Concealing Assets During a Divorce

A northern California man, Steven Zinnel, was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for declaring bankruptcy and hiding assets to avoid paying child support and spousal support. He was also ordered to pay a $500,000 fine and forfeit assets worth more than $2,8 million. The sentence is said to be one of the longest prison terms given for bankruptcy fraud in federal court in the Sacramento Eastern District of California.

Zinnel, the father of two teenage children, split from his wife in 1999 and had a contentious divorce. Apparently, there was a history of Zinnel concealing his assets throughout he case and afterwards in an attempt to avoid paying support.

http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_25280558/northern-california-man-who-hid-assets-avoid-paying      

In California, spouses have a fiduciary duty to disclose their complete financial information to each other. If a party’s financial situation changes (upwards or downwards), that party also has a duty to provide supplemental or amended information to the other party disclosing the change to their finances.

Family Law And Religion, Again

The first defendant has entered a Federal guilty plea in the "extort a divorce"  ("get a get"?) case in New York. David Hellman, a New York personal trainer, succumbed to a Federal sting operation, and traveled across a state line (or more specifically, across the GW bridge) to meet with some co-conspirators, and an FBI undercover agent, posing as the brother of a soon-to-be-ex-wife who needed her soon-to-be-ex-husband "convinced" to grant her a get, a religious divorce. 

A tip o' the kippah to Howard Friedman at Religion Clause.

Permissive Parenting: Best Interest of the Children?

A British court removed two boys, ages 11 and 14 from their 41 year old mother’s custody and placed them in the custody of their 43 year old father. Judge Laura Harris ruled that the mother had "significantly failed" the boys by her permissive parenting. She would sleep, use her Ipad or phone for hours at a time while her children would care for themselves. This caused issues for the children who were frequently late or would miss school. Additionally, mother was found to be systematically "poisoning" the children against their father. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10643643/Mother-loses-custody-battle-over-permissive-parenting-style.html

In California, similar to Judge Laura Harris in this case, courts will be reluctant to tell parents how to parent their children and will be tolerant of various parenting styles. If, however, the parenting is not in the best interest of the children or is causing the children harm, then courts will intervene. Also, "poisoning" or alienating the children against the other parent is also not in the best interest of the children and courts will tend to favor the parent they believe will foster the relationship between the children and the other parent.

Decision From SCOTUS Regarding Hague Convention

(yes, the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, NOT the one about dropping bombs from Zeppelins):   Lozano v. Montoya Alvarez, stating that the one year "statute of limitation" within which the courts of a country to which a child has been abducted  (or, in the language of the statute, "removed") must order a child "returned" to the original place of residence is not extended if the child is concealed.