An independent and honorable judiciary is indispensable to justice in our society

Code of Conduct for United States Judges

The Code of Conduct for United States Judges includes the ethical canons that apply to federal judges and provides guidance on their performance of official duties and engagement in a variety of outside activities.

Introduction
Canon 1: A Judge Should Uphold the Integrity and Independence of the Judiciary
Canon 2: A Judge Should Avoid Impropriety and the Appearance of Impropriety in All Activities
Canon 3: A Judge Should Perform the Duties of the Office Fairly, Impartially and Diligently
Canon 4: A Judge May Engage in Extrajudicial Activities That are Consistent With the Obligations of Judicial Office
Canon 5: A Judge Should Refrain From Political Activity
Compliance with the Code of Conduct
Applicable Date of Compliance

Just a Thought

It is vital to prepare yourself before you enter the Courtroom DoorsThere a legal "biases" in our courts. However, if you are aware of them you will have a better chance defending yourself."KNOWLEDGE is Power"

Judge Leonard Edwards wrote an article for the Judges Page on the National CASA website where he says that judges need to stop rubber stamping these cases and enforce the "Reasonable Efforts"  requirement, but they are afraid a "No Reasonable Efforts" ruling could cost their state millions of dollars.  There is also at least one Judges Bench Book (California) that is referred to as "The Smoking Gun" >>>  because it very clearly states that the courts MUST rule during the initial  hearing (after removal) that it is contrary to the best interest of the child to be returned home, otherwise the state is NEVER eligible for federal funding.   You can see it for yourself at:  on  pages 2, 3 and 13.

To Index

Introductory Reading

• Reasonable Efforts Judges View

• Blinking On The Bench is a law paper that questions whether Judges use intuition and/or deliberation to decide their cases. (Original Location:http://abajournal.com/files/Blinking_on_the_Bench.pdf )

• Navigating Custody & Visitation Evaluations in Cases with Domestic Violence: A Judge's Guide: This PDF document was developed under grant number SJI-03-N103 from the State Justice Institute. The points of view expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the State Justice Institute. (Comment on this Guide: A Mixed & Dangerous Tool(Source:http://www.thelizlibrary.org/liz/dangerous-tool.html  Document File))

• Related Reading: Standards of Practice for Attorneys Representing Parents in Abuse and Neglect Cases - ABA- 2006 (Download pdf) This document out lines the many responsibilities of what lawyers are supposed to do when working with their client. May want to download and review this to document what your lawyer actually does, in your particular experiences. Sections include: 1) Summary of the Standards; 2) Basic Obligations of Parents' Attorneys; 3) Obligations of Attorney Manager; and 4) Role of the Court.. (Check out other Lawyer Related Information)

What are Judges Bench Books??

Simply put,  the best way to say it would be that Judges Bench Books are the instruction manuals on how a Judge can or should rule and/or preside over a case.   The biggest benefit to providing access to the Bench Books is it gives people a chance to have "inside information" to help them better anticipate what they're facing, and possibly help them defend themselves better.  It also shows/proves any incentive that the Judges may have for ruling a certain way. 

