AB 612 was originally introduced early last year and began making its way through the legislative process before being set aside over the summer. According to the legislature's online bill tracking system, the first hearings on the measure were cancelled last July at the request of the measure's sponsor, Assemblyman Jim Beall (D-San Jose). The bill is not, however, dead and is scheduled to be considered by the California Senate's Judiciary Committee later this spring.

The competing articles in Capitol Weekly lay out the two sides of the issue in forceful language. The measure's supporters reject the entire idea of parental alienation seeing it, in essence, as a legal fig leaf designed to return battered children to the custody of an abusive parent.

California parental alienation advocates, however, oppose the measure. They argue that while no one favors child abuse, it is ridiculous to suggest that parents involved in contentious California divorce proceedings do not sometimes attempt to poison their children's attitudes toward the other parent.

The anti-AB 612 column in the Weekly also notes that a number of legal and judicial professional organizations have expressed opposition to the measure, including "the Judicial Council; the California Judges Association; the Family Law section of the State Bar; the California Psychological Association; the Association of Certified Family Law Specialists; the Association of Family Conciliation Courts; and numerous others." Legal and judicial organizations have voiced concerns over any measure that would limit the scope of information a judge is able to consider during a California custody hearing.

Capitol Weekly: Preventing Courts from Considering Parental Alienation Will Harm Kids

Capitol Weekly: Parental Alienation Must be Excluded from all Custody Hearings

California Legislative Information System: Official Status Record for AB 612

In August of 2009, the divorced father tossed around a football with his 9-year-old twins, Christopher and William, after visiting their grandmother in Newport Beach, California.
The next day, Aug. 30, he played basketball with them before their piano lesson. Their mother, Mei Wang, came by at 6 p.m. that Sunday to pick them up. Ko did the "1, 2, 3" routine with his sons: a tap of foreheads, kisses, and then hugs. "See you Wednesday!'' he told them. He didn't.

On Aug. 31, 2009, when the twins' mother was supposed to take her sons to school, Wang, 45, instead put them on a plane and fled with them to her native Singapore - defying a court order and launching her ex-husband on an international crusade to get them back.

"I have good days, and I have bad days," he says. "Especially on the weekends, I miss them. Sometimes I will go lie on their bed...."

"I miss talking to them. We did homework together. We played together. They're my life." Ko, a Hong Kong-born U.S. citizen who grew up in Newport Beach and attended Corona del Mar High, is perplexed at a government that so far has seemed powerless to help him.

After all, shortly after the kidnapping, he was granted full custody of his kids as a result of his ex-wife's action, documents show.

"The United States is a very generous and bighearted country," Ko says. "When foreign countries ask for help, whether it's Indonesia after the tsunami or Haiti after the earthquake, we jump in with both feet and we help."

"But I'm an American. And when Americans need help, everyone seems to duck."
Like the recent high-profile case of David Goldman, the New Jersey father who spent five years getting his son back from Brazil, Ko finds himself an unwilling player in the emotionally charged, and legally and logistically daunting arena, of international parental abductions.

Only 69 of 194 countries have signed an international treaty known as the Hague Convention of the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which makes it easier for countries to work together in bringing fugitive parents to justice.

"The current situation is not acceptable," Ernie Allen, president and chief executive of the National Center for Mission and Exploited Children, said in a recent speech.
Singapore has not signed the Hague pact. The NCMEC currently is working more than 1,200 cases involving children abducted by a non-custodial parent from the U.S. to a foreign country. Mexico by far leads the list, with more than 530 cases.

If you are a Southern California parent who finds him or herself in this tragic position (or fears that as a marriage dissolves you may), consulting with a Los Angeles or Orange County child custody lawyer at the earliest opportunity is imperative. Fighting for your rights in California family court can be difficult, especially for fathers. A Costa Mesa father's rights attorney is an essential ally as you navigate our complex, and often confusing, legal system. With international custody cases sometimes taking years to resolve, it is important to have a California custody attorney who will fight for you working on your behalf from Day One.

Source: OC Register: OC Man desperately wants sons back

International custody battles can be among the most complex, and emotionally draining, California child custody disputes. A recent high profile case pitting an American father against his Brazilian former in-laws took five years to resolve. In Walding and Jahani's case, the Daily News reports, the couple had been awarded joint custody with their daughter residing with her mother and attending school in Southern California. Last summer, Jahani took the girl to Bahrain for a vacation. Walding told the paper that his ex made repeated excuses (such as flight delays) for failing to return to the United States, before emailing him at Christmas to announce that she planned to stay in the Gulf. Both Walding and Jahani have set up facebook pages seeking to enlist supporters for their respective sides in the custody dispute.

Walding has filed a family court petition to be declared parent of primary residence. The petition also seeks to bar his ex-wife from traveling overseas with their daughter without his permission - a stipulation that, of course, would only be enforceable were Jahani to return to the United States in the first place. The paper reports that New Jersey courts denied a similar request at the time of the couple's divorce in 2007, despite Jahani having already, at that time, taken the girl to Bahrain for 10 months on one occasion. As the Brazilian case highlights, however, even winning such a judgment can be only the first step in an exceedingly long and complex legal process for a parent to win and obtain custody of a child abducted by an ex-spouse.

If you are a Southern California parent who finds him or herself in this tragic position (or fears that as a marriage dissolves you may), consulting with a Los Angeles or Orange County child custody lawyer at the earliest opportunity is imperative. Fighting for your rights in California family court can be difficult, especially for fathers. A Costa Mesa father's rights attorney is an essential ally as you navigate our complex, and often confusing, legal system. With international custody cases sometimes taking years to resolve, it is important to have a California custody attorney who will fight for you working on your behalf from Day One.

