Brazil has reportedly just adopted legislation that guarantees grandparents the right to visit their grandchildren in the event their parents divorce.

Brazil’s statute bucks the general trend in the US of curtailing grandparent visitation rights where the parents are fit parents.

One can only wonder whether this legislation is a reaction to the world-famous case of the New Jersey boy held in Brazil for five years, even after his mother’s death, before being released to his father. The grandparents recently sought to compel visitation with their grandchild … on their own terms … and lost.

Read more in this CBC News article: Brazil gives grandparents visitation right.

California Husband and Wife look forward to the birth of their Triplets.

Wife delivers the Triplets.

And then, allegedly as a result of medical malpractice, Wife is left severely brain damaged. Unable to eat. Speak. Or move.

One year later, Husband divorces Wife.

Husband discontinues bringing her Triplets to visit Wife.

And Husband goes to family court to attempt to terminate Wife’s parental rights to Triplets.

Termination of parental rights is generally reserved for parents who have abused or neglected their children. Or abandoned them … persistently … willfully … or grossly negligently.

Family court denies the termination of Wife’s parental rights to Triplets.

And awards Wife visitation with the Triplets…

A single annual in-person visitation of five days. With Husband present.

And a monthly internet video conference.

Wife is reportedly thrilled by the prospect of her five day timesharing with the Triplets.

Read more in this [Salt Lake City] Deseret News article: Disabled mother’s visitation cut to 5 days per year and this Los Angeles Times article: Abbie Dorn, severely disabled giving birth to triplets, wins the right to spend time with her children.

Generally, withdrawing money from an IRA or similar retirement account prematurely is costly, in taxes and penalties. But this is exactly what must often happen in a divorce.

Giving rise to special exceptions rendering retirement account transfers incident to a divorce free of taxes or penalties.

If an entire IRA account is going to be transferred, it is permissible to simply change the name on the account from the original spouse-owner to the other spouse.

For partial transfers of an account, the methodology is “direct transfer”. In a nutshell, the owner spouse instructs the trustee to transfer a specified amount of the account’s funds to a retirement account in the other spouse’s name.

The transfer must be in accordance with a divorce judgment, so timing is important.

Pensions are divided via a different procedure, which I posted about in
Floridians: Don’t Take Your QDROs for Granted If You Are Entitled to Share in Your Ex’s Pension..

Read more in this Fox Business news article: Moving IRA Assets Under Divorce Decree.

Greek Husband and Wife meet and, in time, marry.

They have two Children together, Daughter and Son.

The marriage breaks down for many reasons. Among them, Wife alleges that Husband beats Son and shares a bed with Daughter while he is naked.

A Greek family court awards Wife sole custody of Children, with restricted visitation and timesharing to Husband.

During one such visitation, Husband reportedly absconds with the Children and abducts them to the US.

Husband settles with the Children in a Greek community in Florida, in the Tampa area. Money is tight, and Husband is arrested for shoplifting.

Through a Greek reality television crime show show picked up in the Tampa area, Wife learns that Children are in Florida.

Wife initiates an application for the return of the Children to Greece under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

Law enforcement authorities become aware that Husband is wanted in Greece.

A federal judge in Florida in time enters a pickup order for the Children and Wife is reunited with the Children.

Wife prevails in the Hague Convention hearing and the US court orders that the Children be returned to Wife’s care in Greece.

Wife and Children return to Greece.

Shortly thereafter, Wife is assaulted and Husband allegedly abducts the Children again. To an undetermined location.

Authorities do not expect that Husband will return to the US this time.

Read more in this St Petersburg Times article: Greek drama plays out in Florida

One and one-half year old marriage of Russian Husband and Wife breaks down.

Couple and their child have apparently divided their time between England and Russia.

English wives reportedly typically receive more generous equitable distributions of marital assets than Russian wives.

Husband races to file for divorce in Russia and Wife races to file in England.

Husband wins that race. Sort of.

The British Court of Appeal has held that Wife is entitled to an additional equitable distribution property division award in England, upholding an award of 3 million UK pounds plus legal fees.

Only Husband hasn’t paid, and hasn’t set foot back in England since the court ruled … for fear of arrest.

The ruling undoubtedly bolsters England’s reputation as the so-called “divorce capital of the world”, and its popularity with international wives.

Read more in this UK Daily Mail article: Race to divorce: Russian wife, 27, wins £2.8million payout after just 18 months of marriage in UK

In most married couples, one has a greater tendency than the other to run up debt. When the couple breaks up, the other spouse worries whether they will be liable for the debt their spouse incurred.

This probably sounds as though the answer should be clear and straightforward. But the question may be a little more complicated than it appears at first blush.

For example, is the debt account in the other spouse’s sole name? Or is it a joint account?

This is a key question. If the account is joint, it doesn’t matter which partner actually “spent” the debt.

All account debtors are liable … for the entire amount of the debt. The creditor can go after both debtors or choose the best prospect for recovery.

