supervised visitation

[redd1]

We lived in Florida for a year with shared custody, - there has never been a court order.  We moved back to Illinois in July w/agreement with  mother that she would keep child for the summer then child would come to Illinois to live with us.

When appointed time came she refused to surrender child, then started cutting off contact between her father and the child.  Over a month of trying to resolve issue failed. Finally hired Illinois Atty who said if there was no court order in effect he had the right to the child as much as she and could go to Florida and bring child to Illinois. He did, notified mother the moment he landed in Chicago that child was with him and they would continue to try to work it out.

Within 2 days Fl county sherrif notified him he was breaking the law and they could have him arrested.  Il atty failed to return phone calls for two days, and then when asked to contact county DA or whoever to discuss issue failed to act.

Called and hired an atty in Fl who informed us fiance had to return child, no other option. Immediatly made arrangements to return child to mother.  Once again tried to negotiate but got hung up on mothers insistance on supervised visits.

Mother filed custody motion, our atty failed to file a response, did nothing he was instructed to do, just kept insisting to give her what she wanted.  Retained a differnt atty who told us we were given bad advice, we could have kept the child although we would have had to return to Fl to have case heard.

In November we moved back to Florida so child could spend time with father, moved into apt complex next to mother and provided mother with copy of the lease.  Fiance now stays here 10 days to 2 weeks, then flies to Illinois and works a week or two and returns here, while I am employed full time here.  We have no residence at the moment in Illinois.

2nd atty in Fl advised him he also had the right to see his child or have her in his custody and in December he decided he would bring her to our house for a couple of days.  Called and informed police he had her in his custody, showed them birth certificate,etc and they informed him if he did not return her they would arrest him.  He asked what law he had broken they told him none, but he would be arrested just the same.  After event atty informed him it's a problem they always encounter, would have been nice to know in advance!

She has also obtained an Emergency Order of non-contact between her, him and the child.

Mother filed Emergency Motion to Protect Minor Child.  Judge determined we did have an agreement with the mother, but told her atty and ours he was furious with father for "taking" child and entered judgement as follows:

ORDERED AND ADJUDGED AS FOLLOWS:

1.  The Defendant shall exercise supervised visitatin with the minor child at the Family Nuturing Center.

2. The Defendant shall have telephone contact with the minor child on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Sundays, from 7:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.  The Plantiff shall make the minor child available for this telepone contact with the Defendant.

3.  The Defendant shall hav no unsupervised visitation or contact between himself of the minor child, except at the Family Nuturing Center and the above mentioned telephone contact.

4.  Each party shall cooperate by scheduling thier initial appointments with the Family Nuturing Center to expedite this visitation.  the Defendant sahll be responsible for any and all costs associated withe the use fot he Famity Nuturing Center.


Our atty said in all his years he's never seen such a harsh judgement.

QUESTIONS:

Can we appeal this decison?  Atty said no, it's a non-final order.

Is it non-final because they have not gone to court on the custody issue?

How can this order affect judgment for custody?

Four days ago in phone conversation with Atty fiance asked him to be honest and asked him if this whole custody issue was a done deal before they ever walked into court and atty replied it was and he would be lucky if in the end he gets to see his daughter once every two weeks.  How can that be?

The mothers atty ordinarily does custody evaluations, could this bias the judge?

Our atty failed to file the motion for the evaluation, they chose where they wanted.  Is it possible to petition to get it moved to a firm neither atty has a "history" with to ensure the fairest assement for the childs sake?

After this judgment mother then filed for order of protection, citing domestic violence claims and instead of having his atty accept service, stated in the motion they did not know who his atty was and had him served at home.  They had at least two phone conversations with atty and met him in court 10 days prior to the filing... is this perjury?  Can atty be removed from case for such?

The mother failed to make child available on the first 2 scheduled telephone contacts, and subsequently has made child available later than times stated.  On 3 day she called him and saidher atty is going to try to get the times changed.  Does this violate her emergency order of protection that she filed in the domestic violence motion that states non-contact?  Does this nullify that order?

