Divorce - Custody & Visitation

NCP's request to Skype with son

SliderJ — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:10:02 GMT

My stepson's NCP father has asked my wife and I to give him access to my 13-year-old stepson via Skype video. My wife endured a pretty abusive relationship with her ex, which continues to this day with pretty unpredictable violent outbursts. While she's been very agreeable to most of his requests over the years (including our setting up an email address for their son, getting him a cell phone at our expense, and encouraging him to call his dad when he forgets or doesn't want to), her initial instinct on this request has been "no way." She feels a webcam brings her ex into our home in a way that goes beyond telephone, email or text messages.

The NCP has three weekends a month of parenting time, half the summer and every other holiday, as well as 24/7 access (unless he's in school, I suppose) to his son via our house phone and the child's own cell phone. They regularly exchange text messages.

I understand several states (not including mine) have passed laws involving electronic communication in custody cases, although it seems it most often involves long-distance situations. In our case, I do feel it's a bit of an unnecessary intrusion given the extent to which the NCP already has access to his son. Any thoughts?

My sons father wants visitation after two years

masonsmommy — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:03:20 GMT

My son is a little over two. His father has never seen him and couldn't pick him out of a line up of two kids. he is court ordered to pay child support and he does, he gets a little behind sometimes but they always garnish his wages and take it all back. he threatened my sons life when he was younger saying that he knows what kind of accidents kids have after he found out he had to pay child support. i had that documented by the police and have the police report. this year he claimed mason on his taxes telling me he really needed the money and that he would send me half of it. being masons dad i didnt want him to be homeless so i helped him out. he never send the money so i sued him and won. now, he is very angry and sent me this email--- wanted to let you know i got the jugdement so you will have the money soon. also what is the deal are you getting married or was that a crock of ***? if im paying child support i want to see mason. if you dont want me to see him then you need to drop me from childsupport and go get a job so you can get insurance because i dont have any. either drop it, let me sign rights away or im filling for joint custady. it doesnt matter what you and jessica think about each other you cant use that for an excuse anymore to keep him away from me. you have 1 week to make up your mind. and next time we go to court try to use excuses that are a little more rellevent to the issue. and dont think your gonna come up with things that will stop me from seeing him. you have nothing on me or my family to stop me from seeing him. you think they dont care they do it kills them knowing they have another grandson or nephew they havnt meet but you wanna make all these tales up in your head or whatever you do to think otherwise. grow up dont be a phsyco path and figure out what you want to do. 1 week. i will talk to you later ----- that is the email. it seems to be he is giving me an altematam...either get me off paying or else i am taking him. will the courts looks into my sons safety? like whether or not he has a bed, clothes,diapers,safe carseat? i am so scared for the safety of my son but i feel like my hands are tied. any help or advice is great. i am also looking for any free legal help... i am a single mom and dont have much money. Thanks,.

Trying to get custody of my children from an abusive mother.

DonRadaR — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:08:08 GMT

I am a father of 4 total children 2 biological and 2 step-children. I have for the better part of 8 years tried to maintain the status quo against an abusive and agressive ex-wife. For years she has physically abused my children without stop and knows how to not leave marks. I recently called CPS and they have yet to do anything but expressed to me that " if I was a good parent" I would have done something prior to this or that I would force the court to give me a court date. I also took my child to the Police Department and they told me and the child that she can legally punch him in the face as long as she did not leave a mark. I desperately need to get my children away from her. I fear for there safety. things have gotten so bad my eldest has resorted to cutting himself and my youngest has asked me to keep his stuff when he dies. he is nine years old and it is killing me inside being unable to help him. i cant stand another day of him telling me his life will never get betterand that his life is over.

Can someone please help me figure out what I can do to help them!! The police and CPS have both, on several occasions, allowed her to do as she pleases. My children have lost faith in the law to help them.

thank you in advance forany help...

