Congressman Charles "Joe" Scarborough Divorce Contents Page
Below are various links to some of Congressman Joe Scarborough's actual divorce papers. Congressman Joe Scarborough is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a member of The Florida Bar. In Florida, these documents are a part of the public record. Congressman Joe Scarborough's county of residence is Escambia County. Even so, he filed his uncontested divorce case in Walton County, which is allowed by state law and not unusual.
Florida's venue statute is not absolute regarding the county where you file your divorce case in the state. If the Respondent waives his or her right to object to a chosen venue or voluntarily accepts the chosen venue, the divorce proceeding may be heard in any county [see Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.140; Ferenc v. Ferenc, 553 So.2d 1329 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989) (venue waived where party failed to appeal from original order transferring venue)]. Petitions for divorce are often filed in counties other than where the parties live to avoid unwanted publicity, since local newspapers may not cooperate with a request not to publish information about the divorce case. Also see Florida Family Law Practice Manual, Volume 1, Chapter 3, page 7, 3.04 Venue.
In examining the file, it was discovered that his attorney as well as his wife's attorney failed to file the required Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act Declaration (UCCJA) and the Notice of Social Security Number. Also, the Court failed to insist upon these documents being filed, which are required of others filing for divorce pursuant to state law. These are serious omissions in a divorce case.
Specifically, Section 61.132 of the Florida Statutes mandates that the UCCJA declaration be filed in dissolution of marriage cases involving children and Section 61.052(7),(8) of the Florida Statutes requires the Notice of Social Security Number be filed, which is to include the Social Security Numbers and dates of birth of the parties as well as the Social Security Numbers and dates of birth of the minor children common to both parties. Could this mean that the Scarboroughs' final judgment of divorce is defective or void as a result of the aforementioned judicial errors and omissions? Or, does our judicial system grant special exceptions to members of The Florida Bar in their private matters before the Courts? However, a more innocent explanation is possible, which is the two divorce lawyers representing the Scarboroughs and the Circuit Judge who heard their case could simply be incompetent, which is equally troubling. Non-members of The Florida Bar, and especially those representing themselves before the Courts, are required to comply with state law.
If only Joe and Melanie had sought out Able Legal Forms Company first. If so, their forms package would have been 100 percent complete, neither party would have been required to attend a final hearing, Joe would have paid less than one-tenth of what he had to pay his and Melanie's lawyer, including court fees, and the validity of their divorce would not be in question.
The images below are best viewed with Netscape 4.7. MS Internet Explorer can be very slow to load and navigate these images.
Scarborough's Lawyer's Letter to Court - (212KB)
Petition for Dissolution of Marriage - (page 1 222KB; page 2 154KB)
Scarborough's Lawyer's Letter to Judge - (220KB)
Final Judgment - (page 1 334 KB; page 2 386KB)
Specific excerpts from the
Scarborough's Marital Settlement Agreement will be posted soon.