25 STRATEGIES DIVORCE ATTORNEYS USE TO KEEP YOU IN COURT AND FIGHTING!

It has been interesting for me to read articles in "The Greenwich Times" about the horrific divorce cases which have taken place in Connecticut.  These are cases where mothers often lose everything that they have, not only their financial base, but also their children.  

Unfortunately, the focus in these articles has been on what litigants in family court have done rather than on the primary source of the problem, i.e. Family Court attorneys. So here for the uninitiated is a list of 25 things that Family Court attorneys do in order to generate conflict among family court litigants and profit from their distress. In no particular order, they are as follows. Such attorneys will:

KELLY JONES ASKS DV AND FAMILY COURT VICTIMS TO SPEAK OUT!

WOODY ALLEN AND THE POLITICS OF TOLERATION IN CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE CASES!

In the light of Ronan Farrow's exposure of the allegations against Harry Weinstein, the Woody Allen Child Sexual Abuse scandal has again caught notice. Why is it that Harvey Weinstein faces such overall condemnation in the movie industry and yet Woody Allen has not?

For instance, one reporter -- Molly Fitzpatrick of "Splinter News" -- investigated how actors have responded to Dylan Farrow's sexual abuse accusations against Woody Allen. Below are the names of actors she checked up on: Cate Blanchett, Alex Baldwin, Wallace Shawn, Diane Keaton, Louis CK, Scarlett Johansson, Marcia Gay Harden, Colin Firth, Jacki Weaver, Eileen Atkins, Mariel Hemingway, Emma Stone, Joaquin Phoenix, Parker Posey, Anna Camp, Miley Cyrus, Kristen Stewart, Blake Lively. Their responses have been neutral, indifferent, or a resounding "It's none of my business."

O'BRIEN V. O'BRIEN: YES, GUYS, THE AUTOMATIC ORDER THAT PROHIBITS PARTIES FROM DISPOSING OF MARITAL ASSETS APPLIES TO YOU!

I feel somewhat out of my depth when it comes to discussing divorcing couples who deal in millions when it comes to their Court matter, but I will try in my modest way to draw some parallels between my case and that of the O'Briens.  I can't imagine having so much money to play around with and fight over!

HOW CONSERVATIVE ATTACKS AGAINST SINGLE MOTHERS AND FEMINISM HAS IMPACTED FAMILY COURT!

On February 26, 2010, several CT State Agencies came together to sign a multi-agency agreement to coordinate efforts to further the interests of fathers over that of mothers. These Agencies were the Department of Social Services, The Department of Children and Families, the Department of Corrections, the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and the Department of Public Health. The beginning of this agreement made several statements in order to justify this promotion of father's interests over that of mothers in violation of the CT Constitution Article I, Section 20 which forbids discrimination based upon gender. One such statement was as follows, "Children who grow up in families headed by single mothers are five times more likely than two parent families to live in poverty." Subsequent statements continued on to blame single mothers for a high percentage of high school drop outs, juvenile delinquency, drug use, teen pregnancy and mental illness. 

IT'S AN EPIDEMIC: STOP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE BY PROXY!

FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE LAS VEGAS SHOOTING

LINDA WIEGAND'S LEGACY OF LOVE LIVES ON!

I was driving around my neighborhood, and I happened to see the truck you see above in this blog. I immediately jumped out of my car to take a few pictures.  

You may think what you want about Linda Wiegand, but the fact is that no matter what has been said about her, she has left behind a legacy of giving that says volumes about the kind of person that she was.  

WOMEN'S COLLEGE GRADUATES: DO THEY BEAR RESPONSIBILITY WHEN INTEGRATED APPROACHES TO HEALTH CARE PUT MOTHERS AT RISK IN FAMILY COURT!

As a feminist, there is nothing worse in my mind than a situation where women do not support other women.  This is particularly true when it comes to the Protective Mothers who are the victims of Family Court.  Let me tell you how this impacted me recently.  

On March 13, 2017, I received an email from the Three College Luncheon organization inviting me to a luncheon where guest speaker Attorney Kathy Flaherty, Wellesley Class of 1988 and Harvard Law Class of 1994, was going to make a presentation about her service on the Governor's Sandy Hook Commission.  She is currently the Executive Director of the Connecticut legal rights Project, Inc. a State funded non-profit agency which provides legal services to support the rights of low income individuals with mental health disabilities.

