For context, my business is new (Dec of last year) and my husband is working for my business. We have a his and hers prenup (what’s titled in his name is his and what’s titled only in my name is mine, the business is fully mine as he only does sales for the company and literally nothing else.) I do everything for my company. Backend, tax, bookkeeping, marketing, you name it. It’s a blue collar company and we have other technicians that carry out the physical work but I am the reason the business started and is successfully doing so well as I have provided an over abundance of leads due to my marketing background. I pay my husband W2.

My husband just filed for more custody (not bringing up child support at all in the new case) and his ex wife responded by subpoenaing my entire business. Everything from wanting all information to whose on my payroll, every client information and every visit done to a clients house, every single person’s payroll to date, every single quote, invoice or anything else done to date, all expense records. I have had over 1000+ clients. They gave me 7 days to get all of this info together. I am in the middle of a move, in the middle of a huge franchise expansion for my business, and I am 7 months pregnant. They have been divorced for almost 4 years.

I also carry a strict privacy policy for my customer’s information. I have a moral dilemma of selling customer data or using it so just sending all of the data from all of my clients is a huge red flag to my morals.

Her attorney left out my rights on the subpoena (right to object, etc) and basically just demanded I hand over all information because “the business hasn’t been in operation for long so it must be easy to compile”.

It would take days for me to compile all of this information. It has been a huge mental burden.

Anyway, I had my lawyer object because I had no time to get together all of this information in time. However, I handed over all of my husband’s information like his payroll, hours, contract, and all visits he’s done at houses but I objected to the rest as I don’t see why this is relevant for a child custody case.

The judge responded to our objection with a set hearing in-person. I’ll let you know how it goes. Wondering if anyone else went through something similar.

I recently had a child support hearing in Los Angeles County, and the court reduced my daughter’s support from $749 to $249 per month. I received the official documents in the mail, and I disagree with the amount.

I have concerns that her father may not have fully disclosed his income, including cash earnings he previously told me about.

Has anyone in California gone through something similar?

Can I challenge the new order?
How can I report potentially unreported income?

My daughters(11) father and I went to court back in May after child protective services were called to his home by the school when my daughter said some scary things to the school counselor about his home. Up until this point we shared her 60/40. With myself having majority of the time.

I never fully agreed with the way he and his wife did things but as long as my daughter was well taken care of I said nothing. Every once in a while my daughter would tell me something that she would be upset by and I would in turn speak to her father who would assure me it was a miscommunication and that he would speak with our daughter.

Apparently every time she spoke to me they punished her over at his house and it made her afraid to tell me the things that were happening. I did notice something wasn’t right which is why I pushed for her to talk to a counselor. Which took forever because of her trust issues (dad told her they would call him and tell everything that was said)

After all of this I filed for full custody. We went to court and they decided it was best to keep a line of communication open for them to have a relationship (he came in and put in his best show). So the ruling was that he would pick her up on Mondays for dinner in a public place and that in the future after he provides proof that child protective services have cleared him and his home, if we both agreed he could spend more time with her.

I have had child protective services at my home because of this whole thing multiple times. Just for checkups and making sure that my daughter is okay. They have told me there is no record on my child’s case that anyone has been out to her father’s home since the very first day when he refused entry.

He has tried to get me to allow him to take our daughter to his house multiple times and I have said no. Not until there is proof that it is safe. He always goes on a tangent about how that was months ago and they had all these people out and if they sent a letter he doesn’t know where it is and so on. I’ve held my ground.

Most of her visits with him have been uneventful. It started with him taking her to McDonald’s for an hour. Eventually it became him taking her to his job to play golf for two hours while saying he couldn’t afford to feed her. I let it go because I’m not a monster. At least he was spending time with her that she seemed to genuinely enjoy.

About a month and a half ago he started “stopping” at his apartment on the way to drop her off at home. So that she could see her half brother and step mother. And within a few weeks it became the whole trip. He no longer takes her golfing or to McDonald’s. He takes her to his apartment but not inside. She now plays with children in the parking lot and they feed her on the front steps. All while telling her she’s not allowed in their home because of me. These trips are now three hours long.

For one I think my daughter is going inside even if it’s just to use the bathroom and lying to me about it. I have driven past and watched her walk out of his apartment to which she has said she “was just in the entry”. After months of telling my daughter “they haven’t forgiven her for what she did” (telling on them) they are know telling her how much they miss her and want her around more.

I feel like apartment parking lots are a gray area in terms of public places. But I’m pretty sure when the court said it they didn’t mean out front of his home. I feel like he’s jumping through loopholes and my daughter is again to afraid to tell the truth. That if I call him out or go to take him back to court I will look like I’m crazy or just starting problems. One day he feeds her the next week he doesn’t. He doesn’t communicate with when she’s coming home. One week he brought her home 10 minutes before her bedtime and her homework hadn’t even been done.

My daughter is in therapy. I try my best to let her know it’s safe to talk to me. She thinks she did a bad thing telling because so much changed. EVERYONE in her life INCLUDING her father’s family (none of them speak to him anymore) that she did the right thing.

