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Emergency Hearing-Won't allow visitation

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fldad11

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Florida

I posted this last Friday:
MY Ex just found out about a DUI I got 2 years ago. We currently have shared parental responsibility & I have a very liberal visitation schedule. She filed court papers to modify the judgment to her having sole custody stating that I endanger my child & she is not safe in my car. SHe wants to suspend my visitation as well. I went through a 21 hour DUI class & a 6 month alcohol abuse program & attend a weekly meeting & was given urine tests for a year( all of which showed I am clean). I am willing to do annual alcohol evaluations.
We live 140 miles apart. I do ALL the driving, have never missed visitation, always pay child support. My daughter(5 years old) has never been harmed or even come close to it while she has been with me. I took off work to go to her school orientation & go to important doctor's appoinments, etc.
My question is how likely is it that I will lose Shares PArental responsibility for my daughter??

NOW- My visitation is every other Wed-Sun as stated in our final judgment. We had been verbally working out agreement that was going to be put in writing for my daughter to begin a Pre- K program full time. I was going to go to fri-sun until I moved closer in Jan 2006 & would get additional visitation. Now, since she filed for sole custody & is unwilling to work out an agreement I told her we would be sticking to the final judment wed- sun visitation. She has now filed for an EMERGENCY HEARING TO COMPLETELY SUSPEND MY VISITATION. She has told me she will not allow me to pick up my daughter on Wednesday when I am scheduled to but I can get her on Friday if I want. What can I do? Will my visitation be suspended because of a DUI in December 2003. I also had a DUI in 1994 which she brought up over & over in our final hearing where the judge still gave me liberal visitation.

PLEASE HELP!!
 


eyemback

Member
fldad11 said:
What is the name of your state? Florida

I posted this last Friday:
MY Ex just found out about a DUI I got 2 years ago. We currently have shared parental responsibility & I have a very liberal visitation schedule. She filed court papers to modify the judgment to her having sole custody stating that I endanger my child & she is not safe in my car. SHe wants to suspend my visitation as well. I went through a 21 hour DUI class & a 6 month alcohol abuse program & attend a weekly meeting & was given urine tests for a year( all of which showed I am clean). I am willing to do annual alcohol evaluations.
We live 140 miles apart. I do ALL the driving, have never missed visitation, always pay child support. My daughter(5 years old) has never been harmed or even come close to it while she has been with me. I took off work to go to her school orientation & go to important doctor's appoinments, etc.
My question is how likely is it that I will lose Shares PArental responsibility for my daughter??

NOW- My visitation is every other Wed-Sun as stated in our final judgment. We had been verbally working out agreement that was going to be put in writing for my daughter to begin a Pre- K program full time. I was going to go to fri-sun until I moved closer in Jan 2006 & would get additional visitation. Now, since she filed for sole custody & is unwilling to work out an agreement I told her we would be sticking to the final judment wed- sun visitation. She has now filed for an EMERGENCY HEARING TO COMPLETELY SUSPEND MY VISITATION. She has told me she will not allow me to pick up my daughter on Wednesday when I am scheduled to but I can get her on Friday if I want. What can I do? Will my visitation be suspended because of a DUI in December 2003. I also had a DUI in 1994 which she brought up over & over in our final hearing where the judge still gave me liberal visitation.

PLEASE HELP!!
She is trying to intimidate you and she's most likely going to get nowhere. She has no grounds to suspend your visitation and is trying to use this against you. If you have been doing what you were ordered to do AND you have been clean since them, then you should be OK. You having a DUI should have no effect on your visitation. The only time I would think this would come into play is if you were DUI with a child in the car. Do NOT offer to do anything more than you already have. Your ex would 'win' if you did and use that against you. Keep in mind she "just found this out" and nothing before this gave her a reason to think otherwise. She's trying to get all of the control, that's all.

Have you recieved a date for this "emergency hearing"? It very well could get tossed if she has no solid evidence to support her claims. She would have to prove she is not safe and you are unfit. Until there is a different order, she is to abide by the one currently in effect. If she fails to make the child available to you, then you need to file contempt charges against her immediately.

