The Harris Law Firm offers a free monthly seminar to answer your questions about the divorce process in the State of Colorado. Our upcoming “Questions About Divorce” seminar will be held on Tuesday, January 19th from 12 pm to 1 pm at the firm: 1125 17th Street, Suite 1820, Denver, CO 80202. To RSVP for this monthly event, please call 303 299 9484. Attorney and Mediator, Margaret Walker will preside.

A retired English school teacher vanished after asking for a divorce and an £800,000 settlement from her husband, a wealthy landowner in Gloucestershire.  The prosecution claims that 55-year-old Kate Prout was murdered by her estranged husband Adrian after several incidents of domestic violence.

Mrs Prout, 55, has not been seen since November 5th 2007 when she vanished from her home leaving behind all of her clothing, her passport, and her credit cards. Among the items left behind after her disappearance was a diary saying that she was afraid of her husband and feared for her life. ”Her diary entry reads: ”The evening he threatened me and I reported him to the police. He was arrested and no charges brought because no marks on me so no evidence. ‘Ted and Linda Wakefield came to get me. Officially separated now I was very frightened to return. He went mad I thought my end had come. I was very, very shaken.”’

One hundred officers including divers and the Gloucestershire police helicopter spent eight weeks searching 276-acres of land including woodland, lakes and ponds but failed to find any trace of her. Mr Prout, who ran a pipe laying and civil engineering business, was initially arrested on suspicion of her murder on November 27 2007.

Mr Prout continues to deny that he committed murder, and the trial continues.

Chris Evert and Greg Norman divorced in Key West last month just 15 months after they married. It was reported that Evert and Norman were granted a final judgment dissolving marriage and they agreed to abide by the pre-nuptial agreement they signed in June of 2008. Their divorce decree states that: “The bonds of marriage are dissolved because the marriage is irretrievably broken, and the parties are restored to the status of being single.”

The dissolution of a marriage is one of the most painful changes a family can endure, but domestic relations judge Michele Lowrance says that it is possible for all concerned to have a positive divorce experience. In her recent publication, “The Good Karma Divorce,” the judge offers helpful suggestions and strategies ensure that the process remains civil and professional. Ms. Lowrance recently shared some of her strategies, particularly those for helping your child through a divorce, on Good Morning America today. You can read an excerpt from “The Good Karma Divorce” on the Good Morning America website.

 Later this year, France will become the first country in the world to ban ‘psychological violence’ within marriage.

Insulting loved ones during domestic arguments could become a crime and partners who abuse their spouses in this way could end up with a criminal record under a new French law.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said electronic tagging would be used on repeat offenders

Mr Fillon said: ‘It’s an important step forward as the creation of this offence will allow us to deal with the most insidious situations – situations that leave no visible scars, but which leave victims torn up inside.’

He added that his government would also be experimenting with electronic surveillance measures to ‘monitor the effectiveness of restraining orders against a violent spouse’.

‘Psychological violence is a very serious matter, but punishing it through the courts is a very different matter altogether.’

Critics have also said the government should not be intervening in private domestic arguments in which no one got hurt.

Sociologist Pierre Bonnet said: ‘The next step will be to make rudeness a criminal offence. The police and courts will be over-stretched trying to deal with the numerous cases.’

Carla Scarpone, a family law attorney with The Harris Law Firm, is on the Advancement Committee for Breakthrough Kent Denver.  Breakthrough is a national non-profit organization with a local office housed at Kent that has been in existence for 15 years.  They have a dual mission: to provide under-resourced Denver Public Middle School students with an academically rigorous program to ensure that they graduate from high school and go onto college, and second to train high school and college aged students to become urban educators.

Through her work on this committee, she is helping organize and promote a fundraiser on February 11, 2010 at the Governor’s Mansion called: “Give Your Love to Breakthrough.”  This evening will be one of great food, cocktails, and wine tasting.  All proceeds go to under-resourced Denver Public Middle School youth.  This will be a fun evening, a nice way to celebrate Valentine’s Day, and an opportunity to give back to our community (as well as a fantastic networking event).

