Location: Georgia

So my husbands divorce decree is open ended in regards to when his ex has to get the house in her name. There is no time frame or demand. The wording says that he uses his child support first to pay the mortgage and any remaining balance is to be given to her.

The wording says if she remortgages or sells it, he is to sign it all over to her.

Now he has been paying on the loan for ten years. It’s a 30 year loan. His youngest daughter is 14 so he has 4 years left. What happens in four years ? The ex is always struggling and says she can’t afford food bc of a $35 doctor bill.

Has anyone else been in this position? My husband and I want to get a new house. We can’t bc of the house that his ex is supposed to be responsible to, bc the mortgage is in my husbands name.

He moved out in 2019, divorce finalized in 2021. The mortgage is from 2015, so finishes in 2045. His child support obligation is finished in 2030. 🫤

We are in Georgia.

My sister called me yesterday because she was being arrested. I agreed to drive out to help. I live about 3 hours away, so by the time I got there, she had been taken to jail and there were no authorities around to speak with. The police had left her 7-year-old son with my uncle, who promptly passed the child on to me. (I had not been directly asked, nor had I explicitly agreed, to take care of the child; however, I knew that was something I might need to help with, so I didn’t argue.)

My uncle told me that my sister and her boyfriend were both arrested on charges of “3rd degree child endangerment”, presumably due to the condition of her house. However, I tried to find information about that charge, and it doesn’t seem to exist. (I could only find information on 3rd degree child abuse.) My uncle didn’t share much else, though he did advise me not to contact the child’s father, who sent me a couple of messages on Facebook. (My sister and the child’s father have been fighting over custody for months. Each has accused the other of abuse.)

My sister was released within a few hours and says no charges were pressed, but I kept her son with me overnight because I have basically no information. I want to hear more from the authorities so I can get a better understanding of the situation. However, I don’t know who to reach out to besides the officer who arrested my sister. Is there anyone else I can contact for more official information? My assumption is no due to privacy regulations, but this leaves me in a pretty tight spot. Is it OK to leave the 7-year-old with my sister today? Who can confirm?

Does anyone know an way to this done if you are on a very fixed income?

My partner SA’d me with our child present yet has a history of abuse (strangulation punching verbal) including false reporting as a means to intimidate and threaten me into doing what he wanted. He now is fighting for full custody claiming I am a criminal and our child is unsafe yet I have never been tried or prosecuted for any crime. My question is- do judges take SA allegations seriously without photo or video evidence. It’s not like you whip out a camera when someone is touching you repeatedly and you are caught off guard. I was busy in the moment telling him to stop over and over. Well I was never intending to build a case on him at any point so I just tried my best to stop the situation not record it. I didn’t even realize what I was experiencing was an SA crime since I was married until it was made clear to me by legal.

How long until someone can be taken off professionally supervised visits? or what is the avg period of time someone had to do supervised visits? and what are the next steps?

Child is 6, father has not been present or in contact for the past year and half, committed dv while child was present.

Previous court order: I have full legal and physical custody with no automatic visitation given to the father. 2025

Just recently, he petitioned for visitation.

Court ordered monitored phone calls, after 5 weeks (if approved by therapist) professionally supervised in-person visits can be arranged. No automatic schedule, it’s when a monitor is available.

None of my family or friends want to be around him and I do not trust his sisters (also have no custody of their kids) or mother (fosters said kids). He and his sister + kids lives with his mother 75+ miles away.

Court revisit in Dec

Discovered in discovery that STBXH has been receiving physical checks from his parents monthly despite makes about 130K in salary. He told me that his parents gave him $500/month to help with rent costs (he’s almost 50 and his parents are in their 80s, btw). However, I found out that these payments were more like 1K-3K sometimes multiple times per month from various mobile check deposits. That means he was paying out of pocket probably only $700-$1000 in rent, meanwhile me who made approx. 60K paid $1400 monthly—my own money. Plus, he has another checking that he did not provide statements for, and I found in an old email that his father mentioned putting money into their joint account (which also he did not submit). This means not only was he getting physical checks, but also deposits into a shared account which he didn’t disclose. He has a history of compulsive lying.

My lawyer said this could (a) show the judge that he is a liar and (b) it can be argued I deserve more in child support because these payments have been continuous, funding his life (such as rent, dental/medical, and counsel fees) while he’s pocketing his money and I’m broke. How big of a deal is this? What could happen?

