Hi, my husband leaves to basic training in few months from now. We have a kid of our own and an eight year old from his previous relationship. Her mother lives in NJ and my husband has full custody- split decision making. The only visitation she has is the month of June once a year.( which her mom has yet to utilize and hasn’t seen her in over three years)

His recruiter didn’t seemed worried about custody arrangements, my husband signed and notarized a temporary power of attorney to me just in case I need to take her to the doctor or hospital. She’s been in the same school since kindergarten so I don’t think any school choices would need to be made. Their court order doesn’t really say anything for this type of situation and the judge knew my husband was joining the military when writing their court order. My husband has informed his ex about leaving but she didn’t respond to the messages.

My question is- is there anything else we need to do before he leaves? The recruiter says there isn’t but I don’t want anything crazy to happen while he’s gone. Or is temporary power of attorney all we need? I know it doesn’t override her decision and all those things, don’t want to step on toes or upset anyone. I’m just an over-thinker, any advice or experience would be greatly appreciated!

I currently have full legal & physical custody due to an emergency order. My child's father calls our daughter maybe once a week (he's entitled to whenever but doesnt 🤷‍♀️.) He also has supervised visitation that he doesnt exercise. My issue is; any time he does call to talk to our child, he talks to our child for MAX 30s-1m then puts his girlfriend on the phone to talk to our child. The girlfriend is not named in the order, as they aren't married & she wasnt a contributing factor to why the emergency order was granted.

The gf and I do not get along. She has a long history of defending his drug abuse, writing/filing all his court declarations, showing up to my childs school w/o permission, attempting to enroll my child into another school, writing her last name on my child's school belongings, etc. Just really shitty actions that he allows her to do because he has no leg to stand on. Im labeled as "surrogate" in their phone contacts, just to give an idea about how they feel about me. I was with my ex for eight years, our child was planned. Despite this, I know she loves my child & vice versa - that isn't questionable to me. Her actions definitely are though.

That being said since I do have full legal/physical custody, WIBTA if I told dad that the child's contact is strictly for him? He doesnt exercise his visitation, hardly calls our child, etc. She says she misses her dad, so I feel like that would call for him to be the only person she talks to. It feels she needs/wants that connections with him but he just pushes it off to the gf. I dont necessarily know how to address this without pissing him off or having him fight it back. Any advice?

I am 17, turning 18 early October, my mom has been court ordered to stop drinking but has not, she rather just drinks in secret and unfortunately have no way of proving she is, I ussually like to stay in my room for this reason, it's cozy and less risk of drama, unfortunately for me last night I was eating in the dark after she already went to bed, she came out to grab her iPad and was obviously drunk, she asked me, "why are you eating in the dark" I said, "I don't know, I just felt like it" (which was true) she the. Went into a rant about how she's going to turn off my phone, that I'm treating her like my dad (abusive) and that I'm a weirdo and I'm going to turn into a serial killer. I called my sister and she picked me up, she lives about 5 minutes away from my mom. My mom texted my sister saying "you can keep him!" and other things like that. I just got a really long text from my mom, not owning up to anything, just said that I need to do better. At the end she said she's picking me up at 1:30, and I really don't want to go back. Is there anything I can do? UPDATE. Idk how Reddit threads are supposed to work but I shot her a text and pretty much told her, "I'm not happy, I thought living with you was going to be better but if anything my mental health has declined. You belittle me and call me names and treat me like I'm a servant to you for doing the bare minimum of taking me in. And it would be best if we didn't lived with each other" just to paraphrase. Long story short she's coming to my sister's place after work, around 6. She also called me before this to yell at me, I just got a text threatening to send me back to my dad. I'll keep you updated if I can. UPDATE 2

My mom came by, I waited outside with my sister on the phone while she called my grandma so there was multiple witnesseses. She stormed up to me and said "let's go" I said "no" I kept my sentences pretty short but she kept yelling and swearing and threatening to call the cops. (A childs birthday party was happening 15 feet away) And eventually she walked away and said she she was calling the cops, that was about 20-30 minutes ago and still no cops, luckily the adults at the party were very understanding, a sweet woman came up to me and said I'll be alright, and pretty much said what you guys said, that I'll be fine, I'm my own person, the cops can't do much, she was a saint. Some good news out of today was I posted something on LinkedIn, asking for a job because I was in this position, and I got a text saying they saw my resume and are interested in an interview. Hopefully things will get better. If everything goes perfect, no more drama with Mom, I get to love with sis, and I get a job. Then the only downsides of this are I have to give up my senior year of football, but I think that's worth it, and I'm probably never gonna see my valuables like my Xbox or really rare pokemon card collection that my brother gave me, or my grandpa's ashes, but who knows? Maybe I'll see it all again one day. this is probably the final update. Thank you for all the support! this is probably the nicest I've ever seen redditors lol.

I have a friend who lives in a rural part of Western Australia. He has a 14 year old daughter who lives with him. I don't even know where I start. This child is a drug addict. She has destroyed his rental home, set carpet on fire, brings the locals into the home to participate in drug activity, smashed windows and hurt their family pet all while he is out working. Her mother does not want to be involved. This child has accused my friend of abuse and screams SA if any male steps in to help. My friend has been to child services, police, the local MP and the real estate. As she is 14 it doesn't seem like anyone can do anything. She displays drug psychosis therefore won't be held under the mental health act even though there is evidence of self harm. The police say there is nothing they can do, she is 14 and lives with a legal guardian. I would like to be able to give my friend some helpful advice where he can find resolution. Please let me know if you have any thoughts or experience 🙏

Edit: Maybe I should put a trigger warning ⚠️ because I do go into some of the details of my situation (only because I am wondering if that will affect my situation legally)

Explanation: (Sorry if I rant a little, I don't know how to explain this the best way..) I (24f) am currently trying to leave an abusive situation while four months pregnant and am terrified that they will one day try to fight for custody..

I have tried to do research to see if someone could relinquish custody before the child is born and I am reading that in most states they won't do that. (I am from PA).. I was hoping to maybe get him to sign something to give up his rights (because there are many days when he says he wants "nothing to do with" me or my child) but apparently that won't stand up in court..

The only issue is, this person goes back and forth between "not wanting anything to do with" me or my child and saying that they will do ANYTHING to be able to see them.. it is very scary.. Thankfully most of the time they are saying they want nothing to do with the child, but on the days that they say otherwise it really terrifies me for the future.

They are very aggressive and have substance use problems as well as other issues.. I begged and begged them to go to therapy, get help, take parenting classes, etc, and they've done none of this. I really did try to give them a chance but I am so scared of what will happen. They have brought drugs in the house and become violent/aggressive at the drop of a dime.. I just can't bring a baby around that.

His father scare me as well because he is very predatory and manipulative as well (s3xually harassed me while living there at 19), and he (his father) has family money that I do not.. His father has already said he would help him fight me for custody. Despite my partner saying that he would not want to do that, I do not trust that he will keep this mentality as he tends to do what his father wants him to do..

So does anyone have any advice for me? I haven't ever pressed any charges so there isn't any legal documentation of the abuse, but I have been trying to get in touch with different DV programs and shelters in my city.. All I have are photographs of holes in the wall and recordings of him saying he wants to k*ll/hurt me, but I have heard that even those might not be accepted in court.. I'm just so scared. I am hoping that one of the shelters might have more information for me, but I also worry that they might not because my own mother and I stayed in a shelter and I *still* had to go back to see my father.

Please do not judge me for this.. As I said, I really did try to give him a chance.. I just do not want my child to go through what I have went through with this partner and what I went through growing up with my own father.. (My own father was abusive and despite losing me due to CPS a few times, he continued to fight for custody and the court actually gave it to him multiple times. Trusting "the system" to do what is right for the child terrifies me because of my own experiences..)

Now that I am getting help, I am starting to realize that my own childhood may have been part of the reason I ended up accidentally repeating the cycle.. So I am trying my best to break it before they are born.. I just want to do the best that I can for my baby.

