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Jastermereel
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 Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2005 4:43 pm Post subject: Judge won't let woman divorce while she's pregnant |
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http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20Divorce%20Denied
| Quote: | SPOKANE, Wash. -- A Spokane woman trying to divorce her estranged husband two years after he was jailed for beating her has been told by a judge she can't get out of the marriage while she's pregnant.
The case pits a first-year attorney who argues that state law allows any couple to divorce if neither spouse challenges it against a longtime family law judge who asserts that the rights of the unborn child in this type of case trump a woman's right to divorce.
"There's a lot of case law that says it is important in this state that children not be illegitamized," Spokane County Superior Court Judge Paul Bastine told The Spokesman-Review newspaper.
Further complicating things, Shawnna Hughes claims her husband is not the child's father.
The bottom line, says Hughes' attorney, Terri Sloyer, is that there's nothing in state law that says a mother can't get a divorce if she's pregnant.
"We don't live in 15th-century England," Sloyer said. "I am absolutely dumbfounded by it."
Hughes' husband, Carlos, was convicted in 2002 of beating her. She separated from him after the attack and filed for divorce last April. She later became pregnant by another man and is due in March. |
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fate
Uber-Karma
Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1178
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| Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2005 5:50 pm Post subject: |
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been tracking this for a bit and there seems to be more to it then just "OMG evil judge"..something having to do with giving the woman a chance to sever her ties with the abusive husband completely by determining the paternity of the child making sure that the abusive husband will have no access to that child...although i can't say that the judge is being at all helpfull considering legally this woman should still be able to get divorsed despite the stupid laws which are in effect.
http://www.thestranger.com/2004-12-23/feature.html
| Quote: | The reason this situation continues to exist may be the Uniform Parentage Act (UPA), adopted in 1975. Although another law, the state's Dissolution Act, prevents the state from infringing on anyone's right to divorce (and remarry), the UPA, which governs parenting, puts pregnant women seeking divorces at a disadvantage. It mandates that paternity must be established after a baby is born, often within two years of divorce, or else the presumed mother and father at the time of birth forever forfeit the right to name another legal father. This works for and against Shawnna Hughes. It works for her, in Sloyer's opinion, because under the law Carlos is the presumed father and this upends Bastine's claim that the child is "in limbo." Even the UPA itself states that "a child born to parents who are not married to each other has the same rights under the law as a child born to parents who are married to each other."
But the UPA could work against her as well because it is possible that unless she goes to court within a certain time frame, she could be forced to stay attached to Carlos through the child after the divorce--even though the child is not his. |
of course theres also crap like this:
| Quote: | | Greg Seims, director of United Fathers, Inc., a fathers' rights group, agrees with this analysis. "Even though there's domestic violence, staying married until the baby is born is the best option," says Seims. His point is that if she doesn't formally deestablish paternity after the birth, this man will have the right to reenter the life of the child until the child is 18 years old. Seims notes, "He could be the scum of the earth but he'll always have the rights to this child." |
i mean obviously it doesn't matter if the father tries to kill the mother and/or child....he still should have right to said child...and by extention the mother...since you know a child out of wedlock/child with one parent is much worse off even if the husband would have abused and/or killed the child[/sarcasm]
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Katrina
Good Karma
Joined: 11 Oct 2003
Posts: 215
Location: Uranus
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| Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2005 10:20 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | The case pits a first-year attorney who argues that state law allows any couple to divorce if neither spouse challenges it against a longtime family law judge who asserts that the rights of the unborn child in this type of case trump a woman's right to divorce. |
(continuing sarcasm) Yes, and of course, the unborn child is *much* safer with an abusive father than a protective mother. (end sarcasm) This sounds much more like a case of the father's rights rather than the unborn child's rights; I don't see how the baby gets anything out of this at all other than high risk of being injured or killed when the husband gets abusive again. Although I agree with Fate that's is more complicated than it seems on the surface.
I guess it would be possible to determine paternity before the baby is born through amniosensisis (sp?), but that does put the child at certain risks too, depending on how old he/she is. Even if the husband is the father, though, abuse is good grounds to lose all paternity rights. (Let's hope so anyway.)
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