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Congratulations!  Your story is very inspiring!

Last November my X dropped off my oldest child at a police station and told me to come pick her up.  The reason?  X said the child wasn't grateful enough for everything X does for her.

Since then X has only seen my daughter one time and wants nothing to do with her.  My daughter is 14 and couldn't be happier.  

So on one hand it might be sad, but on the other hand, when the X is a nut case, it's probably better in the long run anyway.

You can most certainly file a motion for contempt.

I would suggest you start with a Motion to Compel, then go to a Motion for Contempt if she doesn't abide by the motion to compel.

Look up the prothonotary site for your county and see if you can pull up pdf files of other people's cases.  Find somebody else' motions and copy the format.

Here's a site I found on PAS... you might find these articles interesting, especially in light of your situation.

http://www.parentalalienation.com/articles/index.html

>You're entitled to your opinion, of course.  I just think it's
>wrong, and that you are giving this guy advice that could land
>him in jail.

He could land in jail if his ex makes one allegation of domestic violence or child abuse.  

>Staying overnight with someone doesn't do anything to prove
>that people can or can't get along.  

I disagree.  Often a mother's main argument against joint custody is that the father is abusive and/or so upsetting to be around that joint custody is impossible or impractical.  If the mother invites him into her house and there are no incidents, he's building a track record that will help with joint custody.

>He also couldn't sue his lawyer for malpractice if he stayed
>the night with his girlfriend, something bad happened, and his
>lawyer hadn't advised him against it.  This is not opinion,
>it's fact.  

I'm not sure where you're from, but it is NOT a fact that you cannot sue a lawyer for malpractice anywhere that I know of.  Maybe you might lose, but nothing prevents a person from bringing the case against the lawyer.

>So, I think his attorney might actually be trying
>to protect his client instead of himseldf, as you are
>suggesting.

I have never met an attorney who didn't value protecting himself more than he valued protecting his client.  Now that's a fact.

Attorneys will always frame every bit of advice so that it appears the advice is in the best interest of the client.  EVERY bit of advice is always in the best interest of the attorney.

And yes, if the attorney advised him to stay at the ex's house, and the ex got him thrown in jail, then the attorney would have to answer as to why he advised the overnight instead of telling him to stay away.

My daughter hates the idea of seeing her mother at all.  She's doing quite well in school and in outside of school, and her mother is nothing but a nuisance to her at this point.

My concern is that the mother will go back into court and claim I'm interfering in their relationship.

I'm really confused about which direction to take at this point.

The order says mother has ZERO visitation rights, and the incidents happened over the last year.

Hi,

Here's my situation:

Ex voluntarily gave me 100% custody of my oldest daughter, age 13.  Ex put her in hospital with concussion.

Now ex wants to start seeing her an hour at a time, unsupervised.

Any thoughts on what I should do?

Fran

To offer a different view, I don't think you did the wrong thing or acted rashly by taking your son when you were supposed to.  The danger in NOT taking him would be that X's mother could lie and say you never even showed up.

You have as much right to parent your son as X does.  More importantly, your son has a right to be with both parents in spite of what some bureaucrat decides.

I also don't think it's a bad idea to stay overnight at X's house if you're invited.  Of course she could be setting you up, but so what?  If she wants to lie and make false allegations she could anyway.  Your lawyer will advise against it because if something bad goes down and he didn't advise against it, he could be sued for malpractice.

Plus, staying overnight will negate what is often a women's most compelling argument -that the two of you just can't get along.

Fran

Sounds like my X...

Here's what works for me.  Give X three different times and dates and let X pick which works best.  Of course X will probably say all three dates don't work but it will at least get things moving in the right direction (maybe).

Does X have a lawyer?  What also worked great for me is representing myself and bugging X's lawyer daily with phone calls and emails.  X call to her lawyer cost her money and got her lawyer so irritated with her that he ended up taking my side.

Good luck,

Fran