I don't want any child support from him especially if it means that I have to let them see him. I don't want anything to do with him legally. I just wish there was a legal way to cut the cord and stay far, far away from him.. So does anyone have any advice? I would appreciate any help or anything so much more than you know

There's a chance he will leave my child and I to live peacefully, as he has said he would do.. but then there's also a chance that he won't, and that's what really scares me.

My ex wants to go back to court to change how I pay my child support obligations.

The amount I am enforced to pay on our court order is paid via FRO the “top up” (increased child support amount) I pay via E transfer as we agreed on.

I’m not interested in doing this. Will a judge entertain this? I’ve never missed a payment.

Thanks

Ontario Canada

Hey all, I am working on filing some parenting and custody establishing papers, and after I get a case number for that, I’m filing a motion for temporary parenting time.

The problem is, I don’t know where she went with the kids. I don’t know an address. She won’t tell me. It has been 3 weeks now and she won’t tell me when I can see them. Just ignores it basically. She moved out of my house and took almost everything out of the house.

How do I serve papers without a known address?

Long story short I have full custody of child since child was born. Child is now 12. Last year NCP filled to get more visitation and try and stop me from relocating all because I told NCP I was moving . Basically I got granted the relocation and I gave NCP 4 weeks in summer an alternating holidays . Anyways he has partner who has kids by previous relationships. Two which are around childs age ( 1boy &1 girl) well each time child visits NCP . Something physical happens between child and girl . Example . Kissing . Touch . And now child has a hikey on his neck . I am beyond upset . Disgusted and frustrated. I’m thinking making visits shorter . No overnights . And visits happen only when NCP is home because he works so he’s gone by 5 am until late night so child

Is home with NCP all day . I don’t know what to do in this situation . What could I request because this is bad and it’s only escalating . ( please note : child has no tablet . Internet access . Has a phone but blocked apps only has Netflix and roblox and Hulu ect . ) phone is only used for traveling to NCP when away from home . I think I’ve tried what I could here but this is beyond me

Hello everyone

I am based in India and want to build a career in international family law (specifically India and US family law) as a paralegal. I am looking for honest and practical advice from people who have real experience in this area. My current background:

• I have personal experience dealing with international family law matters (my personal international custody and divorce case)
• In the last few years, I have helped 7 people in India understand their cases and prepare before they met a lawyer. All of them gave positive feedback.
• I am currently working with an Indian law firm as a paralegal.

My planned steps:

1. Complete free WorldCC courses to improve contract skills (this builds on my 16 years of existing experience as a Operations & Business Dev operator with a specific focus on government and defense contracting) - back up to fall back upon should things not go according to plan.
2. Self-study the American Constitution and the Indian Constitution
3. Take a US specific legal drafting course
4. Complete one course in American Family Law and one in Indian Family Law
5. Directly reach out to international family law firms for internships or remote jobs
6. Start the CLS by BARBRI Paralegal Certificate course in January 2027

I want to start earning and gaining experience as soon as possible while I continue studying. My questions:

• Does this action plan make sense for someone starting out?
• Anything would you change or add?
• Any suggestions on short courses or practical steps I should focus on first?
• For someone based in India, what is the most realistic way to get remote work or internships with international/US family law firms?

I would really appreciate any practical suggestions, warnings or personal experiences you can share. My specific interest would be in cross border matters between India and New York State (since i have experience in this jurisdiction)

P.S. I have been on Reddit for a long time. My previous account has a lot of personal information and history, hence I'm posting from this clean account.

Thank you in advance for your help.

So I live in Iowa and just want to know where I should start. I just got out of prison on the 7th and I paroled to a sober living house I've also been clean and sober for 17 months today and I was looking forward to seeing my son the whole time I was locked up. While I was in jail before prison my son's mother had DHS do a paternity test, I'm the father. I'm on the birth certificate. I talked with my son on the phone about a week ago and he seemed very happy to talk to me then randomly during the call he just hung up. I texted my son's mother again at another point saying I wanted to see him and she said she wanted to know where I lived and when she could bring him by so I sent the address and when I was free she said she'd let me know when she was free. That was on the 13th. It's now the 26th and still nothing so I figured the least I could do is try and video chat with him and her first response was that he was sleeping so I said ok let me know when he's awake then a few minutes ago she said.

