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How is the family court in NH? More specifically, Rockingham county????

Do you think its fair, biased, a joke or really efficient?

Fiance and I are considering moving, since BM moved, and we are hoping NH courts might be a little more "friendly" than MA courts.

Let us hear your opinions.


Thanks,
M

Does anyone know anything about going Pro Se in MA?

Can someone please recommend a decent lawyer in Western MA?

Thanks.

[obvious]

I'm not sure where to put this so I figure I'll start with my own state. I'm sure I should post this to Soc but I'd rather see if I could find the answer myself before harrassing him =)

STORY - The BM asked that visitation for my fiance be suspended until he proved he wasn't abusing drugs / or abusing his prescription. The BM made a tape of him taking his medication but she has no evidence that he is a danger while on medication. The tape wasn't admissible in court, however, its existence spawned supervised visits and an evaluation. Our old lawyer failed to question the tape and failed to defend us and ultimately destroyed our case. We now have a new lawyer.

We have already started the evalution but our evaluator is over-booked and he/we cannot finish the evalution in time for trial. We have NO time or the finances to start another evaluation with a new evaluator. Also, my fiance has stopped taking his medication, despite the chronic pain, and could pass a screening. What more could an evaluation show if my fiance is "clean", so to speak?

My question is, can our new lawyer raise an objection to the evidence and the evaluation if we can show its irrelevence, since my fiance is no longer taking his prescription?

Or is our new laywer restricted to working with our case as it is now?

Thanks

PS: It may seem obvious to ask our lawyer but I'm asking here first in an attempt to save what money we have left.

Watch out, MA is doing a Child Support Guidelines update. I don't know if it will be in our favor or if we are just going to get a few more "dead-beats" from it.

First of all, it's nice to know I'm not the only one from Mass on here.

Second, SnappleGirl is right. Your ex has no idea what she is talking about. She can't just deny you visitation becuase of incarceration and she can't move out of state with the kids. Stand up to her, dont let her play with you. Those are your kids too and they have a right to be with their father!!  

You have 50/50 so why do you only have the kids on the weekends? Also, why are you repsonsible for child support? Does she work and have a good job? If so, you shouldn't be paying. Don't let her guilt trip you into anything.

Call your kids all the time, send them stuff, do whatever it takes to show them you are a great father. Don't give your ex the chance to distance them from you. Take them places, go to school meeting, things like that. Just be there =)

Document everything. You will find that suggestion all over this site because it's the best thing you can do. Document phone calls, visits, events, observations.....

And yes, get a lawyer. My FDH and I are dumping our current one becuase he has made a bigger mess of our case than it was. I'm not sure where you are but we live in Western Mass and if you come across any good laywers please let us know. We will do like wise for you.

Good luck man.

Honestly it's hard to say becuase you didn't give any details.

For example:
1. How many children do you have with her and how old?

2. What is your ex's reason for wanting to reduce time?

What can "We The People" do to rectify this???  What is it going to take for the family court system to get a major overhaul?

I've seen a lot of activists and "Rights" groups on the internet that are fighting for reform. With all the effort they put in, how come nothing has changed yet??

I guess my question is, what is it going to take to get the voices of the outraged heard?

Basically, we thought tracking how much money goes to child care would be GOOD for everbody concerned - for both parents and the child. Like I said before, knowing how much daughter costs NOW will help us to plan for and/or be better prepared for the future.

Also, this may help to ensure that BM never tries to pull a fast one. For example, right now BM could say she need $xxxxx to take SD clothes shopping and fiance and I would have no idea if BM took SD shopping or if she took her "NEW" boyfriend out to dinner. If we had a logbook, we could look and see how many articles of clothing were previously bought for SD and how much was spent eachtime, with eachparent. There would be no way for either parents to bullsh*t the other.

Note: I know I mentioned previously that we didn't think BM was using child support for herself but, honestly, the thought has crossed our minds from time to time.

As I said before, this isn't an attempt to try to control BM. Fiance just wants to be as invovled as he can be (he is only the NCP) and BM doesn't share information unless it is directly related to fiance giving her more money. Instead of giving extra money to the BM, fiance just wants to be able to spend it on his duaghter himself. Why shouldn't he be able to take her clothes shopping, school supply shopping, birthday-gift-for-friend shopping? He's tired of giving the BM money to do these things when he could have the "honor" of doing it. (yes I said honor because he truly cherishes anytime he spends with his little girl.)

If we ask BM to keep a log of child care I'm sure she will just see this as a strike against her.  

What is the probability of us getting this mandated in the court order?

I'm dead-sure we can prove the advantages......