Nowhere else to turn

I am very confused about what to do. My husband left me and our daughter and moved out of the house. Then I moved closer to my work so that I would have more time with my daughter. I had a long drive to and from work. My husband told me that I could have custody of her, then the day I moved, he took her and kept her from me. Then we went to court for emergency custody and he got custody because I moved. The Judge was very rude and bothered by the whole case. He called me a vagabond, and then in the next breath told me I was more mature than the father. The father had no stable job. or stable home. His lawyer put in a child support amount which he thought I needed to pay without consulting with me or my lawyer and had the Judge sign the documents to order me to pay it. Since that time I have been doing all that I can to pay child support, and my lawyer fees, which I cannot pay, I have only paid him 100.00 and I owe him so much already. Our final date in court is coming up soon. He has people on his witness list that don't have anything to do with our daughter. There are his sister's friends, his boss, people he went to school with in the 80's. I really don't see what that has to do with custody of a little girl. I need help but I cannot afford to do anything else. He tried having me held in contempt of court for not paying child support. I had to move back to the same town, break a lease with my landlord, to pay the back support. He threatened to take away my Wednesday nights with her because it was aggravating for him to meet me to exchange our daughter. I also need to check the child support guidelines for the State of Florida. I need to make sure that the amount is correct. It is a very large amount, and I cannot see how it is that high. Pleae if anyone is out there that can help me, please let me know. Otherwise I will be ripped from my daughter's life for good.

[Edited by MomInFlorida on 11-17-2000 at 07:56 PM]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by MomInFlorida [/i]
[B]I am very confused about what to do. My husband left me and our daughter and moved out of the house. Then I moved closer to my work so that I would have more time with my daughter. I had a long drive to and from work. My husband told me that I could have custody of her, then the day I moved, he took her and kept her from me. Then we went to court for emergency custody and he got custody because I moved. The Judge was very rude and bothered by the whole case. He called me a vagabond, and then in the next breath told me I was more mature than the father. The father had no stable job. or stable home. His lawyer put in a child support amount which he thought I needed to pay without consulting with me or my lawyer and had the Judge sign the documents to order me to pay it. Since that time I have been doing all that I can to pay child support, and my lawyer fees, which I cannot pay, I have only paid him 100.00 and I owe him so much already. Our final date in court is coming up soon. He has people on his witness list that don't have anything to do with our daughter. There are his sister's friends, his boss, people he went to school with in the 80's. I really don't see what that has to do with custody of a little girl. I need help but I cannot afford to do anything else. He tried having me held in contempt of court for not paying child support. I had to move back to the same town, break a lease with my landlord, to pay the back support. He threatened to take away my Wednesday nights with her because it was aggravating for him to meet me to exchange our daughter. I also need to check the child support guidelines for the State of Florida. I need to make sure that the amount is correct. It is a very large amount, and I cannot see how it is that high. Pleae if anyone is out there that can help me, please let me know. Otherwise I will be ripped from my daughter's life for good.

[Edited by MomInFlorida on 11-17-2000 at 07:56 PM] [/B][/QUOTE]

This may help you out some it is the link to the guidelines for support and state statutes for FL:

[url]http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?mode=View%20Statutes&SubMenu=1&App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=CH0061/CH0061.HTM[/url]

He did it on the phone, while telling me how it would be better if I was out of her life for the next few years and he would do anything he could to make sure I get what I deserve for not paying child support.

We had depositions all day with my witnesses. Then I try to call her tonight and he avoided my phone call and then I blocked my number and called his cell phone and he made up some lie that she would be at someone else's house for the night and that I could call her tomorrow night.

I did bring this up to my lawyer and he doesn't really say anything. He either just shrugs his shoulders or says "I know". He doesn't want to help that much because I haven't been able to pay him, so he considers that as working for free, and I guess that is the kind of legal advise I am getting also!

Yes, I did try telling my lawyer about the way he is trying to keep me out of her life, but nothing seems to help. No matter what he does he does not get in trouble for it. But it seems like everything I have done I get questioned. Such as eating out for lunch at work during the week. I am not allowed to do that since I owe child support. That is just one example.