Kids Will Stay in Home; Parents to Come and Go

In the news today, a novel custody arrangement dictated by a Seville judge: the children will stay put and the parents will alternate living with them on a quarterly basis (in line with the school year). According to Judge Francisco Serrano of Seville Family Court No 7 court the arrangement is feasible given the family’s resources; it also makes sense as both parents have been involved in the their children’s upbringing until now.

Judge Serrano is an outspoken supporter of custodia compartida and is the author of Un Divorcio Sin Traumas.

Who Pays the Mortgage After Divorce?

Since the Tribunal Supremo (TSJ) announced its decision last week there has been plenty of reaction. On Saturday, El Páis published “Lo que la hipoteca unió, que no lo separe un juez” exploring some of the possible consequences of the ruling (one of which might be a blizzard of petitions from ex-husbands requesting a modification of their divorce agreements).

Spanish Supreme Court Ruling: Split the Mortgage after Divorce

According to an El País article that appeared on 24 April
the Tribunal Supremo (TSJ) has just ruled that after divorce ex spouses should bear mortgages equally. The ruling overturned the decision of a provincial court that a father pay 80% of the mortgage on the family home, arguing that the man had sufficient resources to do so.

Parental Alienation Syndrome in Spain

Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) is not recognized as a mental disorder by the World Health Organization or the American Psychiatry Association. Nevertheless it has been used by Spanish courts to remove children from the care of custodial parents. The government therefore recently reminded judges that they are not to base rulings on PAS, or what El País termed “una patología inexistente”.

Child Abduction: Time Magazine Questions the Hague Convention

Thirty years ago, when the Hague Convention on international child abduction came into being, it was assumed that the typical abductor was a non-custodial father. However, according to an article in last month’s Time Magazine, “Protecting Kids: Rethinking the Hague Convention,” it turns out that the abductor is more often a mother, and sometimes she is fleeing an abusive relationship.

EU Clarifies Cross-border Divorces

Domestic Violence & Child Custody

Article 92.7 of the Spanish Civil Code proscribes shared cutody if one parent is under investigation for domestic violence. The law is controversial because it means a father can be denied shared custody before being found guilty of such violence, and father’s rights groups such as “Custodia Paterna” and “Projusticia” argue that the law is unconstitutional.

Divorce Rate of Immigrants Rising

As reported in Sí, Se Puede, “El Periodico de la Integración,” between 2007 and 2009 the divorce rate in Spain among couples where both members are immigrants rose from 2.9% to 4.4%. Meanwhile the overall Spanish divorce rate declined during the same period.

The rate of divorce among couples where one member is an immigrant also rose: from 6.4% in 2007 to 8.4% in 2009.

Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find the article, “España registra cada vez mayor número de divorcios en parejas de inmigrantes,” in the on-line version of Sí, Se Puede but the statistics on which the story is based come from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística, where you can sort national divorce statistics by nationality, age, duration of the marriage, etc.

Are We Ready to Separate?

Many couples attending their first mediation session know they are unhappy but are not sure what they want to do about it. Some are not at all certain they are ready to separate or divorce.

UK Supreme Court Recognizes Pre-nup in Radmacher Divorce

In what is widely regarded as a test case the UK Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that the prenuptual agreement signed by the German heiress Katrin Radmacher and Nicholas Granatino was valid.