response to child custody modification?

[CherishLife]

My fiance got papers from his ex, she wants sole custody of their 2 children so that she can leave the state. She filed these papers less than a week after getting cited for child abuse/neglect.

My fiance can not afford a lawyer as he has been disabled since november of 2008 and his disability has not come through yet. I can not afford a retainer fee as I haven't been able to find work after losing my job after having my daughter. All of the places he has called for help with getting a lawyer never called him back.

He has less than two weeks to get the response to her custody back and he does not know where to start!?! He has called a couple lawyers to see if we could pay to have this part done but hey say it's $500+ and we just don't have the money.

Can someone help us?


They currently have joint physical/legal custody of both of the children.

He also wants to ask for sole custody of the children in return, does he need to do this at the same time he writes the response or does he do that seperately?


He also has not been able to pay his child support and is over 6000 behind so on the 25th he will be serving 60 days unless the public defender he gets can do something about it.

 

[jharris352]

You have two different issues here. First, while it would be nice to have an attorney, it isn't totally necessary especially if she doesn't have one. Bring whatever information you have about the child abuse/neglect charge, what happened there? It must not be that serious or she would have lost temporary custody of the children.

Issue two:
He needs to catch up on his child support, if you are that broke, how do you expect to get full custody? I doubt the judge is going to give her full custody and let her leave the state. Put in an answer to the petition and show up ready to give the judge all the reasons she doesn't need custody.

 

[Proserpina]

And be prepared for Dad to have to explain why he hasn't filed to modify the child support order if he's disabled...

Sole custody is not commonly granted these days, and even when it is, this does NOT mean the custodial parent has carte blanche permission to actually relocate the kids out of state.

I'd actually advise against Dad filing a "tit for tat" petition requesting sole custody, specially when he IS so far behind in child support.

 

[MorgansDaddy]

Generally when a custodial parent wishes to relocate a child out of state, the court and noncustodial parent must receive 30 days notice prior to the move, and the noncustodial parent has the right to file an injunction with the courts where both parties will present their reason for or against the relocation and the court will decide to allow it or not.

 

[Duranie]

Is there a pending criminal charge against Mom for the abuse or neglect? Dad can still fight for custody and the move but if mom has an attorney, Dad needs one. Can he go to his family for help? Did he ever apply to reduce child support if he is disabled?