Managing Your Divorce: A Guide for Battered Women

• NCJ Number: 206978
• Author(s): Dean Louis McHardy; Meredith Hofford M.A.
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 96 pages
• Grant Number(s): 90EV106
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health and Human Services
• Corporate Author: National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
• Sale Source: National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Handbook
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This booklet offers advice to battered women who are representing themselves in a divorce case involving child custody.

Abstract

The first section explains the importance of finding experienced legal counsel to assist in securing a better overall case outcome. Tips are presented for identifying attorneys with experience and advice is offered concerning what to expect from an attorney. The second section discusses financial considerations affecting the case and identifies the expenses that some courts can waive or order the husband to pay, such as notary fees and mediation fees. The third section considers custody and divorce mediation, a process in which a third neutral party attempts to resolve disagreements between divorcing couples in order to avoid a lengthy and expensive trial. The fourth section focuses on evidence that should be gathered to present at trial. The testimony of witnesses will be the most important evidence in a case, including the testimony of the battered woman herself. The fifth section considers unsupervised visitation and safety planning. Safety suggestions from formerly battered women, shelter staff, and child advocates are offered, focusing on how to plan for child safety. The sixth section offers a judge’s perspective on how to present a child custody/divorce case in court; suggestions include being as brief as possible and not assuming that the judge knows anything about the case. The seventh section offers tips for working with child custody evaluators, GAL’s, and CASA’s; one of the most important points is to remember that court personnel may not have adequate training in domestic violence. The eighth section outlines some of the problems associated with children witnessing domestic violence, while the ninth section considers the salient issues involved with child support, paternity establishment, and privacy protection. The 10th section presents guidance for selecting an expert witness and the 11th section discusses some important considerations about relocation. The final section considers the link between alcohol, drugs, and domestic violence. Appendixes