Thank you for your time.

[socrateaser]

>QUESTIONS:
>
>Can we appeal this decison?  Atty said no, it's a non-final
>order.

Attorney is correct. No appeal.

>
>Is it non-final because they have not gone to court on the
>custody issue?

Correct.

>
>How can this order affect judgment for custody?

Evidence that father wants to control the child to the impairment of the mother, which is not in the child's best interests.

>
>Four days ago in phone conversation with Atty fiance asked him
>to be honest and asked him if this whole custody issue was a
>done deal before they ever walked into court and atty replied
>it was and he would be lucky if in the end he gets to see his
>daughter once every two weeks.  How can that be?

Because your fiance ran off with the kid, rather than file for custody like everyone else.

>
>The mothers atty ordinarily does custody evaluations, could
>this bias the judge?

I don't read tea leaves.

>
>Our atty failed to file the motion for the evaluation, they
>chose where they wanted.  Is it possible to petition to get it
>moved to a firm neither atty has a "history" with to ensure
>the fairest assement for the childs sake?

Probably not.

>
>After this judgment mother then filed for order of protection,
>citing domestic violence claims and instead of having his atty
>accept service, stated in the motion they did not know who his
>atty was and had him served at home.  They had at least two
>phone conversations with atty and met him in court 10 days
>prior to the filing... is this perjury?  Can atty be removed
>from case for such?

Perjury is false testimony re a material fact affecting the case. The fact that service may not have been perfect, is immaterial to the case, because you know that a case is pending and you have appeared. Therefore, no perjury.

>
>The mother failed to make child available on the first 2
>scheduled telephone contacts, and subsequently has made child
>available later than times stated.  On 3 day she called him
>and saidher atty is going to try to get the times changed.
>Does this violate her emergency order of protection that she
>filed in the domestic violence motion that states non-contact?

The emergency order keeps you from contacting the mother, and not the other way around.

> Does this nullify that order?

No. Nothing that either party could do would "nullify" the order. Nullify means rendering something as if it had never existed.

[redd1]

Fiance visited child at school during her lunch period and the mother had asked the school not to allow him contact with child.  The principal tried to deny him acess to the child.  He explained he wasn't there to cause trouble, just wanted to visit with his child.  

The next day there was a hearing on the temporary order of protection.  Prior to the case being heard in the judges chambers, the school principal and her atty entered the judges chambers.  

QUESTION

IF (and we don't know it was, but seems pretty odd if it wasn't) it was regarding this case, didn't fiance and his atty have the right to hear what was presented and respond to it?

If she continues to disregard order to make child available at specified times could she be brought up on contempt charges?  Would it hurt her case of his?

Fiance wants to protest... outside court house, thinking it would prejudice the judge and therefore make for his withdrawl from case.  His atty advises no... your thoughts?

If he loses custody hearing how often can he appeal decision?  And the visitiaion, how often can he appeal for modification?

If it comes to light that mother and judge had prior contact outside of court could that be cause for removal from case? And how would that work? (not something I think we should pursue)

And lastly, if it's a done deal what is the point of going through the custody evaluation?  

He has been the primary care giver the childs entire life and the one who has been the most involved with the child... taking her out to play, having her friends over, making child care arrangements, etc., mother has been very non-involved.  Office workers at school made comment they never knew the child had a mother until this school year, because we were not here to go to school with her, will any of that really matter in light of where things stand now?

Again, thank you for your time.

[socrateaser]

>QUESTION
>
>IF (and we don't know it was, but seems pretty odd if it
>wasn't) it was regarding this case, didn't fiance and his atty
>have the right to hear what was presented and respond to it?

Yes, the judge violated your due process right to be represented at all points in the litigation, but if your attorney didn't object to the violation, immediately, which is required, so what does that tell you about your attorney?

>
>If she continues to disregard order to make child available at
>specified times could she be brought up on contempt charges?
>Would it hurt her case of his?

Yes, and maybe. Your judge doesn't appear to be much concerned with the law, so I'm not sure if there's anything that your opponent could do to hurt her case.

