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Hiya Soc!

All parties in GA.

DH is NCP.

CP has full legal and physical custody, NCP has visitation.

Custody order states that CP has 30 days from time of all medical / dental billing to submit all bills to NCP so that he can pay 50%.  According to the order, DH has 30 days from receival of bills to pay his 50% (either to the medical office or to CP).

CP has a long history of not paying her 50% of medical bills to the offices, so for the past several years DH has paid his portion directly to the office which performed the service.  This figures into Question #1.

As of late, we have been getting insurance notifications that the children have been going to the Doctor.  Also, we received a bill from a Dental Office where CP put DH down as the responsible party.  However, CP has yet to submit any bills to DH for him to pay 50%.

1. Does CP have the right to put DH down as the responsible party?  We're very worried about this because even after we pay our half, we seem to still be responsible for CP's half (which she will never pay).

2.  If CP doesn't submit bills to us and lets them stack up over a years time, do we still have only 30 days to pay them?

In reference to Question 2, theoretically we could use the Insurance notifications to track down the Doctors and get the bill from them....but with the way CP changes Doctors (due to non-payment) that would take up a major amount of time.

Thanks Soc :-)

All parties in GA.

When the permanent custody paperwork was filed 2 years ago, DH's (NCP)  lawyer made sure to include the "50 mile rule" stating that if NCP and CP lived 50 miles or more apart, that the parties would meet halfway for all drop-off's and pick-up's involved in visitaiton.

This was due to the fact that at the time, CP was married (for the 3rd time) and had moved (with no notice whatsoever) to a town 200 miles away.

One week later, CP divorced her new hubby and moved back to NCP's town, so the rule was never put into effect.

2 years have passed and NCP has moved 50+ miles away.  During the first scheduled visitation after the move, CP tried every excuse in the book to keep from meeting NCP including, but not limited to: "We only have to meet half-way if I, the custodial parent, moves away", "We only have to meet half-way on major Holidays", "I'm going to get this rule changed soon so I'm not going to meet you half-way since it will be changed soon."  ETC., ETC.

After a few hours of this, we have a tape of CP stating "Well, I called my lawyer and you're right, I have to meet you.  It's in the paperwork."  That's verbatim.

Well, due to summer visitation and NCP happening to be in CP's town on the pick-up day a couple of times, CP only had to meet NCP half-way two times at this point.  Now that school is back in and NCP is back at work (he's a school teacher with summers off) it has finally hit CP that she will have to meet NCP on Fridays and Sundays and she is not happy.

This weekend (CP waited until 5 hours before the scheduled meeting)hours of texting, calling, and emailing ensued wherein CP claimed all manner of excuses for not meeting half-way including a vet appointment, a work appointment, etc.  CP wanted to "make it up later" and stated "I'll get you back next weekend."

When CP realized that the excuses weren't working, she resorted to "I've told you before, it doesn't state in the paperwork that I have to meet you, I was just being nice."

NCP rebutted and quoted her statement from months prior after she called her lawyer and she dropped it.  However, we're worried that she is going to stop meeting NCP and claim that she thought she was following the paperwork as she read it.

SORRY for the long intro....I was kind of confusing in my last message and wanted to be clear :-)

And before you answer my questions, I should include that the distance is too far for one person to travel twice in a weekend, so :-)

1.  If CP refuses to meet NCP half-way and later claims that she thought she was following the paperwork as she read it, can the tape we have of her admitting that NCP was right and she does have to meet him prove she's in contempt by knowingly not abiding by the order?

2.  Is there anything we can do if #1 does occur, besides going all the way back to court?

THANKS SOC!!

All parties in GA.

When the permanent custody paperwork was filed 2 years ago, DH's (NCP)  lawyer made sure to include the "50 mile rule" stating that if NCP and CP lived 50 miles or more apart, that the parties would meet halfway for all drop-off's and pick-up's involved in visitaiton.

This was due to the fact that at the time, CP was married (for the 3rd time) and had moved (with no notice whatsoever) to a town 200 miles away.

One week later, CP divorced her new hubby and moved back to NCP's town, so the rule was never put into effect.

2 years have passed and NCP has moved 50+ miles away.  During the first scheduled visitation after the move, CP tried every excuse in the book to keep from meeting NCP including, but not limited to: "We only have to meet half-way if I, the custodial parent, moves away", "We only have to meet half-way on major Holidays", "I'm going to get this rule changed soon so I'm not going to meet you half-way since it will be changed soon."  ETC., ETC.

After a few hours of this, we have a tape of CP stating "Well, I called my lawyer and you're right, I have to meet you.  It's in the paperwork."  That's verbatim.

Well, due to summer visitation and NCP happening to be in CP's town on the pick-up day a couple of times, CP only had to meet NCP half-way two times at this point.  Now that school is back in and NCP is back at work (he's a school teacher with summers off) it has finally hit CP that she will have to meet NCP on Fridays and Sundays and she is not happy.