Code of Conduct for United States Federal Judges

Family Court is a deadly business

Originally appeared at CatholicCourier.Com (Regional paper for Catholic Diocese of Roches Lyons man stands up for beliefs  (Publication Date:  09-03-2008)  By Jennifer Burke/Catholic Courier Lyons resident John Murtari has been standing up for what he believes in for years, but those actions recently made him a minor celebrity in his hometown. Murtari is featured in "Support? System Down," a documentary recently produced and directed by actor Angelo Lobo. The film explores what Lobo sees as the flaws in America's child-support system. "Support" premiered in California this past spring, and the recently restored Ohmann Theater in Lyons hosted a special screening of the film Aug. 13. In November 2006 Lobo visited Murtari in prison, where Murtari was serving a six-month sentence for failure to pay child support. Murtari claims he fell behind in his child-support payments because the payment amounts were calculated based on an income level he no longer had. What little extra money Murtari did have was usually spent traveling across the country to visit his son Domenic, he said. "What am I supposed to do? I want to see my son," Murtari, who belongs to St. Michael Parish in Lyons, told the Catholic Courier. "He wasn't (physically or financially) hurting for anything, but he wanted Daddy." Murtari refused food or water while imprisoned and instead received his nourishment through a feeding tube inserted through his nose. He did so not to harm himself, but to protest what he called an unjust family-court system that he felt had wrongly taken away his son and sent him to prison, all without a jury trial. Murtari also has been arrested several times for writing on the ground in chalk "I love you, Dom" and "Senator Clinton, help us" outside the Federal Building in Syracuse in an attempt to draw Sen. Hillary Clinton's attention to his proposed Family Rights Act. "The idea is to get Congress to pass a Family Rights Act. Each state has different family law, and it's almost amazing to think that your relationship with your children could be governed differently in Alabama than here in New York," Murtari said. Murtari, founder of the nonprofit organization A Kids Right, has a draft of the proposed act on the organization's Web site, www.AKidsRight.org. The organization's members believe all parents should be presumed fit and equal parents unless the government can prove through a jury trial that they are a demonstrated threat to their children, and have demonstrated that with harmful intent. Only then should the government interfere with a parent's right to raise his or her child, according to the organization and the proposed legislation. "John Murtari is a voice for the many non-custodial parents who wanted to share their children equally. People will see why he not only went on a hunger strike for change, but also continues to peacefully protest for the rights of children to have both parents," Lobo said in a statement. Murtari, who hadn't seen the movie before the Aug. 13 screening, said he was pleased with the way Lobo told his story and the way the film educated people unfamiliar with the child-support and family-court systems. "It's always weird seeing yourself (on film)," Murtari said. "What really got me was the people from town who were there and said, 'Wow, I never knew (about the system)." Murtari said he himself had never known much about the child-support and family-court systems before his divorce, even though he'd always considered himself a politically aware man. When his ex-wife decided to move across the country with their 5-year-old son, however, he said the "gut-wrenching" experience inspired him to learn more about the system and how he might change it. He drew inspiration from the Gospels and from reading about the lives of St. Francis of Assisi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi. Inspired by what these men were able to do through simple faith and nonviolent action, Murtari decided to follow their examples. "Nonviolent action doesn't mean writing letters. It's voluntary, loving self-sacrifice to show how deeply you believe in your cause," Murtari said. His nonviolent actions have landed him in jail more than once, but Murtari said he's seen some fruits from his labor. Once-hostile law-enforcement officers and court officials have begun treating him with respect, and he's full of hope that his actions can make a difference for families throughout the nation. "I could have easily descended into that bitterness and helplessness. Once I started taking these actions I felt better," Murtari said. "With faith you can lose that bitterness. When you're using that faith and sacrificing to make things better for others, you're going to feel better." EDITOR'S NOTE: To learn more about "Support? System Down," visit the film's Web site at www.SupportTheMovie.com.

The 'Family Court in Focus' event is tomorrow night! - Note: You don't need to bring your tickets, just yourselves and support to bring these issues back on the public and political agenda. We look forward to seeing you there.

Dad Documentary ~~ Huffingtonpost.com ~ Family Court Is Bad…

\

The Family Court Is Badly Broken, And So Are The Parents  --  At a recent meeting in a converted warehouse in inner-Sydney 30 or so people -- both men and women -- told stories of devastation and heartbreaking loss. In…HUFFINGTONPOST.COM.AU

Using a child as a control mechanism is a domestic violence behavior

Ripped Apart

Divorced dads, domestic violence, and the systemic bias against men in King County family court.

By Nina Shapiro

Jim's first indication that his life was about to be turned upside down came the night he got home from work and was approached by an off-duty sheriff's deputy.

"Are you Jim?" the deputy asked.
"I am," he replied.
The deputy then informed him that not only was he no longer welcome inside his own house, he wasn't allowed even to collect his things. The officer handed him a suitcase his wife had packed and a $3,000 check—also from his wife, who earned far more than he did.
"What are the grounds?" Jim asked.
"It's all in there," the deputy said, thrusting a sheaf of papers into his hand.

The papers informed him his wife was filing for divorce. Worse, she had requested, and been granted, a temporary protection order based on allegations of domestic violence. The order—issued at a hearing that took place without Jim—took effect immediately. It required him to vacate his house and refrain from "any contact whatsoever" with either his wife or his 3-year-old son.

In it, his wife wrote that she felt like she had to "walk on eggshells" around Jim due to his unpredictable temper. He would scream to such an extent that "veins in his neck were bulging" and "spittle from his lips was hitting me in the face." She also described him yelling at their dogs, roughly handling their cat, and driving aggressively and recklessly.

But there's one thing she never claimed—that Jim had ever hit her or their son. Nor did she accuse Jim of threatening either of them.
Jim, an insurance agent periodically unemployed, had at times performed more child-care duties than his wife, according to a court-assigned social worker hired to assess each spouse's parenting skills. 