>
>Fiance wants to protest... outside court house, thinking it
>would prejudice the judge and therefore make for his withdrawl
>from case.  His atty advises no... your thoughts?

If you want the judge to withdraw, then have your attorney make the motion on grounds that the judge has seen witnesses and opposing counsel without your attorney present and you are concerned that this is an indication of bias against you.

Don't try to get clever. You've already tried that -- and that's part of why you're in the mess that you're in.

>
>If he loses custody hearing how often can he appeal decision?
>And the visitiaion, how often can he appeal for modification?

"Appeal" means to request review of a final judgment from a higher court. If you want a new custody hearing from the trial court, that's not an appeal, it's just a new custody hearing. And, you can ask whenever you can show a substantial change in circumstances affecting the child's best interests.

In practice, this means whenever the other parent whips the child with a ban saw blade (i.e., almost never).

>
>If it comes to light that mother and judge had prior contact
>outside of court could that be cause for removal from case?
>And how would that work? (not something I think we should
>pursue)

Motion for voluntary recusal. If you have credible evidence, then do it, but if it's not by way of a disinterested third party witness, you're probably wasting your time.

>
>And lastly, if it's a done deal what is the point of going
>through the custody evaluation?  

I don't know that it's a done deal, because I don't know what evidence of the mother's bad behavior you have. So far, however, I haven't seen anything that would get you any substantial custody. But, that doesn't mean that there isn't anything.

>
>He has been the primary care giver the childs entire life and
>the one who has been the most involved with the child...
>taking her out to play, having her friends over, making child
>care arrangements, etc., mother has been very non-involved.
>Office workers at school made comment they never knew the
>child had a mother until this school year, because we were not
>here to go to school with her, will any of that really matter
>in light of where things stand now?

You're in a really deep hole. It's not about showing how the relationship was -- it's about showing how the relationship is, and as you've screwed that up rather badly, you don't have much of a case.

I haven't much to offer, other than to suggest that you attempt to stipulated to a parenting schedule that lets you step up your access over time.

People's habits rarely change, so if you were the primary caretaker and the other parent was not involved, then this patter will eventually reassert itself, given enough time. If it does, and you can prove it, then you could get a new custody hearing.

But, until the temp order is set aside, you have nowhere to go.

[jcsct5]

Just a thought..... you said the following was ordered:

3. The Defendant shall hav no unsupervised visitation or contact between himself of the minor child, except at the Family Nuturing Center and the above mentioned telephone contact.

Then stated your Fiance did this:

>Fiance visited child at school during her lunch period and
>the mother had asked the school not to allow him contact with
>child.  The principal tried to deny him acess to the child.
>He explained he wasn't there to cause trouble, just wanted to

While I am not an attorney it sounds to me that your Fiance needs to be really carefull here. It seems to me that he violated the court order by visiting her at school.

It seems that complying with the order (I know it is dificult) to the T would show the Judge that you can follow court orders and would be to your advantage in the future when you can request a modification.

 

[redd1]

he visited child at school prior to court hearing, after hearing he has had no contact except via the phone, when the mother chooses to comply.  So far she has failed to allow conversations on two days, and been anywhere from 1-2 1/2 hours late on the times the rest of the time.

Atty filed motion for her to be held in contempt... and a motion to have the judge recused from the case for ex parte communication between mothers atty, school principal and school board atty.  They were seen going into judges chambers 1/2 hour before they met to set hearing date on the case we are discussing... where he ruled for supervised visitation.

Our atty said he has had many cases heard by this judge and for the life of him couldn't figure out why he was so angry at fiance when he ordered mother and him out of chambers at end of hearing.  Said he couldnt' have asked for a client to present themselves better, no arrogance, no contempt, just calm and related facts.  But finding out about that meeting he said it all makes sense now.  Hopefully the judge will be removed.... and we may not start on a totally even playing field, but at least it won't be a done deal BEFORE the facts are even in evidence.  And then the visitation stands a better chance of not being supervised.