ANONYMOUS MOM REVEALS SOME IMPORTANT HOME TRUTHS EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW!

I obtained the following list of facts from an anonymous mother on the internet.  I don't know who originated the information, but it is all profoundly true. See below:

1. Women do not have an advantage in court. That is a lie. Long ago yes - now NOT AT ALL. 

*Quit the lie. Statistics show in cases tried in court, women lose 82 percent of the time.

2. Don't leave an abusive marriage if you have children. I'm serious. Don't. Until there are changes in DV, society, etc it is too great of a risk.

3. If a parent - man or woman has stayed home for years - giving up careers etc to raise the kids- then damn right they should get alimony. I suggest NEVER give up your career. Too great of a risk.

4. The truth is NEVER told in court and no one is punished for lies and NO ONE cares. Colleagues, friends, everyone will let you down in court because suddenly they don't want to be involved. Promise. You remind them of incidences and they are afraid. Don't expect help from your church either. They will probably suggest you pray more as though you haven't been doing that for years.

5. People don't care about your struggle. They don't really believe the system is crooked and assume you did something really wrong.....promise.

6. Lawyers do NOT care about you. They instigate and they are friends with opposing counsel and the judge. They talk about your case outside of the court. Promise. They are friends in Facebook, instagram.

7. A settlement, divorce agreement - its merely paper."

JONATHAN P. WIEGAND, DEAD AT 31.

It is with sadness that I have to report the death of Jonathan P. Wiegand who died suddenly on Friday August 11, 2017.  See link:  

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/middletownpress/obituary.aspx?pid=186388780

During the 1990s, as a child of 4, Jonathan was in the center of an extremely controversial custody case in which his mother, Linda Wiegand, accused the stepfather, Thomas Wilkinson, of sexually abusing his stepson, Jonathan, and their younger son, Ben (3).  At one point, Ms. Wiegand fled to Las Vegas and two years later was discovered and charged with custodial interference.  

Jonathan P. Wiegand

This case set the stage for future custody switching schemes in which protective mothers in the State of Connecticut have lost custody, and indeed, all access to their children who are then transferred into the sole custody of the fathers who abused them.  The players in her case subsequently went on to become involved in other cases where good parents lost custody of their children.  This includes Judge Herbert Barall, Dr. Kenneth Robson, Attorney Louis Kiefer, and Dr. James C. Black.

HAVE YOU BEEN HARMED AND DAMAGED BY CUSTODY EVALUATOR DR. JAMES CONNOLLY? WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

For many years now, there have been many complaints from protective mothers in regard to custody evaluator Dr. James Connolly.  Are you one such victim?  If so, this website would be interested in hearing from you.   

If you believe that Dr. Connolly invented the information he placed in your custody evaluation, if he misrepresented the facts in your case, if you discovered he deceived you into believing you had his support when you did not, if he charged you large sums of money for his work and did not deliver, if he failed to adhere to the APA standards for custody evaluations, if he inserted quack science such as parental alienation syndrome (PAS) or its equivalent in your evaluation, if he allowed your ex to put your children at risk of injury and did nothing about it, or committed any other malfeasance of this kind, please let us know.  

We can be contacted at the following email address:  Slopercathy@gmail.com.

All communications will be held strictly confidential. 

YES, IT'S TRUE. A BUNCH OF JUDGES ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FACT THAT HARTFORD IS THE CAPITOL OF CT AND NOT NEW HAVEN!

LOCATION OF THE JUDGES' CAVES IN WEST ROCK, CT

Since Hartford is currently the capitol of Connecticut, it must appear to everyone that it was inevitable that it be so.  

Yet this was not always the case.  

Originally, New Haven was the center of a much more prosperous and more powerful colony and by rights appeared to be the one that would be favored with the title of State Capitol.

NEW STANDING COMMITTEE ON GALs AND AMCs IN FAMILY MATTERS TAKES SHAPE!

