Child custody case to study constitutional protections

A court hearing is scheduled tomorrow on arguments that allege the basic child custody procedures used by judges in Bradley County, Tenn., are unconstitutionally biased in favor of one parent.

According to Thorne, the case before Circuit Judge J. Michael Sharp is testing the court procedures used in the child custody case of 3-year-old Kate Hopkins, which began in 2007.

After more than two years in court and five different judges, the case is set for trial beginning May 27 in Sharp's courtroom. But Sharp is hearing the constitutional issues before the rest of the case is heard.

Attorney Jeffrey Miller will argue on behalf of fit Tennessee parents and their children, and an attorney from the Tennessee attorney general's office, Warren Jasper, is expected to argue on behalf of the standard procedures.

According to a statement from Thorne, one of the procedures that will be challenged is the "80-day rule" created by local judges. It automatically takes effect as soon as a child custody case is filed, allowing one parent only 80 days a year with the child while the other parent is allowed 285 days – regardless of circumstances.

The rule, Miller argues, discriminates against one parent, violating the principle of equal protection as well as due process, since it is imposed without a hearing.

Click here read more about this case.

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Fathers in the news

This week in the news

Fathers held a protest at airport
Advocates for fathers sue trail court over child support

Remembering The father of Joint Custody "Cook worked to push through the nation's first joint-custody law in California, paving the way to changes in other states."

 

James Cook obituary: The obituary of joint custody advocate James Cook in Thursday's Section A said a 1980 California law made joint custody a first preference in custody decisions. The law states that it doesn't establish a preference but allows discretion in choosing "a parenting plan that is in the best interest of the child" and emphasizes that courts in granting sole custody should consider whether the custodial parent is willing to allow "frequent and continuing contact" with the noncustodial parent. —

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I'm Back, Lets reconnect..

Sorry at I have be away. I had another major project that took up alot of my time. I'm backadn I hope to get this blog rolling again.

I'm also looking for a few other father's rights blogger to helpto try this into a community fathers blog.

If you are interest, just email.. sanfather@gmail.com,

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Counselors lie in court and face charges

The attorney for two Lufkin counselors indicted for lying under oath during a child custody case compared the grand jury charges to a bologna sandwich on Thursday.


"There's an old saying that a district attorney could have a grand jury indict a bologna sandwich," said defense attorney John W. Tunnell. "This case is a bologna sandwich."


Tunnell's clients Mark Sutton and Juanda Morgan, who are married to each other and have a counseling practice together, have both been indicted for aggravated perjury. An Angelina County grand jury handed down two counts of the charges against Sutton and five counts against Morgan.


Angelina County District Attorney Clyde Herrington was not available for comment Thursday, although he usually does not comment on cases that are currently under investigation.


Sutton testified in a child custody case earlier this year that the father of the children involved had raised his voice "in a very loud and harassing manner" during the course of a counseling session, according to an indictment handed down by a grand jury Tuesday. Morgan testified that during her counseling session with the father "he began to yell very loudly at me," the report stated. Sutton and Morgan also said under oath they would characterize the father's type of behavior as consistent with a person who has rage, the report stated.


A tape recording of the session, reviewed and investigated by a Texas Ranger, revealed "such statement as being false," the report stated.


Morgan responded to a request for comment made Wednesday in a phone message left Thursday morning. She said she and her husband would not be avoiding comment on the case.


"This is a story that really affects the entire mental health counseling community here in Lufkin, in my opinion," she said. "Even though it looks like my specific problem at the moment, I think it indicates what a lot of mental health professionals are up against when occasionally a parent expects you to be a hired gun on the stand rather than a mental health professional."


The indictment issued Tuesday is not expected to affect the custody court case, which has already been resolved. The father did get custody rights to the children.