Have a hearing, but I think spouse will not show for it!

dad2mysons — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:49:44 GMT

This was due to this R.O. we are set to go to court on having it removed and she made and submitted the paperwork which the court sent us a hearing date on. I wanted to conduct visiting regularly w/out worrying and she agreed. Even though this R.O. is in place and I have not committed any violations or wrong doing, I want to know-

Would asking the local law enforcement to do a Welfare Check be acceptable to conduct with out causing myself trouble? To do it will mean I have to disclose the communication and sudden silence for all this time. But the documentation that states the court does not allow either of us to remove the children out of this state, California can also be viewed. And the communication that she was considering relocating to AZ without proceeding properly and my objections how she was "out of line" by just leaving is also important. And after she finally said she would try not do it but is now silent.....is the cause for this concern that she's gone that I need to know. This information is vital I feel---so please advise me on doing or not doing this, it would be appreciated.

Thanks

Motion to withdraw in Florida

dad1231 — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:09:04 GMT

I have asked to teminate my relationship with my attorney. (FILE A MOTION TO WITHDRAW) I have not used him in months and was not pleased with him when I did. He is paid in full. His reply is that on top of filing the MOTION TO WITHDRAW, we have to have a hearing on it as well...... I have a friend that recently asked the same of his attorney and all that had to be done was a letter from the client stating he longer wished the attorney to represent him. He did NOT have to go to court.

Question: Why do we have to go to court? He said that he would file the motion to withdraw and set it for hearing and send me the court date?

Thanks-

Phone Monitoring

Eugene2 — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 03:08:01 GMT

Do I have a legal right to listen in on conversations my kids have with anyone?

Many of you can see a lot of my posts about my ex causing stress and issues with our children and I. Calling police and DFS unfounded and she contimplated suicide ..... many other things to numerous to count.

I am trying my best to get along. I had a protection oreder against her. This even said when she could call. However when i renewed it she said it was hurting her that she could not talk to them when she wanted. So I said how about 8 pm each night call and say you love and miss them and they can go to bed knowing they talked to her.

Since the suicide attempt my 12 year old has totally flipped attitudes with me. Used to be daddy's boy and did all sports, was good in school and loved his time with dad. After mom did this, and he went to moms, he came hom telling me he wanted to move in with mom. ?????? He quit football, he got detentions in school which rarely ever got before three happend last week. I contacted an attorney for ideas. He stated modification is the only thing to stop her mental abuse.

I don't have 5000 dollars for his fees. Tonight she called, and I have him on antidepressent pills to cope with this. he has been doing good, then tonight she called and out of the blue he told his oldest brother tell dad the pills aren't working. SO to me, something was said in the conversation to trigger his change in security again.

DO I have a right to put the phone on speaker and let the kids talk to mom? The kids have said in the past that mom has told them since this happened that she wishes she would have killed herself because of how they acted. YOU Know that had to play on ther minds. Again I don't have 5K to get the attorney to help, at least not up front. I can put some but don't have near what he wants to fight this custody battle.

So do I have the legal right to listen to the coversation?

Thanks,

Child Care Emergency Pick-Up Sheet

dad1231 — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:45:11 GMT

I have Joint Legal Custody with my ex-wife. My children have attended daycare since Jan.2009 at which time I supplied them with my own contact information and added my mother and sister to be able to pick up the children during MY TIME if I could not. My ex also had her own contact form on file,etc.

Situation: While picking up my children from daycare this week, I stopped by the office and asked if I needed to update my info for the new year. The head of daycare said "NO" you are on the EX's list as a person allowed pick up the children. However, you are not allowed to have an emergency list of your own because the mother is the Custodial Parent and she is the one that chooses whom may pick up the children regardless if its your time.

Question: is there standard guidelines to follow in this situation? It is not stipulated that she has control over whom may pick-up the children on my time,etc.