Now, that’s the story as to the third party creditor. Family court can’t limit the third party creditor’s legal rights.

But family court can order the big-spending spouse to pay off or reimburse the other spouse for all or part of the debt they incurred on their own.

That’s not the only issue either. Even if a debt is in only the other spouse’s name, if the debt is incurred to pay for basic family necessities (“necessaries”), the other spouse may be held liable for the debt as well.

A slightly different question is whether one spouse’s or both spouses’ “stuff” can be made to answer for the other spouse’s debt, regardless of whether, technically speaking, the other spouse is personally responsible for the debt. Unfortunately, the answer to this question varies from state to state and may also vary according to the type of “stuff” the spouses own.

Read more in this Colorado Springs [CO] Gazette article: Money & the Law: Spouse’s debt woes likely your woes, too .

Canadian Husband is convicted of rape and murder.

Husband and Wife are divorcing.

Wife seeks to seal records in their divorce, allegedly to protect her privacy.

Some of Husband’s alleged victims contend that Husband began fraudulently transferring assets to Wife shortly after his arrest to avoid anticipated payouts which may be ordered to them and other judgment creditors.

Media attorneys also oppose sealing of the records or court-ordered bans on publication.

The Canadian family court has ordered that a written agreement between Husband and Wife be disclosed to media attorneys only, until the family court’s ruling after a full hearing on the merits of sealing or prohibiting publication.

As in Florida, Canada reportedly has a strong policy favoring treating divorce court case files as public records and disfavoring sealing records or prohibiting publication.

Read more in this CBC News article: Williams’s wife wants divorce records sealed and this Ottawa Citizen article: Judge: Russell Williams’ wife must disclose contract transferring marital assets.

Husband thinks Wife is having an affair.

Husband allegedly murders Wife’s suspected paramour.

Husband and Wife divorce.

Husband injures family court judge presiding over Husband’s and Wife’s divorce.

Husband allegedly also injures Wife’s divorce attorney.

Husband is under arrest for first degree murder of the believed paramour and two counts of attempted murder for the family court judge and his Wife’s divorce lawyer.

Husband seeks legal representation in his criminal cases by a public defender.

Husband is, however, denied a public defender because he reportedly has over $200,000 in assets.

Read more in this [Columbus, IN] Republic article: Man accused in Colo. Springs slaying, wounding of judge, to get private attorneys.

A new University of Michigan study concludes that twenty-eight percent of American mothers with two or more children have them with different fathers.

The study has 4000 women as participants.

The study also reports a substantial variance based on ethnicity, with:

• African American mothers at fifty-nine percent

• Hispancics at thirty-five percent and

• caucasians twenty-two percent

Factors making it more likely that children in a family would have different fathers include:

1. not living with a man at the time of birth

2. low income

3. limited education

Despite that, multiple fathers for multiple children in a family is pervasive at all income and educational levels.

Further, the phenomenon is more common among divorcees than single mothers.

The study has not yet been published and peer-reviewed.

Read more in this Business Week article: Many Moms Have Kids With Different Dads, U.S. Study Finds.

It can be frustrating – and worse – waiting for – or trying to enforce – past due alimony (also known as spousal support) (or, for that matter, child support) obligations. Especially when months turn into years.

Well, a woman in India waited nearly thirty years. Not to collect her alimony, mind you.

Just to get her court order for spousal support.

It seems she was divorced in 1983. And, for whatever reason, failed to seek alimony or child support in the original divorce proceedings.

Then, years later, in 1995, she petitioned the Indian family court to award her alimony and spousal support.

It is unclear whether her original divorce proceedings reserved on the issue of alimony for some reason or addressed the issue of spousal support in any way at all.

The woman apparently took the position in her 1995 family court filing that she hadn’t known of her legal right to alimony and spousal support at the time of her original divorce.

Indian law, however, apparently allows for new alimony claims to be filed after the original divorce is concluded, provided the spouse filing the claim has not yet remarried.

But the woman’s spousal support claim took seventeen years to “process” through the Indian family court. Seventeen.

(Which undoubtedly makes most of us feel much better about the speed and efficiency of our courts here in Florida and throughout the US.)

But, although it took nearly forever, the Indian court did eventually reward the woman with both a court order for alimony and a court order for child support. (Their child has, of course, since become a legal adult.)

Needless to say, the woman’s ex-husband appealed the Indian family court’s alimony and child support rulings.

But the Indian appellate court upheld the lower court’s spousal support and child support awards to the woman.

It is unknown whether the woman’s ex-husband has been complying with his court-ordered support obligations pending the outcome of his appeal. He reportedly operates his own (likely cash) business … and so does his current spouse.

But the woman is certainly making progress.

Read more in this Indian Express Limited article: 28 yrs after divorce, woman gets alimony and this New Delhi Television article: Woman gets alimony 28 years after divorce.