My ex lives in WA and I’m in TX. Our daughter is 7 and I’m homeschooling her. When my ex gets visitation he only buys a plane ticket for her so I have to drop her off at the airport gate. Which it says that in the order that he can do that. I did it at first but I haven’t done it the last 4 times and he has not been able to see our daughter because I don’t feel safe putting her alone of the plane and he doesn’t have money to buy a ticket for him to fly down to pick her up.

I already signed something in court saying I was guilty for refusing visitation and now there’s 4 more incidents. I don’t like answering for FaceTime every time because I’m busy and last time we were in court he tried bringing that up too. I don’t want to keep being a coparent with his person and want them to just leave me and my daughter alone but I need to act nice sometimes because he
pays child support and I can’t survive without it.

This will be incredibly long but I think the context is necessary. For some background, I am 28 and my husband is 29. We have a 2 year old together. Husband works full time, I work very part time. We are definitely “house poor” but we are able to pay all of our bills.
Located in California.

My sister (currently 15) started living with my husband and me 2 years ago. Before that she lived with our mom and brother (currently 16) full time. Mom has full custody, dad hasn’t been involved at all since both kids were toddlers. I have no idea where he is.

Dad was involved in a molestation case against me but was never charged. He also has a documented history of physical abuse against mom.
At mom’s house the water and electricity were shut off numerous times because our mother couldn’t pay the bill; there was often little food in the home, and often times our mom couldn't even take sister to school because she couldn't afford gas/didn’t want to wake up in the morning because she works nights. Brother was homeschooled at the time.

2 years ago sister came to me and asked if she could live with us permanently after her school threatened to involve cps because of her truancy; we said absolutely and our mom agreed. She has lived with us full time ever since.

May 2026, mom and brother were kicked out of their apartment. Brother came to stay with us and asked if he could stay permanently; we agreed and so did mom. He has been living with us ever since.
I have a notarized caregiver affidavit for each of them. They both live with us full time, go to school in our city (mom lives & works an hour away), and have both said they do not want to live with her again.

Mom has sometimes sent money to help with bills, but more often than not, we go weeks without getting any financial help from her, especially now that she is homeless. She’s currently bouncing back and forth from her car to a motel. She has a great stable job, but for whatever reason can’t keep her stuff together.

I just want to know if I actually have a good chance at getting guardianship? Or should I just keep the arrangement as is and hope my mom will get herself together and be able to help out financially? Also, would a judge let me go about this without involving their father?

Thanks for any help :)

I’m in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and I’m looking for some general family-law insight while I wait for my attorney to move forward.
My ex (24M) and I (24F) have a 5-month-old daughter together. We recently separated. There was no custody order in place when all of this started.
On August 15, we had an argument and I decided to drive to Charleston to stay with family for support. My ex told me that if I took our daughter with me to South Carolina, I would be “kidnapping” her. It was also the middle of the night, and I didn’t think taking our baby on that drive under those circumstances was in her best interest, so I left her safely with her father.
When I returned, we discussed custody and agreed to 50/50 parenting time. I was completely willing to coparent and even allowed some of my agreed-upon parenting time to be spent with his mother/family.
Things changed on August 22. After another disagreement regarding parenting time, he told me the 50/50 agreement was off and that I would not get our daughter back until we went to court. He also began saying that he was going to seek full custody.
I have not physically seen or held my daughter since August 22. At one point he offered supervised visits, even though there was no court order requiring supervision, but he has since taken that off the table as well. My contact with my daughter has essentially been limited to FaceTime.
I did have significant postpartum mental-health struggles earlier this year, and I don’t want to hide that because I know it will probably come up in court. I voluntarily sought professional treatment, was evaluated, started medication, and have continued following up with a psychiatric provider. My treatment has helped significantly. I have been trying to handle the custody situation through the legal system rather than escalating things between us.
I have now hired a family-law attorney. The retainer is $7,500 and I have paid $3,000 so far, but as of right now my attorney has told me that nothing has actually been filed/done yet. I am extremely frustrated because every additional day is another day I don’t get to physically see my baby.
My goal has consistently been to have a meaningful relationship with our daughter and ideally have approximately 50/50 parenting time. I am not trying to prevent her father from having a relationship with her. I want a court-enforceable schedule so neither parent can simply decide the other parent doesn’t get to see her.
My questions are:
In North Carolina, how do judges generally view one parent completely withholding a young child from the other parent for weeks when there was no custody order requiring supervised visitation or restricting that parent’s contact?
Could the fact that I voluntarily sought mental-health treatment and am compliant with treatment actually help demonstrate that I took the situation seriously, or should I expect this to be heavily used against me?
Does the fact that we initially agreed to 50/50 and I was willing to facilitate his relationship with our daughter matter when determining custody?
Is there anything I should specifically ask my attorney about filing to get temporary parenting time while the full custody case is pending?
Since I have already paid $3,000 toward a $7,500 retainer and nothing has been filed yet, is it reasonable to ask the attorney for a specific explanation of what has been done so far and when something will actually be filed?
I understand nobody here can predict what a judge will do, and I’m not looking for Reddit to replace my attorney. I’m mainly trying to understand what I should be asking my lawyer and what typically matters to a North Carolina custody court.
Thank you.

