Odds of approval?

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

If you're living in a community property state then the family court will consider all marital income and assets to belong equally to both spouses. They always try to tip the scales back to the center. When one spouse is earning substantially more than the other than that the spouse with the lower income will gain and the spouse with the higher income will lose.

Most states don't award sole custody unless it can be proven that the child might be in danger from one of the parents. They'll usually award joint custody with one of the parents being the primary custodian. Unfortunately, most states also favor the mother when it comes to primary custodian, and a mother who doesn't work outside the home usually has a pretty good argument for being the primary custodian. Even when they do award sole custody they don't revoke the parental rights of the non-custodial parent - if they did they couldn't force the non-custodial parent to pay child support.

If she's deported then the family court will almost certainly not allow her to take the child out of the US without the other parent's permission. In fact, the family court will probably ignore the deportation order, and just declare that she cannot remove the child from the state without permission of the other parent. The net result will be that she'll be forced to leave the US without the child, but the deportation is a federal matter and child custody is a state matter. The family court will follow the state's family code.

[ECS 3]

Sorry to sound contradictory but the first post I thought she had lied out the butt and was married twice without an initial divorce. After reading what you had posted while I was typing, I saw that she had straightened out the marriage/bigamy issue and had legally married you (under US law).

I am not in any way saying what she did was right or that I agree with it, she lied herself into a corner and had no choice but to continue the lies to remain in the US. What I am saying is that, contrary to what I initially believed, you were legally married therefore she has rights just as any other married spouse in a divorce.

As to the immigration issue, she has a snowball's chance in heck of being allowed to remain in the US. As to the marriage, due to the length of time you were married and her contributions (maintaining the house and doing those things are considered contributing, think Leave it to Beaver) she will probably be entitled to something although depending on the aggressiveness of your attorney it may not be much.

Please think of the child, an innocent victim of the situation, and remember this is his mother no matter what she did in the past.

Of course. My son is the most important thing to me. I am trying to be fair in regards to joint custody, visitiation, etc... SHE is the one who refuses to be fair.

As far as the assets ands what she is entitled to: When two people marry, it is a commitment to each other for life and if her and I divorced under "normal" circumstances, I would ALMOST (again, ALMOST) agree that assets should be split equitably. I made the investments of marriage with the intention on being with her for life with no splitting of assets and going through this ride together. However, when one party marries under false pretenses, why should they be entitled to half of the assets that were not contributed in a equal way? Thats just my opinion and I am sure it will not be seen by the court in a similar way.

As far as your and others opinion that you think she will not be allowed to remain in the US, is this just your opinion? Why would you think that the judge would not see it in a different way. She is not a criminal (other than the immigration lies and fraud). I am in the military which might be a positive factor in her receiving the waiver. Her youngest daughter is also in the military and she is the mother of 2 US citizens.

[Used to be broken 147]

As far as your and others opinion that you think she will not be allowed to remain in the US, is this just your opinion? Why would you think that the judge would not see it in a different way. She is not a criminal (other than the immigration lies and fraud). I am in the military which might be a positive factor in her receiving the waiver. Her youngest daughter is also in the military and she is the mother of 2 US citizens.

Obviously I am not an Immigration Attorney, but I read a lot of Immigration Cases. What is quite clear is CBP, ICE, USCIS and the Immigration courts don't take Immigration Fraud lightly. They also tire of continued litigation by the same immigrant in proceedings. Your "spouse" (and I use that term lightly as it doesn't seem clear who you are technically or legally married to), has been lying in a big and deliberate way to USCIS for an extremely long time. They tend to "square off" with someone like your wife and not let her get away with this ####### on principle ...and they should. She is a classic fraudster. They don't like fraudsters, they don't like liars and they don't like being lied to.

