Divorce Advice for Men | Fathers Rights Divorce | Child Custody

Question:

My divorce question is about a new modification and its effects on other parts of the decree that have been left untouched.

Our divorce decree says that my ex-wife and I will pay 50% of our child's health care costs. She has repeatedly failed to pay her full share of the monthly costs.

We went through a child custody modification last year where the visitation schedule was modified, though no other parts of the decree were.

Since a modification to the decree was previously made, does this effect all other parts of the divorce decree? So if she owes me financial support, am I able to go after her for reimbursement or is everything, including owed support, lost because there has already been a modification?

Question:

I am concerned for my son's mental and physical well-being and want to know how to address medical issues if I am not the custodial parent.

He recently had surgery and since then he has been desperate for me, crying every time I leave and all week while he's at his mother's house. I want to find out why he is behaving so different and erratic, but my ex-wife is the parent responsible for education and medicine decisions.

If I take him to a doctor without her consent, I likely will be in trouble for disobeying the court order, though.

What are my options to get him help?

By Erin Brockhoff

Belleville, Illinois Divorce Lawyer

As winter weather and resulting snow days makes dreams come true for children across the country, it raises the issue of how parenting time and child custody exchanges are handled on unexpected days off from school.

Typical child custody exchanges on normal school days usually occur after school the school day ends. But who gets the child on snow days when school is canceled on little notice?

Is it treated as a holiday and parents should follow the holiday parenting time schedule or is it just considered a normal day and the child custody exchange should take place as usual even though the kids aren't in school that day?

Question:

I have a tax modification question that deals with taxes and divorce.

Can I apply for and modify and tax exemption on my child so that I can claim my son as a dependent?

Japan is known as a haven for international child abduction as the country has never returned a single abducted child.

Paul Toland, who is a commander in the U.S. Navy and has testified before Congress on this issue, is the only living parent of Erika Toland who was abducted to Japan in 2003 and has been held there first by his wife, Etsuko – who later committed suicide – and since then by Erika's grandmother.

Toland's experience led him to co-found the organization Bring Abducted Children Home, which is dedicated to the immediate return of internationally abducted children who are being wrongfully detained in Japan.

He spoke with DadsDivorce.com editor Matt Allen about his story and why Japan is known as a "black hole" for children who have been abducted where once they enter, they never return.