Observing interactions between Jim and his son, and talking to friends, relatives, and neighbors, she called the bond between them "relatively strong, happy, interactive, comfortable, playful, and full of physical play and affection." Yet it would still take 15 months for Jim to be allowed to have normal visits with his son.

Had he been charged with domestic violence in criminal court, where guilt must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt and the standards of due process are high, this might not have happened. But Jim's fate was decided in a very different venue: family court.

It's a court like no other—a hugely busy and rancorous place where the most personal aspects of people's lives are not only on display, but judged and reshaped in proceedings that often last no longer than 20 minutes. Appointed commissioners, rather than elected judges, make many of the most crucial decisions. And the standard of evidence (known as "preponderance of the evidence") is the lowest allowed by law.

Within a system which denies the existence of basic human rights, fear tends to be the order of the day

FLORIDA FAMILIES UNITED - CHILDREN'S RIGHTS FLORIDA - 2017 from Childrens Rights Florida

What Is The Role Of Lawyers?

Jeena Cho at Above the Law -  You get to define for yourself how you want to practice and what kind of lawyer you want to be.

Across the country women, children, AND MEN are becoming the victims of judges and the court system. It is time that we...
Posted by Children's Rights on Thursday, August 20, 2015

American Fathers Liberation -

Posted by Childrens Rights Florida  “Within a system which denies the existence of basic human rights, fear tends to be the order of the day. Fear of imprisonment, fear of torture, fear of death, fear of losing friends, family, property or means of livelihood, fear of poverty, fear of isolation, fear of failure. A most insidious form of fear is that which masquerades as common sense or even wisdom, condemning as foolish, reckless, insignificant or fut... more »

It's Time to Fundraise For Your Favorite Judge Again!

South Florida Lawyers at South Florida Lawyers -

Can you believe it? Where did the summer go? It feels like we just started our summer break and here we are again, with the kids back in school* the endless judicial fundraising pitches, emails, and faux events!* Didn't we just do this? When is the election even? Next tisha b'av? Don't worry -- just give, give and give again. I'm pretty sure it's a necessary evil -- *hey, wait a minute, why is it necessary again? * And remember -- that judge you save could be your own (I kid, they won't even remember you)! Seriously, you might as well be part of the solution -- support the sm... more »

The Record: Parental due process

LK at Legally Kidnapped -

The Record: Parental due process LEAVING CHILDREN unattended in vehicles remains a serious problem, notwithstanding many publicized warnings against it. Some 45 children have died from heatstroke while locked in cars in hot weather since the beginning of 2014, according to researchers at San Jose State University in California. Children left alone in cars are also susceptible to being kidnapped.

Southern District of Florida Blog: S.D. Fla. celebrates LGBT achievement

John Oliver Explains Why It Is Too Soon To Celebrate LGBT Equality

Kathryn Rubino at Above the Law - 1 day ago

Even if you don't agree with Oliver's views his fast pace, clever graphics and sly demeanor keep you entertained.

The politics of sociological consciousness

Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns & Money -

This weekend, the NYT ran an interesting article by a former waiter at one of New York’s Michelin three-star restaurants, who is now a graduate student: In a playground for the superrich, I was an overpaid chaperone wearing a bespoke suit. Gluttony was common. So was sex; more than once we had to interrupt coitus […]

Is This Racist? State Bar Can’t Tell If This Is Racist.

Joe Patrice at Above the Law -

After honoring a story written by a man associated with a hate group, a state bar flies into embarrassing damage control.  

They named a drink: The Foster Child

LK at Legally Kidnapped -

Drink of the Week: The Foster Child, a Banana Foster margarita at Salty's Gulfport Looking for a margarita unlike any other? Try a bananas fosterita, dubbed the Foster Child ($8), at Salty's Gulfport. Bartender Kat McKenna created the cocktail based on the flavors of the dessert bananas Foster.

Law Grad Drowning In Debt Tries To Sell Law Degree On Craigslist

Staci Zaretsky at Above the Law -

Go on, make this lawyer an offer he can't refuse.  

Standing in the Hall of Fame.

We only support organizations who show an understanding that children need both parents, and that either parent is equally capable of the choice to perpetrate hate or declare peace.

Little to no oversight is brought to bear for Americans...

U.S. Atty. Loretta Lynch should say to U.S. Dist. Atty. David Capp: INDIANA HERE I COME!

