Key Dates:
- 2008 - My ex-wife filed for divorce.
- July 12, 2010 - Divorce granted.
- March 21, 2011 - Hearing where fraud upon the court (see below) was committed.
- March 16, 2012 - Permanent spousal support granted.
- July 31, 2020 - I took an early retirement package due to Covid pandemic.
- January 14, 2021 - My motion to end spousal support denied and I was ordered to pay even more money, including my ex-wife's legal costs.
Overview:
- The custody evaluation determined parenting during the marriage was joint. Although joint custody of the children was awarded, the children almost immediately started spending more time with me. Gradually this became permanent. Both children have now graduated from college and continue to live with me.
- My Ex-wife divorced me. She claimed she wanted to be with someone else. All assets from the marriage were accumulated through my income. Ex-wife- never used any of her earned income during the marriage or after for the benefit of the children.
- There was never an agreement that my ex-wife would be a stay at home parent. In fact quite the opposite. I was always the more nurturing and involved parent to the children. She even stated in counseling she wished she had as close of a relationship with the children as me.
- My ex-wife- was never very involved with the children’s lives and that has only increased since the divorce. One example is that she did not take either of the children on a single college visit nor, in fact, did she even encourage them to attend college. She only made the briefest appearance at their graduations which was done, I believe, only at the instance of her mother.
- During the divorce process we attended mediation. The mediator insisted that my ex-wife wanted us to use a parental consultant. A very expensive parental consultant who was recommended by Ms. Rhodes. I found out later Ms. Rhodes was telling my ex-wife that I was the one who was insisting on the parental consultant. It is difficult not to believe the mediator was simply committing fraud to fleece us out of money.
- Ex-wife rejected all attempts to settle until after the last ruling in 2021.
- The original divorce decree gave my ex-wife far more than half of marital assets, including over two years of spousal support, and no financial obligation at all for the children. The vocational evaluation determined she was well qualified to work and could make as much money as me but she chose not to work in her profession. In fact, she never applied for a single job in her profession.
- For nearly a decade my ex-wife sent me me unsigned harassing letters with no return address. These letters include things such as demanding that I pay for the one time that she bought flowers for one of the children’s school dances and her increase in insurance once the kids obtained their drivers licenses. (note that she dropped them from her insurance rather than pay)
- Early in our relationship, Mu ex-wife- was quite violent. She once hit me “in fun” (as she stated) which resulted in a deviated septum which has caused me throat problems to this day including a continuous irritation. I have been to several ENT doctors who have stated that it is not curable and I will have to live with for the rest of my life.
- My ex-wife almost immediately broke provisions of the divorce decree, including the requirement she send me a check each month to offset the health care costs for the children which I was paying. Her lawyer at the time stated that any queries on my part related to this or any other financial matter would result in harassment charges being filed against me.
- My ex-wife committed numerous acts of perjury and fraud. Numerous statements she made were not only false but heinously false. She later in court under oath stated that her statements made in her written sworn testimony were false.
- Ex-wife-’s lawyer, DSR, clearly committed fraud upon the court as outlined in the evidence section
- Judge Leary during a hearing before the 2012 ruling stated openly that he personally knew my ex-wife's lawyer and “knew” she was a good lawyer.
- During much of the divorce I was represented by a law firm but eventually represented myself pro se. I represented myself because my lawyers dropped me due, in part, to the fact that I was unwilling to sign a completely fictitious affidavit they had prepared for me as to do so would have constituted perjury.
- I filed a complaint against my ex-wife's lawyer with the Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board (LPRB). An investigation was done, however no action was taken against DSR. The report failed to address any of the complaints I made. An appeal was likewise dismissed. Only later did I find out the LPRB only publicly disciplines a small fraction of cases brought before it (the 2009 LPRB annual report lists the rate as 3.1%) and almost always only after the lawyer has been criminally changed. The LPRB was unable to provide me with a single case where they had disciplined a lawyer for lying in family court. Given the evidence, it is difficult to believe that the LPRB did not knowingly whitewash the claims.
- I filed an administrative motion with the Minnesota Supreme Court to prohibit the LPRB from assigning investigators who receive referrals from lawyers who work in the same area as the lawyer under investigation. The LPRB strongly opposed the motion and the court rejected it. The investigator in my case was a divorce mediator.
- I contacted the Ramsey County Attorney's office regarding the false statement made by my ex-wife's lawyer as detailed in the evidence section. They told me, in writing, that attorney lies are only crimes when they are under oath. So, apparently, lawyers can lie all they want in court with impunity as long as they are not under oath. They also stated that “there is no such crime Minnesota [sic] as fraud upon the court”. I asked them on several occasions how it is not a crime when the term is specifically used in Minnesota statute 518.145 but they refused to answer. They have also stated that they cannot take any action against the divorce industry because it is not an individual or corporation. Yet, they have published numerous documents on their effort to combat the “sex industry” in the county. These actions by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office as well as others make it difficult to believe they were not purposefully and corruptly attempting to cover up a fellow lawyer's crimes.
- As much of the evidence in my case indicates that the family law system in Ramsey county is institutionally corrupt, I have on two occasions contacted the FBI. No answer was received.
- I have met or corresponded with several members of the Minnesota legislature on the matter.