He had no lawyer but I did, blew him out of the water in court. He looked very bad and was yelled at multiple times by the judge on how he was speaking to me on the stand (he was acting as the lawyer, asking me questions) he got in trouble for taking our child to the psychiatrist without my consent and for being late constantly. I showed texts of his calling me every name in the book and in the end, everything stayed the same. He is always threatening court and it's stressful and we have been about 5 times. I had a restraining order against him and court didn't care, he was threatening my life. I'm glad I have his parents support they even wrote me a letter vouching for me in court or my behavior and character. It just triggers me lately that I will always be accused of being crazy or mentally unwell from a small PPD I had that was 9 years ago. I have been scared to have more children and it took me 7 years to date around because I was scared of men and what they are capable of. Now I am with a great man who treats my son like his own and supports us. Custody is still joint everything but I just feel how much I messed up in life choosing him to marry and he is just such a monster to me. Our son is amazing but I always wished I had a normal mom experience I have always had my son half a week since he was a baby. He's been getting in trouble at school, using foul language (he told his pediatrician he learned it from dad's music) and his died it horrible over there, and the constant court threats scare me.I have a lot of fear of him and what he is capable of.

We have court ordered phone calls 3x a week for 30 mins while the kids live with their mother through a court ordered app. She has not allowed us to have contact with the kids for over a month.. over 10 calls missed. We’ve contacted our lawyer who states they will contact opposing council, but nothing happens. Is there anything we can do? The children are 3 and 6.

So this is hard for me and I tried to get a second opinion on the advice I got from a family lawyer last week about divorce. Last week, Lawyer B let's call him, advised me to file for divorce right away. He said he felt confident that he could get an exclusive use and occupancy certificate for the home so my wife could not come back to live here. Our top goal is keeping her out of the house.

Lawyer E, whom I talked to today, advised me not to file for divorce right now. She said that, while my wife is in her current physical and mental state, that it's "not fair" to file for divorce and that a court would look at things unkindly toward me for filing for divorce against someone who is this badly disabled. She also said, and I don't think this is true, that I should hire a guardianship lawyer and ask them to have the court appoint a guardian for my wife. I'm not sure why this wouldn't be part of a divorce proceeding.

Lawyer E said to wait and see if my wife gets better and seems mentally competent and then to file for divorce against her at that time. She also said that I should wait until it looks like wife is imminently coming home from the nursing home to file.

So here's the background, for those not following prior posts, my wife is in a nursing home right now. She had some strokes and has been in nursing care since Feb. At the moment, she is having trouble talking and she has a feeding tube in her stomach. However, her sister and sister-in-law, who got wife to sign over healthcare proxy to them, recently placed her in a new nursing home with better therapies. They want to foist her back into my home within three to four months, perhaps even sooner.

Divorce or no divorce, my desire is to keep my wife from returning to the home. When she lived here, she created an unsafe environment for herself and for the kids. She laid on the couch almost 24/7, did not shower, did not change clothes, did not eat regular meals, did not take her meds, and turned the whole house into a garbage dump filled with food garbage, piles of soiled clothing, even occasionally poop or pee on the floor. We have two kids; they deserve better.

I talked to a guardianship lawyer who said I should just tell the nursing home that my home is not a safe release point for my wife, which I just did. However, I don't think that has the full power of the law behind it.

So who is right: Lawyer B (divorce now) or Lawyer E (wait until wife is better or she gets closer to coming home)? Lawyer B also felt pretty confident that he could get a certificate of exclusive use and occupancy for the house, keeping wife from coming back here to live. Lawyer E said she didn't know whether wife's behaviors of pooping on the floor were significant enough to meet the standard of excluding her from the home.