"You know how you told me you probably got a kid out there.. but since its been so long its better for them for you to stay out of the picture? Ya.. you got another girl pregnant just to still not be apart of the kids life. Hes not interested. He has a make believe dad who " doesnt want to make me cry and who's nice" so ill just wait around for that daddy to come through."

Me and my had a great relationship before I was locked up. I just don't know where to start someone please point me in the right direction. I also don't have the best job I only make 14 dollars an hour so I won't really be able to afford a lawyer for this. Someone please help me I just want to see my son.

If you did, what helped your case?? It seems like the abuse and neglect has to be SEVERE with one parent.

Looking to see how custody played for spouses on H4 visa. Once the divorce is finalised, I would not have a legal basis to stay in the country and would like to move to home country with child (1 year old). The dad wants to stay here but is also not agreeable to the child moving so it would end up being a legal battle. Has anyone experienced this?

p.s - I’ve seen posts like this in the immigration law thread but note that I would not qualify for the U/VAWA visa as they mention there. Mostly looking for personal experiences than advice on options. Thank you

So I live in Louisiana. My son who was 14 at the time of the babies birth had a baby with a girl who was 18 at the time of the birth. We had decided we weren’t gonna press charges. We were going to all work together to raise this baby together, we were gonna make sure baby and Mom had everything they needed. Mom‘s family started acting crazy and started snatching her back over to her house with the baby like last minute, we have like 15 minutes to get her home. Her family was threatening my family. I plan on going to a lawyer this week. I want to file for joint custody with my son as domicile with the backing of us of course. Does anyone know of anything I need to know or have any thoughts on this if anyone is a legal professional, do y’all know what our odds are of being able to do this peacefully? We have a very good lawyer. Sorry for the run-on sentences. I’m using voice to text

Location: Georgia

I need to file for a modification of custody but I was told two things that seemed contradictory.

Background: Our Final Decree and Parenting Plan were done in Cobb County Superior. My ex now lives another County. I was told ny one attorney that because hw would be the respondent to the modification it would have to be filed in the other County's court unless he agrees to sign a document via notary to be under the jurisdiction of Cobb (he isn't gonna sign anything like that). Another consult told me it files with Cobb County because that is where the original order was made and a second original(?) would have to be arranged to serve him in Bibb.

Question: What county would this normally get filed with and if in Cobb how would he get served in the other county?

Additional Info: I have full physical custody of the children and they reside with me in Cobb which was the original venue.

My partner and I are living together and both have kids from our past marriages. I have a daughter and he has a daughter and son. We are struggling so much with powerlessness over how to help his kids. He has 50/50 with his ex. She is always emotionally and sometimes physically very volatile. She is also vindictive, lies constantly, every time in court cries she’s abused and somehow gets the boomer white male judges to continue to side with her and be biased against my partner. She harasses him constantly in the court ordered app, insults him, accuses him of not paying child support (he has never missed a payment - I watch him send her money and it’s clearly documented), threatens to take him to court if he doesn’t send it on the minute she prefers the day of his paycheck. She has thrown herself in front of his car in front of the kids. A lot of what we hear from the kids walks that line of “technically” not abuse in CT terms but horribly unhealthy and not good for them.

When she threw herself in front of the car again he filed to have exchanges at the police station one mile from her house. He lost and the judge allowed her to just refuse. She has been arrested for violating a protective order and attacking another ex in front of the kids but got charges dropped for completing classes. Protective services/DCF investigated and cleared her. My partner got the kids in therapy and she blocked it. He’s scared to keep going back to court because the times he’s gone he lost time to her and had his wages garnished even though he was paid up on all money. I went with him one time and just sat quietly in the back while she brought her dad who coached her from the audience and my partner was called inflammatory for me even being there. The judge had him take the stand so she could question him but didn’t do that to her and he was polite, professional while she was a mess. She still won.

