hearing tomorrow help

[kidsdadtexas]

my attorney told me that there is strong possiblility that this hearing will be delayed until after mediation. This is unacceptable to me because i have been waiting for a long time to make an attempt to get unsupervised parenting time. I only recieved 26% of the time awarded to me last year and ytd i'm at about 48% and something is wrong with this and i want to press the issue so it is dealt with tomorrow. She says that the judge may want to wait unitl after mediation which is next tuesday. I don't want to and I was thinking of telling my attorney to bring up the urgent issues such as the cps child abuse complaint and the denial of access to my child.

I want to have this hearing tomorrow and if this attorney can't get it done. Should i hire a different lawyer? I am 1 year into this and wasted money on my last attorney that wouldn't even file a modiification.

Any suggestions?




I've finally hired the right attorney that is willing to fight for my father rights. they filed a motion to modify my temp orders asking for extended standard parenting time. which is thursday after school to monday morning.

i'm extremely happy about this considering i've been limited for the past 6 months to 2 hours 2 days per week supervised by a center that is a terrible place to be.

I hope we get a victory at this upcoming hearing because i've been complaining repeatedly about the nj interfering with my parenting time by denying my request for visits.

my current order allows 3 days per week 2 hours per day and the center due to lack of staff cannot accomadate the schedule. (at least that's what they say) most days there are only 2 or 3 families there and in the past 6 months i've only seen 5 families at once a few times. The 5 seems to be there capacity according to a letter i recieved from them. They called to cancel one of my 2 weekly visits a few weeks ago because they didn't have the staff. There is something wrong with this as they are the only desiginated facility in the county that recieves referrals from our county court. They were charged with father bashing a few years ago and dropped an add campaign on city buses after pressure from donors. The place is filthy and visits are during dinner time with no kitchen facilities other than a cheap microwave. It's an awful place but i've had to make it work to see my child the little time I was getting.

I was told that if I submit a reqest and nj agreed by signing off on the form then they would attempt to fit me in the schedule if they had a cancellation. This could be done to get my court ordered 3rd day per week. Of course NJ repeatedly denies the request and therefore I wasn't getting the time the judge ordered. I have all copies of the forms where she signed off denying my request. This will be used as evidence in the hearing.

She was ordered twice to complete the orientation last year so the I could begin seeing my child. It took her almost 4 months to complete a 10 day orientation process. I was faxing a status request once or twice weekly to the center on her orientation progress. I have 12 status updates showing that she was not in compliance with the temp orders.

A supervisor at the center filed child abuse charges against the NJ in November and cps completed an investigation. This upcoming hearing will be the first time the court is aware of these charges.

i'm hoping that my new attorney can get me from supervised 4 hours per week with no overnights to 4 days per week and 3 nights unsupervised.

I was acquitted on fasle dv charges in sept last year with a 2nd false dv charge pending. She made 2 other false police reports in dec and Jan that were dismissed by the police because she was lying.

The CE made a comment during my interview that the nj is vindictive when she seen all the evidence I had presented. Her final report will not be available until June.

She has continued to block me from seeing my child or denied me access to my child and now I'm hoping i get the extended.

any suggestions on the hearing would be much appreciated. This will be a huge victory if we can convince the judge it's in the best interest of my child.

[Chosen2Dad]

Congrats on getting that BS resolved. Having the right lawyer is key...I had to fire my first because I felt he was dragging his feet at 400/hr. At that price, it's a lot of dragging. I have a new one, cheaper and better.

With her blocking you from seeing your child, could you go Parent Alienation? As for the child abuse charges, can you obtain those for your lawyer? Get those bogus police reports with their notations?

I think you have good supporting evidence, of course, any more would be great..but you're on the right track!

Good luck!

P.S. I may not have good suggestions, but I am there for support! Keep us updated!

[stretchkr]

Good luck.

[kidsdadtexas]

the nj cancelled my parenting time again this weekend. I can't wait to vent this to the judge in a couple of weeks.

I'm sure he will not be please with the nj cancellations and allienation

[Fatheroffour]

You don't want to turn a positive (for you) into a negative so you should be careful in how you present it.

Best of luck.

[kidsdadtexas]

i show very little emotion in the court room other than shedding a tear or two. i can testify without showing any hostilty or anger toward the nj. This is about the how much i miss and care for my kiddo. This will be the first time the judge is aware how much parenting time that the nj has blocked since october. The last time the judge spanked nj and told nj with a stern voice to start my visits otherwise she would require her to give me makeups at nj expense. I want thurs thru sunday for starters then next step is primary.

[Fatheroffour]

Crying is good. Frothing at the mouth isn't, but you know that. Keep your head up, tex. Pullin for ya.

[Chosen2Dad]

That's great you are getting things turned in your direction. Make sure you continue to document as you approach the date.

Remain calm and collected..state the facts..and seize the day!

[kidsdadtexas]

i spent alot of time today creating a parenting time calendar with charts. last year i recieved 26% of the time I was supposed to get and YTD i've recieved 48% of what I was supposed to get.

This is supervised 2 hours per day 3 days per week and the nj still interferes by cancelling and denying written requests for extra days not scheduled. Add the center to the mix and not being able to accomodate the orders along with cancelling twice due to lack of staff is terrible.

I sure hope my attorney can pull it off I have the room almost ready for the overnights.

do you think that they will start immediately or will they require a slow intergration to overnights?

[Thoughts?]

I looked through your post and although I saw how you had a couple of DV claims, exactly (1) what was ruled by the court on parenting time and (2) are there orders in place now ordering you to be only seeing your children under supervision?

I want you to disclose specifics because a key in winning is to create risk for the other party.

Also, supervised isn't ordered casually. Standard possession, and if asked for at time of divorce or custody change extended standard, are presumptive in Texas.

Determining how far you are from current state to "victory" is based upon exactly what your current orders are, and how far you ahve to go.

Also, what are the ages of your children?