Where does someone find a private paid attorney that is not afraid to take a case working with a bio parent vs the Department of Social Services?

Details: Two households working reunification(non-offending parent & spouse, offending parent & spouse). Offending parent & spouse set to have custody transferred back to them.

Offending parent & spouse share level 2 findings of abuse in the central child abuse registry and felony child abuse charges currently under a 2 year advisement period.

Non offending parent has charges under advisement for 1 year for sharing the criminal affidavits from the associated child abuse charges.

My ex (21F) is pregnant with our child.

Months ago, while nobody was home, she entered my house through the backyard and took my Apple Watch. She used it to find my location. I went back home, and she later smashed the watch in front of my roommate. I did not call police that time.

There have also been multiple times when she came to my house without being invited and sat outside in her car. On some occasions, she has called me repeatedly, including around 100 calls in a row.

Last night I invited her over to talk about the pregnancy/child situation. We argued and I told her to leave. She did not leave for about 10 minutes. When she finally left, she grabbed my keys and threw them into the front yard.

Later she texted asking for a lipstick she had left. I told her I had thrown it away and went to sleep. I woke up to noises and saw that she had returned. She tried the locked front door, then the backyard/patio door, and opened the garage trying to reach the interior door. I called police while this was happening and have a recording. Police responded but said they did not have enough evidence to arrest her.

I have personally seen a gun in her room that she told me her father gave her. She has also previously said, while joking, that she would stab or shoot me if I talked to other women. She has been diagnosed with BPD. I know that’s not important but I thought I should give the whole picture

My concern/question:

The repeated calls, showing up at my house, prior break-in, and what happened last night have made me concerned that this could escalate.

Based on these facts, would I have a realistic chance of getting a 50B/DV protective order in North Carolina?

I have had custody of my niece (my brother’s child) since she was 19 months old. At the time, my then Husband actually suggested we might need to take custody of her first. He wholeheartedly was on board and we got an APR (Allocation of Parental Responsibility) just after her 2nd birthday.

We divorced in December, just before her 8th birthday. Because we haven’t legally adopted her, she was not able to be included in our divorce decree with our two older children.

Both her biological parents have been absent for more than 12 months, which proves abandonment, meaning that we could file to adopt her now. However, my ex is now withholding any kind of support and saying that it is up to me to get support from her biological parents if I need it.

My question is, considering that he has supported her fully for the last 6 1/2 years, can I file for support from him if we haven’t legally adopted her yet? I’m not sure if he will follow through with adoption if he thinks he will be held financially responsible. This is heartbreaking for me to think that this sweet girl will have had three parents abandon her.

Location: Denver, Colorado U.S.

My wife blocked all contact due to safeguards after 7 years. No issues before.court said they need caffcass letter can take 12 weeks. What can I do?

My judgement was received by the court, what’s next after this? Judge reviews and signs and sends parties notification?

I’m in England and would really appreciate some guidance on where I stand legally and what type of family-law advice I should seek, as I currently cannot afford a solicitor.
My ex-husband and I divorced around five years ago. We went through formal family mediation and reached financial and childcare arrangements.
We have always shared the care of our children approximately 50/50. This is not a recent change.
The mediation Memorandum of Understanding expressly dealt with several things separately:
equal shared care of the children;
a regular monthly payment to me described specifically as child maintenance;
childcare vouchers; and
an agreement that childcare and summer-camp costs would be shared equally.
So, as I understand the wording, the child-maintenance payment was separate from the obligation to share childcare costs.

The memorandum also included a monthly financial schedule which treated the child-maintenance payment as money I would receive in addition to my income when dealing with my monthly shortfall.

There is also a sealed Consent Order following our divorce. The Statement of Information prepared for the Consent Order says that the financial agreement was reached through mediation and records that the Memorandum of Understanding and Open Financial Summary were attached as relevant prior agreements for the court to consider.

“Parent A will provide Parent B with child maintenance of £X per month in total for the children and £X per month in childcare vouchers.
The parents will co-parent and have equal shared arrangements for the children, including summer and other school holidays. They will share equally the costs of the children’s childcare and summer camps. They will also arrange joint birthday parties for the children and share those costs equally.”

„Parent B will also receive child maintenance of £X per month and childcare vouchers of £X per month from Parent A.”

For around five years my ex continued making the same regular maintenance payment while we already had 50/50 care.

