Please review?

[I cry_ in_the_dark]

Following is the "finale" of a letter I have written to the X's lawyer. Once again, he chose to go through a lawyer instead of dealing with me.The rest of the letter contain's other minor concerns so I have omitted it, but if you would want to see the whole letter, I would email it to you. Would you please review this and give your opinion?

"I have made every attempt to allow my children to communicate with me at their will, as often as they always have, at my expense. I went the extra mile and purchased camera phones so that we can send occasional pictures to each other. I have absolutely no interest in owning cell phones. However, I made the decision to purchase them instead of obtaining a home phone as ***daughter's*** biggest concern about me being away from "X-State" for training  would be her inability to contact me as often as she always had. As well, with her long distance being cut off, she would not be able to contact me at work, which she very often does.

I had made this offer, and perhaps you can explain it to your client, as I believe it solves all issues of concern. I have enclosed for your review, an itemized call list for the phone which ***daughter***has in her possession. It clearly shows all calls made to and from the phone, including the date, time, number called or called from and what type of call. Outside of my family which includes my sister in ***X-TOWN***, brother in ***X-STATE***, and my mother in ***X-STATE***, I have absolutely no issue with who Mr. *DAD* restricts *daughter*to call, as well as no issue as to restricting what time she makes calls other than to me. I am willing to mail this call detail to Mr. *DAD* on a monthly basis. As well, if I fail to provide this as promised, I have no issue with him taking the phone from her until the list is provided to him.


In conclusion, I believe you must agree that I have made every effort to allow the children the freedom of contact with me "on my dime", and at the same time, allow Mr. *Dad* the control that he desires. The court order states that the children may call me whenever they desire. I have no choice but to believe that he is agreeable to pay for the children to contact me if he is not agreeable to what I have extended to him."

...I have considered adding something to the effect that "to view this in any other light would clearly be in contempt of the court order"...but thought twice about that, as, I think they would view that as a threat that I would not carry through with, and would rather settle this rather than to actually file contempt charges. But I will if I have to. Thoughts?

[socrateaser]

>Following is the "finale" of a letter I have written to the
>X's lawyer. Once again, he chose to go through a lawyer
>instead of dealing with me.The rest of the letter contain's
>other minor concerns so I have omitted it, but if you would
>want to see the whole letter, I would email it to you. Would
>you please review this and give your opinion?
>
>"I have made every attempt to allow my children to communicate
>with me at their will, as often as they always have, at my
>expense. I went the extra mile and purchased camera phones so
>that we can send occasional pictures to each other. I have
>absolutely no interest in owning cell phones. However, I made
>the decision to purchase them instead of obtaining a home
>phone as ***daughter's*** biggest concern about me being away
>from "X-State" for training  would be her inability to contact
>me as often as she always had. As well, with her long distance
>being cut off, she would not be able to contact me at work,
>which she very often does.
>
>I had made this offer, and perhaps you can explain it to your
>client, as I believe it solves all issues of concern. I have
>enclosed for your review, an itemized call list for the phone
>which ***daughter***has in her possession. It clearly shows
>all calls made to and from the phone, including the date,
>time, number called or called from and what type of call.
>Outside of my family which includes my sister in ***X-TOWN***,
>brother in ***X-STATE***, and my mother in ***X-STATE***, I
>have absolutely no issue with who Mr. *DAD* restricts
>*daughter*to call, as well as no issue as to restricting what
>time she makes calls other than to me. I am willing to mail
>this call detail to Mr. *DAD* on a monthly basis. As well, if
>I fail to provide this as promised, I have no issue with him
>taking the phone from her until the list is provided to him.
>
>
>In conclusion, I believe you must agree that I have made every
>effort to allow the children the freedom of contact with me
>"on my dime", and at the same time, allow Mr. *Dad* the
>control that he desires. The court order states that the
>children may call me whenever they desire. I have no choice
>but to believe that he is agreeable to pay for the children to
>contact me if he is not agreeable to what I have extended to
>him."
>
>...I have considered adding something to the effect that "to
>view this in any other light would clearly be in contempt of
>the court order"...but thought twice about that, as, I think
>they would view that as a threat that I would not carry
>through with, and would rather settle this rather than to
>actually file contempt charges. But I will if I have to.
>Thoughts?

Stay away from "I believe you must agree..." Statements that suggest that an attorney has no choice other than to adopt your position is practically a challenge for that attorney to dream up a reason to not agree with you. Finding a counterargument is how we're trained to think. Instead, try to say what you think is fair and reasonable, because that way you're asking the attorney to consider your position as a viable argument that a court may agree with, and the attorney will be forced to think, "Is this a reasonable argument," which is very different from "How can I defeat this argument?"