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Perjury in Divorce case

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C

clc_njrw

Guest
missouri, i committed perjury when i got divorced. i lied about being pregnant. what is the statute of limitations on perjury? this happened july 21, 1999.

my son's father(not my ex-husband)is threatening to turn me in for committing perjury. i filed the papers without a attorney and did not know that i couldn't file for divorce while pregnant. the child is not my ex-husband's and paternity has been proved.

missouri law states that a woman may not divorce until 180 days after birth of child. I was 7 months pregnant when i testified in court. my ex-husband and i had been split up for 3 years and i had been living with my son's father. he is only trying to use this against me because he doesn't want to pay the back chils support that he owes me.

what kind of punishment if any do i face?
:confused:
 
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T

T-DESIGNER

Guest
I am not an attorney, and an attorney is more qualified to
advise you on this matter.

I've not been able to find an answer to your question.

Who told you there was a "cannot file for a divorce if pregnant"
law? I assume the legal system would want to know if
you were pregnant for child support reasons in event your
ex-husband was the father, but not to prevent a divorce
from being granted, or to determine if you committed adultry.
If the legal system wanted to know you committed adultry,
was there a question asking if you had sex outside of your
marriage? If not, I think you truthfully answered the
question; i.e., you were not pregnant (by your ex-husband).

Without seeing how the law/ruling is actually written, this
law "cannot file for a divorce if pregnant" makes one wonder.
What if you are one day pregnant, but you know you recently
had sex? Are you guilty of perjury? What if you find out you
are pregnant after you file for divorce?

This is an honest question. Have their ever been any instances
when a woman thought they were pregnant, but in actuality
they were not?

Are you a medical doctor? How do you know you were
pregnant? Did you think you might be pregnant because
you had sex, or had a medical doctor confirmed you were
pregnant?

This is just an opinion, but if there is such a state law, then
a pregnancy test should be required of all women involved in
divorce filings/proceedings.

Citizen Brown
 
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nailtech

Senior Member
that was my thought, can they prove you "Knew" you were pregnant? some women dont know until they are 3 months along... they have to be able to prove it... if there wasnt actually a dr's visit to confirm it(medical records)... if the law really states that... I wouldnt think they would take the Ex's word for it without actual proof and its hard to prove you knew somthing ... maybe you simply dont "recall"... I wonder if the 5th amendment would pertain to this case? on the grounds you may incriminate yourself?
 
T

T-DESIGNER

Guest
I am not an attorney, and an attorney is more qualified to
advise you on this matter.

Your original unedited post did not mention you testified in
court, and you were seven months pregnant. Were you
asked in a public court session if you were pregnant?

Again, where are you getting your information? Your
modified question now says: "Missouri law states that
a woman may not divorce until 180 days after birth
of child."

Citizen Brown
 
C

clc_njrw

Guest
MO, I spoke to a lawyer yesterday who told me that I would not be able to get divorced until 180 days after the child was born. i was also told that I probably would never be prosecuted for perjury. I filed the papers myself. I never spoke to a attorney and no one asked me anything in court. I just went down my divorce papers stating my info and what I wanted. But yes I did say while under oath that I was not pregnant. I also thought that the question meant if I had children by my husband or if I was currently pregnant by my husband not are you currently pregnant. However the judge should have been able to tell that I was pregnant...I couldn't exactly hide my fat belly. My ex-husband also knew that I was pregnant when he signed the divorce papers in front of the notary public. I technically committed perjury although I did not know I was committing perjury at the time.

My son's father only wants to use this against me to help his case in court. He has been to prison on felony charges and has been in and out of jail on warrants the last couple of years. He needs something against me because I have so much on him.

I don't think it should matter to the court how I got divorced if my ex-husband isn't contesting the divorce. There are medical records and a birth certificate to prove that I was very much pregnant.
 

kat1963

Senior Member
It sounds to me like he is planning to use your perjury to try an make whatever testimony you are planning to give against him null and void in the eyes of court because of your obvious lie in the divorce case. While the court (usually the DA's office) can press charges against you for the perjury, it's doubtful they will do so....then again, no promise that they won't either.
KAT
 
T

T-DESIGNER

Guest
I am not an attorney, and an attorney is better qualified to
advise you on this matter.

You originally asked, "What kind of punishment, if any do I
face?"

(1) Did the attorney, with whom you recently conferred,
tell you the penalty for perjury on the forms/papers you filed
in the State of Missourri?

This law you keep referring to; i.e., a married couple cannot
be divorced until 180 days after the birth of a child,

(2) Did the attorney tell you the purpose/reason of such a law?
(3) Does that also mean the couple cannot be separated,
if the wife is pregnant?

Has anyone else, reading this thread, heard of a similar
law in your state?


Other than for child support reasons, the only other reason
I can think for such a law is to ensure:

there is no question that the husband is responsible for
medical bills, but again, your ex-husband was not the
father of the child, per your original post.

I suspect the purpose/reason for the law will be a major
factor in whether or not you would be charged for perjury.

Citizen Brown
 
C

clc_njrw

Guest
The reason for the law is that the state of missouri assumes that all children are entitled to 2 parents. And also because the state is a no fault state they automatically assume the husband is the father and is responsible for child. However, in my case I married my ex-husband in June of 95 and we were separated in January 96. We lived in separate towns hours apart so there was no possible way that my ex-husband was the father.
I was told by the lawyer that he highly doubted any charges would be pressed for perjury. He said the only person who should be able to contest the divorce would be my ex-husband. However he did not tell me what punishment I could face or what the statute of limitaions is on perjury.

And yes my son's father does want to nullify my testimony in court because he is a felon, which i didn't know when i first met him. He has been in and out of jail on warrants since I was pregnant and he also just plead guilty to a misdemeanor of breaking an ex parte order. In which is is on 2 years probation and is to have absolutely no contact with me. he is frightened that I will get what I want. so far every time we have been in court against each other the decision has always been in my favor. I am fortunate however that Missouri is a state for woman. In most instances a woman always wins.

The major reason for all this is I require that he have supervised visitations with my son. He does not visit because he feels that he should have the right to come and take him wherever and whenever he likes. And he has threatened to kidnap him along with other things so I do not trust him alone with my son. He has sin my son maybe 5 times in 2 1/2 years. He doesn't send birthday or christmas cards/presents. As a matter of fact the only time he acknowledges our child is when they start garnishing his wages.

This all boils down to he needs something to put a mark on my clean record.
 

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