S
Sherry226
Guest
My fiancé's ex-wife has been denying him access to their children for the last three years. He has filed two contempt charges against her and a petition for modification. We all live in Pennsylvania. She is the custodial parent and he has partial custody. They also have joint legal custody. We have been seeing the boys (8 & 9) every Sunday from 12pm-7pm since she received her contempt complaint (Feb.,2000). However, a month later, she sent a letter saying that she was "discontinuing visitation and severing communication because the boys have started acting up and saying thing that are sexual in nature that have adult overtones." He then filed his second contempt complaint. It went before the Master and my fiancé brought up the fact that she had been using the psychologist's recommendation (from the divorce) about supervised visitation (the court did not approve this recommendation). We don't know how she got a copy of this document since it is not supposed to leave the psychologist's office. The psychologist recommended that my fiancé receive therapy for anger management and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He did. Anyway, he got her lawyer reprimanded for letting this happen. The Master said that they had to start co-parenting or it would go before a judge. My fiancé said that he was more than willing to co-parent he just is never given the chance. He said that he would also go to court right then and there, and proceeded to pull page after page of documentation out. She got scared and said she wanted to keep it out of court, but that she wanted him to be assessed again by the same psychologist that did the first assessment. The Master told her that was fine, but that she would also be assessed.
They just finished up the assessment and are awaiting the recommendation. I already know that it will be going to court because if hae unwillingness to comply with the rules that are already set. She just keeps going with her shananigans.
She has kept those children from their father for almost three years (he only saw them for a total of 23.5 hours during that time). She keeps insisting to her lawyer and to the Masters that it was only because he hadn't been asking to see them (it's an order, he doesn't have to ask, she should just know he gets to see the kids on his days!!). Obviously, she has no clue about phone records. We have documentation on every phone call placed and received, on every visit, on every incident that occurred during that visit, etc. (over 100 pages).
She has told the boys that their stepfather is going to adopt them. She has told them not to call their father "Dad", call him by his name. She listens in on the phone converstions and then grabs the phone from the boys and tries to start an argument with my fiancé. She stands there and bad-mouths him, me, and my son in front of the children. She has shown all the court documantation to the boys and told them that their father is trying to take them away from her and have her thrown in jail. She has told the boys that they cannot spend the night because their father will never bring them back. She will not let him take the boys to Maryland (about 1 hour away) to met my family because I have a sister that lives in France (that's totally insane!!). She refuses to inform him about school progress, school events, sports, and medical issues (including operations). He has never had the boys on any of his holidays---it's always a week or two later or not at all.
The only reason that he wants the order modified is he now lives about an hour away from the children and he changed jobs. The original order stated that he was to have the boys two nights during the week and on Sundays from 2pm-7pm. All he wants now is the standard order: every other weekend, alternating holidays, and some time in the summer.
Do we have a good enough case to proceed pro se? We do not have any funds for a lawyer. She just had the child support raised because she is out of work due to the fact that she has Hepatitis C. I don't make a lot of money, plus I'm supporting my son on my own. His father walked out when he was a baby and we haven't seen or heard from him since. So, I know first hand how devastating it is to a child not to have a parent in their life.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Sherry
They just finished up the assessment and are awaiting the recommendation. I already know that it will be going to court because if hae unwillingness to comply with the rules that are already set. She just keeps going with her shananigans.
She has kept those children from their father for almost three years (he only saw them for a total of 23.5 hours during that time). She keeps insisting to her lawyer and to the Masters that it was only because he hadn't been asking to see them (it's an order, he doesn't have to ask, she should just know he gets to see the kids on his days!!). Obviously, she has no clue about phone records. We have documentation on every phone call placed and received, on every visit, on every incident that occurred during that visit, etc. (over 100 pages).
She has told the boys that their stepfather is going to adopt them. She has told them not to call their father "Dad", call him by his name. She listens in on the phone converstions and then grabs the phone from the boys and tries to start an argument with my fiancé. She stands there and bad-mouths him, me, and my son in front of the children. She has shown all the court documantation to the boys and told them that their father is trying to take them away from her and have her thrown in jail. She has told the boys that they cannot spend the night because their father will never bring them back. She will not let him take the boys to Maryland (about 1 hour away) to met my family because I have a sister that lives in France (that's totally insane!!). She refuses to inform him about school progress, school events, sports, and medical issues (including operations). He has never had the boys on any of his holidays---it's always a week or two later or not at all.
The only reason that he wants the order modified is he now lives about an hour away from the children and he changed jobs. The original order stated that he was to have the boys two nights during the week and on Sundays from 2pm-7pm. All he wants now is the standard order: every other weekend, alternating holidays, and some time in the summer.
Do we have a good enough case to proceed pro se? We do not have any funds for a lawyer. She just had the child support raised because she is out of work due to the fact that she has Hepatitis C. I don't make a lot of money, plus I'm supporting my son on my own. His father walked out when he was a baby and we haven't seen or heard from him since. So, I know first hand how devastating it is to a child not to have a parent in their life.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Sherry