The discretionary part of thier decision allowing someone who merits discretion due to family members being US Citizens and length of residence in US is kind of out the window based on her past fraud and continuing fraud. If you want to insure she doesn't get relief take your son to school psychologist and get reports he is fine and doing ok and get other family members/friends to attest to same. You can send USCIS evidence that contradicts what she is likely to present in her defense. Given she has lied before its probable they will believe you over her.

To give yourself some piece of mind, have a consult with an immigration attorney yourself to give you odds.

[Anh map 2,098]

You need a good family law attorney and a very good immigration attorney. No way one attorney will have the background to do both.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

As far as the assets ands what she is entitled to: When two people marry, it is a commitment to each other for life and if her and I divorced under "normal" circumstances, I would ALMOST (again, ALMOST) agree that assets should be split equitably. I made the investments of marriage with the intention on being with her for life with no splitting of assets and going through this ride together. However, when one party marries under false pretenses, why should they be entitled to half of the assets that were not contributed in a equal way? Thats just my opinion and I am sure it will not be seen by the court in a similar way.

The court will likely not give a damn what your opinion is on what constitutes an equitable distribution, regardless of the circumstances.

Florida is an "equitable distribution" state. The court is going to press your attorneys to come up with a property settlement without involving the court. That's your best chance to get a distribution you think is fair. If that fails then the court is going to determine an equitable distribution and they're going to impose it on you. They'll first set aside non-marital assets, and then begin with the presumption that the marital assets (i.e., everything you've accumulated since the marriage began) should be divided between you equally. It will be your task to convince the judge to use his/her discretion to change the distribution in your favor. Good luck with that!

Be prepared to education yourself about family law. It will be a lot less unpleasant if you don't go into it with unrealistic expectations.

As far as your and others opinion that you think she will not be allowed to remain in the US, is this just your opinion? Why would you think that the judge would not see it in a different way. She is not a criminal (other than the immigration lies and fraud). I am in the military which might be a positive factor in her receiving the waiver. Her youngest daughter is also in the military and she is the mother of 2 US citizens.

There are no provisions in immigration law for them to consider your military service in determining if she's eligible for a waiver. There is also no provision in immigration law for them to consider her children. A qualifying relative for a hardship waiver must be a parent or spouse. You're divorcing her, which pretty much leaves her without a qualifying relative for the waiver.

On the other hand, maybe you're thinking of Obama's new executive order to DHS. Well, many immigration experts don't believe much will change as a result of that order. Many believe it's political grandstanding in an attempt to curry favor with Hispanic voters before next year's elections. This administration has already deported more people than any previous administration over the same amount of time. This is also not the first executive order this administration has issued that has emphasized prosecutorial discretion, and the previous orders have not resulted in any significant reduction in the number of deportations. If this order has any affect at all it will probably be primarily for those whose only violation is unlawful presence because that's not technically a crime - you can't be sentenced to jail for being in the US unlawfully. You CAN be sentenced to jail for fraud.

[bigdog 376]

Everything, you need two attorneys to help you. Immigration and Divorce.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Hi. I posted this on another forum, but figured I would post it here too in the hopes that I received other opinions and thoughts.

I have merged the two different topics into one. It is not necessary nor desirable to post the same topic in more than one location. It is best to post it in the appropriate topic forum where the individuals most likely to be familiar with the requested information will see it.

One inappropriate post and one post quoting the inappropriate post have also been removed.

Edited September 9, 2011 by Kathryn41

[Kathryn41 3,205]

What do either of these replies have anything to do with my question?

Acceptable part of the removed post returned to the thread above minus the quote:

Edited September 9, 2011 by Kathryn41

[ECS 3]

As far as your and others opinion that you think she will not be allowed to remain in the US, is this just your opinion? Why would you think that the judge would not see it in a different way. She is not a criminal (other than the immigration lies and fraud). I am in the military which might be a positive factor in her receiving the waiver. Her youngest daughter is also in the military and she is the mother of 2 US citizens.

I really hope I did not offend anyone by the way this might have been taken. I really appreciate everyone's replies and was not trying to be snidely.