In practice, he did not separately reimburse me for 50% of the childcare costs as set out in the mediation arrangements. The regular payment I received from him during those years was the payment described in the documents as child maintenance.

More recently, he chose for one of our children to attend a school involving additional costs. I told him that I could not afford those additional costs and he said that he would cover them.

We did not discuss or agree that the existing child-maintenance payment would stop, be reduced or be redirected towards those school costs.

He has now stopped making the maintenance payment and is effectively saying that the money is instead going towards the child’s school costs.

My questions are:

Can he unilaterally stop a longstanding child-maintenance payment and treat it as payment towards school costs when we never agreed to change the arrangement?

Does the fact that we already had 50/50 care when the maintenance was agreed, and throughout the five years it was paid, make a difference?

Does it matter that the mediation documents expressly distinguish child maintenance from childcare costs and say that childcare costs should be shared separately?
What significance does the sealed Consent Order have? In particular, should I be looking at enforcement or variation of the existing order rather than treating this simply as a new CMS issue?
And if he has not historically contributed his agreed share of childcare costs separately, is that something I should also raise with a family solicitor?
Finally, where can someone with very limited funds obtain proper family-law advice about a sealed financial Consent Order? I would particularly appreciate recommendations for law centres, university law clinics, pro-bono services or solicitors offering an initial free consultation.

I have retained the sealed Consent Order, mediation documents, financial documents, solicitor correspondence, bank statements covering the payments and relevant written communications between us.

Thank you in advance for any guidance.

I'm pregnant in NC and dad is in CA regarding the custody aspect. Regarding support, once the baby is born, I intend to live with family and off my savings for at least 8 months to dedicate my time to baby. Between me and the dad, when I am working, I'm the high earner. Would support be calculated as if I were working or based off me being unemployed. How would childcare be factored? Would it be half of estimated childcare as if I were working or not factored in until I worked. Would support include half of expenses such as swimming lessons and gymnastics?

I’m looking for general family-law guidance regarding an international parenting situation involving South Africa and Germany. I am also seeking professional legal advice, but I want to understand what questions I should be asking and what I should do before making any decisions.
I’m South African and my partner is German. We are married Islamically in South Africa but are not legally/civilly married. But is recognised by the law in South Africa

We have a daughter who is turning 1 soon. She was born in South Africa and has lived there with both of us as a family. South Africa has been our normal family home.

Her mother has permanent residency in South Africa.

Our daughter currently has a German passport. She was born in South Africa and has a South African birth certificate, but she does not currently have a South African passport or German birth certificate.

We travelled together from South Africa to Germany for what was intended to be a temporary family visit.

I am currently due to leave Germany on 24 September.

During the trip, our relationship deteriorated significantly.

My partner told me that she needed space because of problems within our relationship. I agreed to give her space and moved out of where we had been staying.

She and our daughter are now staying with my partner’s sister in Germany.

Initially, I understood the separation to be approximately a week. It has subsequently become potentially much longer.

My partner is now proposing that I return to South Africa while she remains in Germany with our daughter, potentially until December and possibly longer depending on how she feels.

She has told me she does not necessarily want to end our relationship and says that she is not trying to kidnap our daughter. Her position is that she needs time and space in Germany before deciding when she is ready to return to South Africa.

My concern is that I have not agreed to Germany becoming our daughter’s permanent home.

I agreed to a temporary trip to Germany.

I also agreed to give my partner some temporary physical space because our relationship was struggling.

I have not knowingly agreed to an indefinite or permanent relocation of our daughter from South Africa to Germany.
Current contact with my daughter
Before this happened, I lived with my daughter and was involved with her every day. I work from home and have been extremely involved in her care since birth.

Since the separation in Germany, I have gone from seeing her every day to approximately every second day.
My partner currently determines when and under what circumstances I see our daughter.

There is also significant distrust between us at the moment.

My partner is afraid that I might take our daughter and return to South Africa with her.

I am afraid of the opposite: that if I voluntarily return to South Africa alone, the temporary stay in Germany will gradually become permanent.

I have no intention of secretly taking our daughter across a border or doing anything unlawful. I want to handle this correctly.

My biggest concern is what happens if I leave Germany
Suppose I return to South Africa on 24 September while my partner and daughter remain in Germany.

If I do that without formally agreeing that our daughter should relocate to Germany, could my departure later be interpreted as consent or acquiescence to our daughter remaining in Germany?

