On Friday, right as I was leaving work, I received a Fax from my lawyer that my ex has filed a "Petition for Special Relief", and that I was due before a judge on Wednesday. Since this is a 3-day holiday weekend, that means there's only one time I can really meet with my lawyer before we actually go into court, so I'm trying to figure out exactly what I can do to help my case as much as possible before then.
The petition revolves around two issues...Summer Visitation and Phone Access. I'll start with phone access first, as it as been a frequent point of contestation between the two of us.
Ever since we got a new custody agreement that granted the Father "reasonable access" to his children via telephone, his lawyer has threatened to file a motion for contempt every third month or so. In the petition, the things the Father is requesting seem outlandish.
First and foremost, he's requesting that I, the Mother become responsible for having the children call him, every single day, at a set time. The Father claims that he is incurring massive expenses from having to call long distance all the time and that I am not providing reasonable access. He also believes I should have to prove that I am actually having the children call him.
This part has me gobsmacked. Is there any kind of precedence for things like this? Is there any way I myself can prepare evidence to stop such a petition from getting passed? I've gotten a cellphone for the children that is only used for the Father to contact them, and they've been using it for a couple months now. I've printed out a record of phone calls, and highlighting all calls longer than 1 minute that came from/went to his house phone/cell phone, while also preparing a calendar to show which days correspond to which calls. So far, I'm maintaining a 90% daily communication rate between his children and him. Is this not "reasonable access"?
Second in the petition is Summer Visitation. In the first custody agreement, he was granted every-other weekend. It was later modified so that he also gets every-other holiday and one week (7 days) for each summer month (June, July, August). According to my lawyer, the one week thing supercedes the every-other-week thing, however in his petition he's asking for both. This troubles me, as he takes his one week such that I only ever get one weekend per summer month to have trips and whatnot with my children.
I've tried coming to some agreement with him, such that he would have 11 days each summer month with the children (while I get two weekends with them), but his lawyer has long-since told him to not communicate with me. He's taken that so literally that he never told me that he'd be leaving the state with the children for an extended period of time (a fact which I'm sure will help my case). What are my options here?
Sorry this is a little verbose, but I'd greatly appreciate any help.
The petition revolves around two issues...Summer Visitation and Phone Access. I'll start with phone access first, as it as been a frequent point of contestation between the two of us.
Ever since we got a new custody agreement that granted the Father "reasonable access" to his children via telephone, his lawyer has threatened to file a motion for contempt every third month or so. In the petition, the things the Father is requesting seem outlandish.
First and foremost, he's requesting that I, the Mother become responsible for having the children call him, every single day, at a set time. The Father claims that he is incurring massive expenses from having to call long distance all the time and that I am not providing reasonable access. He also believes I should have to prove that I am actually having the children call him.
This part has me gobsmacked. Is there any kind of precedence for things like this? Is there any way I myself can prepare evidence to stop such a petition from getting passed? I've gotten a cellphone for the children that is only used for the Father to contact them, and they've been using it for a couple months now. I've printed out a record of phone calls, and highlighting all calls longer than 1 minute that came from/went to his house phone/cell phone, while also preparing a calendar to show which days correspond to which calls. So far, I'm maintaining a 90% daily communication rate between his children and him. Is this not "reasonable access"?
Second in the petition is Summer Visitation. In the first custody agreement, he was granted every-other weekend. It was later modified so that he also gets every-other holiday and one week (7 days) for each summer month (June, July, August). According to my lawyer, the one week thing supercedes the every-other-week thing, however in his petition he's asking for both. This troubles me, as he takes his one week such that I only ever get one weekend per summer month to have trips and whatnot with my children.
I've tried coming to some agreement with him, such that he would have 11 days each summer month with the children (while I get two weekends with them), but his lawyer has long-since told him to not communicate with me. He's taken that so literally that he never told me that he'd be leaving the state with the children for an extended period of time (a fact which I'm sure will help my case). What are my options here?
Sorry this is a little verbose, but I'd greatly appreciate any help.