Visitation VS Church

[dadinma]

My daughters are 6 and 4 years old. For the past several months, I have been visiting with my children on Saturdays from 10:30-4:30.

I did some research and discovered that I am getting far less than the standard time for children their age.  I asked their mother for more time, but she said "no".  So I had to file a motion in court.

When we went to court the judge agreed that I should have overnight visits. Due to my work schedule, I am unavailable on Friday evenings, so I asked for EOW Sat-Sunday. Mom disagreed. Said she's been bringing the girls to church for years, and is not willing to change now.

I brought up the fact that her church has weeknight service, but she said they don't have Sunday School on the weeknights. I offered to bring them to church in my community and mom said no. The judge set us up for trial Next week.  

What is likely to happen in my case?  The time that I request is within the standard visitation schedule.  Does the court use church as a big deciding factor?

[socrateaser]

>What is likely to happen in my case?  The time that I request
>is within the standard visitation schedule.  Does the court
>use church as a big deciding factor?

Well, when you say that you're "unavailable Friday evenings," unless that's because of work, then you're doing the same thing as the mother, by refusing to negotiate your preexisting schedule. So, that's a major negative, and I suggest that you try to eliminate that issue so it can't be used as weight against you.

Assuming that you do, then your leverage to take the child to Sunday School improves dramatically. Otherwise, I'd say your chances are 50/50, which basically means that I have no clue.

[dadinma]

My reasons for being unable on Fridays are because of work.  I get out of work at 6:30 and then it's a 2 hour drive to their home.  By the time I get home with them, it would be close to 10:30 pm.

[williaer]

Although this isn't really the answer to your original question- why don't you ask that she be responsible for 50% of the transportation? Then you could meet her at 7:30 on Friday's- and be home by 8:30 and get two nights every other weekend- instead of 1.

[mistoffolees]

It might be worth talking with your attorney to get a feel for how the judge is likely to react. That might help you to plan your strategy.

I would assume that your attorney knows something about the judge which would help you. For example, I'm in the middle of the bible belt and it's clear that some of the judges are ultra-conservative baptists while others are quite liberal.

That, of course, doesn't change the law, but it might be a consideration. Basically, I"m just suggesting that your attorney is in a better position to help you than most people posting here.

[socrateaser]

>My reasons for being unable on Fridays are because of work.
>I get out of work at 6:30 and then it's a 2 hour drive to
>their home.  By the time I get home with them, it would be
>close to 10:30 pm.

The court will generally lean in favor of the party who didn't move away. The only exception is if the move was for work and there was no reasonable alternative work in the community where you originally lived -- which is difficult to prove after the fact.