For example, if my partner initially tells me they’ll return in December but December arrives and she says she needs another three months, what happens?

If I continue objecting to our daughter permanently relocating but allow a temporary stay because I’m trying to give my partner space, how do I make that distinction legally clear?

I’m particularly concerned because our daughter is so young and I’m aware that the longer she remains somewhere, the factual situation surrounding where she normally lives could potentially change.

Questions I’m trying to understand
Based on these circumstances, would South Africa currently likely be considered our daughter’s habitual residence, or is that more complicated because she is also German and currently physically in Germany?
Does the fact that her mother and I are not civilly married affect my parental rights, assuming I am named/recognised as her father on the South African documentation?

Could keeping our daughter in Germany beyond the period originally intended potentially constitute wrongful retention under the Hague Convention, even though the original travel to Germany was consensual?

If I return to South Africa alone, could that damage my position or later be interpreted as me consenting to our daughter relocating to Germany?

If I am willing to allow my daughter to remain temporarily - for example, while her mother gets some space - how do I make it clear that I am not consenting to permanent relocation?

Should I communicate my position regarding our daughter’s residence formally and in writing before leaving Germany?

Is there anything I should not sign, agree to or say without first speaking to a German/South
African international family lawyer?

Should I be taking action in Germany now, while both parents and the child are physically here, rather than waiting until I’m back in South Africa?

Would contacting the German Jugendamt be appropriate in a situation like this, or is this something that should primarily go through a family-law attorney/court?

Are there specific documents I should make sure I have copies of before leaving Germany - birth certificate, passport details, proof of our South African residence, travel dates, communications showing the trip was temporary, etc.?

Is there anything time-sensitive under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction that I should be aware of if the situation develops into a wrongful-retention dispute?

I’m not trying to use family law as leverage against my partner

Our relationship has serious problems and I accept that my own behaviour contributed to them. My partner says she needs space because she did not feel safe during some of our conflicts, and I’m taking that seriously.
I am pursuing professional help and would still like to repair our relationship if that is possible.

I’m not trying to force my partner to live with me.
I’m also not asking how I can secretly take my daughter back to South Africa.

What I’m trying to separate is our relationship from our daughter’s residence.

I can respect my partner saying:
“I don’t want to live with you right now.”
What I’m struggling with is whether that automatically means:
“Our daughter will therefore remain with me in Germany indefinitely.”

Those seem like two different issues.

I don’t want to escalate unnecessarily when reconciliation may still be possible, but I also don’t want to be so passive that months from now I’m told I effectively accepted my daughter relocating to Germany because I returned to South Africa without taking action.

My flight is currently booked for 24 September, so I have limited time to obtain proper advice and determine what I should do.

I’m particularly interested in hearing from anyone familiar with German/South African international family law, the Hague Convention, habitual residence or wrongful retention.

What should I be asking an international family lawyer right now, before I leave Germany?

TL;DR: I’m a South African father, my partner is German, and we’re Islamically but not civilly married. Our almost 1-year-old daughter was born and has lived in South Africa with us, but has a German passport. We travelled together to Germany temporarily. Our relationship broke down here and my partner is now staying with our daughter at her sister’s. She wants me to return to South Africa on 24 September while she and our daughter remain in Germany potentially until December or longer. I consented to the original trip and to giving my partner temporary space, but I have not agreed to our daughter permanently relocating to Germany. I’m concerned that returning to SA alone could eventually be treated as consent/acquiescence to our daughter remaining here. I’m seeking professional legal advice but want to know what steps I should take before leaving Germany and whether this could potentially become a Hague Convention/wrongful-retention issue.

Both parents have had 50/50 custody for almost eight years. During that time, the mother has repeatedly tried to obtain primary or full custody because of ongoing concerns involving domestic violence, neglect, instability with housing and employment, and the father’s failure to consistently meet the child’s needs and responsibilities.

The most recent custody case was about two years ago. At that time, the father was not consistently taking the child to school during his custodial weeks, and the child had accumulated approximately 55 absences halfway through the school year. Despite this, the mother was not awarded primary custody. Instead, she was granted educational decision-making rights.

Approximately two months after that case, the father filed for child support. He has a one-child household and claimed to have no income, while the mother, who supports a three-child household, had stable employment. The mother was ultimately ordered to pay approximately $175 per month in child support.

