Ex husband attempting to obtain full custody of 14 yo son (& he wants to go!)

[AKmom]

No clue here, do you have  law school near by? they often have web pages on-line and you can get information from, if not try your state's unfified court  site. 

As a last resort I would call the clerks office where you had to file your answer and ask what is next?

Don't you have an attorney?

K

I've looked around online at the anchorage court system and can't figure it out. We've been speaking with the lawyers on base (my husband is active duty military) and they've been advising us on how to fill out the paperwork and what to say. They seem to think we'd be wasting our money on an atty at this point because they think it's a slam dunk on our side. We'll see. I didn't even think to call them and ask. We're actually pretty fortunate because the JAG office on base is usually pretty packed but they've been sitting around twiddling their thumbs lately just waiting for people to come in. 

[ksmarks]

Ask the JAG office, looked you have no law schools. locally.   If not call the court.

[ocean]

Here is takes about 3 weeks to get a court date...depends on how busy they are..summers a little longer if judges take their vacations...

[AKmom]

Thanks for the info. I'll check in with JAG tomorrow. I was wondering if it was going to be 3 weeks or 3 months before I heard anything.

[MixedBag]

Each state is different, and heck, each COUNTY is different within the state.

JAG is advising you?  Careful -- they're not smart necessarily on Alaska State Laws.  (retired military here).  JAG officers have finished law school, and passed a bar exam, but not necessarily in the state that they get stationed in.

I suggest you find a copy of the code on-line and book mark it.

Then you gotta find the Family Court Procedural Rules.

And call the county clerk's office -- THEY can give you an idea as to how long this all might take from step to step, but they can't ADVISE you as to what to do.

[AKmom]

Ugh. I should know better than to try and find out anything on a Friday. Everybody was already gone for the day or on vacation. "Try again on Monday".

Another question:

The same Friday my ex filed his motion for a change in custody he also filed a request for a 20 day PO claiming child abuse. Judge said there was nothing to prove this because A) it's a lie and B) the police apparantly did a drive by and saw us outside with the kids doing yard work and being a boring happy family. A court date was set to decide whether to dismiss or put a PO in for 1 year. Last Monday my husband and I showed up for court with papers from TONS of character witnesses all set to go but my ex NEVER SHOWED UP. Judge dismissed because of this.

My question is...does this look good for me/bad for him that he cried "child abuse" but didn't take it seriously enough to show up?

[ocean]

If he didnt show up and it was dismissed then why is there another court date about it. Is the PO still in effect?

[MixedBag]

I agree -- double check about the second court date and that it was truly dismissed.

Again, I say go back to your state's code because in some states it specifically talk about how calling CPS or claiming child abuse numerous times and if they are found to be false, that it won't sit well with the courts.  (numerous false allegations are the words that just wouldn't come to me a minute ago.)

[AKmom]

If he didnt show up and it was dismissed then why is there another court date about it. Is the PO still in effect?

There never was a PO. He asked for an emergency PO for 20 days which was denied after the police did a drive by and found out he was lying. He claimed we were beating the children and they were hiding in their closets. We were actualy outside pulling weeds. Not fun but hardly child abuse. The court set a date for an official PO hearing so that they could hear both sides 2 weeks after this and THAT is the one the ex didn't even bother showing up for. The judge dismissed the whole claim because of it. NOW we're just waiting for the court to set a date for the custody hearing.

This whole thing just stinks. We're just trying to hide all the paperwork from the kids and pretend like it's a normal summer.

I forgot to add that I have the paperwork from the PO hearing that says "dismissed because filing party did not attend".