Divorce Court?

[movingon2]

So just looking for advice on going to court. The last my attorney heard from hers was she wants to fight for custody and would settle for $200 a month child support. Well I’m not stupid the state would say it’s more like $1000 if I had to pay her. She is going to have to pay me about $420 total for 2 kids. So this was about a month and a half ago and they haven’t made any attempt to get a court date set or anything. The kids have been with me for 5 months.

 

She has had my son over night 17 nights and my daughter 13.

 

I decided to tell my attorney to schedule the date. I feel she is just going to let it drag out so she doesn’t have to pay child support and thinks I’m scared to loose them. Well I’m not scared.

 

School starts here in a week and if she got them they would go to school in another town so my attorney doesn’t think he would change schools on them.

 

She has no support system with family. She has completely shut her family out because they still talk to me.

 

So any thoughts or recommendations? Should I be concerned at all? Am I doing the right thing by keeping it going? There is absolutely no chance of us getting back together. We were together over 13 years and our 12 year anniversary is coming up in about a month.

[tank]

well, If you have been the stable one for those children and have been taking care of them on your own for 5 months and they are with their friends and both families are supporting you, i think you have a good chance of winning. Not sure about the laws where you are at, but here they let the children have a say in these matters at the age of 10. So if you are the supporting stable parent, who is focusing on yourself and the children then i say go for the gold. Fight it out and take your chances before the judge, who is he going to side with the walk away spouse and mother or the Father who stepped up to the plate for his children. take a chance and put this behind you. If you are truley done then get the closure and move on.

[carhill]

All this back and forth is just going to pile on the legal fees. Push for adjudication. This presumes a contested divorce scenario.

 

What's your attorney's trial experience? A good litigator is instrumental in a custody case. It's far different from private back and forth with other attorneys.

 

'I'm pushing for trial of these matters. What scenarios can you give me to maximize the potential of a positive outcome?'

 

If they can't give you at least two off the top of their head, in detail, fire them.

[movingon2]

Yeah the legal fees are ridiculous so far and we really haven’t gotten anywhere.

 

She had already told her attorney once that the kids were better off with me then she canceled the first court date that she had set. Her attorney told mine and he told me she wanted to meet to talk about all of it. She did this after receiving my affidavit and I think she knew she was screwed.

 

Then I had sat down and talked to my STBX and she verbally agreed to everything we talked about. She also got $500 out of me. So I had my attorney draw up the papers exactly how we talked.

 

Then she comes back and how her attorney put it is “my client has done an about face on virtually all the issues pertaining to this matter”.

 

So she changed her mind on everything. My attorney thinks it has to do with peer pressure from friends and he says let’s wait until school starts and then go in front of the judge. He thinks the judge is going to see all this back and forth crap and know she is the one dragging it out and know she doesn’t really want the kids but she isn’t going to admit it.

 

I think I am an attorney’s greatest client. I have kept a very detailed journal since way before I moved out. I have kept track of everything good and bad that has gone on and all texts between us. My attorney is more of a criminal attorney but lots of divorces also and has lots of trial experience. He says that the judge we are assigned to is his favorite in the state for cases like this.

[carhill]

OK, then get your great criminal attorney to put some teeth into the process. Schedule a trial date. Nothing like inevitability to get people moving. Anything can be settled in total right up until the second the proceedings begin. Public and on-the-record (as in court) is an incentive all its own. Hope it works out

[You Go Girl]

5 months of sole custody with visitation for her?

She's going to lose, and she knows it.

Make sure you keep all your ducks in a row. Zero mistakes.

[movingon2]

Yep 5 months with me and no financial help either. I know somes times if they were paying the child support when it wasn't court ordered it helps make them look good but she hasn't given me a dime.

 

I don't know why I'm really even worried about it.