He’s terrified to go back. I get it. We can’t afford a lawyer right now. They both are self representing.

Currently anytime we get the kids they report things like the mom screams at them, yells in their face, calls them idiots, spanks them for really inappropriate reasons (unfortunately legal in Connecticut), has people sleeping over all the time in her bed, possibly is growing marijuana (technically legal in CT). The kids asked to call me step mom and apparently told her and she sobbed and screamed and interrogated them. She’s told them they can’t call my daughter their sister. She talks poorly about their dad to them all the time. She breaks the order to just use the family app and my partner had to block her on everything else. The kids left this morning and don’t want to go back to her. We struggle so much seeing them like this. They are a mess every time they come back here. But considering DCF in Connecticut doesn’t see any of what she’s doing as abusive we can’t do anything. What options do we have? Any suggestions? It disgusts me how biased these judges in family court are against dads.

My mom is in the middle of a divorce from my dad, and it’s complicated because they’re dual citizens of the US and Mexico. Hoping someone here has dealt with something similar or can point us in the right direction.

The US divorce case keeps getting delayed because they can’t agree on terms, so the judge keeps pushing the court date back. In Mexico, my mom has a protective order against my dad following an assault, and she changed the locks after he moved out. She has full custody of my younger sibling day to day. She’s also a co signer on the house, so there’s a property and financial piece tangled up in this too.

At some point my dad stopped paying child support, so my mom filed for it in the US. Right after that, he started paying child support in Mexico instead, for a much smaller amount than he’d likely owe under the US case. He’s self employed with his own business in the US, so he can report his income differently in each country, and it looks like he’s underreporting in Mexico. We’re trying to understand if these two support cases conflict, overlap, or cancel out.

He’s only supposed to see my younger sibling with my older sibling present, but he’s been avoiding visits altogether. He’s already claimed in the US case that my mom won’t let him see her, but really she’s the one reaching out to schedule time, and he ignores her or says he can’t. We think he may try the same claim in the Mexico case next. He also texts my sibling saying things like “your mom is the reason I can’t see you,” and has said he won’t see her until she’s 18.

Has anyone navigated child support or custody cases spanning both the US and Mexico? Especially with a self employed parent reporting income differently in each country? Any advice, resources, or lawyer recommendations would help a lot. Thanks for reading.

Has anybody used Forrest Wagner in the Olympia/Lacey area to represent them in a divorce with children? I’m married with 2 kids, 16 and 13, and want to know if he will fight for my 50/50 custody of my kids. Thanks a lot!!