Philadelphia Daily News: N.J. dad fears custody battle is at point of no return

According to released court sealed documents, here are some highlights reflecting the parties' marital lifestyle:

* For the last 5 years of their marriage, Jamie and Frank took $2.31 million per month in salaries and perks -- almost entirely on a tax-free basis.

* Frank's financial advisor testified, "During the marriage the parties used the business to fund whatever they needed, or wanted, as it was their personal ATM or credit card.

* Jamie claims ... Frank's 2008 personal financial statements put his net worth at $834,900,000 and valued McCourt Enterprises in excess of $2 billion.

* Frank spent $52,000 in clothes since November and dropped more than $81,000 on a December vacation ... according to Jamie.

* As for Jamie's request for just under a million a month, she claims it's necessary "to maintain her accustomed marital lifestyle."

Unless you are Frank McCourt, Warren Buffett or Donald Trump, said types of temporary support orders are extraordinary. For more information on obtaining spousal support pending an Orange County dissolution proceeding, contact an experienced and reputable family law attorney.

Source: TMZ: Frank/Jamie McCourt Divorce-- So Rich!

The director and co-star of "Easy Rider" filed for a California divorce from Duffy, 42, on January 14, and said in a subsequent statement that he wanted to spend "these difficult days surrounded by my children and close friends."

The California divorce battle is largely a tug-of-war over the couple's daughter, Galen. Hopper hopes a judge will mandate daily visitation, because he claimed Duffy had taken her away from him for extended periods. From an Orange County divorce attorney's perspective, it is not adviseable to deny the other parent frequent and continuing contact with the child.

Court documents details a lot of screaming and shouting among the inhabitants of Hopper's five-home compound in the coastal Los Angeles suburb of Venice, with Duffy cast as the villain.

Duffy is variously described as "extremely volatile" "insane and out of her mind," and "inhuman." Her husband of 13 years, meanwhile, has shrunk to 120 pounds (54 kg) and vomits after taking his medication, according to the papers.

The teen, also an actor, was accused by Duffy last year of stealing some of his father's priceless artworks. She changed the locks at the compound to keep him out. They were later found in a basement where they had long been in storage, the documents said.

For his part, Dennis Hopper said he spent Christmas "in utter distress" after Duffy had spirited their daughter Galen to Boston, a trip he learned about from her attorney.

From an Orange County divorce lawyer point of view, child custody disputes can get pretty ugly. If in fact Duffy unilaterally whisked the daughter away from Los Angeles to Boston and Hopper only learned about it through his attorney after the fact, it was probably done in violation of the Automatic Temporary Restraining Order set forth in the Summons filed on January 14, 2010. In any event, a Costa Mesa divorce attorney can assist in any child custody disputes.

Source: Yahoo News: Dennis Hopper divorce battle getting uglier

Indeed, an article released from the New York Post today states that more people are cheating on their spouses using Facebook -- and more divorce lawyers are returning to the scene of the crime for evidence.

A whopping 81 percent of matrimonial lawyers say that in the past five years they've seen a massive spike in the use of social-networking information as evidence of infidelity, a new poll shows.

The most widely used cyber-evidence -- including messages to lovers and incriminating photos -- is found on Facebook, the survey from the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers reveals.

"Every client I've seen in the last six months had a Facebook page," said the group's vice-president, Ken Altshuler, "and the first piece of advice I give them is to terminate their page immediately."

Altshuler said he's had three cases in the past six months where Facebook postings were a key piece of evidence.

In one case, he was representing a woman getting divorced from her alcoholic husband and also seeking custody of their kids. The man had told the judge he had found God and hadn't had a drink in months.

"It was all the stuff you're supposed to say," Altshuler said.

The claim was exposed as bogus thanks to Facebook pictures of the man partying at a friend's house three weeks before the court hearing.

"The friend had a picture of him holding a beer in each hand with a joint in his mouth," Altshuler said, leading the judge to question the man's credibility.

"If you have your picture taken, you never know where it's going to wind up," Altshuler said.

He also cited another recent custody case where his client's ex-wife had claimed she was engaged and set to be married in a bid to show how stable her household was.

That was called into question by the woman's Facebook posting where she wrote "she'd broken up with her abusive boyfriend and that if anybody had a rich friend to let her know," Altshuler said.

He said the posting was given to his client by a friend of the ex-husband who was still Facebook friends with the ex-wife.

"People don't think about who has access to their Facebook page," Altshuler said, and faux Facebook friends will usually sell out a true pal's spouse.

"It's often the third party who's the source of information," he said.

"Don't do anything because you don't know who's looking. A good attorney can have a field day with this information."

Source: New York Post: Facebook 'Em

"It's almost been a year without child support," Dina Lohan said after a closed door meeting with her ex-husband in Nassau County Family Court on Tuesday.

The parents of troubled starlet Lindsey Lohan have been squabbling over court-ordered child support payments. It's unclear how much Michael Lohan owes, but TMZ.com reported it was more than $15,000.

"I just want him to do the right thing. I just want him to take care of his kids," Dina Lohan said after the meeting. "This isn't about us. It's about his children."

"No one wants a war," she said. "I don't want to be here more than anyone else in this building. It's a very sad place."

As I discussed in a prior post, it is not a good idea to let your child support obligation spiral out of control as there are severe consequences for one's failure to pay. Child support arrears will continue to accumulate and once said child support debt accumulates, what is owed is owed.

Consult an experienced and reputable Orange County family law attorney for further information on child support or modifying a child support order.

Source: NYDailyNews.com: Dina Lohan: Deadbeat dad Michael Lohan hasn't paid child support in nearly a year