tired of going to court.....

What is the name of your state? MI

UGH!!! I have been divorced for approx 8 years. On an average, I have been to court, once a month for the past 7 years. This is not on my part but my ex will file a motion for whatever is bugging him at that time. No,this is no joke. He fought me for custody for 3 years and lost joint custody. He now has visitation every other weekend. An issue has been with the kids, who are 10 and 12 and their activities. He refuses to participate i.e take them, come watch them etc. It was ordered by the court that he is not to interfer with their activities and I provide 100% transportation, not a problem. I now have an issue, which he filed a motion, that he wants more parenting time. He works nights and is rarely there when the kids are there. He is remarried (4th time) and our children stay home with her children. Neither adult is present. A family outting to him is taking my children to a bar. My kids have voiced that they do not want to go.

My first question: is there a way to make him stop filing petty motions? I can't continue to take time from work. I know this is a silly question but I was hoping there might be something.

second question: from what I am finding, there is no legal age where the kids can voice if they want to go or not. Why are his rights more important than that of a child? I can understand if they are very young and throwing tantrums but these are older children.

third question: is there anything I can do about him taking my kids to a bar? I don't have proof other than what my kids tell me.

Thanks for you help. I would appreciate if anyone would like to attack my questions to please keep your opinions to yourself. This is suppose to be a help board not a slay board.

To the initial poster, do you have an attorney or have you been going at this alone? How about the other parent, are they being represented by anyone?

I have had 2 attorneys. 1 was my divorce attorney who really made a mess of things and the other one I retained to clean up this mess. I still seek advice from her from time to time but it doesn't seem to be doing much good. He has an attorney as well but he continues to do what he wants when he wants. He has even gone behind his attorneys back and filed motions on his own. When he files the motions, I just attend so they don't go in his favor and the funny thing is, 1/2 the time he screws himself and they tack on more for him to pay. You would think that he would learn but he never does.

I just want to put an end to it. I know I will have to deal with him until my children are 18 but I was hoping that there was something I could do in the meantime.

Good one

To the original poster, I am in a similar situation with my ex. He finally has admitted to retaining a lawyer for some time even though our divorce and child custody was handled in pro per. He wants to take me back to court for petty stuff, and I personally dont have time to take off work as well to deal with his petty crap. I need to work to support my 2 children, as I am a single parent. I cannot afford to take the time off like he can. I am the CP in our situation, and I am going back and forth with him regarding our daughters extra curricular activities and Lord knows what else he feels the need to argue with me about.
All I can say to you is, document, document, document. If you can afford to hire an attorney, try that route too. As far as going to a bar, well, if the court in Michigan will hear the statements from your children, then maybe they can talk to the judge about it. I know that here in Ca. they will take into consideration the child's statements and wishes at the age of 14. The child may even be appointed a lawyer on their behalf, but that is here in Ca. I dont know about any other state.

One Question to the orig. Poster ?

Have any of those Petitions been dismissed or found to have no merit ,and if so how many ?

In other words due to his Petitions , have the orders each Month been modified ?

Gosh, I'd like to help, but the nearest thing I can recall is something about countersuing for frivolous lawsuits... It's the blonde in me...

That reminds me of my favorite blonde joke. Want to hear it?

fried eggs said:

Gosh, I'd like to help, but the nearest thing I can recall is something about countersuing for frivolous lawsuits... It's the blonde in me...

That reminds me of my favorite blonde joke. Want to hear it?

Click to expand...

Frivolous . You let the cat out of the bag. Now let's define frivolous - A petition having no grounds for a hearing to take place.

In your responses to the filing of a Petition that has no merit ( issues to be brought before the court ), you can file an answer ( response) to the Petition claiming the Petitioner keeps filing " Frivolous " Petitions against me including this one. I request that the court sanction ( punish) the petitioner with Fines, incarceration,admonishment . or what ever the court deems fit and Proper.
That should take care of it !!!

Now Blonde Jokes Let's bring them on .. I'll start :

A blonde was traveling down the highway with her young daughter in the passenger seat.
She says to the daughter " Do you see that blonde out in the middle of that Field rowing that boat ?"
The Blonde driver says to her Daughter " If I didn't have to swim out to that boat , I'd go kick that blonde's butt "

In MI, if an establishment is strictly a bar and doesn't serve food, children are legally allowed to be there until 9:00 p.m. If it is a restaurant/bar, they can be there whenever.....

If MI is anything like WI, many neighborhood pubs ESPECIALLY for "Friday Night Fish Fry" have families regularly "dine" there in the earlier evening. It is not at all uncommon for families from the neighborhood to have Friday Fry at a local bar. Heck, I'm pretty conservative about what I allow my kid to do, and hubby and I have eaten at a nearby bar with our daughter since she was a toddler. And I run into attorneys, teachers, and doctors I know doing the same with their families.

Thanks for all your responses. To answer Blonde Lebinese question about if the motions where found to have no merit, most of them do. Actually, he has been found in contempt of court for not following his own request. He asked the court to grant a change in the order, when they changed it, he didn't follow it and was found in contempt. He seems to put his foot in his mouth every time we go but it's the case that I can't continue to take off work to go to court.

Here is a bit of tidbit information that might help you understand what type of person he is, he was a police officer with 6 years left to retire and was fired for interferring with an investigation. He filed for divorce twice, once when I told him I wanted to go back to school and the final one when I enrolled in a call a year later. He is a very controlling person.

I did contact the attorney that I was dealing with and asked if it were possible for her to go to court in my place. I know if I don't attend they will just approve his motions and I can't have that. I just get tired of the games.

Oh and the answer to the bar question, I have taken the kids to a resturant/bar as well but the place they go to, they are there till 1-2am. It is a bar, not a nice resturant or a local pub where kids are allowed till 9pm. I have started to document the time my kids tell me they went there so I can keep track...you just never know.

Two Blondes walked into a building.

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You'd think one of them would have seen it!