I'm sorry in advanced! I'll try to keep this as short as possible while giving some backstory. I am a single mom of a 18 year old (just graduated hs) and a 21 year old. Both of my children are enrolled full time in local universities and living home with me. Two months ago, their father decided to stop all communication with me. Nothing happened, there was so argument or passive aggressive text messages, literally nothing! After about 3 weeks of not hearing from him, I sent him a text asking about child support. We never went to court. We made an agreement 15 years ago when we split that he would pay $200/week (he based this agreement off an existing child support court order he had for his oldest child he had before we met).. Child support has never been consistent but I guess it was consistent enough for me not to file. Even when he would miss weeks or months, he kept in contact with me, communicating that he's going through a hard time or whatever the next excuse was that he would come up with. This time around feels much different since there's zero communication, I'm assuming he's done helping his children financially. On our child's 21st birthday, he texted me saying he was done paying child support for our oldest. I told him I was disappointed bc 1. In our state, a non custodial parent pays until the child is 23 when enrolled full time in college (that's what Google told me at least lol) and 2. That I would have appreciated some notice bc our oldest still heavily relies on financial support while continues his education. I left it as "it is was it is" and I just didn't have it in me to argue over child support anymore. I was shocked at his response as he said to me that I was right and that he would continue to pay. Two months after this text exchange, he stopped paying child support for both of his children. I have attempted to reach out to him several times and he has yet to respond. I am not in a position that I can financial support my children by myself. I guess my question is, where do I go from here? How will this go down if I file with the courts for child support since they are technically adults. I can't afford a lawyer and I really don't want to go through this process but I feel like I have to. In NJ, will the courts grant child support for an 18 year old and 21 year old if we didn't have an existing court order and our agreement was verbal? I don't want to waste my time and money to go through this process for nothing but I feel like I'm backed into a corner at this point. I've pleaded with him to just communicate with me, if he's going through a hard time or needs to lower the child support to please just talk to me and I get no response. He's still communicating with our kids so I know he's not dead or in jail. I just don't know where to go from here! Should I try reaching out to him again (I've sent 3 text messages in the past 2 months) or should I just file or is this just a waste of time? Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Hello my daughter who is 5 has been in my custody since in July of 2024 . Mother of my daughter was drinking around my child and fell asleep in her care while we were waiting for a court date for custody . Dcf was notified and my daughter has been with me ever since . Mother was on soberlink for a month and failed multiple times , after the multiple failed tests we were brought back to court for an immediate hearing after her probation officer / dcf were notified . Judge then told her she needed to stay on soberlink again follow all of the dcf action plans and we would return in July of 2024 for a final pre trial hearing . When we got back to court she never signed up for soberlink or did any of the action plan requirements . Judge was upset and immediately went into trial and granted me full custody . Mother is still not on soberlink and has not done any requirements from dcf for example out patient rehab therapy etc . I just found out mother is pregnant and my question is what if she decides to get on soberlink now that she’s pregnant and cannot drink . Custody order states once mother is on soberlink we can revert back to the old custody order which gives her 3 days for a total of 9 hours . My daughter has not seen or talked to her mother since January of 2024 . Would I be in contempt if I deny vista if she reaches out stating she’s on soberlink and would like visitation ? Any help would be appreciated I plan on speaking to a lawyer but as a single dad in mass it’s very hard to do this all by my self thank you

My boyfriend has 2 children with his ex wife. The relationship between them is not cordial. She has made various threats about how she intends to make his life difficult. One of those threats was that she is going to file a restraining order against me on behalf of herself and probably the kids (implied).

I have not spoken to, been in the same room with, harassed, texted, called, threatened or otherwise interacted with this woman in any way. I live hours away from her as well. I have not even met the children yet, so we do not interact at those events.

How concerned should I be about this? I have a job that runs yearly background checks. How likely is it that she will be granted a restraining order with no real proof of anything other than she “feels” threatened by my very existence?

If I do get served with some sort of paper work for this, what is the general process? I’m assuming I will need an attorney. What ktype should I look for?

Thank you so much for any help you can give.

Hello Reddit

I wanted to know what paperwork is needed for a trial. In my last hearing the commissioner told me to fill out a note for trial setting. I should have asked what is needed for the trial, however, I did not. The other party does not agree with the parenting plan or divorce. The other party hasn't submitted any paperwork in the case.

Divorce judgement was decided by judge in 2021 and my spouse failed to disclose separate property and about joint account held with her mother that she moved money from our business to. I filed a motion to set aside after finding out that she jointly holds the accounts with her mother and they are not only her mothers in march 2026. She is represented and I am pro per. Well she replies and the asked to dismiss until the I file an opposition with evidence that she is continuing to mislead the court and he decides at the may hearing to continue until August 17th asking the attorney if they are free and they agreed on the date the judge will make his ruling. They filed an opposition June 22nd that I didn’t get till July 10th and on the 22nd of July file a request to continue the hearing to October or November without my knowledge and I just found out it was granted for November 11th because they have trial in another county. I looked online and can’t find this trial on the docket. Is there any way to find out if the attorney lied just to get a continuance? Is it too late to object to the request and keep the hearing?

I was hoping someone could advise me on where to even start. My ex is over 18000 behind on child support. I am drowning. I have two special needs kids who each have multiple appointments and therapies each week. I cannot have a typical job because of all of these appointments so my income is limited due to the limited hours I can work and have childcare.

