August 1, 2007In July 2007, the Grand Rapids, Michigan community was witness to four lives lost due to domestic violence. Three murders and one suicide asked families, schools, churches, neighborhoods, and the community at large to make sense of the violence around them.
Historically, we have tried to convince ourselves that domestic violence is a family problem, a [...]
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April 28, 2007The AP/New York Times peeks into the divorce proceedings involving the former Governor of New Jersey. The short piece illustrates common themes, including:
–judges want parents to use “common sense”
–judges want parents to facilitate age-appropriate activities
–judges want parents to minimize the potential effects of the proceedings and the parental conflict on the child
–judges focus primarily [...]
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April 23, 2007This was a young man drowning in lonliness, despair, and powerlessness. He didn’t want to face another day of this misery, so he escaped in a morbid and violent hyper-masculine fantasy. This fantasy came to fruition on a dreadful day for 32 people at Virginia Tech. Many people are trying to make sense of this [...]
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March 8, 2007It was a warm, sunny evening. I felt safely enveloped by the cozy surroundings of Empire along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Escaping to the Leelanau Peninsula; a pilgrimage my wife Stephanie and I take often, since honeymooning there some 19 years ago. As we walked to the lake, we noticed a group of young people [...]
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November 30, 2006As a psychologist, I’ve done hundreds of assessments for men who batter. When I determine after careful discernment of the data presented that a particular man has a problem with abusive behavior, one personality factor speaks loudly. Men who batter lack empathy. A close friend of mine who was raped once said, “If he knew what he [...]
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September 17, 2006The 2006-2007 Officers of the State Bar of Michigan’s Family Law Section are:
David Sarnacki, Chair
Karen Sendelbach, Chair-elect
Carlo Martina, Treasurer
Barbara Kelly, Corresponding Secretary
Amy Yu, Recording Secretary
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September 6, 2006The State Bar of Michigan will honor 13 members of the legal community at its 2006 Annual Meeting, which takes place Sept. 13-15 at the Ypsilanti Marriott at Eagle Crest. Eleven of the award recipients will be recognized at the SBM Awards Banquet on Wednesday, Sept. 13, while two will be honored by the Representative [...]
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August 9, 2006The Grand Rapids Press reports on Helen Brinkman and Mark Trusock advancing to November’s general election.
John Agar writes(excerpt):
Assistant Prosecutor Helen Brinkman and attorney Mark Trusock are used to putting together the best case and leaving it to a jury — or in this case, the voters — to reach the right decision.
Both candidates for the [...]
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July 11, 2006Kent County Family Division Referee Jon Ferrier is being honored with the State Bar of Michigan’s 2006 Champion of Justice Award. Jon is a past chairperson of the Family Law Section.
The State Bar award is given to practicing lawyers and judges of integrity and adherence to the highest principles and traditions of the legal [...]
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July 8, 2006The Judicial Candidate Forum for Kent County Circuit Court Candidates is this Thursday, July 13, 2006, at 7:00 PM, at the Wealthy Theatre. Each of the four candidates will field questions on their qualifications to serve as judge, and the audience will be encouraged to submit questions. Judge Gardner will be presiding over the [...]
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June 24, 200620/20’s John Stossel addresses several myths of divorce (excerpt):
MYTH: Divorce hurts women much more than men, and many men abandon their kids.
TRUTH: Both men and women suffer after divorce, and lots of men want to give more to their kids.
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[Sanford] Braver was surprised to discover that the [Lenore] Weitzman figures were wrong, the result of [...]
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April 8, 2006Fortune spotlights the art of listening with advice from Jacqueline Whitmore of the Protocol School of Palm Beach and her book “Business Class: Etiquette Essentials for Success at Work.”
Fortune’s Anne Fisher lists 10 tips (excerpt):
1. Ask pertinent questions.
2. Practice empathic listening.
3. Listen with more than just [...]
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April 22, 2005I’ve been testing a free remote access service called LogMeIn. Remote access services are indispensible to a busy family law attorney who wants to avoid rushing back to the office at night or on a weekend to check office email, prepare a short document, run a child support calculation, record billable time, check a [...]
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February 27, 2005The Court of Appeals has given practitioners in Michigan a ruling regarding the so-called “100-mile” rule, MCL 722.31. The recent case is Grew v Knox II, unpublished decision per curiam of the Court of Appeals, issued Frebruary 24, 2005 (Docket No. 258339).
The “100-mile” rule, generally, provides that if parents have joint legal custody, neither [...]
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February 11, 2005Since The Grand Rapids Press featured an article on black men killing black men, people have weighed in with their analyses of the problem. They’ve presented a myriad of causes such as poor education, poverty, ineffective parenting, racism, etc., but the most common denominator, male socialization, isn’t discussed.
Gender socialization is the process in which [...]
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January 24, 2005The Grand Rapids Press notes the passing of retired Judge Stuart Hoffius, Kent County’s Chief Judge for 28 of his 29 years on the bench.
Ken Kolker writes (excerpt):
“He never said a mean word to anyone when he sentenced them,” Kolenda said. “I remember him saying, ‘This doesn’t have to be the end of your life. [...]
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January 4, 2005The New York Times Editorial highlights the federal state of the courts report (excerpt):
Without naming names, Chief Justice Rehnquist spoke of a troubling “new turn” in recent years that has seen some conservative Republicans in Congress cross the line from ordinary criticism of judicial decisions they do not like to trying to intimidate individual judges. [...]
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November 15, 2004The New York Times looks at divorce rates, highest in those areas where many conservative Christians live (Kentucky, Mississippi and Arkansas) and lowest in the Northeast (Massachusetts), and the possible explanations for these findings.
Pam Belluck writes (excerpt):
“Some people are saying, ‘The Bible Belt is so pro-marriage, but gee, they have the highest divorce rates in [...]
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November 11, 2004The Grand Rapids Press notes the passing of Judge Woodrow Alexander Yared (excerpt):
“He exemplified what our legal system should be. If you were a winner or a loser in his court, you felt you had your day in court,” said attorney James Brady, who is related to Judge Yared by marriage.
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“What struck me is that [...]
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