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Shocking Aftermath of an Unsuccessful Mediation

By Janet Langjahr

Georgia Husband and Wife prepare for second marriage each.

They make a prenuptial agreement. Wife waives claims to alimony, the marital home and other assets in the agreement.

Fast forward several years.

Divorce case begins. The Court awards temporary alimony to Wife and shared temporary possession of the marital home to both.

Although there is no prior history of violence in the marriage, the Court also orders Husband to turn his guns over to his father during the case. Perhaps an omen of things to come.

Next, the Court voids the prenuptial agreement. Husband not happy.

Finally, the Court orders mediation, a process by which spouses meet with a neutral third party in an effort to come to a settlement agreement.

Husband and Wife went to mediation one morning. They did not settle their case though.

The Husband called in to his job that he wouldn’t be at work that evening.

Just hours after the mediation, the Husband beat Wife to death with an aluminum baseball bat.

Afterwards, he fatally shot himself with a gun.

Husband reportedly confessed to Wife’s attorney and his own work supervisor.

No one anticipated this eruption of domestic violence - except perhaps the judge who ordered Husband’s guns removed from the home.

Among other things, this case demonstrates the potential danger of husband and wife living together in the marital home during a divorce.

If it is necessary, a Florida court (and courts in other states as well) can order that one of the spouses temporarily move out of the marital home until the end of the case.

Read more in this Athens [GA] Banner-Herald article: Couple’s legal fight ends in their deaths

Full post as published by Florida Divorce - Child Custody - Domestic Abuse Law on September 01, 2008 (boomark / email).