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psfunkytek

Guest
What is the name of your state? CA

How do I begin to fight a flawed custody evaluation? I just received the summary and in addition to a recommendation of Mon, Tue - Wed, Thur Joint custody with alternating weekends when dad lives almost 1 1/2 hours away from school and I live about 15 minutes, she made several blatently untrue statements in her report (i.e. that there would be a stepfather even though I specifically told her I was NOT going to marry, and that I don't include the dad in activities I completely do and he ignores it). I am concerned that she is retaliating against me for complaining to the court about the fact that she took almost a year (while doing nothing and making excuses) to complete her report. I had no idea they would simply send a copy of the letter to her.

My daughter already cries when she has to go to dad (and it's basically the only time she does) and has told her therapists she wants to kill her stepmom (because she mis-treats her according to my daughter).

HOW do you fight a bad custody evaluation? Any advice is appreciated. I have an attorney, but he has no clue. Just say's the evaluators report is law, that can't be right at any price.
 


casa

Senior Member
psfunkytek said:
What is the name of your state? CA

How do I begin to fight a flawed custody evaluation? I just received the summary and in addition to a recommendation of Mon, Tue - Wed, Thur Joint custody with alternating weekends when dad lives almost 1 1/2 hours away from school and I live about 15 minutes, she made several blatently untrue statements in her report (i.e. that there would be a stepfather even though I specifically told her I was NOT going to marry, and that I don't include the dad in activities I completely do and he ignores it). I am concerned that she is retaliating against me for complaining to the court about the fact that she took almost a year (while doing nothing and making excuses) to complete her report. I had no idea they would simply send a copy of the letter to her.

My daughter already cries when she has to go to dad (and it's basically the only time she does) and has told her therapists she wants to kill her stepmom (because she mis-treats her according to my daughter).

HOW do you fight a bad custody evaluation? Any advice is appreciated. I have an attorney, but he has no clue. Just say's the evaluators report is law, that can't be right at any price.
You can motion for (& pay for) a 733 evaluation- and have another evaluator essentially go over the evaluation to look for errors or bias etc. It's costly.

CA strongly favors joint physical custody. Whether or not the Dad is 1 1/2 hrs away or not...#1) He's willing to make that drive, and #2) Almost everything is at least 30 min. away in CA, so what's the huge stretch in it being a priority to have parenting time?

If your stepdaughter wants to kill her stepmom bc she believes her stepmom is 'mean' to her... :rolleyes: ...um, You should be working on finding out what daughter's issues are. That's a bit much.
 
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psfunkytek

Guest
Thanks...

Everything has and will be costly. I am very concerned about my daughter wanting to kill her stepmother. She's in therapy and that's where it was revealed.

The reason I have a problem with the drive isn't the dad, it's my daughter. It's disruptive to her sleep schedule and schooling (I work from 9-6, it's not possible for me to put her to bed the same hours he does) and HE was the one who moved so she is always off schedule and tired. Right now I don't know ANY kids in elementary who are comuting 1 1/2 hours to school, MAYBE high school, but the judge already said that school comute was a hardship. Also, she get's car sick during the drive (documented) and sometimes arrives at school not feeling well at all.

Anyway, thanks for the advice. I will petition for the 733, there are DEFINATELY errors, so I'll start with that.

If anyone else has advice, I'll take it. My daughter already said she would be upset about having to spend that many days at her dads because she said and I quote "xxx stepmom" will just torture me".

Thanks.
 
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psfunkytek

Guest
Update

I've also learned that the evaluator has requested to have a "Special Master" appointed. Does anyone know what that is, what it costs and who pays for it?

Thanks,

Marina
 

rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
I have read some of your threads, I have responded in the past to at least one very early on.

Here is the thing, when there is an EC 730 evaluation, someone is unhappy, so the evaluator normally requests a court order for the evaluation granting Quasi Judicial Immunity, that prevents you from taking action against the evaluator and allows them to be unbiased and conduct their evaluation free from threats of retaliation. The appointment of a Special MAster is meant to preserve the chain of evidence and confidentiality of all parties.

You have a history of contempt and of making excuses upon excuses for your contempt. You even fail to work with your own attorney so I am not surprised that you are unhappy with the results of the evaluation.

Are you in therapy?

You didn't give the county in which the court has jurisdiction, have you read the local rules re EC 730 evaluations and the CA codes? That will answer your questions since you don't seem to work too well with your attorney.
 
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psfunkytek

Guest
Issues

You must have the wrong person. I've NEVER been convicted of contempt and even on the one time it was brought, the judge admitted that he didn't make that order.

Also, I also cooperate with my attorney, I debate him and play devils avdocate, but I cooperate with him. I know about the immunity for evaluators and I think it's important that they have it, but there is nothing to stop me from requesting a hearing to have her delisted. That's not because of her evaluation, it's because she took almost a year to complete it and in the meantime, much damage was done to my family. She didn't notify the court as to why there was a delay (which she is required to do) and there were months of blocks of time when nothing was done on the case. If it were a govt. eval where we hadn't paid, I'd expect that, but together, we paid almost 10k.

There are many things that happen in life that I don't like and I brush them off, but when something happens that I believe was malicious (and I'm admitting I don't know if that's the case or not), then I use the proper channels. That's all I'm doing here.

The thing that concerns me most about the evaluation is the blatent untrue statements that were made in the part that I have read. If that wasn't the case, I'd just roll over and take the evaluators recommendations even if I didn't like it.

Thanks to the poster who gave the link on the special master, I need that info.
 

rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
psfunkytek said:
You must have the wrong person. I've NEVER been convicted of contempt and even on the one time it was brought, the judge admitted that he didn't make that order.

