Saturday, March 24, 2007

Just Beat Her

A terrified battered woman with two children files for divorce in Germany and gets beaten up by a judge.

FRANKFURT: A German judge has stirred a storm of protest here by citing the Koran in turning down a German Muslim wife's request for a fast-track divorce on the ground that her husband beat her.

In a remarkable ruling that underlines the tension between Muslim customs and European laws, the judge, Christa Datz-Winter, said the couple came from a Moroccan cultural milieu in which it is common for husbands to beat their wives. The Koran, she wrote, sanctions such physical abuse.

News of the ruling brought swift and sharp condemnation from politicians, legal experts and Muslim leaders in this country, many of whom said they were confounded that a German judge would put seventh-century Islamic religious teaching ahead of German law in deciding a case of domestic violence.

The court in Frankfurt abruptly removed Datz-Winter from the case on Wednesday, saying it could not justify her reasoning. The Moroccan woman's lawyer, Barbara Becker-Rojczyk, said she decided to publicize the ruling, which was issued in January, after the court refused her request for a new judge.

"It was terrible for my client," Becker-Rojczyk said. "This man beat her seriously from the beginning of their marriage. After they separated, he called her and threatened to kill her."

Monday, March 19, 2007

You Too can become a collaborative law expert!

Want to be a certified Georgia licensed Cooperative Parenting Coordinator? All it takes is $425 and three days at this nifty seminar with training provided by two so-called CPCs, Susan Boyan and Ann Marie Termini, who have education degrees with a working background in special education, and provide a variety of psychological services, including court testimony, usually only provided by licensed psychologists.

http://www.cooperativeparenting.com/brochureFeb2007.pdf

Just love this on their website. Even though a judge can't legally delegate this kind of authority to a third party -- it's been overturned time after time by the Georgia Supreme Court and in other states -- they're doing it anyway:


It is considered a form of psychotherapy NO
Parents may fire provider at any point without feedback to attorneys NO
Provider may testify in the child’s best interest YES
Process requires parents to return in the future prior to re-litigating YES

Colorado Bar Assn: collaborative law is unethical

The 2007 Georgia State Legislature as HB 369 pending:

19-9-1.1.
In all proceedings under this article, it shall be expressly
permissible for the parents of a child to agree to binding arbitration on the issue of child custody and matters relative to visitation and a parenting plan. The parents may select their arbiter and decide which issues will be resolved in binding arbitration. The arbiter´s decisions shall be incorporated into a final decree awarding child custody unless the judge makes specific written factual findings that under the circumstances of the parents and the child the arbiter´s award would not be in the best interests of the child. In its judgment, the judge may supplement the arbiter´s decision on issues not covered by the binding
arbitration.

For more on HB 369 see the Georgia Family Law Blog and Alaska, California, Connecticut and Tennessee [passed a Protective Parent Reform Act].

Saturday, March 17, 2007

uDivorce

Found this link on Human Law under the head of "The new wave of law firms emerges - Would you like some inexpensive help with your divorce?"

Looks pretty cool to me...

uDivorce offers a wide range of affordable divorce services for those whose marriage or relationship has broken down.