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Dear Soc

A little background - we are in the middle of a custody case, the psychological evaluations are done and the findings are out, we were told to come to some sort of agreement but the ex refused.

The evaluator is suggesting splitting up the children due to the exterme dermination of my oldest child and due to the facts that have come out regarding the ex and her relationship with this child.  

We live in different states so that would mean splitting the children up long distance. I do not want this for many reasons.  As imagined no agreement could be reached so the trial date was scheduled for July and we have been preparing all documents and things. We find out today that mediation has been ordered by our Judge.

We all know that mediation is a total waste of time because the ex is not going to agree to give up the kids.

Not to many people would but all the odds are stacked up against her because I have an abuse case that was founded with CPS, the evaluator stated the if the oldest does not come to live with me it could be detromental to her, and the ex royally p*ssed the Judge off the last time we were in court and she called her a bad mother!  But we will still be going to take it to court because the mediation will be a waste but we have to go.

My questions are:

1.  How much does an average mediator cost?
2.  Is anything that could be agreed to in mediation legal and binding
3.  Does it look bad in court if nothing is agreed upon and it goes to court?
4.  How does mediation even work because in our case it will just be a screaming match.

I have been reading the posts regarding jurisdiction and it has not brought a question to my mind.

CP and Minor Children live in Texas - All orders are in Texas
NCP lives in Indiana

NCP has filed for custody and the psychological evaluations were just finished up now waiting on the evaluators findings.  

Question is:

1)  If NCP is awarded custody and minor children move his state then after 6 months who will have jurisdiction?  The now NCP will still be residing in Texas where the original decree and all orders have taken place.

Thanks!

Just wandering how court went yesterday?  Update us when you get a chance!!  Hoping things went well.

All I know is that the court order was for the father, mother, and both children to be evaluated.  When I made the appoinments for my husband they said that I was to be evaluated too, I disagreed and said that I was not a part of the court order.  The evaluator said that unless I participated a possible decision in our favor would be impossible.  Our attorney told me that I was to make "any and all necessary" arrangements to be there for this and to cooperate in my fullest with whatever they needed from me.  This was another $825 on top of the $3000 that we had already paid.  So basically to us it was mandatory if we want a fair shot of gaining custody of the children.

We just finished our portion of our evaluation - ours is for a custody of both children.  I am the step mom and the evaluator made it mandatory for me to be a part of this.  I had to attend the play session with my DH and the children then I had one session by myself with the evaluator.  Then I had to take the tests - we had to pay for my portion of the evalution and then they split the rest 50/50.
The evaluator said to make a fair decision he had to speak with and test all people who would play a major role in the childrens lives.
We did not have any sessions with the ex, they are all done on an individual basis.

Not sure if this helps but this was our experience and we just did ours last week.

We are filing for a change of custody in May (Texas) when my oldest step daughter turns 12.  She is very adament about wanting to live up here and we have tons of stuff documented and recorded with the ex and her refusal to co parent or support a good relationship between my husband and the girls.  We live in Indiana they live in Texas - My questions are this:

#1 After we file what should we expect to happen at the first hearing?
#2 The girls will be with us for the summer when we file this motion, how will they go about talking to the Judge and or the Amicus Attorney? We are really going to push for this to be final before school starts next year.
#3 Once we get to the end, will the Judge give us the final decision in court or we will have to wait and then she will contact the attorneys?


Thanks!

Yep, sorry I forgot to mention that but because you are the parent moving away you will probably be ordered to pay all travel costs.  But with your medical condition and that being part of the reason you are relocating then they may order the costs to be split.  Who knows it is a toss up.
DH has the 1 weekend per month visit in his court order but we cannot always afford this every month, we try to do it on long weekends but at least it is there and we can use it at anytime as long as he gives her 2 weeks notice.  

We have a long distance plan too and what your asking for is pretty common but you are shorting yourself some time.  As the other poster said you should word it in there that you get xxx amount of the extended weekends that are either school breaks or holidays such as Good Friday, Labor Day .. ect.

We get 1/2 of every Christmas Break, every other Thanksgiving, summer break, every Spring Break and then one weekend per month of our choosing and if it is a holiday or school break then we get the whole weekend.  Our court order is in Texas and this is a standard long distance plan in Texas.

Good Luck

My step daughters have been flying alone since they were 10 & 5, most airlines will only let you put them on a direct flight until they are 14 then they can have connecting flights but that is up to the parents.  On Continental they charge $100 for the "unaccomanpied minor" fee's - when you get to the airport you fill out all of the information as to who is dropping them off and then for who is picking them up.  They look at your ID and then you go down to the boarding gate with them.  They usually load them first, the stewardess gets all of their paperwork, walks them on, and gets them seated.  They usually check on them through out the flight.  Then once they arrive they are the last ones off, the stewardess walks them off, finds the receiving parent or person, checks their ID, they sign off and then they release the child.  We have never had any problems with this and the kids do really well with it, they prefer it over driving!  The wear wrist bands or necklaces that show they are "unacompanied minors" and they are watched on and off the plane and checked on through out the flight.  

Bradley, I just sent you a PM.