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My ex-boyfriend keeps calling me about his baby, but my attorney tells me to not answer the calls until the court case is done. Will this hurt me later in court?
It may very well hurt your case. You cannot legally stop him from seeing his own child, and doing so will most likely make you look very bad in the eyes of the court, regardless of what your attorney tells you to do. The judge knows you have an obligation to support the relationship between the child and the other parent, and expects you to know it too. Denying visitation will NOT make you appear to be the better parent.
It may very well hurt your case. You cannot legally stop him from seeing his own child, and doing so will most likely make you look very bad in the eyes of the court, regardless of what your attorney tells you to do. The judge knows you have an obligation to support the relationship between the child and the other parent, and expects you to know it too. Denying visitation will NOT make you appear to be the better parent.
How how can I send a personal letter to my son without my ex getting before he does?
Try sending it to his school, in care of a counselor perhaps, or possibly to a neighbor or one of his friends.
Try sending it to his school, in care of a counselor perhaps, or possibly to a neighbor or one of his friends.
I'm new to all this...where do I start?
If you're just getting started on the SPARC site, we'd suggest doing the following:
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Read the Steps To Protect Yourself page.
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Read the Tips For Getting Started page.
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Get an account on the message boards and start asking questions.
- Use the SPARC Forum Search Engine to find specific information you're interested in on the message boards, or use this link to search the articles.
After you've done that, come back here and browse the FAQ Center to see if there are any other topics that you'd like to find out more about. If you have questions that aren't answered in the FAQ Center, we encourage you to ask your question on the message boards.
We also suggest you take a look through our articles- almost 500 pages of practical, tips, tools, and techniques that cover numerous divorce and custody issues.
In general, your best source of continuing information will tend to be the message boards. It's a great place to ask questions, get ideas and advice, and to vent some frustration from time to time.
What's the difference between 'visitation' and 'parenting time'?
There is no difference; these are just different terms for the same thing. Most States have stopped using the term 'visitation' and now use 'parenting time' in court documents and legal proceedings.
The same thing goes for the term 'custody'- most States now use 'primary residential parent' in its place. The terms are generally equivalent.
The custodial parent is refusing to allow me to see my children. What do I do?
There are a couple of things you can do to ensure you get to exercise your parenting time with your kids:
- If you suspect that the custodial parent may interfere with your parenting time, send the Notice Of Intent To Exercise Visitation letter.
- If your parenting time is denied, ALWAYS send the Denial Of Visitation form letter. Copy your attorney, opposing counsel, and the court clerk on this letter.
- File a police report to further document the denied time. The police may be reluctant to file a report and tell you that it's a 'civil matter'. Insist (politely) that they file a report anyway.
- Use a parenting time tracker to record and track any missed or denied time.