Is it normal that a foreign national that do not speak French is served a 43-page document in French for a divorce hearing which included several pages of police reports of what I assume to be allegations of criminal activity? According to the EU law that you find to have jurisdiction over my Swedish marriage and my Swedish children, anyone accused of being a criminal shall have their writings in a language they understand so that they can defend themselves. So, my question is why was that not done in accordance with this EU law?
Is it normal for the police in France to rubberstamp accusations without notifying the accused of his wrongdoings so that these allegations can be included in a divorce filing?
Do lawyers typically call and discuss cases with people who had recommended them? In my case a colleague at my organization. I thought this was a private matter between me and the lawyer (confidentiality) and not concerning any other person, especially someone that worked for me, so I changed lawyer.
Is it normal that lawyers show up after a ski holiday totally unprepared with not one single paper in hand and not even read the 43-page French divorce filing submitted by the opposing party, nor being able to postpone the hearing to a later date as promised?
Is its standard procedure for a French judge to go ahead with a hearing despite having full knowledge of the situation, that one of the parties have had months to prepare to set things up, and I mean set things up and the other party have had 25 minutes of which essentially most of the time went for the lawyer to flick through the 43-page divorce filing and the rest to have some sporadic understanding of the criminal allegations that had been brought forward. You have to understand that I am not used to figure in police reports as I have a spotless record in this regard and that this could be so easily done by just walking down to the police station several times while I was at work and fabricate a criminal record on someone is a bit difficult to comprehend.
Is its standard procedure for French judges to not provide an impartial interpreter for the hearing but one appointed by the opposing party? I think somehow as a judge you do not go ahead with a hearing if one of the parties are not prepared and you do not go ahead by forcing the defendant to speak through an interpreter that has a stake in the process (my wife, her lawyer and the interpreter all came and went together).
Is it normal that French judges do not allow children of the age of 10 and 13 years old to have a saying about where and whom they want to stay with and have some say in their arrangements with the parents? This was denied by the judge on the request of my wife and her lawyer just not to ruin the criminal charges by having my children providing some truth.
Is it normal not to have the possibility to provide any relevant information and been left totally without translation when lawyers essentially standing and shouting at each other, a very chaotic way of trying to get the judge’s attention? So, is this how hearings are typically proceeded in France leaving one of the parties unable to provide any information before the judges take their decision?
Is it customary that a judge provides eight pages in French of his decision, a language I do not speak? I had it translated by the Swedish court half a year later and before that had to rely on a couple of sentences from my lawyer stating that I could see my Swedish children every second weekend, pay 2,500EUR/month in alimony and my for children 1000EUR/month so in total 3,500EUR/month as well as losing my apartment and all things I had acquired over my six years in Paris. I will come back on the decision about me being able to see my Swedish children every second weekend after going through what I have experienced in the French legal system.
Don’t you think it is a bit odd that a judge’s divorce decision has not one single word about a previous uncompleted divorce, a division of property and a marriage agreement to separate our economies, all registered by the Swedish court. Would you not expect that this would be something that a judge to consider in a decision or could that actually be a result of how this judge proceeded with his hearing leaving one of the parties, a father of two Swedish girls, with no possibility to provide any pertinent information in the case?
So, essentially you have a decision of alimony conflicting with marriage contract, you have a decision of taking away the apartment and all what was attained and invested in it conflicting both with the division of property and the marriage agreement which should have been followed by the EU law that gave you the jurisdiction in this particular case. Is this what we should expect from French courts, judges and lawyers or should we expect to hold you to a higher standard?
My lawyer thought so and asked for a retrial with reference to European Convention on Human Rights and the biased interpreter but I was denied that opportunity with no explanation provided. Instead, the second court took its decision close to two years later. Essentially, breaking another EU law which states that a remedy should be given as soon as possible particularly when it involves children to avoid parental alienation.
I moved back to Sweden and after a couple of months I discovered that the Swedish enforcement agency have taken out money from my account for collecting my assets on fabricated claims of non-payment of alimony and child support by the lawyer of my wife. I had paid exactly what the judge ordered, 3,500EUR/month and on time. Don’t you think it is a bit odd that a lawyer can with such ease destroy a person’s credit record in another EU country from France and I guess with help from the judicial system. I guess it is quite disingenuous of a lawyer to fabricate claims and destroy credit worthiness of a person as this negates the judge decision and essentially renders the incentive to comply null. I guess the lawyer and her friend of an interpreter’s actions have the full support of French law and that this is a common practice which cannot be prosecuted in the French legal system.
After over a year had passed since the first decision, I changed lawyer as nothing happened in the case. I was quoted a price for the lawyer’s service and accepted. Once, the lawyer took over the case the price changed considerably and she informed me that this process could take up to five years with tens of thousands more Euro in lawyer fees. For me this is essentially extortion and that was the last payment to the French judiciary, particularly since I was paying for something that I did not ordered.