Please go to this website for more information, and to purchase tickets: http://giveyourlovetobreakthrough.eventbrite.com/?ref=esfb

The last decade saw a number of landmark events that helped define the American justice system, and will impact us in the decades to come.  Below are just a few from the 2000’s that were particularly noteworthy:

1. Bush versus Gore:  On December 12, 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court issued it’s ruling which effectively decided the presidential election.  Never before had the American public seen such a close presidential election (the final disparity of votes in the decisive Florida count was a few hundred votes), and never before had the Supreme Court been asked to basically choose our president.

2. Partial Birth Abortion Prohibition Upheld:  In the 2007 decision, Gonzales v. Carhart, the Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision, which, for the first time since abortion was legalized in this country in 1973’s Roe v. Wade, approved a major restriction on abortion rights.  Many felt signaled a shift in the Court’s willingness to reexamine the abortion issue.

3. Execution of Juveniles is Banned:  In 2005, the Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to put to death juvenile offenders, overturning 25 state statutes that had set the age lower (Roper v. Simmons).

4.Patriot Act:  ON October 26, 2001, President George W. Bush signed into law the USA Patriot Act.  A response to the September 11 terrorist attacks, the controversial law gave the federal government broad powers to intercept telephone and email communications, and significantly loosened the rules of foreign intelligence gathering on American soil.

5.Madoff Jailed:  After orchestrating what most observers believe to be the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, Bernie Madoff pleads guilty to 11 felonies in March of 2009.

6.Spitzer Resigns:  Ending what seemed to be a promising political future, Eliot Spitzer resigns as governor of New York on March 17, 2008 after being caught in a humiliating prostitution ring.  A fiercely zealous former prosecutor, Spitzer sent to prison top leaders of the Gambino crime syndicate.

7.Same Sex Marriage Gains in Acceptance:  In the past decade, same sex marriage was legalized in four states:  Massachusetts, Vermont, Iowa and Connecticut.  Notwithstanding the federal Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”), state law in this country has primarily governed family law, and that’s where these controversial battles will continue to play out in the decade to come.

8.Guantanamo Prison:  This facility, operated by the U.S. Navy on the coast of Cuba, has been the subject of numerous headlines and controversies.  Chief among these include the 2006 Supreme Court decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld granting detainees certain protections under the Geneva Convention, and the 2009 decisions by President Obama to both close the base and try 9/11 mastermind in a civilian courtroom in New York City, rather than by military commission at the Base.

9.Lisbon Treaty Ratified:  In November of 2009, all 27 member states of the European Union ratified this international treaty which brings the nations of Europe closer to a common governmental system than ever.  Among other things, it creates a European Parliament and gives new powers to the European Court of Justice.

10.  Sonia Sotomayor:  In August of 2009, Sotomayor became the first Hispanic woman to take a seat on the bench of the U.S. Supreme Court, further showing the emergence of Hispanics’ influence in our country.

With an increasing number of unhappy married couples now experiencing financial difficulties due to the ongoing economic recession, many are unable to afford a family law attorney to assist them when filing for divorce. The result of being unrepresented by legal counsel means that many couples, who are handling their divorce cases pro se, are often terminating their marriage without being fully aware of their legal rights and options regarding the division of assets and parenting time.

When someone in the U.S. is accused of a crime and they cannot afford an attorney, a lawyer is appointed to them at no cost. When an arrest is made, the individual is given a warning by the police and informed of their rights before they are interrogated.

The Miranda warning reads as follows:

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak with an attorney, and have an attorney present during questioning. And, if you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided to you at government expense.

If divorce in the U.S. was suddenly declared illegal and unhappy spouses were arrested when they attempted to file for the dissolution of marriage, they would become criminal suspects, and a family law attorney would be provided for them at no cost to them. The result of this would be that marital assets would likely be divided in a more thoughtful manner, and a viable, and perhaps more thorough, parenting plan would be crafted that would take into account the best interests of the children, and all concerned.

Republican political operative Karl Rove, a former key adviser in the administration of President George W. Bush, has been granted a divorce in Texas. Karl and Darby Rove were married for 24 years, and a family friend has reported that they came to the decision to part mutually and amicably. The Roves have stated that they intend to  remain friends, but hope that the press will respect their privacy during this sensitive transition. The Roves spent the Christmas holiday together with their son.