A
AlanaH
Guest
We live in OH. My husband's ex moved with their son (now 2 yrs. old) to AL. She's been nothing but problems from day one. She's continually refused to go by guidelines until she knows that my husband will not give in. She refuses to acknowledge my children (who my husband is in the process of adopting) as their son's brothers. She doesn't allow me or anyone else in my husband's family to have contact with him. She also refuses to tell us if the man she's living with (& has the child calling Daddy) is her new husband because she says it's "None of your business." She even told us we would have to send a camera & film down so we could have pictures of him. When she's done w/the film, we have to send money for postage to send it back.
Second, when we got him for X-mas visitation & made her go by the guidelines for transportation (both parents equally responsible), she threatened to take my husband to court for contempt because she said that when she moved to AL that changed the visitation guidelines. When we refused to give in, she did come get him.
Then, in January, when we told her we wanted him the 1st half of summer, she said no because she found out I was pregnant & thought we didn't deserve to see him because we were having a new baby. We contacted her numerous times by e-mail (which is our main line of communication) & phone to discuss the date we would be picking him up for summer visitation. She refused to speak to us about it until it was "convenient" for her which she said would be April or May. We finally sent her a letter stating what day we would be picking him up. One week before we were to get him, my husband called to confirm the plans. She stated that she'd already had jurisdiction transferred to AL & we had absolutely no visitation until summer 2001. Luckily, my husband tape records all conversations with her. Our attorney took e-mails & the taped conversation to the judge & got a court order for her to give him to us for summer visitation. We went to get him (1000 miles) & she called the sheriff's dept. on us when we got there. No one would help us, & we came home w/out him.
Here's where the real problem begins. As soon as we got back to our hotel, we called our attorney in OH & let him know what was going on. He filed a motion to change custody from her to my husband. Our court date was Aug. 10. While we were in AL the last week of June, the courts there sent us certified papers about a court date set for Sept. 27 which she had filed for to have jurisdiction transferred to AL & to get back child support. Apparently her motion was filed before our first one was. We still have not received anything about that hearing because no one was here to get the certified letter & it's not been sent back to us.
She didn't show up to our custody hearing. She did send a letter full of obvious lies - she doesn't have the money to pay for her half of the transportation, it would cost $150 for her to provide the 5 1/2 wks. of diapers that she must send with him, she's afraid we will take him & she'll never see him again. The judge said her attorney never filed with our court to gain jurisdiction and he was going to talk with the judge in AL because he was not willing to give up jurisdiction. It's been 3 wks., & we've still not heard from our judge.
Our attorney in OH says that because the child has lived in AL for over 6 mos., AL can take jurisdiction w/out our judge giving permission. The attorney also said even if the judge does give us custody, AL won't uphold it because of the 6 mos. He told us to get an attorney from AL to represent us.
We contacted 2 attorneys in AL who gave us conflicting advice. The first said we would have to get an AL attorney. The second said that because the last hearing heard on the custody case (prior to the one this month) had been held w/in the last 3 yrs. in OH, AL would not take jurisdiction.
Even if we do have to have an attorney from AL, we can't afford it. We don't know where to go from here. Which attorney is right?
[This message has been edited by AlanaH (edited August 29, 2000).]
Second, when we got him for X-mas visitation & made her go by the guidelines for transportation (both parents equally responsible), she threatened to take my husband to court for contempt because she said that when she moved to AL that changed the visitation guidelines. When we refused to give in, she did come get him.
Then, in January, when we told her we wanted him the 1st half of summer, she said no because she found out I was pregnant & thought we didn't deserve to see him because we were having a new baby. We contacted her numerous times by e-mail (which is our main line of communication) & phone to discuss the date we would be picking him up for summer visitation. She refused to speak to us about it until it was "convenient" for her which she said would be April or May. We finally sent her a letter stating what day we would be picking him up. One week before we were to get him, my husband called to confirm the plans. She stated that she'd already had jurisdiction transferred to AL & we had absolutely no visitation until summer 2001. Luckily, my husband tape records all conversations with her. Our attorney took e-mails & the taped conversation to the judge & got a court order for her to give him to us for summer visitation. We went to get him (1000 miles) & she called the sheriff's dept. on us when we got there. No one would help us, & we came home w/out him.
Here's where the real problem begins. As soon as we got back to our hotel, we called our attorney in OH & let him know what was going on. He filed a motion to change custody from her to my husband. Our court date was Aug. 10. While we were in AL the last week of June, the courts there sent us certified papers about a court date set for Sept. 27 which she had filed for to have jurisdiction transferred to AL & to get back child support. Apparently her motion was filed before our first one was. We still have not received anything about that hearing because no one was here to get the certified letter & it's not been sent back to us.
She didn't show up to our custody hearing. She did send a letter full of obvious lies - she doesn't have the money to pay for her half of the transportation, it would cost $150 for her to provide the 5 1/2 wks. of diapers that she must send with him, she's afraid we will take him & she'll never see him again. The judge said her attorney never filed with our court to gain jurisdiction and he was going to talk with the judge in AL because he was not willing to give up jurisdiction. It's been 3 wks., & we've still not heard from our judge.
Our attorney in OH says that because the child has lived in AL for over 6 mos., AL can take jurisdiction w/out our judge giving permission. The attorney also said even if the judge does give us custody, AL won't uphold it because of the 6 mos. He told us to get an attorney from AL to represent us.
We contacted 2 attorneys in AL who gave us conflicting advice. The first said we would have to get an AL attorney. The second said that because the last hearing heard on the custody case (prior to the one this month) had been held w/in the last 3 yrs. in OH, AL would not take jurisdiction.
Even if we do have to have an attorney from AL, we can't afford it. We don't know where to go from here. Which attorney is right?
[This message has been edited by AlanaH (edited August 29, 2000).]