News of the Day, August 24, 2010 from Delaware Family Court

Today was a good day for justice in Kent County Family Court. It was a good day for men who are victims of abuse that if they were women would land the perpetrator in jail.
In the matter of the woman who had told of the pressure and coercion of domestic violence advocates, encouraging women to fabricate, exaggerate and lie about abuse (constituting false allegations); then flipped again and subjected her ex to a barrage of false civil and criminal allegations, her ex-husband secured a protection order against her. Hers was granted two weeks ago and she has used it like a sword not as a shield as it is intended. Her petition for protection was based on false allegations and implications that he was suspect in criminal acts against her that it was impossible for him to perpetrate. That's the way it goes in family court, not just in the Worst in the First but across the country: allegations from a woman's mouth, without support of any physical evidence, constitute a "preponderance of evidence" in domestic violence cases.
Today it felt good to win one in Family Court. I have sued pro-se in six states and helped others represent themselves in two additional states and winning feels so good.... you just have to experience it to begin to understand it.
Tonight though I feel bad. I feel bad for the woman who was not old enough, not experienced enough to be patient and let things play out longer. There was a good chance that things would have worked out had she given it more time. I feel bad for the ex-husband who is now forced into the position where he has to crush her in the courts as a matter of his own survival and liberty. I am sad for the children who love their father and have not seen him for almost two months. There is no replacement for their biological father who loves them more than anything or anyone in this world. It is a disservice to them to be cut off from him and be collateral damage in the war between their mother and their father.
Soon enough the next battle will commence. The next court date is set for next month. Hopefully the ex-wife is beginning to see the light; that false statements are morally and legally wrong. There will be consequences for false statements under oath and false reports. The allegations lodged against the father are fortunately not only false but he can prove, with receipts, video and physical evidence that they are false, he is innocent of them and the lies alleged are malicious in intent, known to be false and criminal. This could go on for months in Family Court and Superior Court, civil and criminal. His case history is currently in the hands of a nationally renown attorney who specializes in civil rights violations and prosecutes cases in Federal Courts around the country. In the long run the ex-husband will prevail. The more he suffers wrongfully in the short term the greater the monetary damages he will recover in the end.
Is this the best for anyone?
What about the effects on the children being separated from their father? They will suffer the most.
It was certainly good to win in court today but it's sad that this family has come to where they are now. Two people that I liked and their little boys.......
Instead of the rush to put fathers and mothers in the adversarial system maybe we, as a society, should do more to mediate problems rather than tear families apart.