Family Court Outrage (Continued From Home Page)
Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!
- Warning about the English Family Court in Bleak House, by Charles Dickens (1852) Dickens was not the only author to notice how evil, corrupt and unfair the family court system is. One of the great lawyers in this nation, Michael Louis Minns, in his 1989 book, The Underground Lawyer, said: "The judges on the family law bench are almost always the bottom of the barrel - the least intelligent, the most political, the least knowledgeable on the law. Why? A relatively small group of family law specialists are constantly dealing with the same small group of judges, day in and day out. In this in-bred, stagnant environment, these lawyers must cater to these judges even more than other lawyers who have the option of less emasculated juries. . . "The family law courtroom used to be a place for losers - lawyers who could not make money in legitimate areas of law. It still is, but now, everyone loses except the lawyers. Many of the lawyers are there because they got laughed out of other courtrooms or found a way to practice law without ever reading it. The judges are there because someone owed them a political favor but just couldn't bear to put them on a real bench that required thinking. But don't be misled. Family law court power is the real thing, just at a less respectable level." It is my belief that MOST divorces would settle, and the lawyers wouldn't take a third of all the life savings and equity of the couple, if the law made one simple change - mandated shared parenting, except in cases where there is obvious abuse or other unfitness. Most divorces could be settled for very small money if the law was even-handed - which it is not. If it was, and neither side could get an advantage because of their sex, most divorces could be settled in a couple of hours, and be done. It is clear that the political powers do NOT want that, or they would do it. The senate judiciary committee contains divorce lawyers, who would lose business and money if they did the right thing and passed fair, unbiased laws. They won't, because they want the huge extra money that their monopoly gets them. Avoid court at all costs. Use a mediator if possible. Work things out if your soon-to-be-ex has an honorable character. If not, you will be stuck being the next poor, broke casualty of the system. Attorney Minns' conclusion about the system is even more grim: "There is virtually nothing in the present system worth saving." What You Will Find on This Site This site does not have as much material on divorce as some do, but what it does have is unique an unflinching, rather than the fake-o happy stuff you will find from other lawyers. These lawyers want to convince you that the system is fine, and if you hire them, they will process your case. The reality is that you will be "processed" all right, but you will never be the same, and they will not be honest about that fact, unlike Atty. Minns, and unlike this material. The system has gross political biases right now, aimed in favor of anyone who can prove - true or not - domestic violence, and toward women. It just is. So, the material here is one of the few places which starts from the actual reality you will encounter in the court and in the "system" itself, that is, the lawyers, shrinks, GALS, clerks, judges, and pretty much everyone there. You will be alone in holding to your reality-based beliefs. In such a system, you can only prevail by finding work-arounds and not thinking conventionally. |
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