Just been served Divorce papers. Very stressed

[Jonathan83]

Im not sure if this is the right place to post any of this, if not then sorry. I'm also just going to post this in point form because otherwise it would be VERY long but if there is anything anyone would like me to expand on i'l try to do so right away.

ok:
Im Australian. Back in Sydney I had sex with my roommate, a Texan woman, and she became pregnant.
We decided to keep the child after a lot of discussion.

At around November 2010 I offered to come back with her to USA so she could give birth around her family. I understood how important this type of thing is to a mother. She agreed that after a period of 1-2 years we would go back to Australia

We got married the day after my son's birth so that I could legally stay inside of America

I have a green card that runs out February 2013

Almost right away things became very hard. She started to become very aggressive, very anxious, and had huge anxiety problems

it did not help that we both had no work and that her family would constantly be-little me

Over the past year she has physically hit me a few times. No reports made as they where not serious and each time she said she wanted to get help (yes, I do realize how stupid I was for caring about her instead of reporting her)

she now claims those times never happened (I honestly believe she does not remember them)

She does suffer from serious anxiety, has admitted to having postnatal depression, and has very serious anger management problems. None of which she has seeked help for.

On numerous times I asked us to go seek help. I have emails to prove this.

From the moment we got my son back, she has continued to forget to fax through correct paperwork to get our sons birth certificate - something needed for him to be accepted as an Australian citizen

She has almost weekly threatened to have me thrown out of the house, and a half dozen times threatened to have me deported

I HAVE called the police on her once because of this

Start of this month, January 5th, she became VERY aggressive, started yelling and swearing at me etc. However she then calmed down a bit. She asked me to hold my son, I held out my arms, she handed him across and IMMEDIATELY pushed past and against me to grab my personal journal I had been writing in.

This is not the first time she has looked at/tried to look at my personal items. She has gone through my phone at least once.

She has also made "comments" about "needing to make sure no child porn is on my PC" (no, there is none, I do not look at any, I could only take it as a threat)

I DO have recording of what she has said and done.

On the 5th I left the house. I took my things because I could not be around her violent nature anymore. I now realize my mistake but it's too late to change that.

She said we would "try to work things out" and I made a number of offers to help, to talk to counselling groups etc. She said she would think about it.

Instead today I was served with divorce papers. I have 20 days to respond, and court date on 28th February.
Ok, so again, sorry it's so long.

My biggest concerns are this - I don't even know if I can stay in the country. I want to be with my son. I DONT want her getting 20% of my wages as that's bollocks. I DONT want to pay her damn legal fees. And lastly I DO want to be able to see my son on his damn birthday 8th Feb, but reading the paperwork it seams to say I can't go near him except at a "visitation" center.

I did talk to her, and she said she made sure with the lawyer that I would be able to see him on his birthday - I don't know if she was lied to, but I don't think she was actually trying to trick me here - though I wouldn't put it past her mother (her lawyer is her mothers friend)

What can I do now? What should I do?
I really want her to go through counseling. She does need the help. She really does

I'm in Houston Texas and the court date is on the 28th of Feb and it says I have 20 days to respond, but don't even know how to do that.

I am really really stressed out here because I do believe she is wanting to make this a 50/50 custody where we both see our son - but the way the lawyer has acted in the legal document, mainly trying to get me to pay money for her legal fees etc and the "advice" the lawyer gave her about me being able to be at my sons birthday - it makes me think the lawyer is acting on her MOTHERS wishes to screw me over. Not hers

[Waylon]

The one bit of advice I would give you is to get an experienced family law attorney immediately. Some of these pages may also help:

Hiring An Effective Attorney
http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/effective.php

Steps To Protect Yourself During Divorce
http://deltabravo.net/custody/protect.php

  "The List", by Tom
http://deltabravo.net/custody/thelist.php

The Layman's Guide To Being A Good Client
http://deltabravo.net/guide/index.php

[ICADLFM]

You need to find, and hire a Men's ONLY, Father's Rights, Divorce and Child Custody lawyer in Texas. I performed a quick google search, and some websites will be pasted below, to give you a quick start. If you cannot find and hire an attorney before your court date, attend the court hearing, and tell the Judge - whether you are going to represent yourself, or whether you are looking for an attorney to represent you and you need more time to hire one.

That should be all you need to get a continuance, so you may find a good, mens' rights lawyer. Here are the websites I found. I am sure you can find many more.

Well, its not letting me post the links. So, here are the search terms for google.

"fathers rights lawyers in texas"

Also, google the names below or go to their .com websites

Dallas Fathers Rights Attorneys | Bailey and Galyen | Houston ...
texas-fathers-rights

Texas Family Law Attorneys at Bailey & Galyen are committed to father's rights and family law. Call today for a ... Bailey & Galyen - Skilled, Experienced Fathers Rights, Child Custody and Divorce Attorneys ... Texas Personal Injury Lawyers ...

Dallas Father's Rights Lawyers| Texas Family Attorneys | Dallas ...
dallasfathersrights

Fathers who are dealing with family law matters in Texas like child custody and child support need to obtain the services of a Dallas father's rights lawyer.


Addison TX Divorce Attorney - Dallas Texas Fathers Rights Advocate
fathersrightstexas

If you are a man looking for a Texas family law attorney to fight for your rights and safeguard your children's best interests, you an attorney who has extensive ...

Fathers' Rights Lawyer Dallas TX | Child Custody & Support Attorney ...
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At Paula Lock Smyth Law Offices, we provide services to fathers who are seeking custodial or visitation rights. We also handle child support matters. Contact our ...

Groups - The Fathers Rights Network
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The Fathers Rights Network advocates the Rights for Children to have access to ... Texas Fathers for Equal Rights and The National Fathers' Resource Center ...