What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
I have a child custody hearing next wednesday. I do not have the money to hire an attorney but I have been getting a little help with paperwork from a friend who is a paralegal who works for a family law attorney.
We had an ex-parte hearing because I had her served with the papers on the day she was supposed to get my son back. On advice from the paralegal, I did not give my son back to his mother (I have him for a week every other week and switch off on sundays) and wanted to get something in writing saying that if I did, she would continue regular visitation untill we went to court (shes taken him before, and I went to the house where my son was to try and get him back and was arrested.about a year and a half ago when we were still together). On monday she hired an attorney and on tuesday we had an ex-parte hearing. I was oredered to give him back and resume regular visitation untill we go to our hearing.
The paralegal asked if I knew any of the mothers email passwords. When we were together, we shared a myspace account and she never changed the password. Later that day I checked the myspace account of my sons mother and found that the week before she was asking around for some MDMA and on the morning of the exparte hearing she was still asking about it and the same day after the hearing she was excited when her friend found some.
Can I use this against her in court? Do I have to file this as evidence before our hearing date? If so, is there a time limit when I have to have this filed by? My paralegal friend wrote up a "summary" or "supplemantal" order to show cause, but I did not mail it in to serve to my sons mothers attorney or file it with the court. I logged on my girlfriends myspace at the paralegals office and forgot to log off and the paralegal went through all the emails and was adding stuff that didnt have to do with the drugs (storys of my sons mother getting drunk and her telling one of her friends we share our son 50/50) being requested on the date of the ex-parte hearing. She als added notes about arguments that me and my sons mother got into but wrote them down wrong and i dont want to "lie" about something that didnt happen. I didnt mail it in at first because I forgot to, and the proof of service by mail had a very specific date. I didnt want to go back to this paralegal because she was the one who told me to keep my son untill i get a court order to give him back to his mother and she went through my ex's emails behind my back and she was writing stuff that didnt exactly happen.
Id like to redo the order to show cause myself, showing that my ex was trying to get drugs, but dont know if theres a time limit to serve my sons mother, or if i can just show up to court with it (the emails).
Also, we were ordered to go back to normal visitation, but on this last sunday when I called to confirm my sons mother picking him up, she told me to keep him for an extra 5 days. Can I use that in any way?
Thanks for any help...
I have a child custody hearing next wednesday. I do not have the money to hire an attorney but I have been getting a little help with paperwork from a friend who is a paralegal who works for a family law attorney.
We had an ex-parte hearing because I had her served with the papers on the day she was supposed to get my son back. On advice from the paralegal, I did not give my son back to his mother (I have him for a week every other week and switch off on sundays) and wanted to get something in writing saying that if I did, she would continue regular visitation untill we went to court (shes taken him before, and I went to the house where my son was to try and get him back and was arrested.about a year and a half ago when we were still together). On monday she hired an attorney and on tuesday we had an ex-parte hearing. I was oredered to give him back and resume regular visitation untill we go to our hearing.
The paralegal asked if I knew any of the mothers email passwords. When we were together, we shared a myspace account and she never changed the password. Later that day I checked the myspace account of my sons mother and found that the week before she was asking around for some MDMA and on the morning of the exparte hearing she was still asking about it and the same day after the hearing she was excited when her friend found some.
Can I use this against her in court? Do I have to file this as evidence before our hearing date? If so, is there a time limit when I have to have this filed by? My paralegal friend wrote up a "summary" or "supplemantal" order to show cause, but I did not mail it in to serve to my sons mothers attorney or file it with the court. I logged on my girlfriends myspace at the paralegals office and forgot to log off and the paralegal went through all the emails and was adding stuff that didnt have to do with the drugs (storys of my sons mother getting drunk and her telling one of her friends we share our son 50/50) being requested on the date of the ex-parte hearing. She als added notes about arguments that me and my sons mother got into but wrote them down wrong and i dont want to "lie" about something that didnt happen. I didnt mail it in at first because I forgot to, and the proof of service by mail had a very specific date. I didnt want to go back to this paralegal because she was the one who told me to keep my son untill i get a court order to give him back to his mother and she went through my ex's emails behind my back and she was writing stuff that didnt exactly happen.
Id like to redo the order to show cause myself, showing that my ex was trying to get drugs, but dont know if theres a time limit to serve my sons mother, or if i can just show up to court with it (the emails).
Also, we were ordered to go back to normal visitation, but on this last sunday when I called to confirm my sons mother picking him up, she told me to keep him for an extra 5 days. Can I use that in any way?
Thanks for any help...
Last edited: