parental abductions.  This is very important when there is a possibility of abduction to a  foreign country, especially one that is non-compliant or has demonstrated patterns of non-compliance with the Hague Convention. Of the signatories to the Hague Convention, Honduras is identified as non-compliant in the April 2008 Report of the Department of State Office of Children's Issues Document: "Report on Compliance with Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Parental Abduction Convention." The report identifies the following countries as "demonstrating patterns of non-compliance":  Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Ecuador, Germany, Greece, Mexico, Poland and Venezuela.

Home Alone | When is it appropriate?

Questions frequently arise during the course of a divorce about about how old one must be in Michigan to be a babysitter, about how old a child must be in Michigan before she can be left alone without a babysitter or daycare, and about whether older siblings can babysit for younger ones. When children may be with the non-custodial parent for a large portion of the summer, specific concerns often arise about whether the child can or should be left home alone.

This isn't an Ozzie and Harriet world anymore. I can remember when, in 1975, I felt perfectly comfortable to browse in the adult section while my three-year-old ran to the children's book area of Horizon Books in Traverse City to look for the book he'd come back clutching saying "This is the Richard Scarry book I need today!" Would I allow a young child to be unsupervised in a downtown store today? Absolutely not. Similar concerns are raised these days about leaving children unsupervised in their home.

Crockeller "Guilty" in parental kidnapping says Boston jury

The Boston Globe posted breaking news today - the guilty verdict of the jury in the Clark Rockefeller kidnapping case. The Globe reports that the jury rejected Crockefeller's insanity defense and found him guilty of kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter Reigh Boss last year. Court TV followed the trial. Evidence at trial deconstructed 30 years of the defendant's chronic exaggerations and outright falsehoods about his identity, his activities, dubious stories and exposed his use of multiple aliases.

Crockefeller's lawyers and highly paid experts claimed that he suffered from Narcissistic Personality Disorder ("NPD")and that he was legally insane at the time of the crime. The DA argued that Crockefeller was really a manipulative con man who meticulously planned a crime, hiding $800,000 in gold coins, buying a new residence using another false identity where he could hide Reigh. It took eight days for law enforcement to find him and Reigh. He's been in jail ever since.