A recent case in Hawaii illustrates the necessity of maintaining a business-like and polite relationship with an ex-spouse, ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend both during and after a family law matter.
According to a news report, a Judge in Hawaii has ordered a man to write his ex-girlfriend 144 compliments after he was found guilty of sending her at least that many nasty grams after she obtained a protective order against him.
The order was entered against the man in February, 2017. He was ordered not to contact his ex-girlfriend at all, including in person or by means of telephone or text messaging. Despite this, just a few months after the order was entered, he sent his ex more than 100 harassing text messages and phone calls.
It appears that this writing penalty (similar to the old chalkboard detention when I was in school) was in addition to his sentence sentence of time served (157 days) in the county jail, a fine of $2,400, 200 hours of community service, and 2 years’ probation.
The Judge said that one option (albeit probably not a constitutional one) might have been to cut off the man’s fingers, or to take away his cell phone because he was so “thumb-happy.” She commented that she hoped that the ex-girlfriend had changed her number. Indeed.
(visited November 6, 2017).
The moral of the story for divorcing parties: remain civil at all times and don’t go all thumb-happy.
This material should not be construed as legal advice for any particular fact situation, but is intended for general informational purposes only. For advice specific to any individual situation, an experienced attorney should be contacted.