A self-censored chronicle of family court dramas, lived by parents who lost all or some visitation with or custody of a child or children based on perjury and/or other false courtroom evidence
ASSURING GENDER EQUALITY IN THE BEST INTEREST OF CHILDREN, INCLUDING PATERNITY AND TIME SHARING ASPECTS OF THE LAW. Every man should be given the opportunity to succeed as an expectant, new and seasoned parent whether living at home or apart. With timely information, respectful guidance and fair and just legal counsel children will benefit from the love of a father.
Contact: Holly Zwerling, Fatherhood Task Force of South Florida - 305.812.4000
Community Partners Recognize the Importance of Fathers in Families Florida Senate Resolution 1392 and Florida House Resolution 9117 Workshops recognizing the importance of “Fathers in the know.” The more men know about fathering the more their children will benefit. Fathers should advocate for their children to secure their future. A Father’s engagement in all aspects of planning ahead for their child’s birth, being involved in their education as well as all aspects of childhood development helps secure their child’s welfare for a bright future. The Fatherhood Task Force thanks our partners for providing the following free workshops during Fathers in Action & Advocacy Week. Open to fathers and families in various locations. Sponsor: Children’s Trust & Fatherhood Task Force Sponsorship Moderators: Diana Ragbeer, Director of Public Policy & Community Engagement, The Children’s Trust and Holly Zwerling, CEO/President of the Fatherhood Task Force
No parent could ever imagine the horror of not being able to raise their own child. Yet, in today’s family court system, we are finding that more and more divorced parents are losing their rights to see their child and to act as their parent. The reasoning behind this growing movement is equally horrific. Divorced parents are disputing over the administration of psychotropic drugs to their children. One parent wants to drug the child and the other one does not. Mental health has become insinuated into today’s Family Court and the right to Informed Consent is surpassed by vested interests. Hear one parent’s tale and how he continues to fight for the right to say “NO” to mind-altering drugs for his child.
Another dangerously flawed family law reform bill has been once again submitted in the Florida Legislature. As this flawed legislation persists, Republican Sen. Tom Lee, who has been embroiled in his own past divorce and child support battles, has now introduced Senate Bill 250. Many marginalized members of the Florida Bar are saying enough is enough — it’s time for Florida Gov. Rick Scott to do the right thing and form a neutral “Family Law Reform Task Force” to carefully study this issue and recommend fair and equitable changes to our family law statutes that, if necessary, do not unjustly harm women and children.
The proposed Alimony/Family Law Reform bill contains as one of its greatest flaws an equal child timesharing provision, which creates a legal presumption that equal time splitting between parents occur. This legal presumption can only be overcome if the parent challenging the presumption enters into a legal fight and proves, with evidence, that it is not in the best interests of the child to have equal time with both parents.
There is no exception in the proposed statute regarding the age, physical or mental health of the child, or the physical or mental health of the parents. This will mean that unless a parent challenges the law, infants and toddlers would be exchanged between households on a nearly 50/50 basis. Alcoholic or abusive parents will be presumed to be entitled to 50/50 split timesharing with their children as well, including overnights.
Judge Robert M. Evans says another dangerously flawed “Family Law Reform” bill has been once again submitted in the Florida Legislature. Many marginalized members of The Florida Bar are saying “enough is enough.” Evans believes it’s time for Gov. Rick Scott to do the right thing and form a neutral Family Law Reform Task Force to carefully study the issue and recommend fair and equitable changes to our family law statutes that if necessary, do not unjustly harm women and children.
A nightmare development scenario playing out in Palm Beach County, which Sally Swartz says is bad news for proponents of local control statewide. The worst blow of all: Counties have no choice. Florida lawmakers allow the new development and counties are forced to go along.Dr. John H. Armstrong, Florida’s surgeon general, writes that unhealthy weight has affected children in the state well before his appointment in 2012.Combating this epidemic would become his highest priority – and it was clear that doing so wouldn’t be as simple as changing the meals served in school cafeterias. While unhealthy weight among youth is still high, the strides the Armstrong and the state has made in recent years show promise for improving a previously bleak situation.Visit Context Florida to dig in.
We all remember how much heat the Florida bar took after they offered a sweetheart deal to three attorneys accused of a DUI setup. Attorney Jeff Brown did not hold back. “If I’m grading them, I give them, I would say you are not to be admitted into the Florida Bar because you’ve just failed the exam,” said Brown.
The judge rejected it without blinking.