I wrote to the second court with no reply or acknowledgement of receiving my information. According to the EU regulation that the French judiciary finds itself to have the jurisdiction of my marriage and children, Swedish law should have been applied not French law. And as I wrote to the second court, alimony was abolished some 30 years ago and is essentially non-existent and that with reference to the opinion of the Swedish expert to EU on the matter. Apart from what the Swedish law states when it comes to alimony, the division of property and marriage agreement should obviously have been enforced and followed as they were registered by the Swedish court. All the above events and encounters are documented and therefor verifiable for anyone interested in looking into how French courts and legal system have handled this case.
In conclusion I certainly expect people in the judiciary to abide by the law, take decisions on facts and truth, hold people accountable for their actions and this is particularly important when it involves children and their future and well-being. So, maybe the judge should have had some background information on the previous divorce filing and the reason my children were in France. I will try to be as brief as possible and not going into too much details.
In late 2005 my wife was flying to Korea several times and leaving our children with me and my sister to take care of them despite both of us working full-time. I got tired of this and as I was not willing to pay for the additional flights (Stockholm- Seoul), we decided to make a division of property to split our assets and I made sure to have a marriage agreement stating that future incomes and assets should be considered as separated from each other. This marriage agreement was an assurance that I would not have to pay anything to her in the future. Early 2006 she filed for divorce and I agreed. I then got the job in Paris and moved down to France. I try to fly back to Stockholm as often as possible to see my children even though workload at the job was very heavy.
Once the money from the division of property was gone, I have asked her to save the money for the sake of our children but to no avail, things started to deteriorate in the home of my children. I could have informed the French judge what I saw and experienced on one of the last trips to Stockholm if he had allowed me. My children were begging me not to go back to Paris and they were crying. I could not stand this and did not know if the situation would get even worse so I asked her to move down to France the summer of 2007 and bring my daughters with her. Note that she had not confirmed the divorce filing so on paper we were still married and that was the reason the French judiciary could start a process against me.
I put my daughters into one of the best schools in Paris even though it cost considerably amount of money each month. We travelled a lot so they could see the world and learn other cultures. I tried to teach them to be honest and hardworking and be kind to other people. While my youngest daughter have had some difficult times after I left, when in high school she sent me an email saying that she did not feel mentally well, had few people understanding her and that she wanted to stay with me. Unfortunately, that was not possible as I could not risk that the issues back in Europe would once again start where I was at the time, but we kept contact through emails and she got better over time.
Nevertheless, the over 10 years we had together and the five years in France before the French divorce proceedings I tried to take care of my daughters the best I could and it seems to have worked as both now are grown up and in good universities studying in STEM areas. This information might have been good for the French judge to know before taking any decision about my children’s future and giving the Swedish father the opportunity to take care of them 4 days a month.
If you believe my ex-wife was some innocent little housewife, I might have provided you with some information that would tell you otherwise if I had given the opportunity to speak. Note that it took me over six years to have the divorce recognized by the Swedish courts (a nice EU system we got). I will not go into personal matters but I had asked her to move out of my apartment and I suggested how we could take care of our daughters and that I could employ a nanny to facilitate for us to work and take care of our children so that they could live half time with me and the other half with my wife. I asked her to find another place to live and sort out the situation.
Instead of moving out she stayed in the apartment for three months, at the time I did not understand why she still did not leave and try to solve things but I know now that this was for setting things up for the court. As I was not aware that a Swedish marriage could be broken up by another European country and its judiciary which is fundamentally wrong on so many levels, I was totally unsuspected and got on with my work. Note that Denmark did not sign this agreement and thus a divorce of a Danish marriage can only be done in Denmark where both spouses know what a divorce would entails and what laws would be applied. Basically giving the couple the rights and knowledge to have the divorce out of court, but this is not very profitable for the judiciary.
The European Union should make it totally clear to anyone using their right of the free movement and start a work in another EU country that their marriage can be dissolved by another country’s judiciary, that this is likely to be a very costly process, and that the original marriage contract is no longer valid. It might save some children in the process.
And some final questions to the French judiciary. Apart from your utter disregard for law and its process, did you really think I would stand for being treated as a criminal telling me what I can and cannot do, stealing my Swedish children which is tantamount to government sponsored abduction, having me to pay for your service which I did not order, essentially enslaving me with 3,500 EUR/month that basically meant that I could not move back to my home country as the judge made sure that alimony and child support could not be lowered if my Swedish salary was lower (which it certainly would), and all this for you as a judge and your comrades to make some handsome profit on my family affairs. Unfortunately, I do not stand for this kind sloppiness and behavior and once you had taken away my children that I had worked for all my life and imposed a forced labour (slave) contract upon me there is little incentive to stay the course. You as a judiciary should be utterly ashamed of yourselves for how you have handled this and not correcting your mistakes and thereby destroying a father and his children’s life.
Dr. Hansson
illusionoflaw 