Over two dozen feminist groups nationwide have joined
together to help ensure that California custodial parents
can move children hundreds or thousands of miles away from
their noncustodial parents.
Against them all stands one loving father and his tenacious
attorney.
Gary LaMusga has fought a seven-year battle to prevent his
two boys, now aged 11 and 9, from being moved 2,400 miles
away from him. Over the summer his ex-wife defied a court
order and moved his children to Arizona (after originally
seeking to move to Ohio), while Gary remains in Northern
California, unable to leave his business and follow his
children due to onerous child support obligations.
Gary is fighting for his children against an ex-wife so
petty and vindictive that, according to his son's teacher's
court testimony, the alienating mother asked the school to
keep track of the time Gary spent volunteering as an aid in
his son's Kindergarten classroom so she could deduct it from
his visitation time!
The issue of move-aways is headed for a showdown in the
California Supreme Court. Since the 1996 Burgess decision,
California custodial parents, usually mothers, have
generally been able to move children. In some cases, courts
have even allowed children to be moved out of the country,
as far away as New Zealand and Zaire. Last year the
California Supreme Court voted 6-0 to revisit the move-away
issue by hearing the LaMusga case
.
Family law attorney
Garrett C.
Dailey, the attorney representing Gary before the
California Supreme Court, will discuss the case and the
move-away issue on His
Side with Glenn Sacks on Sunday, November 16 at 9 PM.
Also joining Glenn will be
Joe Cordell of the
father friendly Missouri family law firm
Cordell &Cordell.
Cordell, the author of
Civil War: A Dad's Guide to Divorce, will discuss the
controversial Missouri move-away law which places strict
limitations on move-aways.
Both radio and Internet listeners are encouraged to call and
participate in the show live and on the air at
1-800-770-1540 at 9 PM PST. All callers will be mailed a
free CD of the show in which they appeared.
To read Garrett Dailey's Supreme Court brief, go to
Atybriefcase.com, where the brief will be posted
shortly.
To learn more about move-aways, see Glenn's columns
New California Move-Away Law Hurts Children of Divorce
(Long Beach Press Telegram, 10/18/03) and
No Virtue in Virtual Visitation (Boston Globe, 7/12/02)
(coauthored by Dianna Thompson of the
National Family Justice
Association).
To hear the His Side
Father's Day, 2003 discussion of move-aways, click
here.
Also, see
Mackenzie Carpenter's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article
Judges face a difficult choice when custodial parent wants
to move.
To get a feminist perspective on the LaMusga case, see the
National
Coalition for Family Court Justice's press release
Justice Delayed is Justice Denied: LaMusga v. LaMusga.
For a feminist perspective on the Missouri move-away law,
see the National Organization
for Women's
Relocation Laws Keep Women in Their Place.
Feminist organizations fighting Gary and Garrett include:
California Women's Law Center, California Women Lawyers,
Coalition for Family Equity, California Federation of
Business and Professional Women, California National
Organization for Women, Feminist Majority Foundation,
Children Now, California Alliance Against Domestic Violence,
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, National
Network to End Domestic Violence, San Francisco Women's
Lawyers' Alliance, Queen's Bench Bar Association of the San
Francisco Bay Area, Women Lawyers Association of Los
Angeles, Lawyers Club of San Diego, Women For, National
Council of Jewish Women /Los Angeles, Women's Equal Rights
Legal Defense and Education Fund, Asian Pacific American
Legal Center, Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence,
Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Minnesota Program
Development, Inc, New Jersey Coalition for Battered Women,
and the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