This weekend (CP waited until 5 hours before the scheduled meeting)hours of texting, calling, and emailing ensued wherein CP claimed all manner of excuses for not meeting half-way including a vet appointment, a work appointment, etc.  CP wanted to "make it up later" and stated "I'll get you back next weekend."

When CP realized that the excuses weren't working, she resorted to "I've told you before, it doesn't state in the paperwork that I have to meet you, I was just being nice."

NCP rebutted and quoted her statement from months prior after she called her lawyer and she dropped it.  However, we're worried that she is going to stop meeting NCP and claim that she thought she was following the paperwork as she read it.

SORRY for the long intro....I was kind of confusing in my last message and wanted to be clear :-)

And before you answer my questions, I should include that the distance is too far for one person to travel twice in a weekend, so :-)

1.  If CP refuses to meet NCP half-way and later claims that she thought she was following the paperwork as she read it, can the tape we have of her admitting that NCP was right and she does have to meet him prove she's in contempt by knowingly not abiding by the order?

2.  Is there anything we can do if #1 does occur, besides going all the way back to court?

THANKS SOC!!

Soc, would you be alluding to #10?  If so, I'm sorry.  I thought we would be considered the parties since my questions concerned the visitation in our home and since my questions concerned only that visitation (not the eventual custody side, etc).  Sorry, I have just gotten such wonderful advice here in the past and I don't want you to think that I was purposely ignoring the regulations.  Thanks for your time regardless.

Soc!  Hope you're doing well.

You probably won't be happy with my lack of information, but I really need your point of view.

The case has to do with my sister-in-law and her son.

All parties in GA.

SIL is currently going through a divorce.  At this point, the divorce is not final.

At the hearing for custody, the Judge gave temporary full custody to her husband and ordered that SIL would have supervised visitation EOW (from Friday at 6 PM to Sunday at 6 PM) once she completed a 12 week re-hab program.  At that court date, SIL's grandmother volunteered to be the supervisor for the visitation.

Once SIL completed re-hab, she had one supervised weekend visitation with her son before her grandmother stated that she "couldn't take the pressure" and said she would no longer supervise visitation.

My husband's father called and asked my husband if he could supervise the visitation for "a few times" while SIL's lawyer worked to get her unsupervised visitation.  Husband talked it over with me and we decided it was fine, if only for a few times.

We later found out that my husband was the only one okayed by SIL's soon-to-be-ex husband and his lawyer.  The rest of SIL's family was deemed unacceptable.  By whom, I don't know.  The Judge?  The Lawyers?

We have held the supervised visitation, at this point, three times.  However, the visitation takes place during the weekends that my stepdaughters visit and it has been hectic, to say the least.

When we question SIL and her father as to when the supervision will be changed to non-supervised, etc., we get the run-around.  One minute they say the final custody hearing will be in 2 months...and at another time they say it will be held in a year.  We were told a Guardian ad Litem was being brought in, but have yet to see anyone.  They say the lawyers are working to make the visitation unsupervised or that SIL's lawyer is working to get SIL's father to be the supervisor.....but we see no results.

We basically want to get the supervision out of our house.  It may sound harsh, but it's a madhouse when everyone is there and we have no "real" time with DH's children.

So here come the MANY questions!

1.  What is the average length of time between the temporary custody hearing and the final custody hearing?

2.  How difficult would it be to make SIL's father the supervisor?  He was primarily deemed unfit because he lived with SIL's mother, who was deemed unfit.  But if SIL got a residence (right now she's living with her parents), could he supervise in her home?

3.  Is weekend supervised visitation normal?  I only ask because there's no supervising while everyone is asleep and I've never heard of it before now.

4.  How is a Guardian ad Litem placed on a case?  Who requests it?

5.  As the supervisor, can my husband contact SIL's lawyer to ask questions concerning supervision.

6.  Can our BM (DH's ex) make a case to suspend our visitation with DH's daughters due to the fact that SIL (recently completed re-hab) is in our home during the DSD's visitation?  This isn't really an issue, but I'd like to be prepared.

Any additional advice would be appreciated!

Thanks SOC!

Oh Soc, I hope you can help!

All parties reside in GA.  BM had legal and physical custody.

An email was sent to NCP 2 days ago with a link to a website that he was instructed to view.  Turns out it was CP's MySpace Account.  On her picture page are 4 pictures of the minor children (ages 5 and 8) of the marriage with captions below spelling out their First and Middle names.

On CP's profie page, she lists the town they live in, the night college she attends and the fact that she is divorced and single.  They live in a small town with one elementary school, so it would be easy for anyone to find where the children attend.  

NCP is very upset due to the high incidence of people using such information to find / stalk children.  He has sent CP 2 emails (one certified) requesting that she remove the pictures and information and outlining the dangers of not doing so.

