Modification in Florida

[unowho]

Hi, first I love this site I think it's great even the brutal honesty I have read.
I am going to try to make this as short and detailed as possible.

I do not have an attorney but I did for the initial divorce (May 2011). I have since moved and remarried. I now have two step-daughters that are in elementary school. I met with my ex in May of this year to discuss changing our daughter to the school with my step-daughters. She flat out refused. (more to the story is our daughter was in a private school for VPK and kindergarten but my ex was planning on switching her to a public school for the start of 1st grade anyway)
We live in different cities, even different counties. And my ex wanted our daughter to go to school in her county.
Well over the summer when she registered our daughter for school in Seminole County her residence is in what they call a cluster zone, where the child goes to one of 5 schools depending on availablity. The first two choices (which were A rated schools) weren't available so our daughter got placed in a C rated school in Sanford (which isn't even the city my ex wife lives in).
As part of our divorce my ex-wife was ordered to carry health ins and to pay me child support, as she made a significant amount more than me at the time.
When I remarried in March, my wife added me and my daughter to her health, dental and vision plan. Once this happened my ex wife dropped her coverage for our daughter. (Note prior to my current wife putting my daughter on her plan, daughter didn't have dental or vision ins).
In July (yes even before I knew which school our daughter would be going to) I filed a petition to modify. My ex dodged the process server for 2 weeks.
At the time I filed the paperwork with the court, my ex-wife was 6 months behind on child support payments. (She made a large payment the day before the process server caught up to her and is now only 1 month behind)
She hired an attorney (she is a personal injury paralegal so she has friends...)
They filed a motion to dismiss and a counter petition. The counter petition stated that I moved more then 50 miles from my old residence so I was in violation. However I have researched and according to Appeals court rulings the miles are calculated by the straight-line method not driving directions (driving miles is 52, straight line is 40). We went forward with mediation since it is required prior to trial anyway. During mediation her and her attorney stated they were offering me every other weekend and more time during the summer. Which is rediculous, as I have 50/50 now. They said it disturbed our daughters routine to have to drive 40 mins to/from school on the nights she is with me. Even though I drop her off at before care at the same times (or later) that my ex does, and my daughter is picked up by my wife an hour before the time that my ex does.
The hearing for the motion to dismiss didn't get scheduled for over 3 months. We just had the hearing earlier this month. And sadly the judge granted the motion, (without prejudice) and told me I had 14 days to file an amended petition with more detail as to material substantial change in circumstance. (Sadly I was vague in my first attempt because I didn't realize it was so hard to even get to court again).
Let me back track for just a second, when my ex filed her financial affidavit her income was 16% ($566) a month less than at the time of divorce. She had quit her job and intentionally took a lower paying job.
While I got laid off and found a better job with a 36% increase in net pay.
I filed a Standard Family law Interrogatories for Modifcation (requesting more information on her financial situation because that is a huge decrease in pay and she is somehow affording an attorney when I can't with 2 incomes)
That was filed (and sent to her attorney)September 18th and I still have not received a response. So my questions are:
HOW do I make her answer the interrogatories? And once see does (IF we make it to court after her attorney files another motion to dismiss) can that be used to show the court she is intentially under-employed, and can I request that they impute her income to what it was at the time of divorce?

Second question, I am going to post what I submitted for my "substantial change" can someone tell me if they believe this to be sufficient for the courts?

Father was laid off from employer in Kissimmee. Very soon after, father was able to acquire a job located in Rockledge, with an increase in net pay of approximately 35%. New employment allows father to be able to drop child of with her steps sisters, at proposed school, as well as flexibility to occasionally work from home if child is home due to illness. Also, due to father's re-marriage his wife is able to pick children up in the car loop, when classes are dismissed, which would completely eliminate the need for before/after care, which is a new $52/week expense that neither father or mother anticipated at the time of divorce. As child previously attended a private school in Orange County, where before/.after care, as well as tuitiion, was free of charge due to a scholarship grant given to father's family.
Additionally, mother was ordered by the court to provide health insurance for our daughter, she has since dropped that coverage and child is covered under father and his wife's combined medical/dental/vision plan.


Any opinions or advice (other than get a lawyer, sadly we aren't in a financial situation to afford one) would be great!

Also I don't know if it matters but we currently have 50/50 time sharing, and I am not requesting that be changed at all! And I even offered to meet my ex somewhere in between our homes on the days she has our daughter and there is school.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, I know it's a lot but I wanted to give as much detail as possible

[BartSimpson]

So you divorced and remarried inside of a year?
You also moved a significant distance?
And your attention is additionally divided with the two daughters of your new wife?