The counselers lies but yet it won't affect the custody case, Why, it should? Just goes to show what Father don't matter, and only seen as ATM's 

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LAWS OF EVE - Application for maintenance of children

In a recent Supreme Court decision (PEC v DRC) which was delivered on April 4, the judge was asked to consider an application by a mother for increased contribution towards maintenance by the father of the couple's eight-year-old child. Three issues were considered by the judge:

1. What amounts to reasonable expense in respect of an eight- year-old child?

Whenever the court considers a maintenance application on behalf of a child, there is an attempt to identify what sums are incurred exclusively for the child's benefit. Therefore, expenses such as rent, mortgage, cost of hiring a helper and utilities are usually apportioned between the child and the other person or persons who share that home with him or her.

In the case of DRC's application, the judge was of the view that an allocation of half of the mortgage and the utilities to an eight-year- old was unreasonable. Instead, the judge concluded that a third or a quarter of those expenses was exclusively incurred for the child's benefit.

2. If an application for maintenance is made pursuant to the Children (Guardianship and Custody) Act, does the court have to consider the applicant's means?

There are alternative statutes under which applications for maintenance may be made. One such statute is the Children (Guardianship and Custody) Act, which speaks only to the examination of the father's means by the court. In some other statutes, such as the Maintenance Act, the court is directed to consider the means of both parents.

In the case of PEC v DRC, the application was made by the mother and her attorney-at-law argued that she did not need to provide information regarding her income, because the court only needed to consider the father's means. However, the court did not find favour with that argument and ruled that both the means of the father and the mother should be considered.

3. If an application for maintenance is made pursuant to the Children (Guardianship and Custody) Act, can the court have regard to the provisions of the Maintenance Act?

The judge was of the view that because the court was concerned to ensure the best interests of the child, he was not constrained to confine his considerations to the statute under which the application was made. He stated that, "the court should not be hampered by procedural trappings, but should approach its task with practicality". Therefore, the judge ruled that the principles outlined in the Maintenance Act, which indicate that there is equal obligation for parents to maintain a child, remained applicable.

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DV, father runs with child makes the papers

Authorities activated “A Child is Missing” call system and searched vacant homes in the area. Bowlen was found in the attic of a home in the 1200 block of North Sixth Street, holding the child, Holland said.

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Yet when the mother run off with the children, unless the father as legal custody the police don't activated a child missing call, or amber alert proof that in society on the mother have rights and the only rights fathers have it to pay Child Support

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At mothers request father is left out in Obituary

Lasalle, Illinois -- What happens after your only son dies suddenly? One father finds out that not only is he cut out of the obituary, but also on the death certificate.

In Lasalle, Illinois, George Harmon is grieving the loss of his only son., Kristopher. Kristopher Harmon died from an accidental gunshot wound while cleaning his gun on Friday, August 22 in his home in Council Bluff, Iowa.

Harmon received a call around 8:30 p.m that night from his daughter-in-law Ginger Harmon. "I was devastated, when she called I kept thinking that it was a joke. It could not have happened to my son." states Harmon. The following day was a blur, Harmon made calls to his family and kept in touch with Kristopher's widow, in order to have information on what happened and what the services were going to be. "Everything was a blur, I was numb, I just wanted it all to be a mistake."

Sunday brought more grief, when Harmon received one final call from Ginger regarding the obituary that was published in the August 24th Council Bluffs Non Pariel newspaper. "The call was to warn me that I was not mentioned in the obit, I was never mentioned as the father. Another man was." Apparently a man by the name of Keith Hadfield of Omaha, Nebraska was mentioned as the surviving father.

Upon finding this out and trying to contact the paper to no avail, he contacted the Cuttler-O'Neill-Meyer-Woodring Funeral Home also located in Council Bluffs, Iowa to find out who had wrote the obituary. "I was directed to the director, and he stated that he had wrote the obituary at the request of Kristopher Harmon's wife and mother Renee Lewis. The director was very apologetic but had stated that he can not change the information per that request, and that it did concern him that Keith Hadfield was named Kristopher's father on the death certificate."

Now it would seem that fathers don't have the right to mention in their kids Obituary all at the request of the mother. Where will this injustice end.

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