But now, the Florida Bar, which sets the ethical standards for attorneys is accused of breaking its own rules, claims Tampa Attorney Scott Tozian. “The Bar acted in an improper manor in a prosecution of this case,” said Tozian.
Tozian has represented troubled attorneys for over 30 years.
He’s battled the Florida Bar hundreds of times, but this latest case has him shaking his head in disgust. “We felt like the prosecution was biased,” said Tozian.
This all came about during an insurance settlement dispute when one attorney complained to the Florida Bar about being left out of negotiations.
He wanted the bar to punish the opposing attorneys and strip them of their law license.
Emails show he even pressured the bar to hire an ouside attorney instead of using their own.
And in a rare move, the bar agreed, paying the newly hired attorney close to $400,000. “The bar had to actually amend its budget in order to pay that money. It’s not like the Florida bar has $400,000 sitting in a kittie,” said Tozian.
Tozian says that money could’ve been put to better use like funding Pro Bono cases. “Those organizations are always in need of extra funds for the people of the state of Florida who cant afford legal services,” said Tozian.
Even worse, says Tozian, is the bar’s tactics in this case, which he describes as “dishonest, deceitful, and unethical.”
In a motion to the Supreme Court, he accuses the bar of submitting fraudulant documents to the court, and then trying to cover it up, something that should be unheard of for the bar, writing “very simply this case represents cronyism at its worst.”
Tozian says dozens of e-mails and sworn testimony backs up his claims.
He is now taking his complaints about the bar misconduct to the Florida Supreme Court. “The vast majority of the men and women who represent the Florida Bar do so ably and confidently and ethically. In this case I question all of that,” said Tozian.
Tozian wants the high court to dismiss the case against his clients because of the bar’s misconduct.
Meanwhile, the bar sent FOX 13 a response to these allegations.
They concede that while some of the actions may look suspicious, they are adamant they never intended to deceive or hide anything from anyone.
"Our current system of resolving child custody disputes rarely considers either children’s needs from children’s own perspective, or current research on child custody outcomes. What is needed is a new standard, a "best interests of the child from the perspective of the child" standard, and an approach to child custody determination that is built on a strong foundation of empirical research."
Dr. Karin Huffer is the author of "Legal Abuse Syndrome" has had PTSD recognized and approved to allow special accommodations in the courts. Her work is phenomenal
As advised by lawyers, separating and/or divorcing parents often make false allegations of domestic violence (DV) in the form of a restraining order to evict an innocent parent from the home, interfere with contact with child/ren, and then file for temporary custody (virtually never temporary). False police reports are often obtained and used in DV Court...called "information only reports", but contain a fabricated incident of DV and thus a serious crime if and when exposed.
Judge
Manno Schurr Brings Nursing Background to Courtroom
Judge Valerie R.
Manno Schurr, 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge
Valerie Manno Schurr had been a nurse for a dozen years when she passed the
Florida Bar exam. She kept working in the operating room.
"One day we had a new surgeon come in, and they said, 'You
know there's a lawyer in the room. You better be careful,' " she said.
After the operation, "the head nurse came to me and said, 'You know you
made that guy very nervous. He didn't like that there was a lawyer in the
room.' "
The Miami Beach native pursued nursing right after graduating from
North Miami High School, urged on by her sister, who was already a nurse.
"I couldn't decide what I wanted to do, and she said, 'Why
don't you go to nursing school? It's a great job. You're going to love it.' " Manno Schurr
recalled. "And I did. I really did. Nursing is a wonderful, wonderful
profession."
She started in oncology at Mount Sinai Hospital.
It was emotionally trying. Her mother died of breast cancer at 37
when Manno Schurr was 5. Caring for cancer patients took its toll.
"You're just trying to prolong their lives," she said.
"I wanted to take care of a patient, get them better and never see them
again. These people kept coming back and coming back. They come in. They get
diagnosed. You give them chemo, and they would get worse and worse and
worse."
Even though some were cured, she said the work was still painful
for her. After two years, she got reassigned to the intensive care unit, then
the recovery room. "Then I got cross-trained to work in the operating
room," Manno Schurr said.
"I did paperwork. I'd get the patient from the holding area,
check the band—'Are you so and so? Are you having this surgery?' You have to
make sure that everybody knew what we were doing," she said.
She served as the operating room's official historian and monitor,
recording every event and keeping track of every instrument and piece of
equipment used.
"I would do: Time patient in the room. Time patient on the
table. Anesthesia started at this time. The time of the first incision,"
she said. "And then when they would start to close, I had to count
everything."
