One saga of permanent separation from an abusive spouse
There are many barriers victims face in leaving an abusive spouse. This client story shows that the challenges don't end once the decision to divorce is made.
After almost 4 years, 2 Domestic Commissioners (Thomas and Conklin), 2 paralegals (Barbara Hasty and Cynthia Mendenhall), 4 attorneys (Justin Stringfellow, Jennifer Spangenberg, Jenette Turner and Gary Anderson), 3 Domestic Conferences, several OSC hearings, Pre-Trial and Trial, ULS was able to finally obtain a Decree of Divorce for our client, “MA”.
The opposing party (OP) is an abuser and a master manipulator of his spouse, and the court system. In August 2005, MA opened her divorce matter with ULS in the Ogden office. The parties have 2 minor children. The Petition for Divorce was filed in December of 2005 and OP filed an Answer and Counter Petition, which we answered. The 1st Domestic Conference was held and the pattern of OP’s agreement to issues and failure to abide by those agreements began thereafter. After agreement after agreement, hearing after hearing, and failure to cooperate with a custody evaluation, OP was found in contempt, jail time reserved, and ordered to complete 15 hours of community service. At a subsequent hearing the Court found OP had not complied with those orders, struck any pleading in which OP had requested custody, deemed OP had waived that claim for failure to participate in the custody evaluation, deemed MA the custodial parent and increased OP’s community service to 30 hrs. Yet other issues in the case remained and OP became unresponsive.
A trial date was finally set in Nov, 2009. The morning of trial the OP failed to appear and Judge West signed our Findings and Decree in open Court. Needless to say, MA was thrilled to finally be free of OP and expressed her gratefulness for all ULS had done.
Thanks to everyone who worked on this case, and to everyone at ULS for continuing to "fight the good fight" for our clients.