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Lawyer threatens to file contempt charges

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Sherry226

Guest
My fiancé has partial custody of his two boys, ages 8 and 9. His ex-wife's lawyer sent him a letter saying that if he took the children anywhere that had not been agreed upon by the ex-wife then they were going to file contempt charges against him. She is the custodial parent and he has partial custody; they also have joint legal custody. Can they do this? I thought that partial custody was when the noncustodial parent got to decide what they did with the children when the children were under their care, without interference from the other parent. It states nothing in the custody order about asking the mother if the father can take the children to a museum, an amusement park, or anyplace else. Could you please clear this up for me? We live in Pennsylvania. Thank you.
 


I AM ALWAYS LIABLE

Senior Member
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Sherry226:
My fiancé has partial custody of his two boys, ages 8 and 9. His ex-wife's lawyer sent him a letter saying that if he took the children anywhere that had not been agreed upon by the ex-wife then they were going to file contempt charges against him. She is the custodial parent and he has partial custody; they also have joint legal custody. Can they do this? I thought that partial custody was when the noncustodial parent got to decide what they did with the children when the children were under their care, without interference from the other parent. It states nothing in the custody order about asking the mother if the father can take the children to a museum, an amusement park, or anyplace else. Could you please clear this up for me? We live in Pennsylvania. Thank you.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

My response:

Here's what I need you to do.

1. Tell me exactly what happened BEFORE the letter from the attorney, that led up to the attorney having to send the letter.

2. I want you to EXACTLY quote the letter to your response. DO NOT type what you remember or think it says - - type it word for word. And, don't leave anything out.

IAAL



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By reading the “Response” to your question or comment, you agree that: The opinions expressed herein by "I AM ALWAYS LIABLE" are designed to provide educational information only and are not intended to, nor do they, offer legal advice. Opinions expressed to you in this site are not intended to, nor does it, create an attorney-client relationship, nor does it constitute legal advice to any person reviewing such information. No electronic communication with "I AM ALWAYS LIABLE," on its own, will generate an attorney-client relationship, nor will it be considered an attorney-client privileged communication. You further agree that you will obtain your own attorney's advice and counsel for your questions responded to herein by "I AM ALWAYS LIABLE."

 
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Sherry226

Guest
His ex-wife has been in contempt of the custody order for the last three years. He filed a couple of contempt charges against her already and it is apparently going to court because of her unwillingness to comply and also because he wants the order modified. He now lives about an hour away from the children and he has changed jobs. The change in jobs interferes with his mid-week custody.

Anyway, during the summer he told her that he wanted to take the kids to Dorney Park. Every time he brought up Dorney Park, she cut back the hours he was supposed to have the children for. He had told the kids that we were going to take them to Dorney Park, and they are very upset that they haven't been allowed to go with us. They say first their mother says they can go, then she says they can't. Well, school started and there went the chances to take them on a Sunday because they would have to be home early.

My fiancé wrote his ex-wife a letter. In the letter he said that he would like to exchange a Sunday for a Saturday in order to take the kids to Dorney Park since all other attempts had been thwarted by her. He asked if the hours could be extended (9am-9pm instead of 12pm-7pm). Before, when he asked her about it, she said he could pick them up at 10am and had better have them home by 3pm. This would have given us only two hours in the park and would have been nothing but a tease to the children. As you can see, that by telling her that we were going to have fun with the boys, she chopped two hours off the visitation time. The letter also stated that he had sent a copy of the letter to her lawyer and to the Family Masters Office. Boy, was she pissed!!

Her lawyer responded:
Dear Mr.------,
I am in receipt of your letter dated Sept.5, 2000, and have discussed it with Mrs.-----. Although Mrs.------ has some serios reservations because of your prior conduct, she is prepared to agree to you taking the children for a day to Dorney Park on September 30, 2000, subject to the following conditions to be confirmed in writing by you with my office prior to September 30, 2000:
1. The exact times on that Saturday would be from 9am-7pm, and not 9am-9pm.
2. The children are to be taken for the day to Dorney Park only(only is underlined), as promised by you and per your letter. If it should be found determined that you took them elsewhere, contrary to the agreement,I will promptly thereafter file the appropriate Petition for Contempt.
3. There is to be no beer or other alcoholic beverages in the automobile or on your person, and you shall not consume any beer or other alcoholic beverages the entire day. Moreover, you are not to give any alcoholic beverages whatsoever to the children. Should we discover that there has been a violation of this provision, a Petition for Contempt will promptly thereafter be filed.
I look forward to receiving your letter confirming the above terms. Please be assured that my client's agreement to do this is not to be interpreted as her agreement to the various other statements made in your letter, many of which she considers inaccurate.
Very truly yours, ---- --- ----,Esquire

By the way, he is claiming PAS on her. She likes to fabricate a lot of things. I don't know what is up with that beer clause.

Thanks!
 

I AM ALWAYS LIABLE

Senior Member
My response:

Okay, thanks. Sounds like she's desperate about something.

Anyway, when is the custody/visitation hearing? What is HIS lawyer saying about this matter?

