Divorce & Custody

[marilee271]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Louisiana, but filed in South Carolina

This is actually my boyfriend's situation. He has been married for a little over 2 years to the mother of his 4 year old son. They moved to South Carolina where she was stationed in the Navy. She listed the date of separation on the divorce papers as August 2003, the date she was shipped off for 6 months. Steve says they did not separate until after she came back, sometime in March 2004, after it was confirmed she had multiple affairs with men on her ship. The MP's on the base came and took the kids away and forcibly made him leave the base. He then moved back to Louisiana, where he is from. He has made repeated attempts to contact his wife in order to talk to or see his son, but he never receives a response. She filed divorce papers through legal aid on the navy base, and in it she wants full custody of the son. Steve is refusing to sign the papers, because he wants custody of his son, but does not have the financial means to fight her. I'm worried that the divorce can go through even without his signature, if it's a long period of time, and he will lose the chance to see his son.

Any advice given will be appreciated. Thanks.

[bulldogg70]

Well out of all of the what you said the thing that makes the most sense is you fear the divorce can go through without him signing papers. You got that correct, after they follow the civil procedure of attemtpting to contact your friend, which they did, and he does not respond they move for a default hearing. A default hearing in itself is an ex-parte hearing because your friend is not there to present his side so the Judge can only go by what he is told and that is her side of the story.
Anyway, through the love affair stuff out, and get focused on what really matters and that is he needs to respond to those papers. I would also suggest he file for a continuance if time is running out and review what his options are so he can see his kids. The kids are depending on him to do that even if they do not know it right now.
Even if there is a default ruling you can move to change things, it will just take alot longer. Tell your friend to put his pride on the shelf about the love affairs and just move on and not forget about his kids.