Archive for October, 2011
Collaborative Practice Law – a Cheaper Divorce Option
Divorcing Australians are increasingly using a US style of property settlement negotiation to avoid costly court battles, legal experts have said.
It follows the launch of new guidelines in March this year by Commonwealth Attorney-General Robert McClelland, for something called collaborative practice law.
Director of Consensus Family Lawyers in Canberra, Juliette Ford, said it meant that both parties negotiated through their lawyers.
‘The solicitors commit to the process by signing agreements promising not to go to court,” she said.
”Should negotiations fail, both party’s solicitor must cease acting. This provides incentive to the parties and their representatives to resolve disputes through collaboration.”
Law Council of Australia president Catherine Gale said collaborative law begun in Australia in 2005 and its popularity had steadily been growing.
Anti-Family Child Custody reforms – Megaphone Update
Over the past three days, the Fathers4Equality Megaphone has sent over 8,500 personalised emails to members and Senators of Federal Parliament.
If you have not sent an email yourself, please do so now. It is simple and very quick way of letting Canberra know your thoughts on this very important issue.
These emails were sent by mothers, fathers and grandparents from across Australia, all in protest against the malicious anti-family Child Custody reforms proposed by the Labor party and the Greens, designed to force all children of separated families into single-mother homes, depriving them of contact with their fathers.
Part of the procedure we followed before releasing each email for distribution has been the screening process. This screening was unfortunate but necessary given that a few years ago our email facilities were hijacked by Dr Michael Flood, a high-profile academic who has entrenched anti-male views, and is a primary advocate for the extinction of any shared parenting laws in Australia.
Family Violence bill (family law amendment) update – time to Speak Up!
Because of the emphasis that the Gillard government had placed on passing the Carbon Tax legislation in the lower house, the final vote of the Family Violence bill has been delayed.
We believe now that it will be voted on in the Senate on the 31st October, and expect it to be passed given the support of the Greens.
However will still need to show our opposition to this malicious bill, so Fathers4Equality have rolled out a tool (the Email Megaphone) we used on previous occasions, which resulted in almost 1 million emails being sent to local members in Parliament in 2005.
The Megaphone provides one email to be written, and then sent as an personalised email to numerous politicians.
It is a super-easy tool to use, and we would encourage you to visit and use it daily, until the final vote on this is finalised.
http://www.fathers4equality-australia.org/mailsend/anti-family-bill.nsf/frmSendMail
Self-represented litigant family law training courses
The Men’s Rights Agency periodically runs a course of weekly family law seminars, over 2 to 3 weeks, designed specifically to assist men who wish to represent themselves in Family Court, the Federal Magistrates Court or State Magistrates Court, on matters ranging from divorce to child custody issues..
Everyone needs to understand the current family law legislation. Other topics covered include domestic violence, child support and defacto property law.
The seminars are conducted by specialist MRA lawyers in Brisbane, the Bethania Community Centre or at Southport.
Previous seminars have proven successful as evidenced by the number of fathers who have successfully represented themselves in court and in their negotiations with the other party after attending our courses.
Tanilla Warwick-Deaves – another child murdered by mother and her boyfriend
THE mother of murdered toddler Tanilla Warwick-Deaves has faced court charged with being an accessory after the fact.
Handcuffed and dressed in a yellow cardigan Donna Deaves faced Gosford Local Court this morning where she did not apply for bail during her brief appearance.
The 27-year-old was arrested about 9am yesterday at Erina on the state’s Central Coast.
Two-year-old Tanilla was found with serious injuries at her mother’s Watanobbi home just before 4am on August 27.
She was taken to Wyong Hospital but pronounced dead a short time later.
Mum pleads guilty in boy-behind-wall case
A US woman who authorities say hid her young son, often in a crawl space, for nearly two years as part of a custody dispute has been ordered to spend two years on probation without more jail time.
Shannon Wilfong, 32, pleaded guilty yesterday to five misdemeanours, including obstructing a police officer.
Wilfong was sentenced to $US1500 ($1470) in fines and 30 days in jail – a judge credited her with time served – on that count and fines of $US100 on each of four counts of unlawful interference with child visitation.
Wilfong’s mother, Diane Dobbs, also pleaded guilty to obstruction and escaped additional jail time when the judge credited her with the 12 days she’d already been behind bars. Dobbs, 53, was fined $US1000.
A prosecutor said the case-closing plea deals came with the blessing of the boy’s father, Michael Chekevdia, Wilfong’s one-time boyfriend.
National Geographic seeks male victim of domestic violence for documentary
Sarah Isaac is currently researching the topic of men as victims of domestic violence at National Geographic and is looking for a younger male victim/survivor who is happy to talk on camera.
The reason behind this being that they want to highlight that this is a global and not domestic story.
The show that she is researching on behalf of, Taboo, is National Geographic’s most successful show.
Taboo is a long-running prime-time documentary series on the National Geographic Channel. The series presents an in-depth analysis of human behaviours and customs from around the world. As the title suggests, the focus is on practices that some countries or cultures might consider strange.
Woman pleads not guilty to penis mutilation
A CALIFORNIA woman has pleaded not guilty to cutting off her estranged husband’s penis and running it through a garbage disposal.
The latest episode is reminiscent of the highly publicised 1993 incident involving John and Lorena Bobbit, where the wife used the defense that the act of mutilation was in response to torture and repeated physical and verbal abuse that she was subjected to by John Bobbit.
The trend of genital mutilation however has since become a more common domestic crime against males, along with sky-rocketing levels of physical and emotional abuse, along with a justice system that is either unwilling or unable to respond.
Highest UK Court Supports Deceit of Mother in Child Abductions
A deceitful English mother who acquired the support of her Australian ex-husband to take their Australian born children for a holiday to the UK, and then refused to return back to Australia despite her previous undertakings, has won her legal battle to remain in the UK with the children.
The children’s father, an Australian citizen, had obtained an Australian High Court Family Division order that the eight-year-old boy and his two-year-old sister must be sent to back to Australia, and because of the mother’s past abusive behaviour, the High Court ordered that the children live with him.
Help for Penrith fathers going through divorce or separation
FOR almost 40 years, Barry Williams has helped Australian families through the murky waters of divorce and separation.
The national president and founder of Lone Fathers Association of Australia (LFAA) became the first father under the Family Law Act of 1975 to win custody of his four small children after his wife walked out on the family.
In those days, no support was available to single fathers, so Mr Williams staged a hunger strike at Parliament House for five days.
The then prime minister, Malcolm Fraser, agreed to meet him and ended up changing the single mother’s benefit to the single parent’s benefit.
Mr Williams and his organisation have been championing single parents’ rights ever since.