How is your very young daughter handling all this? Does she get any time with just the two of you?

[unowho]

Not that it has any bearing on my current legal situation, but my ex wife and I originally separated in 2008, tried to work things out with final separation happening in fall of 2009. I met my current wife in Nov of 2010.

And as for one on one time with our children, we have < parenting time > worked out so that twice a month each child gets a day with us to themselves, so yes my daughter gets one on one time with me as do my wife's daughters.
But surprisingly, the girls miss and ask for the other girls during those times. Our two youngest daughters are only 10 months apart, and it feels more like we have twins then anything.

Something that my current wife and I have that we didn't have in our previous marriages is a strong family unit. We do lots of things together and our kids LOVE it, and each other.
My daughter, as well as my step daughters, have adjusted to our new situation better than we could have even dreamed about.

[unowho]

OK well I received my ex's (and her attorney) Motion to Dismiss stating
"The former husband's amended petition fails to state a claim for which relief may be granted."

So not knowing what that meant, I've been researching and it's basically them saying so what.
I just don't understand how that applies in this situation?
Any help/advice would be appreciated.

[Fatheroffour]

What was your claim and what relief did you request?

[unowho]

Sorry, my first post in here explains the situation. But in the supplemental petition to modify I asked the court to change the parent's address for school designation to me, change the location for exchange to a point in between our homes. Change health and dental ins to me (since my ex is supposed to cover it and no longer does), and update child support accordingly.

Why it's best for the child is because it would eliminate the hours spent in before/after care at school, move her from a C rated school to an "A" rated school and allow her to spend more time with family rather then being at school for 9-10 hours a day.

The change wouldn't interfere with time-sharing with mother, as I would meet her in the morning and after school to exchange our daughter at the same time she would normally be picking her up from school anyway.

[hoosier_dad]

IMO you should be thankful your mod was squashed. Their argument that your move results in significant daily travel time for your child has merit. Without an attorney my money would be on you getting EOW if the modification had moved forward. I would seek out an attorney's advice before attempting to refile.

[unowho]

If "relocation" is defined in the statutes as "greater than 50 miles" and I didn't move greater than 50 miles. And her current school is only 30 miles away from my home that could back fire on me?
I'm asking because I really don't know the courts stance on "short distance" verses "long distance".
It's my opinion that even though I have a longer drive my daughter still gets home (actually in our home) before she gets to my ex's house (on the days my ex has her) therefore it is definately not harming her. And we get to talk and she gets her daily reading done in the car so...I just don't know judicial stance on things like that.

[hoosier_dad]

If "relocation" is defined in the statutes as "greater than 50 miles" and I didn't move greater than 50 miles.

I'm not seeing the connection between the statute you refer to and a limitation on the court's authority to modify parenting plan specifics including school choice. Status quo is your daughter in pre-K and kindergarten near your ex's residence, and I doubt a C rated school is going to be enough to move school residence to your new location. Therefore your move will result in 80 minutes a day of car time for your daughter. You argue that this is negated because the step-mom can pick her up earlier than your ex, but I know my children and I'm betting most would vote to stay in after care and play with their friends than spend 80 minutes a day in a car.

I doubt the court will see this as rosy as you do, especially if you continue this attempt Pro Se. What happens if the ex is engaged next month and fiance has a flexible schedule, what does that do to your argument?

[unowho]

Thanks, I hadn't really thought about it like that because my daughter doesn't mind the drive. Like I said we talk and she reads to me in the car. And on the way home her step-sisters are in the car with her and they talk and play with their stuffed animals. Last school year she was at a different school which was even further away. So it's not nearly as bad as what she had gotten accustomed to. Last year it was 70 mins each way.
And as for if my ex remarries and finds herself in a similar situation, I guess I am hoping that having a higher rated school will work in my favor. As well as having 2 elementary age kids that would be attending the same school. Plus I am hoping that it doesn't come to this, but my ex not abiding my the court order to maintain health ins for our daughter, being delinquent in child support and having not taken our daughter to the doctors (not even for a physical) for almost three years, well I'm helping those will tip the scale in my favor. Also last year our daughter was almost kicked out of the private school she attended because my ex didn't pay for school lunches (that were purchased when she had our daughter). We were gifted free tuition to a private school and she almost got kicked out because my ex didn't pack her lunches or pay the lunch bill for 3 months.