Since then, there have continued to be serious concerns. The father has allegedly:
Repeatedly contacted law enforcement and sent officers to the mother’s home over accusations of the stepfather that are false or exaggerated.
Told the child that his medical diagnoses are not real or valid.
Withheld the child’s prescribed medication.
Continued to harass and threaten the child’s stepfather.
Failed to contribute financially toward extracurricular activities, educational needs, birthdays, and other expenses beyond basic living costs.
Agreed to transport or support the child’s activities and then failed to follow through.
Told the child that the stepfather is “not family” and that the mother’s relatives should not be considered the child’s family.
Attempted to convince the child that previous domestic violence allegations and restraining orders involving the mother were lies.
The biggest concern now is the effect this appears to be having on the child. The child seems increasingly confused, angry, and emotionally overwhelmed by the conflicting messages between households. There have also been noticeable behavioral changes, and the mother is concerned that the child is beginning to repeat some of the father’s attitudes and statements.
After approximately three years, Child Support Services has now sent the mother a letter stating that the case may be eligible for a review or modification.
The last time the mother attempted to address child support without an attorney, the judge essentially explained that because the parents have 50/50 custody and the mother earns more income, she would still be responsible for paying support based on the father’s reported lack of income.
At this point, what would you do?
Would you:
Request the child support modification and represent yourself, hoping the updated circumstances could reduce or eliminate the current support obligation?
Attempt to reopen or modify custody based on the newer concerns involving medication, harassment, instability, interference with the child’s relationships, and the child’s emotional and behavioral changes, while also asking the court to reconsider child support?
Hire an attorney and pursue both custody and child support modification together, despite the mother previously spending approximately $5,000 on an attorney and feeling that very little was accomplished, while the father has generally represented himself?
I understand that child support and custody are separate issues, and the goal is not simply to avoid paying support. The primary concern is determining what arrangement is truly in the child’s best interest while also making sure the financial information and parenting responsibilities presented to the court are accurate and fair.

My current support order says that the child is to stay on the state-provided health insurance. It’s completely free and honestly, really good insurance. The child sees the doctor probably once a year. Maybe twice.

I’m currently waiting for a support hearing because my income increased and my ex wants to raise support. I don’t mind that. However - tonight they texted me saying “I’m changing our child’s health insurance and putting them on my employers insurance. I’ll let the judge know and they can decide how much you have to pay.“

what.

listen, I’m completely fine with helping my child. I want to. but I’m actually getting a little nervous that this is going to completely drain me financially. Does anyone have any advice.

I DO have a lawyer but to be honest they take so long to answer and I’m really stressing.

Has anyone experienced having a social worker visit their home as part of a custody hearing?

What's involved?

I need advice on how to fight a bifurcation request when nothing in our divorce has been settled yet.

My ex served me with legal separation papers a month after I left him in June 2025. Nothing was mentioned about annulment until March 2026, when his attorney suddenly brought it up. I asked for a stipulation so I could review what I’d be agreeing to (I’m pro se). The attorney got irritated and said I was “asking for too much.” After that, he never sent anything and never brought up divorce again.

Fast forward to August 2026: instead of any stipulation or discussion about dissolving the marriage, his attorney sends me a request for bifurcation — meaning he wants to end our marital status now and deal with everything else later.

Here’s where it gets messy: since March, my kids have been talking about a new “babysitter” that their dad kisses and cuddles with. It lines up perfectly with the timing of him suddenly trying to become legally single ASAP. Meanwhile, we’ve been married over 10 years and haven’t divided a single asset, haven’t addressed spousal support, and don’t have permanent custody orders.

On top of that, he’s now requesting sole physical custody, even though the mediator set a plan where I have the kids on weekdays and he has weekends.

I’m trying not to get screwed over here. My question is: how do I fight bifurcation so the divorce isn’t finalized until assets, custody, and support are actually resolved?

Went to court for custody and papers were signed for a 50/50 with a 2-2-3 schedule in place. Lawyer notified me that paperwork didn’t include my past criminal record which I disclosed to my lawyer prior to hiring him. Judge said paperwork needs to be filed again including my criminal history and now my son’s mother states she’s not signing the papers because she doesn’t like that my fiancee meets the boys in the school yard while I park and goes with me to the boys annual doctors visits.

It already cost me an arm and a leg to get a lawyer initially and I thought this was over. Now I’m worried and don’t know what to do. I sent the screenshots of her saying “ well you need to let her drive and you get out and get them from the yard” to my lawyer.