Featured Website: www.alimonyreform.org

"There can be no sanction or penalty imposed upon one because of his exercise of Constitutional rights." --Sherar v. Cullen, 481 F 2d 946(1973)

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Have you ever wondered how or why websites get started? The Alliance For Freedom From Alimony, Inc. with their www.alimonyreform.org website has helped many people to seek relief from the burden of spousal support in the courts across the country and is diligently working to eliminate the unconstitutional alimony statutes in Florida.

Here a little background on the Alliance from Chairman Dick Lindsey who gives this description:

“In 1981, I was sued for divorce. I had 5 girls ages 4 through 11. Their mother did not want the children, saying that they cramped her style. She was deeply politically motivated. She ran on the State lever for Commissioner of Agriculture in 1982 against the Democrat, Bill Connor who had held the position for about 20 years. She got over 1 million votes but did not get elected. She ran again about 4 years later on a ticket for Governor; she was the Lieutenant Governor candidate.”

“We had many hearings prior to the final hearing. She only wanted money, lots of it, while I wanted the children. The Final decision of the court was that Barbara got money and I got the 5 kids, then aged 5 through 12. The oldest girl is blind loosing her sight to optic neuritis between the ages of 6 and 8. I did not get any child support but was ordered to pay the children’s mother lifetime alimony which I am still paying 23 years later.”

“In about 1986 I filed for an award of child support based on change of
circumstances. Barbara had landed a political job in Washington paying about $30,000. She countered with a custody battle for the children. When the smoke cleared, there was no child support for me and no children for Barbara. Barbara refused to exercise her visitation as ordered by the Court and often went a year before seeing the children, often refusing to take all 5 at a time.”

“Then in 1995 when the oldest girl turned 18 I was sued again for more
alimony, saying that since I no longer had to support the children, I could pay more alimony. I countered for termination of alimony based on change of circumstances. The final outcome was about 3 years later. I had to pay her Palm Beach lawyer about $45,000 and my lawyers about $75,000. The end results were that there was no additional alimony for Barbara but I was still held in bondage by the system.”

“By this time I was seasoned and recognized that the system was badly
flawed. I started writing letters to the editors and state legislators and the Governor. The local newspaper, the Stuart News, sent a reporter who did a front page article on my situation. My phone started ringing with people who were disgusted with a system that functioned the way it did in my case.”

“One of those that called was Sieg Christman, president of the Ft. Pierce chapter of the ACLU. He offered his help and suggestions saying the system were at best unconstitutional. He offered many suggestions and we had a meeting in Stuart where about 30 attended.
This was the start of the Alliance for Freedom From Alimony, Inc.”

“Our web site was set up and created with the help of Sieg Christman to
promote and advertise our organization and what we were attempting to
do-----Reform the Alimony Scheme. Sieg & I wrote the introduction and contents of our original web site. It was part of our initial organizational efforts. We incorporated as a non-profit Florida Corporation. We applied for 401-C non-profit status with the I.R.S., which, with the help of a specialized law firm in Miami, was finally approved. At first the search engines did not pick up our web site but now they are and we get many inquiries for help from the web site.”

“Do you know of an attorney who might foster the cause of men in family law by challenging the constitutionality of some family law statutes? Or, who will foster the Right of Privacy in the context of family law? Please let us know.”

WOMEN RULE: MORE ON THE SUBJECT:
* Women leading in political campaigns

CASUALTIES OF STATE SPONSORED VIOLENCE
* Derrick Sego

EXAMPLES OF A JUDICIAL SYSTEM AND JUDGES GONE AWRY:
* Ending Judicial Activism
* Losing Liberty Judicially
LEGAL INFORMATION AND RESEARCH CORNER:
* Judicial ethics

INTERESTING READING:
* Third District: Post-Nuptial Agreements – from Abstract Appeal Blog
Family law fans may wish to add this decision to their "if you sign it, you're bound by it" file. The Third District reversed a trial court's decision invalidating a post-nuptial agreement that a husband would make his wife's daughter an equal heir with his natural sons. The trial court had found the agreement to be the product of undue influence, but the appellate court found the evidence not to support that result.

* The military continues to allow service members’ retirement pay to be calculated into alimony payments.
RELATED WEBSITES OF INTEREST:
* http://www.mensactivism.org/about.shtml a web site which tracks news and information about men's issues from around the world.