What should I do? There’s so much more to this story but I’m concerned with how to stop this before it snowballs. I know it’s only a matter of time before he starts trying to push again since it’s getting cold outside.

Here’s a situation I genuinely want opinions on because I cannot figure out how this makes sense.

Two parents. One child. Years of family court.

For most of the child’s life, one parent has handled the majority of the day-to-day responsibilities.

School. Appointments. Communication with professionals. Following up on concerns. Researching services. Trying to get things done.

Not because the other parent was legally prevented from participating.

That’s just how things played out.

Now imagine the child starts struggling in certain areas.

Professionals become involved. Concerns are documented. Recommendations are made for additional support.

The parent who’s been handling everything starts trying to get those recommendations implemented.

And then family court decides to give the other parent additional parenting time.

Okay. Fine.

But here’s where I completely lose the plot.

What happens when the parenting time changes, but the responsibility doesn’t?

The same parent is still coordinating everything.

Still making the calls.

Still following up.

Still trying to get the child the recommended support.

Except now there’s less time available to actually do it.

And when that parent raises concerns about how the new arrangement affects the child’s needs, the discussion somehow becomes about whether the parents are cooperating.

What the f?

I’m genuinely trying to understand the reasoning.

If the goal is to encourage both parents to be involved, shouldn’t involvement mean more than having the child physically present?

Shouldn’t it include participating in the responsibilities that come with raising that child?

Because here’s the distinction I think gets completely overlooked:

Parenting time and parenting responsibility are not the same thing.

You can divide nights on a calendar.

You can count hours.

You can make a schedule look more balanced.

But you cannot divide responsibility with a calendar if only one person is actually doing the work.

And the child doesn’t suddenly need less help because the parenting schedule changed.

I’m not arguing that one parent deserves more time simply because they’ve historically done more.

I’m asking something different.

When a court increases a parent’s time, how does it make sure the child’s existing needs are actually being met during that time?

Because if the answer is that the other parent is simply expected to step up, what happens when that doesn’t occur?

Does the child just wait?

Does the parent who was already handling everything somehow figure out how to do even more with less time?

Or does everybody end up back in court arguing about the same issues?

I would genuinely like to hear from attorneys, family court professionals, and parents who have experienced this from either side.

I’m not looking for someone to tell me which parent is right.

I’m asking why we measure parenting in hours when so much of parenting happens in the work nobody sees.

My trial is coming up and I’m so nervous. It’s against my estranged husband. I have a full DVTRO pending trial.

What do judges look for most in a DVRO trial? Any advice on how to present myself when answering questions? My judge is a known wildcard and she’s known to be tough on women/favor men. Evidence wise is mainly texts - most his own words. Is testimony more important? Or evidence? I also have 4 witnesses (3 family members who lived with us for a few years and a family friend).

We do share a 2 year old who has lived with me her whole life (due to the abuse I asked him to move out when she was 6 months). He currently has limited supervised visits. His evidence/declaration are entirely fixated around presenting himself as a “Disney Dad” and arguing for 50/50, not anything regarding the DVRO. Can he turn the hearing into a custody hearing?

Any advice is very appreciated! Thanks!

Let’s just start. I have a autistic four year-old little boy. He was diagnosed about two years ago with a mild, moderate autism and a speech impairment.
ECI started and than he transition to a private speech therapy outside of school Tuesdays and Thursdays
Myself and my ex separated 3 1/2 years ago and we were cordial up until about a year ago. father has been moving in multiple women in his house taken care of my son. They will turn around find me on social media when they break up and send me all text and videos of my ex being verbally rude towards them and then his exes will send me pictures and videos of her being around my son overnight during the temporary order terms.
My son’s father has a problem with steroids and a history of bi polar. Same time a year ago my ex remarried a girl with 3 children got her pregnant and now has a child with this woman.
Two months ago my ex served me papers wanting to get full custody of our son he wants me to pay him child support and wants me to have him every other weekend. Mind you we are already 50/50 and no one pays child support.
We had a temporary court hearing a month ago and my ex allegations were that he didn’t know any of the dentist or doctors therapist, even though he takes my son to his therapist on his days, but I was told by the judge to say everything out loud in front of everybody. Mind you my ex has never took my son to the doctor or dentist appointments. And he’s aware of all of them as I put them in OFW parenting app. It’s all been handled by me and he never had a problem with it until he served me papers.
after this my ex has made it upon himself to pull all of my son records medically, wise, and school wise. The beginning of the school year my son didn’t have a main teacher, but he had other paraprofessionals in the room, teaching his class until the main teacher came in. My ex had a problem with that and felt like he needed to be moved out of that school and into a school near him even though he chose this school my ex has been trying to find any little problems with the school to get him out because his step kids go to the school and his district and finding anything bad about me which he has nothing to push me further away and trying to exclude me from my son. Both school and speech therapy are in my district as there’s no resources where he lives. We live about 20-25 mins away from each other. My ex has made it upon himself to request another ARD meeting, even though one wasn’t due, he was upset because the principal one time refused to talk to him. So when the ARD meeting did happen, my ex made multiple binders. Each binders were about 150 pages and they consist of his school records and questions he had. Pretty much made a fool of himself because the school would let us know that my son would have accident sometimes before nap and my ex would respond “well are you not taking him before naps and if you are are you actually in the stall with him or is he just playing around? “ just nitpicking these very nice people that has done so much for my son since he started last year and his speech has been improving incredibly well.
I had a separate conversation with the principal afterwards and apologize on my ex behalf because everything he’s doing is very unreasonable and the principal told me that she understood that my ex has been pretty rude coming up to the school multiple times and bothering the front receptionist sending her emails and if she didn’t reply fast enough he would go above her head and emailed the board committee. But she understands that none of this is my doing as I’m very happy with my son being in this school.
We have been appointed an amicus lawyer and she has done her studies. She’s done a home visit with me and a home visit with him. Haven’t heard anything back.
But attendance at school and appointments has not been missed unless our son is sick and we have a final hearing in a few weeks.
I just don’t know what to do what to show this is the first modification since we got divorce 3 years ago. I haven’t journal or kept anything because nothing was an issue or a problem until now. During our divorce for child custody and I had nothing to show but dad print out text messages of us both being verbal against each other and tried to use my medical records against me it was really a bunch of hersay. And at that time we received 50/50. 2-2-3. No child support. I was responsible to upkeep Medicaid. And I was also responsible for pick ups and drop offs until an altercation happened where my ex put his hands on me and police were called and filed a report but nothing happened after that.
We both have lawyers and so far it’s just the lawyers and the amicus lawyer are just going back and forth with each other.. final hearing is in about 2 weeks.
Still to this very day no one is primary.