Thanks.

in court for the tird time for coustody of my kids

redneck1234 — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:52:41 GMT

i just went throught court for the third time with my ex husband he keeps tring to take custody of my two young kids. what can i do to keep him from doing this again. he lied in court too. i found out he moved, quite his job, and also moved my kids out of school in to another one the week we went to court. he told the judge that he still lived in tn and worked in the same job for two months before. my son and daughter dont like to go but they are to young to tell the judge that. my ? is how do i keep him from doing this again? i need help please if anyone knows this let me know

drug addict felon threatening for custody

MissMommy09 — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 02:19:18 GMT

the "father" of my child is a heroin addict, alcoholic and a felon. he's never met my child. i've raised my child on my own for 3 years now while he's been away in prison for heroin. he's threatening to take me to court to get joint custody and or visitation. is he at all likely to get either?

Is my husband alienating my children from me

Samanda01 — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 07:31:24 GMT

My husband and I split up in 2006. Originally I took my son and my husband kept my daughter because I believed that it was against the law to take your children over the state line with out the permission of the other parent. I got to a point where I realized that I couldn't take care of my son so I sent him to live with his father. I moved because I had no family in Alabama. I moved to south Florida where my family lives. Ever since my husband has not let me speak with my children often, and when I do speak to them he is in the background either telling them what to say or joining the conversation. I have only got to see my children for 2 days during Christmas 2006, none in 2007 because he promised to bring them down for Christmas and didn't show up, Two days in 2008 which they didn't get to spend the night with me because he wouldn't allow it and four days in 2009 during the summer, two days in Feb 2010 and I found out during that trip that it isn't illegal to take your children as long as the other parent doesn't have custody. So in July 2010 I made my husband believe that i was coming back to reconcile the marriage and took the children back to Florida with me. He then went to a lawyer and claimed I am abusive and got a temp custody order. He has told the kids that I wouldn't change them when they were babies and told them that I would lock them outside and lock them in closets and cages and he also told them that i threw them on railroad tracks... My children have asked me if I am fat and he has told them that he had me banned from going to their house and he told my daughter whom is the oldest that she couldn't talk to me because he has a restraining order against me..On top of all of that he also claims that I abandoned them.

Partial Custody or Visitation Rights

tmkblvd — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 21:45:06 GMT

Here goes my story:

My brother, Westley, passed away on 8/11/10, leaving his 10 year old daughter, Lestley. My brother separated from his baby mother years ago due to the sexual abuse that occurred in the home between his 4 year old daughter and his baby mother son. (fast forward to present) I, Tameka, his sister became the administrator of his estate and because of this his baby mother, Rhonda, will not let me see or speak to my niece and she is back home with her mother and her brother, that sexually abused her. I wanted to partition the court for visitation or partial custody and the removal of Rhonda's son from the home. My questions, Do I have a chance of winning partial custody or visitation? Can I have the brother, who sexually abused her removed from the home? I currently live in new york and my niece in maryland. How shall I proceed? Please advise...

please help

samann — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:33:57 GMT

i am only a few months prego but i want to know everything that i can before the baby is born. the father of the child and i are now no longer together. he tells me that if we go to court he will win no matter what bc he has a go lawyer. i know that bc i am the mother he will have a hard change taking the baby from me bc i have done nothing wrong. i do not drink, smoke or use any drugs. now he does drink all the time n i have been told by ppl to take pictures n to show how much he drinks. but i want to know if there is anything i should be doing to make sure he doesnt get sole custudy of the baby or if there is really any chance that it would be anything more then 50/50 or me haveinf sole custudy which i would want bc of his drinking. also my family lives out of state n i will be moving so does that matter now bc the baby isnt here yet or does it just look better if i stay in the same state untill the baby is born.

I took DNA test proving I am the father

rtmrtnzjr — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 18:14:25 GMT

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

If a kid was born without knowing who the father is and the mother loses the rights to baby because the baby tested positive for drugs and the grandma is given temporary guardianship and then the alleged father is located and is tested and proven to be the father and more than happy to take kid and raise him but the grandma who I guess has rights but the mother still lives in same home and I’m not sure whets really going on cause they won’t talk to me the only way I found out about baby was by being served papers for child support . She sub served the papers the person whom they served does not exist. But I filed response in time. Since I am the father shouldn’t I get custody immediately?