Opt IN USA

• On February 16, 2016, the first annual report was released on Opt IN USA, a grassroots U.S. foreign policy reform, judicial accountability, and international human rights campaign. The report title is “AMERICANS IN JEOPARDY: When Human Rights Protection Becomes America’s Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Branch Shell Game”.
• Corporate sponsor of the report is National Judicial Conduct and Disability Law Project, Inc. (NJCDLP), a nonprofit U.S. public policy think tank and legal reform advocate headquartered just outside Chicago in Crown Point, Indiana.
• While all NJCDLP board members are cutting-edge pioneers in detecting and addressing patterns of U.S. legal system abuse, the organization's Executive Board member Mr. Rodney A. Logal, his wife, attorney Zena Crenshaw-Logal*, and their fellow NJCDLP co-founder, Dr. Andrew D. Jackson, are the organization's driving force.  They are NJCDLP’s full-time volunteers as well as the non-profit’s primary financial benefactors. 
• In that context it is particularly significant that two Indiana judges have taken to repeatedly placing the Logals and Dr. Jackson at respective risk of arrest:  a death threat for Mr. Logal given how jail would affect his medical care and health.  Moreover, substantial debt has been imposed by default upon the Logals and Dr. Jackson, and is in the process of being collected although the underlying judgments are void as a matter of law!
• In late September 2015, the Logals and Dr. Jackson asked the Indiana House Judiciary Committee and the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana to investigate several area judges whose activities may be part of what has been dubbed “The Third Degree” (TTD).  
• As the 2016 Opt IN USA report makes clear, TTD is a persistent pattern of persecution and psychological torture imposed through U.S. legal system abuse.  
• U.S. District Attorney Capp has shown no interest in the phenomenon despite its obvious peril for Mr. and Mrs. Logal as well as Dr. Jackson, not to mention the prospect of multiple related murders, including the suspicious death of a lawyer who attested to the bribery of a now retired Indiana state court judge.
• Uncanny it is that little to no oversight is brought to bear for Americans claiming to endure TTD.
• Ironically their allegations -- specifically the notion that they are targets of TTD -- rarely if ever garner more than cursory major media and U.S. government attention. Yet for each of them, powerful private sector and/or U.S. public sector actors expend tremendous time, effort, and resources muting their government critiques through quasi-judicial and/or judicial processes.
• Whether as a result they opt to suffer in silence, become widely ignored or disregarded, cease communicating while incarcerated, and/or die . . . these supposedly too-insignificant-to-take-seriously people get silenced.
• Please do not allow the Logals and Dr. Jackson to "get silenced".  Your representatives in Northwest Indiana are in the process of letting that happen.
• The time has come for protection of the Logals and Dr. Jackson to come out of Washington, D.C.  And time is of essence as the Opt IN USA debut report makes clear, particularly its section on "Ground Zero: INDIANA, the Hoosier State" and Appendix.  
• Learn more @ www.thethirddegree.net
  

Tort Remedies For Interference With Parenting Time (Visitation)

Family court is the greatest fraud

ever perpetrated on the American 

Public.  Family Court / Family Law 

is a made-up business of 

consumer fraud and racketeering



Divorce is rarely easy. Occasionally there will be a tale of couples who amicably splits their assets, share their children, and are successful in co-parenting and raising children who are psychologically sound and happy. They might even vacation together, or be friends. They might share holidays.

What happens when that doesn’t happen — when the opposite occurs? Perhaps there is mental illness, substance abuse, unresolved anger, conflicting beliefs regarding ethics and religion, financial woes, and square in the middle are one or more little people. When divorce that involves child custody turns ugly, is that all there is to it? A divorce that just went very wrong, like the marriage before it?

According to echo.net, clinical psychologist Dr. Craig Childress says it is a situation in which one parent consciously or subconsciously turns their shared children against the other parent, through various means of manipulation. It often involves the premise that one parent falsely accuses the other of abuse and indoctrinates the child into believing that abuse took place, whether it be mental, physical, sexual, or a combination. While there are true cases of abuse, and even times when either parent may have behaved in a way that was not appropriate, what is key is to look at the childrens’ behavior, says Dr. Childress.

Eventually, children can become so indoctrinated and eager to please who they view as the “powerful parent,” they may start hating, harassing, or abusing the targeted parent themselves.

What drives a parental alienator? Most commonly, some type of narcissistic personality features, says Dr. Childress. According to Dr. Childress, parents who indoctrinate children into alienating the other parent are linked to narcissist borderline pathogenic parenting.