Do you have an attorney? It could be possible he/she could get this taken care of for you pretty quickly.
 

stealth2

Under the Radar Member
A DUI often results in a license suspension of some sort. Was yours suspended? How often did you drive your child around w/o a license? That could be a relevant factor.
 

fldad11

Junior Member
I never drove her while my license was suspended. My wife did all the driving, pickups, dropoffs, etc.. I was with her but NEVER drove. I knew it may come back to haunt me so I made sure to be very careful.
 
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fldad11

Junior Member
Today, X told me She will "allow" me to have my visitation. Can I use the fact that she is allowing me to pick up my daughter to show that I am not a threat to my daughter like my X is claiming?? She will allow visitation but wants to have Sole custody, does that make sense??
 

eyemback

Member
fldad11 said:
Today, X told me She will "allow" me to have my visitation. Can I use the fact that she is allowing me to pick up my daughter to show that I am not a threat to my daughter like my X is claiming?? She will allow visitation but wants to have Sole custody, does that make sense??
She's probably realizing the problems it'll create if she doesn't allow visitation. What she wants and what she'll get are two different things. If nothing has changed and happened since the establishment of the shared parenting, then she has nothing. She's reaching with this item she "just discovered."
In court, if you are allowed oral arguments, ask the court for you to be reimbursed for attorney fees and other costs you might have incurred.
 

casa

Senior Member
eyemback said:
Oh oh! I hope it's not another one of those threads where important and crucial details were left out....
It happens a lot, it's irritating isn't it? :cool:
 

casa

Senior Member
fldad11 said:
What is the name of your state? Florida

I posted this last Friday:
MY Ex just found out about a DUI I got 2 years ago. We currently have shared parental responsibility & I have a very liberal visitation schedule. She filed court papers to modify the judgment to her having sole custody stating that I endanger my child & she is not safe in my car. SHe wants to suspend my visitation as well. I went through a 21 hour DUI class & a 6 month alcohol abuse program & attend a weekly meeting & was given urine tests for a year( all of which showed I am clean). I am willing to do annual alcohol evaluations.
We live 140 miles apart. I do ALL the driving, have never missed visitation, always pay child support. My daughter(5 years old) has never been harmed or even come close to it while she has been with me. I took off work to go to her school orientation & go to important doctor's appoinments, etc.
My question is how likely is it that I will lose Shares PArental responsibility for my daughter??

NOW- My visitation is every other Wed-Sun as stated in our final judgment. We had been verbally working out agreement that was going to be put in writing for my daughter to begin a Pre- K program full time. I was going to go to fri-sun until I moved closer in Jan 2006 & would get additional visitation. Now, since she filed for sole custody & is unwilling to work out an agreement I told her we would be sticking to the final judment wed- sun visitation. She has now filed for an EMERGENCY HEARING TO COMPLETELY SUSPEND MY VISITATION. She has told me she will not allow me to pick up my daughter on Wednesday when I am scheduled to but I can get her on Friday if I want. What can I do? Will my visitation be suspended because of a DUI in December 2003. I also had a DUI in 1994 which she brought up over & over in our final hearing where the judge still gave me liberal visitation.

PLEASE HELP!!

She has to follow the current court order unless/until a judge changes it. period. The problem is that if your court order says 'liberal' visitation- that's very vague and more difficult to prove contempt.

Your 1994 DUI was already addressed by the court- however, your 2003 DUI could go both ways. A.) The court now sees somewhat of a pattern re; your drinking...though it is good you attended classes, diversion and underwent testing... or B.) Since that was 2 years ago and she did nothing during that time, it does demonstrate it didn't bother her enough to attempt to change the parenting schedule. An exception to B. would be if she could prove she JUST found out about the 2nd DUI &/or if, as Stealth mentioned, she can prove you were driving your children around without a license.

If she allows you visitation- Yes, bring that up in court. She is saying she wants to stop ALL visitation and if her cause is that she is concerned for the child's safety, then allowing visitation would certainly negate that allegation.
 

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