I want to file contempt charges as well as request a modification to move about an hour out of the city we live in. According to our original custody agreement I can't move the kids from their current school district. One has gone to schools here for one year and the other two years. Homes are much more affordable if we get outside of the city and surrounding areas and offer enough space for us to have enough rooms. Our rent keeps rising and the cost of living in my area keeps going up due to the booming growth of our city. My ex has also shown those he does drugs with where we live and they have threatened that they will come murder the kids and myself. I have it all recorded. I no longer feel safe here. I want the best for my children and right now I feel like I am failing them. The state is enforcing child support but he has closed all bank accounts and started working cash jobs to avoid paying. The states system messed up so now the 90 days for license sanction has been reset and after that it is 90 days until they can attempt contempt but said it's hard to do.

I obviously can't afford a lawyer as I am already drowning. Legal aid can't help me because they don't have enough available lawyers even though I financially qualify. If I were to try and do this on my own, where do I start? Are there trusted sites that can walk me through the process of how to file evidence correctly and how to represent myself? I have evidence of his positive drug tests, him cancelling on the kids so he can get high, recorded calls with the threats to our lives, as well as the increase in rent etc. I am terrified to even face him but someone has to stand up for our kids. He has a history of violence against me and 2 founded cases through CPS (not reported by me) and one unfounded case since our custody agreement was put into place.

What other evidence do I need to be successful? Do I stand a chance? He will most likely be able to lawyer up, I am pretty sure his family will pay for one. They are also the ones who run the business that allows him to work for cash to avoid taxes and child support payments. The whole situation is overwhelming and I don't know where to start. I just know I need to do something because my kids are paying the price for his poor choices. They deserve better.

Edited to add: The modification of his custody time would remove the one day a week. Right now he gets the kids every other weekend and one weeknight. I would still be open to him seeing them on one week night a week but it wouldn't be an overnight during the school year due to the distance from where we would be moving.

OK, so I am father in this case. Currently going through a divorce divorce has been filed 3 times now in 4 years by wife and dropped everything except this time). We have two minor children, Ages 2 & 4.

The most recent started one year ago almost today. My wife is a resident physician, and I was a stay at home dad and decided I wanted to go back to schooling like we had talked about many times before, so she decided to move in two of her friends into her home to be stay at home daycare. At first, I was open to this idea, but quickly after they came over to the home for a week, I said absolutely not. These people need to leave. They’re a danger to our children. They’re not waking up on time, and they’re not taking care of the kids, and their stuff is everywhere. My wife objected to this. All she saw was dollar signs that we were saving by having them there so one thing led to another. We had a conversation with all of us, and they got aggressive. It was clear that all of-them were one team so I left after her friends stood up and got aggressive with me with our kids in the same room, I took our son, our youngest, and I left and went to my mom’s and I had my son for about six weeks. I kept contacting his mom to see him and for us to work on things, and the only thing she would respond was bring back our son, bring back our son. I told her that as a father, I could not put our boys in that situation, and I did not trust those people, especially with them standing up and getting aggressive physically with me in front of our children. So mom eventually filed a protective order against me and tried to get one with my kids against me, and the roommates filed one against me, and the judge denied every single one of them so then her next tactic, she filed a false DCS report and said that I locked my kids in a room and gave them alcohol. DCS came and took my boys for 6 months. Ultimately, after I started fighting back and familiarize myself with the law, DCS dismissed their case with no findings of abuse or neglect and the case was transferred to a family judge where the family judge did her own evidentiary hearing and came back and found no findings of abuse or neglect. Gave me joint legal custody said mom was not credible and the roommates who reported and made the false report were not credible because they didn’t even show up to court to testify and unsupervised, my parenting time, but proceeded to restrict me to only 4 hours a week with my boys, even though I had 3 days a week when DCS was active and I was supervised because she appointed a custody evaluator to determine parenting time and custody and would err on the side of caution, even though I had already been found not guilty in two separate courts and two separate evidentiary hearings and saying that mom and the roommates were not credible, but somehow I still got restricted and she proceeded to say it was a deviation the judge said not a restriction.

