Parenting EVAL and Settlement

[sunnyin_fl]

Long story short...our parenting evaluation ended up being a joke.  The evaluator says the child would be better off with "me" the father rather than the mother due to her inability to render good interpersonal relationships.  However, because of the hostility that the mother implied on behalf of the father "me", the child should remain with the mother.

Course we have documentation showing otherwise, things of that nature...but our attorney advised me that because we weren't awarded temporary custody at our first hearing, she would more than likely keep custody with the mother due to the parenting eval even though their are clearly holes in it.  He doesn't reference the drugs found in our childs system, while being out of my physical presence for over a year.  This all started with a contempt action, received makeup visitation and now this.

My question is this:

I do not want the standard EOW so on and so forth.  Because we both live in different states, I in FL her in GA, is it possible to word a proposed settlement detailing out that not only do I want EOW, that I want all long holidays/school closed days and such including 9 weeks during the summer?  

Do you have an alternate suggestion to the above?

Has anyone ever done something that wasn't the norm?  I'm now going from true 50/50 split to this crap.  She moved away and I wasn't smart enough at the time to do anything to stop her.  

Also, how can I make sure that FL keeps jurisdiction?  She has tried to change it before but was denied due to pending litigation.

THANK YOU!

[socrateaser]

>My question is this:
>
>I do not want the standard EOW so on and so forth.  Because we
>both live in different states, I in FL her in GA, is it
>possible to word a proposed settlement detailing out that not
>only do I want EOW, that I want all long holidays/school
>closed days and such including 9 weeks during the summer?

It doesn't matter what you want. It matters what the order states. If the other parent doesn't agree, then the court will decide, and it still won't matter what you want. So, stop thinking about the situation in terms of what you want, because all that matters is what you can actually get.

I see this attitude in your post where you say that the eval says that the child would be better off with you because of X, but that because of Y, the child should stay with the other parent.

If that's what the eval actually says, then you are misinterpreting it. The eval says that the child should stay with the other parent. PERIOD. You can challenge the eval as reaching a conclusion which does not follow from the facts -- assuming that the facts are as you allege. But, if you don't, then that will go against you.

Point is, you need to be more objective about your reading. Evaluators love to throw in touchy-feely bones to make both parents feel like they've received their money's worth -- but the reality is that if the eval concludes in favor of the other parent, then that's ALL it concludes unless you challenge it in court.

>
>Do you have an alternate suggestion to the above?

Decide what you think you can get, then ask for a little more, and then back off to what you think you can get. Or, open up your wallet, go to court and try to overcome the eval with contrary evidence.

>Has anyone ever done something that wasn't the norm?  I'm now
>going from true 50/50 split to this crap.  She moved away and
>I wasn't smart enough at the time to do anything to stop her.

People do unusual things all the time. Usually the court rubber stamps whatever the parties agree to. The problem arises later when a parent goes to court to try to enforce an unusual agreement. The court will refuse to enforce it as against public policy. However, if there are attorneys on both sides of the negotiation, then those attorneys will try to ensure that the agreement is enforceable -- assuming that the attorneys are competent.

>Also, how can I make sure that FL keeps jurisdiction?  She has
>tried to change it before but was denied due to pending
>litigation.

You can't. After six months of the child residing in GA, GA can obtain jurisdiction. It's still up to the FL court to relinquish it, as long as you continue to live in FL -- but, it will probably happen, eventually, unless the other parent moves back to FL.