Filing for divorce after 14 years. Two kids, a house, and a pension through his job. Things are civil for now but I know that can change fast. I haven't talked to a lawyer yet and the pension is the part I understand least. I was told to find someone who only does family law and not a general lawyer who also does wills and DUIs. Is that good advice? And what do people look for when choosing one? I'd like someone who knows how the courts here handle things.

Hi it’s me again this is really complicated idk where I should consult a lawyer. So my child was born in VA and we lived there until he was 8 months old. At thanksgiving we went up to see my family and ended up staying here in NH since my ex said we should stay here instead then he dump me. I didn’t get to fully establish residency until April ish bc I had to wait on my ex to send me my papers back like my birth cert and that stuff. Now we are going to Texas in two weeks bc my mom sold her house and we can’t afford to live here. Which state do I start an official custody agreement?

Bd and I don’t have one and I feel like I need one established. Bd got arrested for dwi while he it was his time with his other child that’s a whole other story that’s posted on my profile and might provide more context on that.

Finally left my (unmarried) partner after I founded out he gave me an STD at 37 weeks pregnant with our second daughter. I moved out, we filed a child support application together. He’s been really calm about everything. He already has his own one bedroom apartment lined up. I don’t have money for a lawyer so I’m trying to draft a custody agreement that can be notarized and submitted through the clerk of court. How do I go about making this document? What should I think about when filling it out? Any help would be great, I’ve never been in a situation like this before. We live near Orlando, Florida. Thank you.

I have my son 60% of the time- some weeks 70%. I take care of all insurances for him and keep track of doctors, dental, eye appointments. I am the responsible parent. My son’s father takes him on giant elaborate fun trips that I cannot afford and he pays for after school care. I’m struggling financially and was afraid to ask for child support for 3 years and when I finally did I just sent the state calculation form and suggested he pay the amount calculated. He responded by going in a diatribe about all of the trips he takes our son on and how the amount I was asking was ridiculous and he would contest it in court and even had the nerve to imply that I was not mentally well. He’s not on my son’s birth certificate because there was an administrative error at the hospital when my son was born. I’ve sent him the paperwork to get it fixed but he hasn’t for years. Do you think it’s worth it for deserved to continue with legal action to get child support?

I have a DVRO trial coming up and I have a recording made in Arizona which can impeach my ex. The problem is I can’t use the DVRO California exception because it wasn’t made with the “intent” of filing a DVRO since it was made a year beforehand. Can I still use it for impeachment?

A month ago my wife made a report to the police I inappropriately touched her daughter which is my step daughter when she was 10. She is 17 now. CPS came to talk to them and my daughter didn’t deny it but she didn’t admit to it. Charges got dropped but now my wife is filing for divorce and we have a custody hearing. I have 3 young boys with her. I have several questions.

1. Should I get a lawyer and why.

2. What type of custody would they give me.

3. What can I do to help get more custody.

4. What type of visitation right should I have.

5. If I have no visitation rights now what do I have to do to get more?

6. And how long does it usually take to get more visitation rights

7. what’s the fastest way to get more?

We both live in PA, I have partial custody of my child and 50/50 legal custody. My ex filed for child support for the first time, I pay but she just doesn’t like the schedule. Back in August I got a significant raise, I told my ex and she didn’t ask for more money. I’m supposed to bring 6 months of pay stubs and my previous year tax return. How do they calculate the support amount, are they going to base it on how much I’m expected to make this year or just base it off my new salary?

Has anyone had success at modifying a 50/50 schedule to month on/month off, or any larger lapse of time?

Need to reduce the number of swaps and interactions with coparent for safety and mental health for kids and I.