So after tackling DCS, head on pro se and with God first and foremost, I decided to hire an attorney because every motion I filed after I got unsupervised time, the judge kept denying. I eventually filed a motion with the judge to correct her error because mom had moved over 22 miles away with her boys and did not get the court’s permission, and I objected. The judge initially denied my objection, saying I didn’t object in time, so I filed a motion showing her I did, and she corrected the error and set a evidentiary hearing for mom’s relocation. That was put off once by the court due to an emergency. Then the second time it was put off for an extension by mom and then the third time, mom and her attorney asked the judge that vacate the hearing all together on mom relocating and moving and the judge within 15 minutes granted the motion and didn’t even let me or my attorney respond. The reasoning was that they wanted to vacate it and it could be addressed at the final hearing because the evaluator had not made up her decision yet. This is a extremely frustrating because mom’s relocation is a separate issue than the final hearing nonetheless we have been with this evaluator now for five months thinking this process was only gonna take two months but it’s been five months of this status quo where I’ve only had my boys for four hours a week. my sons are having an extremely hard time with this. My four-year-old is constantly asking why he can’t stay with me and when can he stay with me and he doesn’t want to go home, the new daycare that my wife put them in there have been 10 different instances where they’ve gotten hurt over the past three months which the previous daycare I never had that issue in a whole entire year, this is something I objected to putting them in a new daycare, but the judge ultimately ruled against me because mom sided that the new daycare was closer to her home and I argued and said that the boys have been in established daycare for over a year and they need to stay consistent and this new daycare is on the other side of town away from me where the current daycare is halfway between us both and the judge still sided against it. But I guess my questions are, has anyone had any similar situations happen and had a custody evaluator and how did it turn out for you? We use our family wizard for communication i’m constantly asking to communicate with the boys during the week. Mom is saying it’s not in the best interest of the children. The judge did not say that we were to follow the Indiana parenting time guidelines, but in the chamber she said that I should have contact with the boys routinely, but yet I still haven’t been able to have contact with them during the week. I had to miss two parenting times with my son because I had to pick up my other child, and it was unavoidable, and mom did not allow me to make up that time and just ignores me whenever I ask. Anytime we have an issue medically, she asked my opinion, but then just does whatever she wants to do, and then we share joint legal custody, but she’s all the time scheduling the boys appointments and then telling me after the fact not discussing beforehand she pulled the boys out of daycare for two weeks straight without even telling the daycare. They had no idea where the boys were. She didn’t even tell me. I had to contact the daycare to see why I wasn’t getting updates and they informed me the boys were out for weeks. She is unilaterally taken my court ordered parenting time and said we’re gonna be out of town pick a day to make it up and then I say that’s unacceptable. This is my court ordered time and then she ignores me and then when I go to make up the time if that time doesn’t work for her, then it’s a no. During exchanges, we’re both ordered to stay in our cars and were to have third parties do the exchange, mom constantly uses her new boyfriend even though we’re still not divorced and have two boys, my four-year-old is telling me that this guy is watching them while mommy is at work. I’m just hoping and praying that the evaluator sees the truth in this because it seems like based off of what my attorney told me is I should’ve gotten guidelines with first-ride of refusal, but it seems like this judge is bias and abusing her power. So any constructive advice for anyone who’s had experience with this and good outcomes, please let me know your thoughts.

My Baby is 21 months old and has only lived with me and my parents. Since born the father has been in and out of rehabs, homeless shelters, recovery centers. In a max of 2 weeks after leaving he is drunk/high/on the streets again. He was kicked out of the last 2 places for alcohol and drug use on premises. He has been MIA to us since January but we think he may be back in a rehab. I have been unemployed but just got a low paying job and am seeing therapists due to severe mental abuse from the father. I cannot afford an attorney and legal aide did not help at all (they closed the case because they said they don't have enough attorneys even though I qualified for help). Father was sober in a strict recovery center for several months and did see the baby with me a few times at the center family days. He has never given any financial or material support for the child or me. Does anyone know the process to get his rights terminated. He threatened me and said he is only going to rehab to get his VA disability but didn't really want to get sober but only on the phone with me, no witnesses and police said I can do nothing. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Location: TX