Case Histories, Anecdotes, and War Stories 187
enough to realize, however, that various problems would ensue
unless he got the custody portions of his former Texas divorce
agreement legally amended here in Hawai‘i. If Marco tried to
register the children in the local public schools, for example, the
authorities would want proof that he was the custodial parent.
Child support would have remained another problem. Marco
didn’t want or need any money from his ex. The problem was
that the divorce decree required that Marco pay child support to
her. Until a new court order suspended his child support, that
obligation would keep accruing each month, and his ex could
technically still enforce it regardless of the fact that the kids no
longer even lived with her. What Marco needed was a court order
transferring custody to him and suspending his child support.
If his ex would cooperate, we could draft a simple agreement to
submit to the court for approval. If not, we would file a motion
to force resolution of these issues.
“Can a Hawai‘i court modify a prior state’s divorce decree?”
Marco asked. This question can frequently get quite complicated,
but in Marco’s case the answer was yes. All we had to do was reg-
ister Marco’s Texas divorce decree with the Hawai‘i family court.
That’s when the trouble started.
“Bring me a certified copy of your Texas decree when you come
in,” I had instructed, and Marco assured me that he would. What
he actually brought me, however, was a little different. It was a
divorce decree all right, but it wasn’t signed by Marco, it wasn’t
signed by his ex, it wasn’t signed by a judge, and it bore no mark-
ings indicating that it had ever been filed in court. Upon closer
questioning, I learned that Marco had never actually been to court
himself. Instead, all the paperwork had been handled by his ex-
wife’s attorney. “Marco, are you sure you’re really divorced?” I
asked. “I think so,” was his not-too-convincing reply.
There was an easy way to find out. I wrote to the clerk of
the Texas court, cited the docket or case number and title of the
case, and asked for an official copy of the decree. A week or so
later came a disappointing reply, “Our records indicate this case
was dismissed for lack of prosecution.” In other words, some-
body had dropped the ball and the case had never actually been
completed.