how to file contempt

[bredandad]

i was wondering if any o you knew how to obtain the filing papers to file for contempt of court. there are several documented (by police) cases of my daughters mom not allowing me to pick up my daughter. i spoke with a lawyer and she said that the best thing would be to file contempt. now i read somewhere that you can do this on your own. i just do not know where to get the papers. i have called the courthouse the attorney general and other law lines but they all say to call one of the other numbers. i am not getting any answers and have looked up everything i could think of on the internet. even sites that sell the forms and i can not find anything. this is in the state of texas by the way. so any advice will be appreciated.

[MixedBag]

There are a few folks here from Texas and maybe they'll chime in.

Many courthouses have copies of the forms you'll need to file yourself.  I'd suggest that you go there (if possible) and ask them in person.  I read that you said you already called the courthouse and I'm thinking "Did you call the right office?"

Yes, you can file the papers yourself, but appearing before the judge in the hearing that will get scheduled is quite a different story.  I'm pro se (represent myself), but I'm not sure I'd recommend it for everyone out there.

There's a lot of "rules" that you have to follow besides filing the paperwork, paying the fee to file, having her served with the paperwork, appearing at the hearing, knowing how to enter evidence to prove she didn't let you have your child, etc....

[gipsy]

Mixed bag is probably right " If you don't talk to the right person at the court you will find that one department doesn't know what the othewr departments do SOOOO , I am in washington and these are the answers I know of ,
   PIERCE COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT !
   Call the court facilitater : Or go to commissioner services , Or call the court and ask if they have a night when atty's help people file > I have found if you ask the wrong person , You will get the run around , It's almost like they try to frustrate < But they don't ,
   Here's what I  also suggest , Go to the court ,  ask where family law matters are heard , Have a pen and paper in hand <: People don't seem to mind giving out info , But they seem to mind giving it to you two or three times < Ask whom looks like an atty ; Ask several : Call several atty's and say you don't have much cash but wonder if they help file for pro se litigants , And let you go to the court your self for the visitation issue , And will they give you a bity of advice , Call a bunch of those parrelegal services and ask around for some one that works your issues ,
  Parrelegals will fill out papers for a fee , But they can't represent you at the court , Go to child support and ask for their list of low cost legal help ! Ya see its all there for the child support police , But not for Non custodial parents , But their help is of course for any low income person ,
   Remmember be really nice to every one !
  I filed some stuff pro se with commissioners services , I hads to go to the law library And get a paper they told me to get , However they had most of them right there , I took My atty's advice and was nice , And they were quite helpfull :
   My best advice is to call several atty's and ask to have the papers drawn up by them and WRITE DOWN WHAT THEY TELL YOU TO DO WITH THEM  ! Atty's can be cool but again they aren;t that cool <
  But let me tell ya how cool my attys is < He got on his computer and got on the court web page . Thaty we all have access to and filed contempt for my cousin , FOR free , In like five minutes ,
   Sometimes it would be better to have an atty get the papers right for a fee . My atty helps people all the time this way and he charges a very reasonable price , Like 75$ per paper , You go make your own copies at Kinko's or what ever ,
  You can do it and the atty is right , I do carpentry , And in the high end and have worked for many atty's And the consensus is  As My atty tells it " He say's "  Parenting plans are not self enforcing " If you don't go file contempt  you teach  The custodial parent They can get away with it "
 He also say's . " You won't get a finding of contempt right away unless you can prove the legal reasons for contempt , " But If you keep fileing On like the 3rd 4th time or so the court will find her in contempt < You have pretty good docs , And if they prove she willfully disobeyed a court order " She will be in contempt "
   But even if you dont get a finding of contempt . The custodial has limited choices <
    1 She has to hire an atty or talk to one . And the atty will ask why she doesn;t just comply with the court order"
    2 She will have to go through the hassle of responding pro se ,
      3 Will have to take the day off to go to the court !
    And My atty say's if you do it pro se and she hires an atty then she is out the money , Make sure you object to atty fee's at the court if you don't object the court thinks you agree
   But fileing things pro se is not that hard , BVut itys easy to leave something out so get some help !
    The court gets a copy , they stamp a copy , and you get one copy , And The custodial parent has to be legally notified in the time frame SOOO Also post on socrateaser's board , And read his  rules for
   posting !!!
   I have given legal service my sel f, All I had to do is fiil out a sworn declaration that said < I MR XXX Served Custodial parent with contempt papers ' Signed MR XXXX