Change of Custody Complaint

stacyla1980 — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 02:45:55 GMT

3 weeks ago my husband (of 5 years) and I got into a argument. He ended up slapping me and was arrested for domestic battery. The judge sentenced him to probation and domestic violence classes.

My ex-husband found out about it and is now suing me for full custody of our 7 year-old daughter, asking that I not receive visitation and that I pay him child support. My daughter was not home when the incident happened, she was spending her visitation weekend with my ex.

Now, my current husband and I have had a couple of physical altercations in the past though nothing this drastic. He admits he messed up and is cooperating fully with the court sentence he received.

I have a steady job, living situation, my child goes to a great school, makes perfect grades and is well adjusted. She has told me she is not afraid of anything at my house, is not worried anything bad is going to happen to her and likes her schedule (we have 50/50 visitation) the way it is. We don't spank the kids and no one has ever laid a hand on her.

My question is this... is it likely my ex could receive all of the things he is asking based on incidents that happen when our daughter is not at my home?

Child Custody Lawyers in Orlando, FL???

fgghgfsdh — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 20:09:35 GMT

Hi, not exactly discussing a legal issue, but i am looking for an extremely good lawyer who is very well versed in child custody cases. I live in FL so obviously would have to be licensed to practice in FL and preferably in the Orlando area, but i guess anywhere within reason is fine. Anyone know of a lawyer who matches the criteria or somewhere that has a 'lawyer ranking' or something like that?

Tips for Court? Visitation - please help!

HangingInThere — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:14:24 GMT

We have a pretrial and court date coming up and I am wondering if there are any specific things that judges really like or really dislike. Our issue is that the ncp has a new significant other, and is attempting to get "more" visitation during times when ncp is working so that the kids can be left with the s/o! S/O does not have any kids, but sure does like mine. We did not have any visitation issues until s/o entered the picture and started egging ncp on. Also, ncp and s/o broke up a couple months ago because s/o hit ncp. They reunited a couple weeks later, but I am very leery of leaving the kids unsupervised with s/o. Should I bring this up? I'm worried that I will sound like a whining jealous ex, but I have reservations about ncp leaving the kids with s/o.

Contempt of Court

dallascowboysfan — Mon, 03 May 2010 01:49:48 GMT

Hello all, I am the NCP with joint custody of my 2 boys. I went to court on 3/19/10 on child modification(I filed the motion) the Judge ordered my ex to have the children to call me twice a week at a specific date & time and I was ordered to call her once a week on a specific day&time to talk about the welfare of the chidlren.

So here is my question how long must I wait too file a contempt of court? The reason I am asking my ex has not complied with the Order. Now I was giving her the benefit of the doubt seeing that I just got my signed order last week(thinking she was not going to comply un... she had the signed order). I live out of State so the Judge allowed time for me to review and sign and mail back to my attorney that is why it took awhile just in case you someone was wondering.

FYI I am also scheduled to pick my children up on 5/28/10(half way) even if I don't hear from them or her I will still go because its in the order. If she does not show up with kids how long should I wait before I file CofC?

Thanks

HELP PLZ!

JGL26 — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:49:51 GMT

okay, so i have mediation for custody of my 8 month old son on friday. I only went after 50/50 but the mother has filed more papers and is trying to get 100% sole custody. I want to be in my sons life and she is not allowing me to. Will the court give her 100% custody? I have no criminal record i live on my own and im going to school (college) . Nothing bad on my record. Will the court cut me completly off? I

two children u got 1 and I got one so I dont pay support

divorcee36 — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:24:17 GMT

My ex-husband has taken on my son who is 15 as of his high school year. I still hav legal custody of him. Now that my son lives with him he told me that he doesnt hav to pay support for his 7 yr old daughter who still lives at home with me. Is this correct? I make a lessor income an my divorce decree states a higher support payment then he os paying. Does he have to pay for his duaghter who is still home with me?

