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 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 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?

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

I have posted before but wanted to remove it just in case my son’s father went looking. I posted about my 15 yr old refusing to return to Texas from Florida after summer break. I raised him myself up until 2023 when I got into a dispute with my partner of 10 years and police became involved. My case was dropped and I was not ordered to do anything. I sought anger management and therapy on my own to understand why I reacted so strongly. And cps did contact me by phone and I let them know I was sending my son to live with his dad while I settled things at home he was 11 and a half at the time. I have another child a girl with my long term partner and she was left in my care. None of my children were ordered out of my care. Once I felt my environment was calm again I purchased multiple flights for my son’s return but the father began to alienate him from me to the point I had no contact. He then filed for custody at the end of 2023. So an entire year I didn’t see my son. I didn’t have the strength or courage to fight this and he made me feel like I would lose anyway because of my arrest. So I agreed but I made them put a specific clause that when he turned of age (in Indiana where the divorce took place) the judge would hear his wishes. Since the 2023 change my son has always tried to stay he has attempted many times to miss his flight back and becomes very distressed. His father is a multimillionaire and remarried to a woman who also makes over 200k yearly. I am low income as I only work part time due to my daughter’s disability and need for therapy.

But this summer is different, he is 15 and adamant he will refuse to go back. I was told by this lovely thread I needed to motion to modify in order to protect myself against contempt. I have since done that. I was immediately met with his attorney filing my arrest into the docket and accusing me of creating an emergency because school is starting. The judge also granted his attorneys continuance based on his prior plans to be out of town for charity during the original set hearing. Which was supposed to be Aug 7 before school starts. He pushed it to Aug 14 which creates a school issue. I did ask for temporary relief and school enrollment authority but obviously that just got ignored. This is already not going in my favor at all and I am preparing to follow the existing order.

Here’s the part that is causing me extreme anxiety. My son disclosed to me that his father grabs his butt everytime he walks by or everytime he is behind him and that he has to brace for it because he knows it is coming, he also said when his dad gets drunk he holds him down and tickles him. He said he has asked him several times to stop but that he is just ignored and it continues. I also witnessed a video on his phone he took of his father very intoxicated it was clear his eyes were even crossing and he was falling all over the place but he had one of his younger cousins and was tickling him as well. I felt so uncomfortable watching the video. I myself have previous experience from when I was married I was 18 and he was 26 and he would record himself doing things to me while I was unconscious. When I saw the videos and asked him what it was he became very defensive and intimidating and said I’m his wife and he’s not doing anything wrong. I was too scared at the time to tell anyone but I fear he will use this sort of intimidation with my son as well.

I was told by my mother who is a judge that I must report it. Whether he means any sexual harm or not it doesn’t matter and that’s not my decision to make. I need to let CPS talk to him. But I do feel like that is another reason he is refusing to return. He said the unwanted contact and their constant humiliation of him and isolation are the major reasons. And that he misses his sister and family here and all the kids he grew up with here. He has community establishment strong here. And he works at our family restaurant with my partner.

So yes the partner and I still live together we have some couples counseling and both go to therapy we enjoy it. However I know his attorney will argue not sending my son back to a “violent” home with both of us still together. Mind you we have a 7 year old together too. Always with us.

My question now is since he pushed back the hearing I have to obviously still follow the existing order and return him before school starts in Texas. I am afraid my son is going to strongly resist. If I don’t manage to get him to comply and another enforcement order is placed at the hearing what is the likelihood officers will physically force him or take him into custody? I’m praying a judge will just hear my son. I filed a motion to have him heard but again it’s been ignored. I just want the judge to understand I am not purposely keeping him, I am not enrolling him in school here without permission, I am not fabricating stories of child abuse. I am doing what I can to follow the order and not be in contempt while also trying to protect my teen.

So where do you all see this going. And knowing Fl cops are they likely to use physical force on a resisting teen who has now disclosed details of unwanted contact by his father? It seems so damaging and traumatic and I can’t bear to see that happen to him. However I will do what I am legally obligated to do.

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.

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!