What is the name of your state? Colorado, El Paso County
On Saturday, Oct. 21, I was served with a petition for allocation of parental responsibilities. With the paperwork, there was the standard court order issued to all parents, and a blank financial affadavit for me to fill out and submit. There was no summons, nor did my ex's attorney file a notice to set status hearing. There was also no financial affadavit filled out by my ex. I've been to legal aid, and a paralegal there is helping me, but there are some questions that she doesn't have answers to, and the managing attorney is out of town for a couple of weeks.
There are several things that are not on the petition that should be. I have a permanent protection order against my ex, and this is not listed anywhere on there, not even under the question that specifically asks if there are any restraining orders in place. Nowhere in any of the paperwork does it state what exactly he is asking for, or why. the question asking why the petitioner feels it would be in the best interests of the child for parental responsibility to be allocated to him is blank.
Also, the lack of summons is confusing me. It was not with the papers served on me, and I figured that maybe the process server just forgot it, but then I received the mailed copies directly from the attorney's office, and it wasn't in that paperwork either.
I've filed a response, a petition for waiver of fees, and the mediation order. It doesn't make any sense that he's doing this, as he actually sees my daughter more than I do. She lives with me, but he has every other weekend, from 6 pm on Friday to 6 pm on Sunday. We've always shared holidays. Since my daughter started school and weeknight visits are no longer feasible, due to the fact that he lives on the far north side of town and i live on the very south edge of town, I have been letting her go visit him for an overnight on what is supposed to be my weekend. So there is no history of my refusing parenting time to him. There is, however, a history of domestic violence committed by him, as well as a history of him threatening to sue for custody or reporting me to DHS for neglect (all determined unfounded) every time i didn't do exactly what he wanted.
So here are my questions:
1. Can I use the fact that my ex apparently did not disclose the existence of the PPO against him?
2. Is there anything I can do to find out exactly what it is that my ex is wanting? His attorney hasn't called me back yet, and it's been almost 2 weeks.
3. Does the lack of summons cause a problem? I asked the paralegal, and she said she didn't know. But given that the summons is the paper that tells me what I'm supposed to do and how long I have to do it, it's pretty important. The only reason I even knew what to do was because legal aid is helping me.
4. Can I refuse to turn in the financial affadavit until he has turned his in? He's done this before, and I turned over my financial information, which he then used against me, and he never turned his in. Instead, he brought a letter from his new employer stating how much he made. I have since found out that his employer lied on that paper. He is currently paying about $300 less per month in CS than he should be, because of this.
My ex tried to pull all of the same stunts in both the PPO hearing and the child support hearings, and did not get away with it then. I'm wondering if he'll be able to get away with it now. He tends to only disclose things that will make me look bad or him look good, and then plays dumb when things that make him look bad are disclosed. Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Rowan
On Saturday, Oct. 21, I was served with a petition for allocation of parental responsibilities. With the paperwork, there was the standard court order issued to all parents, and a blank financial affadavit for me to fill out and submit. There was no summons, nor did my ex's attorney file a notice to set status hearing. There was also no financial affadavit filled out by my ex. I've been to legal aid, and a paralegal there is helping me, but there are some questions that she doesn't have answers to, and the managing attorney is out of town for a couple of weeks.
There are several things that are not on the petition that should be. I have a permanent protection order against my ex, and this is not listed anywhere on there, not even under the question that specifically asks if there are any restraining orders in place. Nowhere in any of the paperwork does it state what exactly he is asking for, or why. the question asking why the petitioner feels it would be in the best interests of the child for parental responsibility to be allocated to him is blank.
Also, the lack of summons is confusing me. It was not with the papers served on me, and I figured that maybe the process server just forgot it, but then I received the mailed copies directly from the attorney's office, and it wasn't in that paperwork either.
I've filed a response, a petition for waiver of fees, and the mediation order. It doesn't make any sense that he's doing this, as he actually sees my daughter more than I do. She lives with me, but he has every other weekend, from 6 pm on Friday to 6 pm on Sunday. We've always shared holidays. Since my daughter started school and weeknight visits are no longer feasible, due to the fact that he lives on the far north side of town and i live on the very south edge of town, I have been letting her go visit him for an overnight on what is supposed to be my weekend. So there is no history of my refusing parenting time to him. There is, however, a history of domestic violence committed by him, as well as a history of him threatening to sue for custody or reporting me to DHS for neglect (all determined unfounded) every time i didn't do exactly what he wanted.
So here are my questions:
1. Can I use the fact that my ex apparently did not disclose the existence of the PPO against him?
2. Is there anything I can do to find out exactly what it is that my ex is wanting? His attorney hasn't called me back yet, and it's been almost 2 weeks.
3. Does the lack of summons cause a problem? I asked the paralegal, and she said she didn't know. But given that the summons is the paper that tells me what I'm supposed to do and how long I have to do it, it's pretty important. The only reason I even knew what to do was because legal aid is helping me.
4. Can I refuse to turn in the financial affadavit until he has turned his in? He's done this before, and I turned over my financial information, which he then used against me, and he never turned his in. Instead, he brought a letter from his new employer stating how much he made. I have since found out that his employer lied on that paper. He is currently paying about $300 less per month in CS than he should be, because of this.
My ex tried to pull all of the same stunts in both the PPO hearing and the child support hearings, and did not get away with it then. I'm wondering if he'll be able to get away with it now. He tends to only disclose things that will make me look bad or him look good, and then plays dumb when things that make him look bad are disclosed. Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Rowan