Recent Articles

Dating Violence Escalating … Among Teenagers

Janet Langjahr
January 07, 2009 04:08

Teenagers. Dating. Holding hands. Murdering the objects of their affections … A 20 year old man was convicted of stabbing and dismembering his girlfriend’s body in Indianapolis. In Texas, a 15 year old girl was stabbed to death at school and an 18 year old girl was shot and killed...

Pennsylvania Federal Court Refuses to Award What it Considers Excessive Fees in International Child Custody Case

Janet Langjahr
January 06, 2009 05:21

International child custody cases can be costly. But there’s costly and then there’s really costly. Where does the line get drawn? Well, one law firm, which has a satellite office here in Palm Beach county, found out the hard way. After prevailing in an international child custody...

Pennsylvania Mother Arrested After Abducting Her Girls to Live on the Beach in Florida - Then Abandoning One

Janet Langjahr
January 05, 2009 00:38

Pennsylvania couple divorce. Mother gets custody of young girls. Then Mother stops sending girls to school. Mother loses custody of girls. Girls go into foster care. Mother abducts the girls outside of their school in mid-October. And brings them here to South Florida. To live on the beach...

Abandoned Baby in Ohio Finally Placed in Father’s Custody

Janet Langjahr
January 02, 2009 16:41

Ohio Mother and Father have affair and conceive Baby. Relationship apparently breaks up. After Baby’s birth, Mother leaves Baby at a church in June without Father’s knowledge. This abandonment does not comply with Ohio’s safe havens laws. Mother is charged with child...

NJ Man With Legal Custody of Son Can’t Get Brazilian Stepfather to Honor Court Orders Under Hague Convention to Which Brazil is Party

Janet Langjahr
December 31, 2008 20:23

Brazilian Wife and New Jersey Husband have a Son in US and raise him in US for four years. Then Wife takes Son to Brazil for a visit. And doesn’t return. Wife remarries in Brazil - without ever divorcing Husband. More recently, Wife dies while still in Brazil. Now Son is with his...

Florida is Reported to Lead the Nation in Child Abuse

Janet Langjahr
December 31, 2008 00:16

Florida reportedly has the sad and disgraceful distinction of having the highest rate of child abuse of any state in the nation. Twice the national average. While Palm Beach County is allegedly not as bad as the rest of the state, that seems little cause for cheer. Palm Beach County’s...

The Wisconsin Case of the Disappearing Child Support Payment

Janet Langjahr
December 30, 2008 00:40

Parents separate. Father is required to pay child support. Court order is entered garnishing child support from Father’s wages from arms-length, third-party employer. Father’s pay stubs reflect deduction of child support from Father’s pay before he receives it. Yet Mother...

Grandparents Lose Baby to Foster Care for Giving Baby Pacifier … Over Her Mother’s Protest

Janet Langjahr
December 27, 2008 18:57

Washington State teen Mother and Baby live with Baby’s Grandparents. Grandparents care for Baby. Then Mother moves out with Baby. Baby loses significant weight, and doctor reports neglect to Child Protective Services. Baby is placed with Grandparents. Baby improves. Then Mother and Baby...

Custodial Parent from Idaho is Believed to Have Abducted Son to Mexico for Reasons Unknown

Janet Langjahr
December 27, 2008 01:15

Idaho Mother has custody of her Son. Father lives in Idaho too. According to Father, Mother has passports for herself and Son, copies of their birth certificates and the proceeds of the sale of a home she owned in Nevada. And now, about six months after their divorce, for reasons unknown, Mother...

The Christmas Family Gathering Doesn’t Necessarily Have to End with the Divorce …

Janet Langjahr
December 26, 2008 04:08

After a divorce, parents typically divvy up the holidays with the kids on an alternating basis from year to year. But some divorced families manage to all share the holidays together, with big family gatherings including not only exes but ex-inlaws. While it is undoubtedly challenging to...