Maryland Alimony Reform

I added a link to Maryland Alimony Reform on the Reform and News Links page. The site doesn't appear to be well updated but the blog section does tell a compelling story of injustice.

Lifetime Alimony Forces Man Into Jail

A 2013 article in Bloomberg titled, "Jail Becomes Home for Husband Stuck With Lifetime Alimony" describes the all too common case of a man ordered by the Court to pay an unjust amount of alimony. After alimony, child support and taxes, he is left with $100/month.  The story is so bizarre - you really need to read it - that I am sure most people would conclude that it just can't possibly be true even though it comes from a highly reputable news organization. 

What I have tried to do for my case here on DivorceInjustice.org is show the evidence. Because in many ways my story is even more bizarre. 

Divorce and Health

I ran across an article on the Harvard Medial School site from a few years back titled, "Marriage and men's health" which quotes a sobering statistic. Among Americans:

men who divorced were 37% more likely to die during the nine-year study than men who remained married

Not only is 37% is depressingly high but it is significant to note that is the average. Although evidence is lacking, and truthfully it would be almost impossible to obtain, it seems reasonable to me to assume that the more unjust a person is treated in a divorce, the higher the death rate will be. I know a married couple at work who both went through divorces before they got married. Her ex is one of his best friends now. That is only possible because the divorce was done fairly without either party reverting to unethical or criminal acts in order to garner more money. I would assume my friend's ex's increase in death risk is at the low end if any. Given that Spring committed perjury and fraud and her lawyer Nelly Wince knowingly lied in court and neither Judge Mearly nor the Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board did anything about it, it doesn't bode well for me at all. Add to that the fact that I have to pay permanent alimony until the day and the picture looks even bleaker.  (the silver lining here, and there is always one, is that the earlier I die the less money goes to rewarding criminal actions) 

Now posting about divorced induced deaths is not really the most cheery thing to write about during the holiday season but I look at it as another brick in building the case for divorce reform. And a fairer more just divorce system is truly a happy thought. 

Conspiracy Theories vs. Institutional Corruption

An article in this month's Scientific American, titled, "Why Do People Believe in Conspiracy Theories?" reviews research done by University of Miami political scientists Joseph E. Uscinski and Joseph M. Parent as explained in their 2014 book American Conspiracy Theories (Oxford University Press).

Disturbingly, 43 percent of Americans without a high school education believe in conspiracy theories. The number only falls to 23 percent for those with postgraduate degrees. These conspiracy theories cross the political spectrum ranging from belief that President Obama was not born a U.S. citizen to Monsanto conspiring to destroy family farmers.

As defined by Uscinski and Parent, a conspiracy theory is characterized by: “(1) a group (2) acting in secret (3) to alter institutions, usurp power, hide truth, or gain utility (4) at the expense of the common good.”

So do I believe there is a conspiracy within the divorce industry to rob the innocent and reward the evil? Absolutely not. Just because the divorce system is institutionally corrupt does not mean that there is an organized group of people consciously acting to usurp power. A better analogy would be the culture of bribery that existed in many countries. It is culture not conspiracy.

Unfortunately, because it is a culture, those that commit the worst acts can justify their actions by telling themselves, "that is just they way it works." When Nelly Wince knowingly lies in court it is not part of a conspiracy. She just believes she is trying to get the best deal for her client. The fact that her ethical oath forbids her to lie and criminal law states that her actions constitute fraud don't even register with her because lying by lawyers in court is quite common. The fact that the Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board took no action against her despite overwhelming evidence shows just how commonly accepted it is for lawyers to break the ethical oath.  This is similar to how gang members sometimes believe armed robbery, rape or even murder is just what people do to gain cred. 

Lee Kallett from Florida Pays Permanent Alimony

Some people may think the unjust nature of what happened to me and my children is unusual but the truth is that is quite common. Lee Kallett of St. Pete Beach, FL posted a video describing his case, one which is very similar to mine.

Karen McCullah - Why Everyone Should get a Prenup

Karen McCullah is a screenwriter (her works include Legally Blond) and author who wrote an article in Elle earlier this year about the injustice of her having to pay alimony to her ex-husband. 

But 18 years later, when I divorced my husband, I had a successful writing career and some money in the bank. He got to take half of it. But it isn't even the fact that I had to give him half that I find so egregious. It's the alimony he demanded I pay him on top of it that makes me very, very angry—like scream-really-loud, get-drunk, and eat-gratuitous-carbohydrates angry. On the first day of every month, I have to write him a mother^#%*ing check for six thousand dollars. I've been doing this for two and a half years. I've got five more left.

I totally agree with her. But she is one of the (relatively) lucky ones. I can only wish my alimony payments ended after seven and one-half years.  Mine go on until I die.

Same-Sex Divorce

In 2012, I was one of the voters who rejected the Minnesota Gay Marriage Amendment which would have banned same-sex marriages. In truth though I would have rather voted to ban all marriages as I knew that same-sex marriages would inevitable lead to same-sex divorces. I only voted down the amendment because banning same-sex marriages seems blatantly discriminatory and just plain mean to me. Sadly, as an NPR article and story that came out today states, now a whole new segment of the population will find out just how costly and unjust the divorce system can be. 

The lawyers, judges and others who profit from a dysfunctional divorce system no doubt are glad but it is at the expense of the good, the innocent and society as a whole.