CP has not complied, although she has logged onto her MySpace account twice since receiving the emails.

In addition, the pictures of the children she is using were actually taken by me (SM) and reside in a private photo-sharing account maintained by Yahoo Photos.  CP was allowed to view the pictures with a password (from Easter) after she requested several times.  She has since been blocked from viewing the photos.

Additionally, DH has contacted MySpace and requested that the photos and names of his minor children be removed from the site.  He is awaiting a reply.

Basically, we are looking for the quickest way to get these photos and names off the site.

1.  Has CP violated any copyright laws by copying and re-pasting photos from a Private site onto the Public Internet?

2.  Are Public Websites obligated to remove photos / names of minor children if a parent requests them to?

3.  What further steps can we take if CP and the Website refuse to remove the information?

Thank You Soc!

All parties live in GA.

I am the Stepmother.  DH will be paying child support on one child for 10 more years, and on another child for 12 more years.

Currently, I have one biological child and carry a large life insurance on myself.  The majority of this life insurance is meant for my biological child (education, care, etc.) in case of my death.

At this point, DH is named on my life insurance to receive 100% of the proceeds in the event of my death.

Recently, I have become worried that his Ex-Wife could claim this money, if I died, as DH's income and make an attempt to get a portion of it.

1.  If I were to die and DH were to receive 100% of the policy, could his Ex-Wife make a claim for a portion of it by having it considered as income?

2.  If the answer to Question 1 is YES, should the recepient of the policy be an immediate relative of mine who I trust (my mother) who would give a portion of it to DH and place the remainder in trust for my child, or should it be put in my child's name with my DH as trustee?

3.  While I'm on the subject, in my situation if I took control of a pre-established business (given to me as a gift), could DH's Ex-Wife attempt to claim a portion of the profits, even if DH is in no way associated with the business?

4.  Finally, do you suggest separate accounts in this type of situation?

Thanks SOC!!

Hi Soc :-)

OK, this question is not nearly as important as your others, but I wanted a legal p.o.v.

CP has sole legal and physical custody, NCP has visitation.  Both reside in GA.

Daughter of CP and NCP cut her hair at school last week on a dare.  She now has a hacked off section of hair in the front.  CP refuses to "fix" or "straighten" the hair and it looks terrible.

NCP would like to take daughter to have hair fixed since she (daughter) says children at school are making fun of her.

There is no wording in the paperwork that NCP cannot have daughter's hair cut.  Only that CP will make decisions concerning medical care and schooling.

1.  As the NCP, and with CP having sole legal and physical custody, does NCP have the right to have daughter's hair cut correctly at a beauty shop?

2.  What are the repercussions if the answer to #1 is "No" and NCP does it anyway (daughter is very upset at jokes being made about hair)?

Thanks!

All events take place in GA.

NCP recently learned that during CP's marriage two years ago (marriage lasted 6 weeks) that an "incident" occured in the CP's home while the children were there.

NCP received the police report today which lists CP as the complainant and offender in a Domestic Incident with her husband as the Victim.  CP was arrested on the premises and issued a citation for DOC.

DFCS was called due to the fact that CP and NCP's children were on the premises.  The DFCS representative made the decision that the children could remain in the care of CP due to the fact that Victim was voluntarily leaving the house.

CP made sure to withhold this information from NCP due to the fact that the final custody hearing was taking place the following week.  At that hearing, CP was granted sole physical and legal custody.

1.  At the next court date that occurs, will the judge look unfavorably upon the fact that CP did not reveal this occurence before the final custody hearing?

2.  Will the judge take this incident into account in future decisions concerning custody (i.e. the fact that CP was the offender and was arrested for DOC while children were in the house)?

3.  Will NCP have to go through a lawyer to get the DFCS report of the incident? (At this point, DFCS is refusing NCP the information due to the fact that he wasn't involved.)

4.  Did DFCS follow procedure in not alerting NCP to the occurence?

5. CP was issued a citation concerning the incident.  Does that mean she had to go before a court?  Would her arrest be on record (besides what we have)?  I'm not sure how the citation process works.

Thank You.

Soc :-)

CP and NCP in GA, original orders set there.

NCP pays 25% of gross wages on 2 children.

NCP begins new job in 2 weeks with a 25% increase in pay.  NCP also pays 100% medical / dental and 50% additional medical / dental bills.

NCP expects CP to take him back for modification when she learns of this pay increase.

New GA child support guidelines go into effect January 2007 to a Shared Income Model.  When I plug NCP's new income and CP's income into calculator, the amount is $50 higher than current child support.

1.  If CP takes NCP back for modification this summer, will a Judge increase child support based on the old guidelines (where NCP pays 100% of child support) even though the guidelines will change to Shared Income Model a few months later?

2. Is NCP obligated to inform CP of his new income?

Thanks Soc!