Aunts visitations

[16917254]

A few months after my ex-wife & I seperated, I met my fiance, and moved in with her four months later into a 1 bdrm apt. At the time, my son stayed with his mother, but soon after, his mom said she couldn't take care of him because she had to work. My aunt offered to take of my son until I moved into a bigger place with a room for my son. I agreed to this temporary arrangement, & I visited & picked up my son from my aunt's house as much as possible. I thought everything was fine, but it wasn't. My ex-wife & I were not communicating at the time, & my aunt took advantage of the situation. I did not know that my aunt had been plotting for some time, to find a way to get custody of my son. My aunt suffers from deppression, but took medicine for it, & I thought she was okay, but I was wrong. She became extremely obsessed with my son. Since my ex & I weren't communicating, she told us both many lies - figuring that we wouldn't find out (we found out when it was already to late) The biggest lie she told me was that my ex had called my aunt and said she was going to move to another state and take my son with her. This scared me because at the time, I was having to constantly go out of town for military business, & my aunt made it seem as if my ex was going to dissappear w/my son while I was out of town. Shortly afterwards, my aunt suggested that we hire a lawyer together & get legal paperwork done that gave my aunt the authority to take care of my son while I was out of town. I agreed. She hired a lawyer & presented me w/paperwork. She explained that the paperwork gave my aunt, ex-wife, & I equal rights to my son while I was out of town. In turn this would stop my ex-wife from moving to another state w/my son while I was out of town, because in order to take my son out of school, my ex-wife would need permission from my aunt & I. I read through the paper work, but didn't understand it. Because I trusted my aunt, I signed the paperwork, & it turned out that I signed paperwork (temporary until the divorce was finalized) designating my aunt as the managing conservator. I didn't know that I had just signed a document that forfeited my parental rights. At the same time my aunt was trying to get my ex to sign also, but since my ex didn't understand the paper work either, she chose not to sign it. My aunt threatned her & told her that if she didn't sign the paperwork my aunt would never let my ex see her son again, so my ex signed also. I didn't know that my aunt was threating her because my ex & I weren't communicating. I also didn't know that my aunt was not letting my ex see my son. A few days after the judge signed off on the paper work, my finace & I moved in right next door to my aunt. We didn't want to move next door, but at the time, it was the only house available for rent in the same area, & I wanted to keep my child enrolled in the same school. After we got settled in, I told my aunt that it was time for my son to come back home. She refused, & that's when I found out that she had tricked my ex & I into signing paperwork that gave away our rights. After that, my aunt did not let my ex or I call or see our son for 2 1/2 mo. It got so bad that I had to stand in the front yard just to catch a glimpse of my son while he was leaving to go to school. After the custody case started, it took almost 4 mo. to get an ad litem. The ad litem was able to immediately get visitation rights for my ex & I. After that, things got worse. Everytime we went to court, my aunts lawyer would file for continuance for the stupidest reasons, & a continuance was always granted. Things at home were pretty bad too, my aunt had told the neighbors lots of lies about us, & the neighbors would literally stand outside & stare at us when we were in the front yard. At the time, my grandmother was living in the same house with my aunt (house was seperated in 1/2 - my grandma had her own side), & my brother was also living in the house on my aunt's side. I was getting reports from my brother & grandmother that my aunt was telling my son horrible lies, such as that whenever my aunt & son were going to or coming from the car in front of her house, they needed to run to the car, or front door, so that I wouldn't come outside and steal my son away. My aunt told my son that I wanted to take away my son & never let him see her again. She was brainwashing him & alienating my son against me. She wouldn't even let my son play outside any more because she didn't want me to see him. One time she took my son in the backyard and told him that if he wanted to stay in the backyard, he had to whisper so that his daddy wouldn't hear him. On top of that, I found out that my grandmother was working both sides of the fence, by giving me information about her daughter (my aunt), & also giving my aunt information about me. To make matters worse, I told my mother what was going on & asked her not to give my grandmother any more info. about what was going on with me, but my mom kept giving her info. (still does to this day). My fiance & I wanted to move, but my lawyer said it was good to stay there because it showed that even though I lived next door, my aunt didn't want me seeing my son. During the case my aunt tried to make me sound like I abandoned my son and never visited him. The good thing was that I had been keeping a journal (to include audio tapes of every conversation) We found out from her journal included in her discovery that she had been trying to take away my son for years. She had written a journal that had been started years ago when I was still together with my ex-wife. The beginning of the journal was all negative stuff about my ex. She did not write anything bad about me until the day I had told her it was time for my son to come bak home - then she depicted me as a villain. She claimed that she had an emotional bond with my son that could not be broken. She said that the bond had started in the delivery room when my son was born, & my son could not bear to live without her. True, my aunt was in the delivery room, but it was only because I asked her to take pictures. She also said that I had spanked my child before & left a handprint on his butt. She tried to back this up by saying that she had shown the abuse mark to my grandmother, & my grandmother had also seen the mark. Of course there was no handprint because I have never abused my son. My grandmother also said this was not true. The case went on for a year - it could have been shorter, but my aunt's attorney delayed it for as long as possible. To delay the case even more, my aunt's attorney had my son, ex-wife, fiance, aunt, & myself go through a psychological evaluation. That was the best thing that could have happen, because the doctor did not believe any of my aunt's lies and concluded in his report that my son should be given back to me. After two days of medaition, my aunt signed over custody to me. My ex & I have joint custody, with me being the primary because my ex-wife's lifestyle is unsuitable for my son. Wheew, after a whole year later, I finally got my son back. The only drawback is that my aunt has visitations with my son about once a month. We have already had problems with her visiations. The first problem we had was that my son was sick with 104 temp on the morning of one of her scheduled visits. I refused to let my aunt take him because he was sick & needed to go to the emergency room. My aunt was displeased & the police were called out. During all the commotion, my son heard a policeman tell me that my aunt wanted to press charges against me so I could go to jail. My son was very upset after hearing this, & no longer wants to see his aunt. Also, we had a "bath" issue at my aunt's house a few months ago. While in visitation, my son had gotten dirty at my aunt's house, & my aunt had given him a bath, to include washing. When my son returned home, he was very upset that my aunt had seen him naked and washed him. Lastly, the major problem we have been having is that on visitations, my aunt keeps asking my son if he gets spanked. I have never abused my son, but I know that my aunt will go to any lengths to get him back, and I am worried that she will file a false claim with CPS. The only reason that my aunt's abuse claims against me (during the case) were not taken seriuosly, was because the ad litem said that if there had really been any abuse in the past, my aunt should have called CPS right away. Now, I am afraid to discipline my child because I know what my aunt's intentions are. In the divorce decree my aunt, ex-wife, & I are enjoined from discussing any aspects of the case with my son. Since my fiance is not enjoined from any of this, she has explained to my son that my aunt wants to get him back, & will make up lies to accomplish her goals. She also explained to him the CPS aspect of it all, & has told my son that he needs to let us know everytime my aunt asks him if he's been spanked, so that we can protect ourselves against her. Now that you know my background, I have a few questions to ask. What can I do to prohibit my aunt from asking my son these questions? I'm sure that I can file a motion to modify, but I am $15,000 in debt from the custody battle, and simply can't afford another legal battle. Is there anything I can do that is low cost and efficient? Also what is allowed in terms of physical & verbal discipline in Texas? Is it wrong for my fiance to have made my son aware of what Becky is trying to do? Please help.