Also, I also cooperate with my attorney, I debate him and play devils avdocate, but I cooperate with him. I know about the immunity for evaluators and I think it's important that they have it, but there is nothing to stop me from requesting a hearing to have her delisted. That's not because of her evaluation, it's because she took almost a year to complete it and in the meantime, much damage was done to my family. She didn't notify the court as to why there was a delay (which she is required to do) and there were months of blocks of time when nothing was done on the case. If it were a govt. eval where we hadn't paid, I'd expect that, but together, we paid almost 10k.

There are many things that happen in life that I don't like and I brush them off, but when something happens that I believe was malicious (and I'm admitting I don't know if that's the case or not), then I use the proper channels. That's all I'm doing here.

The thing that concerns me most about the evaluation is the blatent untrue statements that were made in the part that I have read. If that wasn't the case, I'd just roll over and take the evaluators recommendations even if I didn't like it.

Thanks to the poster who gave the link on the special master, I need that info.
Gosh this gets tedious! I said I had read some of your threads and that you have a history of contempt and excuses, I didn't say you were convicted, but as anyone can see by reading the following post it is full of excuses and clearly shows you were in contempt for not presenting your child at the exchange and even your own attorney could not get a hold of you.

Your attonrey knew you would be unhappy with the EC 30 Evaluation and didn't push it.

Now did you do what I said, read the local rules and also look up the associated CA codes, yes I know what they are but not, I'm not going to tell you what they are.

Can you answer the question, are you in therapy?


https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=269392
psfunkytek said:
What is the name of your state? CA

I have recently been served with contempt papers for violating a family court order. I would appreciate any input on the best way to assure this is dismissed at arraignment (if possible) so I can avoid a trial and delay my ongoing 730 Evaluation.

I had a hearing on June 7, 2005 in which I was present and the judge order that both parents could have two non- consecutive weeks of vacation during the summer. My ex selected his time on the spot, and based on the date he picked, the judge gave the end dates for his vacation (which happened to be Saturday). I was unable to give the dates I wanted immediately, so the judge ordered that I notify ex of my dates by June 30, 2005. Ex left the country and gave my attorney dates of 7-1 to 7-8 and 8/31 - 9/7 for my days. Ex returned on June 25 and complained to his attorney that he didn't like my selections because it meant it would be too long since he had seen our daughter. So I offered him several day's in which he could have extra visitation, but he never responded respond.

When I got home on July 1, 2005 (I work from 9-6) I casually checked my e-mails and voice mails and found my attorney was frantically trying to reach me because he had signed an order (I’ve begged him never to sign anything without me seeing it first) that said that vacations MUST run from Saturday to Saturday at 11:00am and therefore from 6pm (which I can never make anyway) until 11:00am on July 2, was ex's custodial time and I had to take her to the transfer point ASAP! It was about 7pm when I got the fax (via efax/e-mail) and voice messages (on my cell phone which I do not answer or check at work because I have been written up for being on the phone too much). My daughter had been at home with my mom babysitting that day and they were not home. The police station (transfer point) was also calling me.

My mom doesn't drive, so I rushed out hoping I could find them (they frequently walk to a nearby park) and take my daughter to the transfer point. Even though I was already an hour late, of course he knew I could NEVER arrive by six, because that's what time I get off work and it's about a one hour drive. I couldn't find my mother and finally went back home at about 7:45 my mother and daughter were back, but I called the station and ex was gone. In the past I would have dragged myself and poor daughter out and hi-tailed it 25 miles in traffic, but just can’t anymore, especially with the very real possibility that he’ll refuse to answer and I’ll have driven for nothing (it’s happened before).

Barely relevant was that ex lives about 25 miles from transfer point and we have GOD AWFUL traffic in so cal on holiday weekends so if I had gotten her to him (say 8pm) she would have likely been sleep by the time he got home and he would have had to get up the next morning (on his route there is FREQUENTLY traffic even on Saturday Morning) and drive her 25miles back (ex torments both me and daughter with this type of stuff constantly, but I comply whenever possible, for exactly this reason - avoid more stupid litigation).

A few day's later, he sends an e-mail demanding that I give up my weekend (I only get 2nd and 5th where there is one) ignoring all the specific time I offered him or he is going to charge me with contempt (extortion?). I told him I already had plans for that time and could not accommodate.

About one month later, I'm personally served with contempt papers for failure to deliver my daughter for custodial time with ex on July 1st. Hearing/Arraignment on matter is 8/31 I want this DISSMISSED on 8/31.

Specific questions are as follows:

1) Is this obviously malicious, vindictive behavior that the judge will toss out? I've read the CA statute for contempt and it states that it must be willful disobedient behavior of an order that you have the ability to comply with. The order wasn't reflective of the hearing (transcript forthcoming), therefore I had no knowledge that I had to plan to turn over custody that evening until it was way too late as my attorney left the voice mail on my cell phone at 4:20pm on July 1st admitting his signing the bad and explaining the situation.

2) I have told attorney that I think it's unfair for me to have to pay for his defense of contempt charges, he signed an inaccurate order. He's admitted the mistake (but of course no attorney is going to voluntarily waive fees).

3) Does anyone see this as clear and obvious malicious act on the part of ex. There is a pattern of him doing this, but attorney doesn't want to present the pattern until trial (which I don't want to have and told him I'm not going to pay), just the facts of this instance.

4) I've been told that contempt is "quasi-criminal". What exactly does that mean and am I eligible to have a public defender or my attorney compensated as a public defender?

5) Any other advice

Thanks,
 

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