If the custody/visitation order states what his visitation rights and times and days are, under what theory of law or agreement is her lawyer writing this letter? Has their been any changes to the custody/visitation orders since it was first ordered? If so, what and why?

There is obviously still more to be said by you, on his behalf. A lot is still missing from this equation.

But, I think, from this reading, that he's on firm ground. The only problem is to get the judge to believe it and go along with your finance'. Hopefully, all has been documented by your fiance'.

Let me know the answers to these questions, if you can, and let me know the outcome of the next hearing.

Thanks again.

IAAL

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By reading the “Response” to your question or comment, you agree that: The opinions expressed herein by "I AM ALWAYS LIABLE" are designed to provide educational information only and are not intended to, nor do they, offer legal advice. Opinions expressed to you in this site are not intended to, nor does it, create an attorney-client relationship, nor does it constitute legal advice to any person reviewing such information. No electronic communication with "I AM ALWAYS LIABLE," on its own, will generate an attorney-client relationship, nor will it be considered an attorney-client privileged communication. You further agree that you will obtain your own attorney's advice and counsel for your questions responded to herein by "I AM ALWAYS LIABLE."

 
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Sherry226

Guest
Dear IAAL,

Oh, yes, there is sooooo much more to say, but I posted a message on this board on Sept. 26 - Parent Alienation and Proceeding Pro Se. Could you please read that? It may shed some light on the kind of person we are dealing with here.

No, he doesn't have a lawyer. He cannot afford one. My cousin's husband is a lawyer and he gives us advice on what to do. However, he practices in Maryland an does not know what PA's laws are. He is the one who advised sending her the letter about taking the kids to the park.

Yes, he has over a hundred pages of documentation about her evil ploys. He documents every phone call, missed visit (Quite a few of those!!), incidents during visits (by her), etc.

I think that she may have paranoid personality disorder, or maybe the whole thing is an act put on for the kids. She keeps telling them that they need to be afraid of their father, but they aren't.

There is no court date as of yet. The psychological evaluation was just completed a couple of weeks ago (another one of her delay tactics) and he is awaiting the recommendation. The scary part is that she is a very GOOD liar.

Thanks a lot!

Sherry
 
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Sherry226

Guest
I forgot to tell you that, at a custody conference, they imposed a temporary order stating that he is to have the children from 12pm-7pm on Sundays. The original order was Tuesday and Thursday nights from 4pm-7pm with them spending the night sometimes, and Sundays from 2pm-7pm. It was changed because he can no longer see the kids during the week due to his job and the fact that he now lives about an hour away from them. Before, he lived right aroud the corner from them.

Thanks!
 

LegalBeagle

Senior Member
Sorry for jumping in.. but why does he NOT have regular visitation.. ie, from 6pm Friday until 6pm Sunday, every other weekend ? What has happened that stopped this ?
 

jyoung

Member
same thing happened to me several years ago
with my daughter (now 8) in Florida. Had told the ex that my new live-in and her son
and I and my daughter were going to Disney
for the weekend. She refused permission but
we went anyway; she attempted to have me arrested for kidnapping in Orlando but couldn't find me and then filed contempt charges. The judge rightfully threw her out
of court saying that during my visitation I
could go to China if I wanted to and that she
should realize how fortunate she was that my
daughter had a father who cared....
 

LegalBeagle

Senior Member
jyoung: Excellant example.. during visitation as long as the child is not in danger you can pretty do whatever you want.
 
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Sherry226

Guest
He didn't get regular visitation because at the time the children were too young. They are now older, and his circumstances have changed, that is why he wants a standard order. But, she keeps coming up with reasons why he can't have a standard order. It hasn't gone to court yet, but we think it should be soon since the assessment is done with. The original order was put into place about six years ago, and for the last three to three and a half years he has only seen his children for a total of about 28 hours (from Feb. 1997-Feb. 2000). Since he filed contempt charges against her, she has let him see the kids every Sunday. However, she has been very nasty about the whole thing. He sent a cop over to her house to do a well-being check on the children after he hadn't seen or heard from them for so long (she even ignored his phone messages to please have the children call). She wasn't to happy about that, either. But, he told her that he wanted to make sure that the kids were okay.

But, the lawyer said that he was going to file contempt charges. Can he do that, or is he just trying to scare my fiancé? I have to tell you that he doesn't scare to o easy. Thanks!
Sherry
 

LegalBeagle

Senior Member
He should have sorted this out a lot time ago.. forget the mother or her attorney and get things filed. Unless there is rock solid proof of a reason why he should not see his children then he will be granted better visitation. It may not be the full weekend as he has seen them so little in the last 3 years.. however, that is his own fault for not doing something sooner. I can not remember if you have an attorney, if not get one.. if you can not afford one, borrow if you have to...

At least resort, get the papers from the court house, have a paralegal fill them in and file them yourself...

However, he would have stood a much better chance 3 years ago..


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Psst... I do not work for Macdonald’s or Burger King, and even if I did, I would not tell you. For sloppy bread, tired tomatoes, frozen onions, watered down mayonnaise and imitation meat, please find a drive through window with a person who openly admits they make that stuff.

My advice above is equal to the advice they would give if you asked that person a legal question.
 

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