Can I get more time???

[rm1759]

I have a question, first I will provide a history.

My daughter is 7, I did not know about her until she was 3 1/2.  BM called and told me.  We tried to work it out amicably, and took it slow with my daughter.  For a year, I saw her every sunday for a few hours.  Then I began pushing for more time from her mother (still no CO at this point, I was paying support, but it was not ordered. ).  BM keeps saying no, she's not ready yet for overnights.  Finally I get fed up, and we begin to go through the legal process.  

Fast forward to last september.  Finally I got a CO, established paternity (and CS + arrears for back support!) and established what I thought was the "normal" schedule (eow, holidays, and 2 1-week periods in the summer).  Most of the arguing over time had to do with my daughter still "not being ready" to spend more time with me.  She is seeing a therapist, and he is beginning to agree with me that there are low amounts of PAS occurring making my daughter stress about the time she is away from mom.  

Now, here is my question.  I would like to get more time with my girl.  I would like to establish a parenting plan like the ones I have seen on this site.  However, I have already agreed in mediation.  My attorney says that we may be able to go back and state the she is ready now for more time.   I think the therapist will also testify that more time would be in the best interests of the child.  

I'm in florida, do I stand a chance at getting more time at all?  What would be the best steps to take to ensure I would get a favorable ruling?  I might also be able to get her on visitation interferance (I have let her get away with it before, but not the next time) would that help at all?

[Kitty C.]

Tell your atty. and therapist (and your ex, for that matter) that there are kids who are traveling from one coast to the other at that age (mine was!) and the ex can take her 'not ready' excuse and put it where the sun don't shine.  If she can't come up with PROOF (feelings are NOT proof), then she can go piss up a rope!

Sorry, sometimes the crap these POS's pull really gets under my skin.....

[Stepmom0418]

LOL!! YOU GO KITTY!

[rm1759]

Thanks for the response, Believe me, I would very much like to vent my anger towards BM, however I don't think that will go very far in getting me additional time with her.  Would I be wasting my time pursuing a court action since I already signed the mediation agreement 9 months ago?  She is not a horrible mom, she does take good care of my daughter, but she discourages our relationship.  Which is difficult to prove in the eyes of the judge.  My attorney told me during mediation that I wouldn't get more time than that if we didn't settle and it went to court.  I shouldn't have listened to that advice.  Are there any suggestions of how to proceed to get the judge to grant more time?  I have been documenting all of my time/denied time with her over the past 3 years...

[Kitty C.]

I didn't mean for you to take me seriously, but just put it into context.  Call up a few airlines and ask them for details on their unaccompanied minors program.  There's very little difference between any of them, as they follow guidelines from the FAA.  But the reasoning here is that they allow, as do MANY parents, children as young 6 to fly, so if that can be court ordered for THAT age, there is NO reason whatsoever that your child cannot stay overnight with you.

Heck, even INFANTS are allowed to stay overnight with NCP's.  What I'm getting at is you need to FORCE her to PROVE that to allow her to stay overnight with you would be detrimental to her.  And you MUST force the issue, because the longer you let it go, the more control you hand to your ex and the more she will try to dilute your relationship with your child.  This is just one of the tactics CP's will use to force the NCP out of the child's life.  

[dad in az]

She's 7 years old, she wont have any problems and even if she did you will notice yourself.