Life Goes On

"This court makes the finding that she abandoned her children."

- The Honorable Susan Lopez-Giss, 17 March 2009, California Superior Court, Pomona.

Eleven Demons ends in 2007 with our flight to California after the death threat. But of course, real life goes on, and these unfortunate cases continue in Bali, Jakarta, and California.

Nine months after the threat, Made Jati arrived in California while fleeing an arrest warrant from the Tabanan police on a separate accusation of fraud, and she entered a petition to the California court for custody of the children. She refused to cooperate with court orders to meet the children or participate in mediation, however. Her attorney in Bali, Ida Bagus Wikantara, advised her to refuse court orders for deposition under oath and instructed her to abandon her children.

In the meantime, the police investigator in Tabanan, the city where Made had obtained so many false documents from city officials enabling the fraudulent marriage, was removed from office, and the Tabanan case was quashed. Made Jati fled California in June 2008 and returned to Bali. She has refused all communication or support for her children since then, even repeatedly turning down summons from the National Commission for Child Protection to meet her children in Jakarta.

California family law mandates that, if at all practicable, both parents have equal rights to the children. Even parents convicted of murder can maintain visitation rights. A decision awarding all custody to the father is extraordinary, but as Judge Susan Lopez-Giss stated in her decision: “I know that the Petitioner sought to stop this court from exercising jurisdiction… and quite frankly, the court gave the Petitioner so many opportunities to come back to court… The Petitioner has given the court absolutely no recourse.”

Made Jati still refuses to support her children in California and refuses all communication with the children or me.

Uluwatu Boutiques, Kori Restaurant and other family assets remain in litigation and are still our legal joint family assets, although Made Jati has, contrary to law, taken all profits from the businesses since 2005.

Made Jati remains subject to an outstanding arrest warrant in California.

Criminal cases are still under investigation in Indonesia and California.