The operation couldn't end until every item was accounted for,
down to every single sponge—even if it meant, as she once did, getting down on
her hands and knees and searching under the operating table to find it.
Dual Career
In 1989, she said, "I started getting restless. I just wanted
to do something else. I knew a bunch of people that were at UM law school. …
Actually, we went to the law school, and I sat in the back of the room. They
didn't say anything. They let me do it. And I said, 'I think this is very cool.
I think I want to do this.'
"The next thing I know," she said, "I'm a law
student."
Manno Schurr kept working as a nurse and as a clerk at a law firm
steps from the Flagler Street courthouse.
"I went to night school, and I had a job Saturday and Sunday
that I worked from 7A to 7P" in the ICU units at local hospitals, she
said. "I went to school at night."
After Manno Schurr graduated, she said, "It took me a couple
of years to get a job." When she did, her years of experience in hospitals
paid off.
"I got a lot of work doing medical malpractice," she
said. "That's what people wanted me to do."
In 1996, she left to form a general civil litigation practice with
her husband. In 2004, she ran for county court and lost. She ran again for
circuit court in 2006 and won.
"I loved being a nurse," she said. "I loved being a
lawyer. Now I'm here, and I love it. I'm very happy."
Still, she kept her nursing license active until just a couple of
years ago, and she keeps her nursing honor society pin in her chambers. And she
said her years of nursing still pay off in the courtroom, in more ways than
one.
"I've been in every division. I started off in dependency; I
went to criminal and civil. When I was over there in civil and I was trying a
medmal case and the doctor was testifying on the stand, it was great because I
knew everything that was going on," she said.
Now in the family division, Manno Schurr said: "Everybody
who's on the bench, all of us, we bring to this job all of our experiences in
life, and it makes you a better judge. I think that being a nurse gives me a
lot of compassion, especially in this division. It gives me a lot of compassion
for people."
JudgeManno-Schurr is my 8 year-old Paternity - Family Court Case Presiding Judge.
The 5th Judge to preside over my simple case; an unwed biological father
seeking to maintain contact with his daughter Zoraya (Google and Judge
Manno-Schurr is enabling Child Abuse via Parental Alienation.
On
March 25th, 2015, in a special set hearing at the Family Courthouse, Judge
Manno-Schurr interrupted my testimony while on the witness stand to notate the
court reporter‘s record saying…
Judge
Manno-Schurr: "the father (me) is
turning red in the face, yelling at me, and pointing his finger at me" Stuart
Abramson (for Petitioner), objected noting the record: "the father has been diagnosed with PTSD
your honor".
Judge
Manno-Schurr (this is why you should rethink this article) said: "Mr. Inguanzo were you in the
military?"
Petitioner
Testimony: "NO your Honor...YOU AND
THIS CASE HAS CAUSED THE PTSD ACCORDING TO MY DOCTORS"
How about that for a Registered
Nurse!!!
WE SUPPORT DVI - THE INSIDE STORY BY MR. TOM LEMMONS
Congressional Testimony: Glen Gibellina to Bill Windsor of Lawless America
Rep. Michael Bileca has courageously undertaken our cause in the House of Representatives to sponsor Parental Rights Bill HB 737. In the Senate, Sen. Thad Altman has done the same with SB 1532. We are thankful for these legislators and their efforts. Please extend your gratitude to them by clicking their names above, and sending them a thank you note via e mail.
What should I write? Here is some suggested Language for your e-mail. Add edits as needed to personalize if desired. But remember - keep it short and to the point. Lengthy e mails lose their power because they are not likely to be read by the Representative or their staff.
Subject Line: Committee Chair - Please Support HB 737 Parental Rights Bill
Body:Dear Rep. (Their Last Name),
This e mail is to express my strong support for HB 737 - The Parental Rights Bill. I support it because I believe that Parents should have a fundamental right to direct the care, upbringing and education of their children. This bill has been assigned to the committee that you currently chair. I respectfully ask that you allow HB 737 (Parental Rights Bill) to be discussed and voted on in your committee.
I look forward to seeing HB 737 Parental Rights Bill passed as Law in Florida this year!
Contact: Holly Zwerling, Fatherhood Task Force of South Florida - 305.812.4000
Combating this epidemic would become his highest priority – and it was clear that doing so wouldn’t be as simple as changing the meals served in school cafeterias. While unhealthy weight among youth is still high, the strides the Armstrong and the state has made in recent years show promise for improving a previously bleak situation.Visit Context Florida to dig in.