The symptoms of narcissism include: grandiosity, entitlement, absence of empathy, haughty, arrogant behavior and delusional belief systems. Although narcissistic personality disorder is listed in the DSM-5, which is considered to be the “Bible” of Psychiatric Disorders, so far Parental Alienation Disorder is not listed. Researchers expect that to soon change.

The late author and child psychiatrist Richard A. Gardner coined the term Parental Alienation Syndrome more than 20 years ago. He characterized the breakdown of previously normal, healthy parent-child relationships during divorce and child custody cases. His definition of parental alienation is simple — one parent deliberately damages, and in many cases destroys, the previously healthy loving relationship between the child and the child’s other parent.

This can be very difficult to prove, although it has been successfully used in the United States to win child custody cases, with custody going to the targeted parent. The reason it is difficult to prove is that one symptom is the child steadfastly refuses they are being indoctrinated by the other parent, and claims their hatred of the other parent is of their own will.

Researcher Amy Baker says that parents who try to alienate their child from the other parent subtlety, or not so subtletly gives a three-part message to the child.

Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/1730517/parental-alienation-syndrome-researchers-say-the-struggle-is-real/#TgdDgt1EIOGUpF3q.99

Tort Remedies For Interference With Parenting Time (Visitation) | Parental Alienation Syndrome Awareness | causes.com

Courts generally grant non-custodial parents reasonable Parenting Time rights so that they can maintain and develop their relationship with their children after the marriage has dissolved. The custodial parent, however, may interfere with the Parenting Time forcing the non-custodial parent to seek alternative ways to maintain the parent-child relationship. The traditional remedies are to seek a contempt order, modification of the custody decree, or withhold support payments. The new tort remedies are for intentional infliction of emotional distress and interference with Parenting Time.

A. Traditional Remedies

Traditionally, the following three options existed for the non-custodial parent whose Parenting Time rights have been violated: 1) institute an action for civil contempt; 2) seek a modification of the custody decree; 3) withhold child support. These options have proven inadequate for compelling the custodial parent to comply with a court-decreed Parenting Time schedule.

1. Contempt Order

The most familiar remedy used to prevent a violation of Parenting Time rights is to institute a contempt action to compel the parent acting wrongfully to comply with the court ordered Parenting Time schedule. While this is a relatively simple procedure, it does not always prove to be an effective deterrent of future violations and also will not compensate a parent for the injury already realized from the deprivation of their Parenting Time with the child.

2. Modification of Custody Decree

Another remedy that a non-custodial parent may use to prevent interference with child Parenting Time is to ask the court to modify the custody decree and grant them joint or sole custody of the children. Courts have been reluctant to modify custody decrees reasoning that the modification would disrupt the children’s lives and in effect punish them for the custodial parent’s wrongful conduct.

3. Withholding Child Support

When a custodial parent continuously prevents the non-custodial parent from exercising his Parenting Time rights, the Court may allow the non-custodial parent to withhold child support payments as a means of compelling the custodial parent to cooperate with the Parenting Time schedule. This is not the optimal remedy, however, and courts are reluctant to grant this remedy. The primary rationale for this reluctance is the existence of a potential catch-22 situation: child support is withheld because of Parenting Time violations, and Parenting Time is violated because child support is being withheld. The ultimate loser in this situation is the child(ren), therefore courts generally hold that Parenting Time rights are independent of child support payments.

B. Tort Remedies

The traditional alternatives available have been ineffective in preventing the recurrence of Parenting Time violations. Non-custodial parents therefore have turned tort theories to recover damages from the custodial parent and to accomplish uninterrupted Parenting Time. The current trend suggests that the threat of financial liability will discourage a custodial parent from interfering with Parenting Time rights.

1. Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

The first case to recognize a non-custodial parent’s cause of action based on the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress was Sheltra V. Smith, 392 A. 2d 431 (Vt. 1978). In this case, the non-custodial parent brought suit for damages alleging that:

“defendant willfully, maliciously, intentionally, and outrageously inflicted extreme mental suffering and acute mental distress on the plaintiff, by willfully, maliciously, and outrageously rendering it impossible for any personal contact or other communication to take place between the (plaintiff and child).”

Id. at 433.

The Superior Court, Caledonia County, dismissed the complaint for failure to state of cause of action on which relief could be granted. The Supreme Court of Vermont, however, found that the plaintiff stated a prima facie case for outrageous conduct causing severe...

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