Registering a foreign decree in Colorado

Erika Leigh — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:19:45 GMT

Hi there.

My brother-in-law, who lives in the state of Missouri, is trying to determine the course of action for registering his Missouri divorce decree in the state of Colorado.

Essentially, he and his ex-wife adopted 2 children. In January 2010, the ex-wife left the state of Missouri with the girl, leaving the boy with his adoptive father, my brother-in-law. The ex-wife remarried (less than 1 year of remarriage) and passed away on Saturday, August 29, 2010.

The Missouri divorce decree states that upon death that the living parent has custody of both children.

The little girl is now living with the "step-father" in Colorado. They have only been in the state of Colorado for about 4 months.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

Erika

visitation agreements

BUTTERFLY7924 — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:48:37 GMT

I never married my childs father. Our relationship ended a little over a year ago. Our daughter just turned 2 yrs old. Twice in the 14 months we havent been together, her dad has gotten mad at me and declared he didnt want to have anything to do with her because he didnt want to deal with me.

Also, he would decline to see his daughter, on the rare occassions I needed her home an hr earlier or when I asked him to meet my mom to pick her up. He has barely seen her due to his work schedule.

Its been two weeks since he declared he never wanted her, he wants a paternity test and would like for me to drop child support and he will never see her again. Two days later he changed his mind. Now he wants her to spend 2 nights with him. I have an issue with that because he never took the time to get to know her. When we were together, I was the one that did everything for her. He barely even touched her.

I proposed to him getting her every other Saturday until 7:30pm and every Wednesday since that is one of his days off. He declined my offer because Wednesdays are his and his girlfriends "child free" day.

Since Jan of 2010 he has had multiple fights with his current gf. One he hit her in the face. It was deemed an accident and a police report was never filed although they came to thier home. In June he attempts suicide by taking lots of pills and was admitted in the hospital for 2 days.

Since Im not agreeing to his visitation schedule and he isnt agreeing to mine, he is threatening to take me to court. How likely is it the judge will grant him what he wants?

Mom Goes To School, but makes it harder for daughter

Faith in God — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:21:05 GMT

Dad has been given primary/physical custody of his five year old daughter. He has her Monday through Friday and one weekend out of the month. Child goes to school in dad's home town. Mom lives in nearby city.

Mom shows up to school once a week to be with child. Sometimes she brings the boyfriend, who is also the father to their eight year old and to the unborn who is on it's way.

She confuses my granddaughter by having her call the boyfriend dad for one thing. She has been having tantrums at home. It seems like mom may be feeding her stuff and this showing up to school (which it is her daughter) but it makes it harder for my grandchild.

Is there anything my son can do if this becomes more of a problem at school. Right now, everything is fine at school, it is just when she is at home, she has tantrums, she looses it and then she is okay. My son is so good with her, and understands how hard this is for her.

Mom has lost custody twice. My son had her for three years. Then mom took him to court, and she lost again.

problem 50/50 unmarried couple custody battle

JGL26 — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:24:40 GMT

okay. So i have mediation tomorrow with the childs mother (with home i no longer get along with because she ridicilous) She doesnt want me in my sons life what so ever because i no longer wanted a relationship with her and i have moved on. She put all kinds of mean, untrue things in her report. Im the on who filed for 50/50 custody because i believe we should share custody even if i have to pay child support, anything for my son. Well im not sure what i should do, see she wrote in her reply to my summons that i was abusive and on drugs and my parents abused her all kinds of outrageous things that are just untrue. I have no criminal record, her on the other hand i have filed one against for driving without a lisence with my infant in the back seat while she tried to hit me with the car because my family and i came to visit my son and she tried to leave. We let her go and just filed a police report. I also have a disbatcher recording with the whole incident recorded. unfortunatly the police took to long to show up to verify what happened, they only have our side of the story and a warrent for her arrest. her record is looking worse than mine so i know her clamis will be dismissed, but she wants a restraining order from my son and i is that legal? I've done nothing wrong but try and be apart of my sons life.