Joel McLaughlin
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- Arizona
I had complete 50/50 access to my son for 2019 and got along fine with my soon to be ex wife.
in 2019 I actually watched my son 7 months (and her 5) because she simply had little interest in watching him and I loved being around my son.
In February I believed she was on drugs and was having very noticeable mental health issues so I filed an emergency custody petition not knowing they always get denied by men typically. I filed it while I had access to my son because she was thinking all sorts of crazy things like the tv was spying on her, the baby monitor was bugged, placing pots and pans in front of the house doors because she thought people were breaking in at night and tons of other weird things... She was also talking about running away with my son without a cell phone because she was paranoid (I believed drug use).
Ultimately We went to court in March (I filed the petition in Feb) and she told me on the way into court she wanted to work with me. I told her I was prepared to fight temporarily in court but wanted to just do what was best for cooper which was working together (since I was wanting to believe her - which was foolish on my part). Because of this I let the judge know she wants to work with me - but asked for something in writing to ensure I see my son since I don't even believe things she tells me... This got overlooked by the judge though although I should have pressed harder for a court order.
They unfortunately set a court date out like 5 months. The end of Feb was the last time I saw my son.
1 Court date was in August, this got cancelled because she never responded to the original divorce hearing and it was ultimately going to be a settlement conference (the judge was assuming we would work it out and agree on things).
Then the next date was October... She falsely stated she had a family emergency, and it got pushed back again until mid Dec.
This has been SO incredibly hard especially because I was in true fear for my sons safety and I know my ex and she never lives by any rules or honesty.
What's smart to do here? I filed 2 emergency petitions - 1 in Feb, then another in Sep which resulted in the Oct court date.
in 2019 I actually watched my son 7 months (and her 5) because she simply had little interest in watching him and I loved being around my son.
In February I believed she was on drugs and was having very noticeable mental health issues so I filed an emergency custody petition not knowing they always get denied by men typically. I filed it while I had access to my son because she was thinking all sorts of crazy things like the tv was spying on her, the baby monitor was bugged, placing pots and pans in front of the house doors because she thought people were breaking in at night and tons of other weird things... She was also talking about running away with my son without a cell phone because she was paranoid (I believed drug use).
Ultimately We went to court in March (I filed the petition in Feb) and she told me on the way into court she wanted to work with me. I told her I was prepared to fight temporarily in court but wanted to just do what was best for cooper which was working together (since I was wanting to believe her - which was foolish on my part). Because of this I let the judge know she wants to work with me - but asked for something in writing to ensure I see my son since I don't even believe things she tells me... This got overlooked by the judge though although I should have pressed harder for a court order.
They unfortunately set a court date out like 5 months. The end of Feb was the last time I saw my son.
1 Court date was in August, this got cancelled because she never responded to the original divorce hearing and it was ultimately going to be a settlement conference (the judge was assuming we would work it out and agree on things).
Then the next date was October... She falsely stated she had a family emergency, and it got pushed back again until mid Dec.
This has been SO incredibly hard especially because I was in true fear for my sons safety and I know my ex and she never lives by any rules or honesty.
What's smart to do here? I filed 2 emergency petitions - 1 in Feb, then another in Sep which resulted in the Oct court date.
