On October 24, 2009, our Ohio Family Law Blog published an article entitled, “U.S. Father Arrested In Japan For Picking Up Children ‘Abducted’ By Ex-Wife…The Rest Of The Story”! On Sunday, August 15, 2010, the Dayton Daily News published a human interest news story entitled, “Dad With Custody Can’t Get Kids From Ex-Wife In Japan”. The 2009 article involved a Father from the State of Tennessee having a former Wife secret his two children away to the Country of Japan without his knowledge or consent. The most recent incident reported in the Dayton Daily News involves a Father residing in the State of Ohio whose Wife secreted his two children to the Country of Japan without his knowledge or consent before the termination of the parties’ marriage. The subject Father, Kent Swaim, is a client of our firm. He has given us permission to share his story!
Facts of the Kent Swaim Case:
- Kent Swaim (“Husband/Father”) is an active duty member of the United States Air Force. While serving his country in Okinawa, Japan, the parties met at an ice cream parlor on the island. They dated one another and he later married Miyuki on May 21, 1999.
I generally begin my articles for our Family Blog Web Site with a definition of the topic or subject that I am addressing, and this month’s article will not deviate from that practice. Finance is defined by Webster’s New World Dictionary as being “the science of managing money”. And, Financial Planner is defined by Wikipedia as “a practicing professional who helps people deal with various personal financial issues through proper planning, which includes but is not limited to these major areas: cash flow management, education planning, estate planning, investment planning, risk management and insurance planning, tax planning, estate planning and business succession planning (for business owners). The work engaged in by this professional is commonly known as personal financial planning. In carrying out the planning function, he or she is guided by the financial planning process to create a financial plan – a detailed strategy tailored to a client’s specific situation, for meeting a client’s specific goals.”
As an adult who weathered through a divorce proceeding within the past thirteen (13) years, I was the product of an “intact family” having parents who were married for more than 54 years. Like most young women, I was “socialized” into thinking that I would grow up, meet Prince Charming, fall in love, get married, and “live happily ever after”! Unfortunately, that dream of many young women has become more of a myth than a “true-to-life” fairy tale as our divorce rate approaches or exceeds 50% for first time marriages. Nevertheless, I was hopeful that my two children would not be negatively affected by their parents’ divorce as they were not toddlers anymore. When my divorce actually took place, both children had graduated from college and were living independently.
Alcoholism is defined by Webster’s New World Dictionary as “the habitual drinking of alcoholic liquor, or as a resulting diseased condition”. It is also defined as a chronic and progressive illness characterized by physiological and psychological dependency upon the ingestion of alcohol; a loss of control over drinking, including when, and in what form, how much, and why; and interference with normal functioning in one or all such areas such as family, work, friendship, and community activity.
What is an in camera interview? The phrase “in camera” is a Latin term defined in Black’s Law Dictionary as: “In chambers; in private.” The interview does not involve a camera or a videotape at all! If a party is asking for the Court to have an in camera interview of a minor child, the request is for the Judge or Magistrate to interview the minor child privately with neither parent or his/her attorney being present. An Appellate Court in Michigan said it very well years ago . . .
Recent articles and news programs have focused upon active duty military members who have returned from overseas tours of duty (often in the Middle East) to find themselves engaged and involved in “custody battles” with former spouses who are arguing it would be in the “best interests” of the minor child/children to remain with the parent who has provided care and custody during the year(s) the military parent was deployed overseas.