Maine Divorce Law Blog

California Says No to Gay Marriage Ban

The California Supreme Court has struck down the ban against gay marriages in that state.  Now both Massachusetts and California allow same-sex marriages.

Will Maine be far behind?

Forced Incrimation By Password

The Washington Post has an interesting article today about a Vermont man having suspected child pornography on his computer.  The government wants the court to order the man to type his password into the computer to unlock files they suspect contain porn.   

The man claims that doing so would constitute self-incrimination. The judge has ruled that he doesn’t have to give his password.

"If [he] does know the password, he would be faced with the forbidden trilemma: incriminate himself, lie under oath, or find himself in contempt of court," the judge said.  The government has appealed.

Does the Fifth Amendment prevent this type of intrusion?  What do you think?

Maine Divorce Law Blog Is Tops

This blog was recently featured as one of the top family law blogs on-line by the website prenuptialagreement.org.  Check it out here.

It’s an honor to be mentioned with the other highly informative sites!

 

Don't Disclose Your Address At Abuse Hearing If Fearful Of Your Spouse

Sadly, today’s paper reports again about a Maine man facing murder charges after shooting his wife last Friday at her brother's home in Fairfield, Maine.  It appears that the man learned of his wife’s whereabouts after she disclosed in open court — with her husband standing just a few feet away — where she was living.  A few days later he got a gun and killed her while their two young children were in the home.

Now people are asking why his wife was ordered to disclose where she would be living during the protection from abuse hearing.  A Press Herald columnist wonders:

“[A] vexing Catch-22 hangs over this tragedy -- one that has long troubled those who work to prevent domestic violence in Maine.

 

It goes like this: How can the state tell a man to stay away from a woman without specifying where that woman is living so the man will know where to stay away from?

 

Put more simply, how do we prevent a protection-from-abuse order, complete with home address, from becoming a road map to murder?”

 

This flawed system of letting an abuser know where his victim will be staying must be changed to prevent this tragedy from happening in the future.