Should a 75-year-old
Man Be Able to Keep What He Has Earned?
I was much more interested in Gloria Steinem than Bella
Abzug but I did support equal opportunity for everyone.
I attended the Republican Convention that nominated George
Allen for Governor. I got involved
through the efforts of Ann of the
Republicans for Choice movement. I was
more anti-Government involvement in family matters than I was FOR a woman’s right to choose.
I am now involved in a dispute with my ex-spouse over
alimony and a fair and equitable distribution of assets. I share the 5th District Court of
Appeals with Casey Anthony and George Zimmerman.
That Court has remanded my case to the lower court.
Florida is a “no fault” state and I have been told by
practicing lawyers that “the law is gender blind.”
Florida’s Dissolution of Marriage process is so bad that the
Florida House and the Florida Senate passed a major alimony reform bill. Under pressure from who knows where, Governor
Scott vetoed it.
Everybody now knows much more about the veracity of lawyers
than I did 5 years ago. Obama lied. Debbie Wasserman Schultz lied. Diane Baccus-Horsley lied. I thought the Judge could tell that $28,800 a
year and $4,000 per month were not the same.
There were so many errors in BaccusHorsley’s closing that I
could not easily figure out what to object to or complain about. Other than the stereotypical no good male
narrative (with which I disagreed of course), there was little in her closing.
I identified 45 false assertions in her closing. She acknowledged one as a scrivener’s
error. These out and out lies were not
adepuate justification for the Florida BAR to discipline Ms. Baccus-Horsley.
Judge Charles J. Roberts of the 18th Circuit
Court in Brevard County Florida found concerning income:
“8 INCOME: The Court has determined the income of
the parties as follows
A)
Respondent/Husband’s monthly income
a.
Social Security
b.
Zzz
c.
…
B)
Petitioner/Wife’s monthly income
a.
Social Security
b.
Zzzz
c.
…
C)
There is great disparity in the income and
assets of parties. The
Respondent/Husband has 82% of the family income and the Petition/Wife has 18%”
My reading of the Florida statutes says that the Judge is
supposed to come up with a fair and equitable distribution of assets before he
addresses any possible need for alimony.
Judge Roberts was so misled by Ms. Baccus-Horsley that he
did not do that.
From the beginning, I have stressed to my lawyer that I was
only interested in a Fair and Equitable distribution of assets. She thought that she and I might have a
difference of opinion about that. I was
willing to acknowledge that “Fair and Equitable” is a little open to interpretation.
With equal rights and equality for women taken into account,
a reasonable interpretation of “Fair and Equitable Distribution of Assets”
would be in the same proportion as they were earned with the premarital
and nonmarital stuff set aside.
