My wife had her daughter in Illinois with her ex in 2003 and they agreed to joint custody, they were never married. In October of 2010 my wife and I got married in the state of California (where I currently reside) and as of May 2011 she won the custody to remove her daughter from the state of Illinois and move to the state of California at the start of the school year. The custody agreement is that the daughter remains in California for the school year and flies back to Illinois for Holidays (Summer, Thanksgiving, Winter & Spring Break). If the father moves away from his current city (which is very likely) he will have to pay for 1/2 of fee of the transportation and my wife is required to pay for full transport if he stays in his current location. This ruling was based that he made his case that my wife was removing their child from the community. When in fact if she moved from the community he too would move, either with or near his mother as he does not make enough income to sustain himself and a child on his own. Thus the only reason they were even staying in the community was based on her.
So as of last month my wife moved out to California to start a new job. My wife having a new job to start ended her lease and quit her Illinois job. 5 days before she was to fly out to California the ex tried to prevent her from leaving by telling her that he is filing an appeal and that the custody would revert back to the original agreement of basically 50/50 split time upon filing. The whole time though his lawyer seemed to be stalling and not agreeing to the agreement that my wife's lawyer was drawing up. In fact it took nearly 2 months and my wife's lawyer merely just brought the paperwork to the judge and it was finally filed last week. Two days ago her ex filed for an appeal.
Our belief is that he was stalling on the agreement so that when he filed for the appeal so their daughter would be forced to be in the Illinois school when the year starts causing another 4 month to 9 month push for her daughter to move out here. Which would in turn cause my wife to move back and help take care of her daughter.
Which leads to the actual question, which agreement is in "play" until the appeal is settled? The old one, which would require my wife to move back to Illinois (which is not feasible monetarily) or the one stating that her daughter will move to California when the school year starts?
Also as I don't know how to handle this situation, any advice on what to do now would be appreciated.
My wife and I don't have much money and can't realistically afford to rehire the attorney or another one. What should my wife and I do? I know I'm the Legal Stranger in this situation but I'm also the monetary support (as little as I have got) so I need to help figure this situation out.
Thank you.
So as of last month my wife moved out to California to start a new job. My wife having a new job to start ended her lease and quit her Illinois job. 5 days before she was to fly out to California the ex tried to prevent her from leaving by telling her that he is filing an appeal and that the custody would revert back to the original agreement of basically 50/50 split time upon filing. The whole time though his lawyer seemed to be stalling and not agreeing to the agreement that my wife's lawyer was drawing up. In fact it took nearly 2 months and my wife's lawyer merely just brought the paperwork to the judge and it was finally filed last week. Two days ago her ex filed for an appeal.
Our belief is that he was stalling on the agreement so that when he filed for the appeal so their daughter would be forced to be in the Illinois school when the year starts causing another 4 month to 9 month push for her daughter to move out here. Which would in turn cause my wife to move back and help take care of her daughter.
Which leads to the actual question, which agreement is in "play" until the appeal is settled? The old one, which would require my wife to move back to Illinois (which is not feasible monetarily) or the one stating that her daughter will move to California when the school year starts?
Also as I don't know how to handle this situation, any advice on what to do now would be appreciated.
My wife and I don't have much money and can't realistically afford to rehire the attorney or another one. What should my wife and I do? I know I'm the Legal Stranger in this situation but I'm also the monetary support (as little as I have got) so I need to help figure this situation out.
Thank you.
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