retained custody

[greatdad]

After the 3rd custody trial in just under 2 yrs, Judge kept primary physical with me, as in the prior two.

Gave ex EOW visitation ( mainly due to my moving closer to her residence) and allowed ex joint legal saying it appeared she was trying to get her life in order.
In keeping primary physical with me, he made some ( according to my Atty, hardly any Judge in Va ever says this to a father) pretty amazing comment's " on the record", he said:

 " the father has done everything the court has asked him to do, everything a father should do,and he is to be commended for it",

he then reviewed the 10 factors that must be considered and said I have "well attended to all the childrens needs". He also commented on her bad decisions, citing her having a baby "out of wedlock" recently.

Ex had her new husband testify ( she was pregnant during divorce trial and thought we didn't know until we proved it  during previous  trial), and  he obviously hadn't told ex or  her Atty about his prior criminal convictions for DWI, etc. My Atty brought the charges out, got him to admit to still drinking and smoking as well.

In final order JUdge said no one is to drink alcohol, or smoke in prescence of children, and that if new husband interferes in exchange of children, or if ex's family causes any drama, if there are any recurring issues in that regard he will not hesitate to terminate visitation.

On the joint legal, my atty felt Judge was doing that in an attempt to allow ex to now show  she can demonstrate  her claims for cooperation and communication ( both severely lacking  in past 2 yrs that I have had the children), since she was trying for sole legal and physical.

Unfortunetly, I  don't think this is the last time we'll be in court, but  ex  is running out of credibility with the system, that's for sure.