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PFA order custody issues

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TNTWARRIOR

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania

Hello, my child has a PFA order against his father due to abuse. This PFA order is for 3 years. The custody order before the PFA was ordered said shared legal and physical custody. The PFA says this order shall supersede and previous order regarding custody, the actual transcript from the PFA hearing (the judges words) say "and this order supersedes any order regarding custody. The problem is that regarding the custody order another child is involved so it still is followed with the other child. The father had taken me into custody conciliation in front of the mediator requesting a custody modification. There was no modification granted, however since we had a conciliation conference the mediator recopied the old order and put a new date on it. The father is now claiming that the PFA is no longer valid and that he has shared legal and physical custody due to the new date of the custody order by claiming that the PFA order says that it supersedes any previous custody order and not future custody order. Are you even allowed to over ride a PFA order without going before the Judge that issued the PFA order as the father claims? I see 2 orders that conflict with one another, Neither me or my older child has agreed to modify the PFA. If I follow the PFA I could be held in contempt of the custody order, or if I follow the custody order, I will be violating the PFA. Can somebody please help, I am also dealing with a different judge in the family custody court regarding the custody order so I do not know if I can be sure they will even allow me to follow the PFA, they may try and force me to follow the custody order.
 
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mistoffolees

Senior Member
A custody determination does not supersede a PFA.

And even if it DID, what you described is not a new custody order - it's simply a mediator putting a new date on the old order.

If he tries to violate the PFA, call the police.

The odd thing is that you got a PFA to protect one child but not the other - which means that he still gets visitation with the other child? Really strange.
 
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TNTWARRIOR

Junior Member
Is there some point of law on this, I actually had an attorney tell me the custody order is allowed to be modified.
The Judge couldn't do anything about the other child because we went off of this particular incident for the PFA. The Judge wanted to pull the other child, however said that they did not have the authority because there was no PFA filed on behalf of the other child or a reason at the time. The judge said they would let Children service decide if the other child was safe, but I already knew that childrens service wasn't going to do anything because they were in the PFA hearing testifying on the fathers behalf and trying to get the PFA thrown out.
 
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TNTWARRIOR

Junior Member
as in allowed to be modified to reflect the PFA and remove all custody for the child it protects.
I somewhat understand what you are saying, the only thing that I can see that wouldn't be a PFA violation is something like saying that the father has a right to be notified if the child is sick or maybe how they are doing in school but still without contacting the school.
 

Banned_Princess

Senior Member
I somewhat understand what you are saying, the only thing that I can see that wouldn't be a PFA violation is something like saying that the father has a right to be notified if the child is sick or maybe how they are doing in school but still without contacting the school.
Is this a no contact PFA or a no abuse PFA.?

Whatever it says in the PFA is what it is. Thats the bottom line, I don't really know what you need clarified.

If the order is a no contact / stay away order, then the cannot contact or come near the protected individual.... if it is a refrain from order, it just means there will be severe penalties for continuing to abuse, but they can see each other and spend time together....
 

TNTWARRIOR

Junior Member
Sorry, I understand what your saying. It is no abuse and partial custody only with a supervisor at a designated facility. He has quit going to the visitation but he was only permitted once a week for one hour under supervision.
 

Banned_Princess

Senior Member
Ok, so you are saying that dad does not want to have supervised visits, doesn't participate in supervised visitation, but feels like he can go back to unsupervised regular visits based on a new date on an old order? is that what the problem is?

the restraining order does not loose its effect unless it is specifically modified before the three years are up, and unless THAT order says different it is still in full effect and enforceable.

So if I am misunderstanding your issue, please try to be more clear.
 

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