On October 24, 2009, our Ohio Family Law Blog published an article entitled, “U.S. Father Arrested In Japan For Picking Up Children ‘Abducted’ By Ex-Wife…The Rest Of The Story”! On Sunday, August 15, 2010, the Dayton Daily News published a human interest news story entitled, “Dad With Custody Can’t Get Kids From Ex-Wife In Japan”. The 2009 article involved a Father from the State of Tennessee having a former Wife secret his two children away to the Country of Japan without his knowledge or consent. The most recent incident reported in the Dayton Daily News involves a Father residing in the State of Ohio whose Wife secreted his two children to the Country of Japan without his knowledge or consent before the termination of the parties’ marriage. The subject Father, Kent Swaim, is a client of our firm. He has given us permission to share his story!
Facts of the Kent Swaim Case:
- Kent Swaim (“Husband/Father”) is an active duty member of the United States Air Force. While serving his country in Okinawa, Japan, the parties met at an ice cream parlor on the island.
Over the past month or so, I have come across some interesting items related to post-divorce parties, celebrations and gifts. In my opinion, some of them are respectable, others are pretty far out there, and a few are bizarre or just sort of crass. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Nonetheless, I will share some with our readers.
I am pleased that Donna Ferber, a psychotherapist and a frequent contributor to the Ohio Family Law Blog has agreed to co-author this article with me! Our goal is to present both the legal and emotional perspectives of a trend that we are seeing in our professional practices: long term marriages ending by divorce when the wife has come to the conclusion that she has just “had enough” and that the husband is seemingly caught “blindsided” by the situation. The intent of the article is not a male versus female point and counterpoint, but rather a collaborative discourse that can provide insight into the complexity of the issues.
The lazy, hazy days of summer will soon be gone, only to be replaced with the frenetic days of a new school year. Despite the grumblings from your children about returning to school, most children are actually ready to resume the routine that school brings. The beginning of the school year is exciting. Your child will be happy to see friends and to meet their teachers, but it can also be a time of uncertainty and worry. They might be concerned about how they will do this year in school, if their friends are in their classes, or if they will like their teachers. It can be especially difficult for those students attending a brand new school, or those who are transitioning from elementary to middle school, or middle to high school.
There remains great concern among seniors about how the new Health Reform Law will affect them, and it will be years before the true effect of the law among this group of citizens is known. However, some aspects of the law are clear, and the hope is that the overall positives will outweigh the negatives when all is said and done.
One of my all time favorite family law blogs is Updates in Michigan Family Law written by Attorney Jeanne M. Hannah. I read her posts every week even though thinking about Michigan gives me a twinge of pain as a “Buckeye”. Nonetheless, her posts are always informative and excellent! She recently posted on a topic that I felt would be of interest to our readers, especially since our law office is only a few miles from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. With Jeanne’s kind permission, I have republished her article below.
I generally begin my articles for our Family Blog Web Site with a definition of the topic or subject that I am addressing, and this month’s article will not deviate from that practice. Finance is defined by Webster’s New World Dictionary as being “the science of managing money”. And, Financial Planner is defined by Wikipedia as “a practicing professional who helps people deal with various personal financial issues through proper planning, which includes but is not limited to these major areas: cash flow management, education planning, estate planning, investment planning, risk management and insurance planning, tax planning, estate planning and business succession planning (for business owners). The work engaged in by this professional is commonly known as personal financial planning. In carrying out the planning function, he or she is guided by the financial planning process to create a financial plan – a detailed strategy tailored to a client’s specific situation, for meeting a client’s specific goals.”