Divorce, Support and Immigration problems

[Viktorr]

Greetings,

Name of my state is Michigan

I am posting this on behalf of my dad, who recently got married to a Ukrainian woman and is now trying for a divorce and is facing issues regarding her wanting support.

To give some background, they were married in October of last year. I guess you could say that's when the problems started, and she continually demanded more things from him afterwards. Eventually it got to the point where they were arguing constantly about financial issues. One day in December, it came to a point where my dad had to come over to my house and call the police. They came and diffused the situation, but my dad left for the night to let things cool off even further.

When he came back the next day, she had left, taking all her stuff. Apparently she had called an acquaintance in Ohio to pick her up and take her to a shelter. That was when my dad had enough and filed for divorce. Over the next few weeks, we found out she had placed a Personal Protection Order on him, making false allegations of abuse toward her and her daughter. My dad fought the PPO in court, but unfortunately the judge in the case didn't want to hear anything about it and let the PPO stand (didn't help that the lawyer he had wasn't asking the right questions to show that she had made false claims).

Now, he's awaiting the divorce trial and is suffering from severe depression that she is so far able to get away with gaming the legal system to get what she wants.

O.K., now here's some facts regarding the divorce. She is seeking enforcement of the Affidavit of Support. However, the Form my dad signed was the I-134, which after looking up various information on that form, has been determined to NOT be a legally binding document (Tornheim v. Kohl, Cheshire v. Cheshire, Stump v. Stump). My dad never signed an I-864.

Her immigration paperwork has yet to be approved, and due to the fact that the I-864 was never submitted, may not be approved at all. My dad has also used an immigration attorney to try to withdraw or put a stop to any paperwork he can that is currently in the system and has also been down to immigration offices in Detroit to do the same. This all means (I think) that she is not yet a legal permanent resident of the US. My dad believes that she is going to try to use VAWA to force her paperwork through for her green card. We currently have Sen. Debbie Stabenow looking into the immigration paperwork, but if she has filed with VAWA then there is nothing Stabenow can do to help.

Is there anything else we can do to put a stop to all of this and get her sent back to the Ukraine? She has made false accusations of abuse and has so far been successful in using the legal system to get what she wants. The marriage has only lasted a few months.

We could really use some advice here and will provide more info if needed, or if I can, thank you.

You can ask the judge to review the entire situation on an emergency basis since the facts need to be made clear for so many other proceedings.

The judge may deem her to be acting fraudulently and if so Immigration will deport her--if she really is acting fraudulently.

Contact World Law they can help direct you if need be.

[Viktorr]

That won't be possible, in so far as having a judge review the case on an emergency basis. Even immigration knows this type of situation occurs, quite often according to them. They basically said most times it's too late to stop, but they did tell my dad he acted within a timely manner and it looks good for him. However, nothing has been said since, and it's getting a little frustrating the longer this drags out.

As far as contacting World Law, my dad isn't financially able to have another lawyer work on this case. He's already stretching it thin. I basically came here to see if anyone has been in this type of situation and to see if they have any pointers on what direction we should go with this.

According to another site where I posted, a person in Michigan who just went through a divorce said that you have to be married 15 years in this state in order to receive support or property in a divorce, unless a pre-nup or other contract was signed stating differently. I'm not sure of the accuracy of this, and will be looking that up, but there is a "contract" of a sort. That's the I-134 that I brought up in my original post. However, as I had stated previously, the I-134 has not been found to be a legally binding document in enforcing spousal support in the cases that I've been able to look up.

Another thing I am wondering is if this should even be tried in a State court at all. Due to the nature of the case, with Immigration issues involved, I'm thinking that this should be done in a Federal court instead, and if we should press for that. I'm thinking that a Federal court would have more experience in dealing with matters of Immigration and Support issues revolving around such, and may be better suited to handle this. What do you all think?