Custody Issues

[olikolik]

What is the name of your state?Ohio

I have a nine year old daughter. I do not have custody, but I keep her 7 out of 14 days. We have had many issues with her Mother involving lice and other things that have not been enough to file for custodial rights. My wife and I believe that our daughter would be better with us ( as most parents probably do, wrong or right).

To get to the point, I would like advice as to anyones thought as to whether we have a strong enough case to go to court with. I do not want to put my daughter through a whole court ordeal unless I have a good case.

My daughter went on a weeks vacation with her Custodial Mother and family. When she got back she told me that her Stepdad did not go because as they were leaving he got mad at her Mom. She went on to tell me how he lost his temper, beat up their car, threatened her Mom, and finally they had to call the sheriff to have him arrested. I have no proof of this, so her Mom must not of pressed charges, if there were any to press. He did this in front of three kids, my daughter included. This is the second time he has had to be restrained by cops for this type of thing.

IS this finally what I need to have a strong case? If so how can I prove what happened?

Thanks for the help, sorry its so long. If you need more info please ask.

 

[djohnson]

Honestly, you get full custody based on this is slim, especially if you don't have loads of money to put into it. If there is currently no order though, you should get one in place asking for joint physical and joint legal. If there isn't one, then she can stop your visits anytime she likes.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state?Ohio

I have a nine year old daughter. I do not have custody, but I keep her 7 out of 14 days. We have had many issues with her Mother involving lice and other things that have not been enough to file for custodial rights. My wife and I believe that our daughter would be better with us ( as most parents probably do, wrong or right).

To get to the point, I would like advice as to anyones thought as to whether we have a strong enough case to go to court with. I do not want to put my daughter through a whole court ordeal unless I have a good case.

My daughter went on a weeks vacation with her Custodial Mother and family. When she got back she told me that her Stepdad did not go because as they were leaving he got mad at her Mom. She went on to tell me how he lost his temper, beat up their car, threatened her Mom, and finally they had to call the sheriff to have him arrested. I have no proof of this, so her Mom must not of pressed charges, if there were any to press. He did this in front of three kids, my daughter included. This is the second time he has had to be restrained by cops for this type of thing.

IS this finally what I need to have a strong case? If so how can I prove what happened?

Thanks for the help, sorry its so long. If you need more info please ask.

Even if mom didn't press charges (or the police didn't arrest him) there should be a police report. Police reports are public records. Go down to the station and ask for copies of all police reports relating to them.

Then, take those copies and go get a consult with a local attorney. Ask the attorney if the contents of those reports are enough evidence to have a decent shot at primary custody.

However, you also need to remember that what you hear from your children may not always be accurate. A child's impression of what may have happened could be very different from what really happened.

 

[olikolik]

Yes I do have a order right now that permits me the 7 out of every 14 days. When I established it I did not know about joint custody, and was under an assumption for some reason that Ohio did not have a shared parenting option availible.