The April 2017 Addendum on the Judicial Branch Family Court Initiatives reported that the CT Judicial Branch would establish a Standing Committee on Guardians Ad Litem and Attorneys for the Minor Child in Family Matters. The Committee is the result of a change to the Connecticut Practice Book dated June 24, 2016 listed under Sec. 25-61A.  For the exact wording of this section of The CT Practice Book, please see the link below:

https://www.jud.ct.gov/Committees/GAL_AMC/PB25-61A.pdf 

Recently, I was taking a look at the CT Judicial Branch Website and found out that the Committee has now been established.  Its first meeting was held on Thursday, June 15, 2017 at 95 Washington Street.  According to the information provided on the CT Judicial Branch Website, the purpose of this Committee is as follows:

WHAT HAPPENED TO EVERYONE? HOW ABUSED WOMEN IN A DIVORCE END UP ISOLATED AND ALONE!

Three or four months into what I now routinely call "the divorce from hell" I woke up and said, "What happened to Everyone!!!" I mean, what happened to my family, my friends, and all the other people I used to know, because suddenly they weren't there any more. 

ATTORNEY ROSA REBIMBAS, ATTORNEY BRADFORD BARNEYS AND THE INJUSTICE OF THE STVAN V. STVAN CASE!

For some time now, I have been trying to wrap my head around the involvement of Attorney Bradford Barneys as Attorney for the Minor Child (AMC) in the Stvan v. Stvan case.   As you all may recall, I had written an extensive series of articles about the Stvan case which are located at the following link:  

http://divorceinconnecticut.blogspot.com/2016/11/diary-of-custody-switching-case-thomas.html

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! THINKING OF OUR MEN AND WOMEN IN UNIFORM!

THE ROLE OF SOME JEWISH PEOPLE IN FAMILY COURT ABUSE. HOW CULPABLE ARE THEY?

In a recent inquiry, one reader asked the following question, "Elizabeth, why do you promote an anti-semite like Paul Boyne? Your father was a Holocaust survivor. Shame doesn't begin to describe what you should feel." That is a good question for Elizabeth, although Cathy will be the person on behalf of the "Divorce in Connecticut" blog to respond, particularly since she formulated the "bigotry free" policy that is fundamental to this blog. 

FAMILY COURT ATTORNEYS IN THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT HAVE WORSE REPUTATIONS THAN PEDOPHILES!

It was tough to read the May 12, 2017 "CT Law Tribune" article in connection to the Dianne Hart-D'Amato case, particularly as a person who has walked in Dianne's shoes and experienced what she has experienced.  It was angering to read Dianne, and by inference all self represented parties in family court, spoken of as "a disgruntled litigant."  

I wonder how attorneys and judges would feel if I spoke of them automatically as crooked attorneys or crooked judges simply by virtue of the fact that I do not agree with them.  It is not often a bully pulpit such as "The CT Law Tribune" exists as a means to tongue lash the people a particular profession does not like.   

THE GUTLESS CONNECTICUT LAW TRIBUNE EDITORIAL BOARD 2017! ANONYMOUS NO LONGER!

Joette Katz, Chair 
Robert Mitchell, Vice Chair

Members:

Proloy K. Das
Felice Duffy
Robert Farr
Eugene Fidell
Mary Galvin
Elizabeth Gilson
Rachel Goldberg
Wesley W. Horton
Jocelyn Kennedy
David King
Daniel J. Klau
James B. Lyon
Eugene Marconi
Sean McElligott
Dwight H. Merriam
Dennis C. Murphy
Alan Neigher
Louis R. Pepe
Michelle Querijero
Eugene Riccio
Thomas B. Scheffey
Mark Soboslai
James F. Sullivan
Cecil Thomas
Thomas J. Ullman
Diane Whitney
Steven Wizner

CT LAW TRIBUNE RUN BY A GUTLESS EDITORIAL BOARD? SEE ATTY NORM PATTIS COMMENTARY!

A Gutless Editorial Board

LINK TO ARTICLE:  http://www.pattisblog.com/blog.php?article=A-Gutless-Editorial-Board_5521

A welcome and not altogether unexpected piece of news arrived in the mail. It was from the Grievance Committee. The panel found no further need to investigate a complaint lodged against me. I filed the complaint myself.

I learned a long time ago never to run from a fight. Meet the accusation head on. If you don’t do so, the accuser is empowered. Far better to turn the accuser’s finger back into his own eye, as I do here to the editorial board of the Connecticut Law Tribune.

PUBLIC HEARING ON NOMINATIONS FOR JUDGES!

Judiciary Committee 

PUBLIC HEARING AGENDA

Monday, May 22, 2017 

9:00 AM in Room 2C of the LOB 

NOMINATIONS FOR REVIEW

I. To be an Appellate Court Judge:

1. The Honorable Nina F. Elgo of West Hartford
2. The Honorable Maria Araujo Kahn of Cheshire

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

CHANGES TO CT PRACTICE BOOK SEC. 25-60 RE FAMILY SERVICES EVALUATIONS PUT LITIGANTS AT RISK!

PAGE 42-43 SUGGESTED PRACTICE BOOK REVISION-THIS WOULD BE ADDED TO SECTION 25-60 ON FAMILY COURT PRACTICE AND POTENTIALLY RESTRICT LITIGANTS' ACCESS TO VITAL INFORMATION NECESSARY TO ARGUE THEIR CASES!  SEE BELOW THE SUGGESTED ADDITION:

"(d) The file compiled by the Family Services Unit in the course of preparing any mediation report or conflict resolution conference report shall not be available for inspection or copying unless otherwise ordered by the judicial authority. The file compiled by the Family Services Unit in the course of preparing an evaluation or study conducted pursuant to Section 25-61 that has been completed and filed with the clerk in accordance with subsection (b) shall be available for inspection only to counsel of record, guardians ad litem, and the parties to the action to the extent permitted by any applicable authorization for release of information; and further provided that copies of documents, notes, information or other material in the file shall only be provided to such individuals if they make the request in writing and certify that it is requested for legitimate purposes of trial preparation and/or trial proceedings in the case in which the evaluation or study was filed. For purposes of this section, the word ‘‘file’’ shall include any documents, notes, information or other material retained by the Family Services Unit in any format.

(e) Any information or copies of the file disclosed pursuant to this section shall not be further disclosed unless otherwise ordered by the judicial authority or as otherwise authorized in this section." 

THE CT JUDICIAL BRANCH'S COMMENTARY ON THIS SECTION'S INCLUSION:

COMMENTARY: The changes to this section clarify what information from Family Services files compiled in connection with the reports, evaluations and studies under this section are subject to inspection and copying and by whom, to whom those copies can be provided, and for what purpose can they be requested. The changes also provide that any information or copies disclosed may not be further disclosed except as otherwise ordered or authorized.* 

*In other words you can be subjected to endless, unnecessary obstruction to your access to vital evidence in your case.  While issues of confidentiality regarding certain documents is important, I think the wording of this revision is so careless it could end up restricting family court litigants from accessing important information they need for their own cases.  If the purpose of this revision is to safeguard confidentiality, it must be rewritten to ensure that it does not inadvertently end up cutting off the parties themselves from being able to review important documents in their cases.  As it looks now, the way this revision is worded, the latter could very easily happen.

UPCOMING PUBLIC HEARING ON PRACTICE BOOK REVISIONS! MAY 15, 2017!

NOTICE

Public Hearing on Practice Book Revisions Being Considered by the

Rules Committee of the Superior Court

On May 15, 2017, at 10:00 a.m., the Rules Committee of the Superior Court will conduct a public hearing in the Supreme Court in Hartford for the purpose of receiving comments concerning Practice Book revisions that are being considered by the Committee. The revisions proposed by the Rules Committee are posted on the Judicial Branch website at http://www.jud.ct.gov/pb.htm.

Pursuant to subsection (c) of section 51-14 of the Connecticut General Statutes, the Supreme Court has designated the Rules Committee to conduct this public hearing also for the purpose of receiving comments on any proposed new rule or any change in an existing rule that any member of the public deems desirable.

Comments may be forwarded to the Rules Committee by email at Joseph.DelCiampo@jud.ct.gov or may be forwarded to the Rules Committee at the following address and should be received by May 11, 2017:

Rules Committee of the Superior Court 
Attn: Joseph J. Del Ciampo, Counsel 
P.O. Box 150474
Hartford, CT 06115-0474

Each speaker at the public hearing will be limited to five minutes. Anyone who believes that they cannot cover their remarks within that time period may submit written comments to the Rules Committee. If written comments are submitted, ten copies should be provided. 

DIRECT LINK:
http://jud.ct.gov/Publications/PracticeBook/pblj_7843.pdf