OREGON FATHER NEEDS SOCRATEASER'S DIRECTION PLS

[braveheart503]

A have a few questions ***********
I currently have to children in Oregon.

I currently live in Alabama

1. I have never been married to the mother of my children.

2. Paternity papers (states that I am the father) and a support order was established in 1999 in Multnomah county.

3. The mother has had temporary custody since 1998. This was granted to her through a bogus restraining order issued by Multnomah county court. THE RESTRAINING ORDER HAS SINCE EXPIRED AND HAS NOT BEEN RENEWED.

4. I have yet to have my children visit my home since 1998.
Last question,
Is the "motion to show cause document" the document I need to file?
It's to my understanding that once this paper is filled, the mother of the children has to respond in 30 days of the date served.


What I'm shooting for:

I had a restraining order placed on me by my kids mother (never married) in 1998

This was a plot to gain temp custody of the kids which were living with me at the time.

Conclusion, I fumbled in court and my attorney didn;t not show, and the judge granted the mother with temp custody and me with supervised visitation.

I made all of my visits with the kids and their grandparents up util the mother fled to another state. I was unable to visit them until her retun to the home state.


I have since took the kids out of town etc. but still experince the parent blocking from the other parent.  

I have no criminal record, not even a misdemeanor,  My biggest issue was that I had no money when the restraining order was pitted aginst me.

Now is not the case. I've saved every dime I can get my hards on to fight this. I do not care to move back to the state where my children live at this time.


I just basically want to see my kids for the holidays, summers etc. I'm willing to pay travel for the kids to fly and see me, I'm just not willing to go through the hassel of the parent blocking me.

LAST FACTS###########********************

I got a email response from a court facilitator which says:

Shawn,

get on the website (Oregon Family Law),
go to the section that talks about custody and parenting time for
unmarried parents.  You will be filing this packet of documents.  If you
choose to represent yourself, you can mail the documents for stage 1 to
the Multnomah County Courthouse with a check made out to the State of
Oregon for $329.  How you interact with the Court system after that
point will depend on you.  You will be expected to know what you are
doing the same way an attorney would know how to proceed.  The Court
must remain neutral and cannot guide you in the process.  I would
strongly suggest you get an Oregon attorney to represent you.
Shari Clark




POINT= WHAT SHOULD I DO AT THIS POINT? ???????????????????

[socrateaser]

In the future, if you do not put ALL of your facts at the beginning of the post and then follow those facts with numbered questions at the bottom, I will not respond to your post. I'm giving you a break today. Now, to review:

Paternity was established in 1999, and temporary custody was granted to mother via a restraining order that has since expired.

Under Oregon Law, Once paternity is established, the father is legally obligated to pay child support. If the parents were never married, then mother would be the sole custodian, and father would have no custody rights. The fact that a temp order granted custody to mother and is now expired is irrelevant, because it wasn't necessary to grant mother the right that she already enjoyed prior to the award of temporary custody.

Father has the right to file a motion for a custody hearing under the paternity case number. Because no final judgment of custody has apparently ever been made, the custody hearing does not require father to show a substantial change in circumstances affecting the child's best interests. The court must set a date for a custody trial, and the outcome will be based on the child's best interests.

Father must show proof that the child's interests will be better served by his obtaining some amount of visitation/custody, rather than not. This may not be easy, as an unmarried father has the burden of proving the a substantial parent-child relationship exists, and the facts show that father lives in AL, and father has not seen his children in the past 6 years.

Unless father can show, via testimony of the children, or an expert witness (psychologist, social worker, etc.), that a substantial parent-child relationship still exists, then father will probably be granted no more than very limited, supervised visitation. If a substantial parent-child relationship is proven, then more substantial visitation/custody may be granted.

My advice:

1. Consider your existing relationship with your kids. If it is strong enough so that you are certain that they would disclose to a child psychologist that they want to spend substantial time with you, then you should file a motion for a custody hearing and request that the children be evaluated.

2. If your relationship is weak, then you need to recognize now, because you may be better off simply asking for very limited, supervised visitation in Oregon, leading to more substantial visitation as time goes on.

Bluntly, the cost of your air and motel fair will not be as expensive as trying to prove in court that the children want to spend substantial time with you, in these circumstances. And, once you have re-established a substantial relationship with the kids, you will be in a much better position to request more time.

3. Finally, re your request for a motion to show cause document, this has nothing to do with what you require. You want to file a motion for a custody hearing.

Now, if you tell me what you believe you can PROVE in court regarding your relationship with your kids, then I may be able to help you write an appropriate motion and supporting affidavit.

Remeber, your next post must be per the mandatory forum guidelines or I won't answer.

[braveheart503]

Dear SOCRATEASER,


I first want to thank you for your time. I'm truely greatful. People like you don't come often.

I previously mentioned that "I have yet to have my children visit my home since 1998. " was a really vague description of my relationship with my children.

I can prove without a shadow of a doubt that my children and I have an existing relationship. You could put my kids in front of 100 social worker's and they can tell you my first, midlle, and last name, and my date of birth.

I can prove in court that I have a sound relationship with the kids. I was in Oregon last July to august 27th of last year. My daughters were with me the whole time.

I also took my daughters to Victoria Canada in April 2003 for my oldest daughters birthday. I have the plane tickets and witnesses as well.

My problem comes with the mother.Every since I've been married, She purposly screens my phone calls. Example: my biological father can call my daughters, my siblings (sisters) can call my daughters, and even pick up the children and take them to visit my family out of state (Los Angeles, CA), but if I try to arrange a visit or for them to come and see me. I get the run around.

SOCRATEASER, I love my daughters dearly. This is the first time in years that I have been able to get caught up on childsupport and make an attempt to establish rights to see the kids.

I just need to know what I have to do, and I'm willing to do it.


Patiently awaiting for the wisdom of SOCRATEASER

[socrateaser]

OK, you need to file a motion for a custody hearing, using the same case number as was used with the paternity judgment. However, before you do, and based on your facts, my advice is that you arrange with your sisters to have your kids visit your family out of state, as was done before, and then you be there when they arrive. Bring a video tape and record the whole vacation. Arrange to have a child psychologist who can testify on your behalf in court, observe you with the kids.

In short, if you can assemble a set of facts that the children's mother cannot easily refute, and that the judge can see with his own eyes just how good your relationship with your kids is, then your custody motion will go very well and probably fairly quickly.

So, can you do this?

[socrateaser]

OK, you need to file a motion for a custody hearing, using the same case number as was used with the paternity judgment. However, before you do, and based on your facts, my advice is that you arrange with your sisters to have your kids visit your family out of state, as was done before, and then you be there when they arrive. Bring a video tape and record the whole vacation. Arrange to have a child psychologist who can testify on your behalf in court, observe you with the kids.

In short, if you can assemble a set of facts that the children's mother cannot easily refute, and that the judge can see with his own eyes just how good your relationship with your kids is, then your custody motion will go very well and probably fairly quickly.

So, can you do this?