Colorado custody issue

[viper74]

I have been divorced for 9 years. The divorce was ugly and the children now ages 12 and 16 have been through a lot. Mother has primary residential and we share joint legal custody. My oldest daughter has always wanted to live with me. The year she was going into the 7th grade her counselor suggested that the mother allow her to live out here (I reside in KS) because she was becoming uncontrollable. The mother and I agreed to try this on a temporary basis for one year. The agreement was that we would re evaluate the situation after one year to see if she showed improvements in her grades and her social life (she was previously placed on a "no-fight" contract in her school in Co). After the year had passed, mother would not listen to any reason. Even though the child had significantly improved in both problem areas she would not let the child stay. I started a custody hearing but months went by and the child started school and started making new friends back in Colorado with her mom. The child did not want to continue to be in the middle of a custody battle so she asked me to drop the case and allow her to stay with her mom. I respected this wish and withdrew. The child soon regretted her decision and began fighting a lot with her mom and her mom's live-in boyfriend. The live-in boyfriend began putting her down a lot and telling her bad things about me. He would cuss at her a lot and yell at her while she talked to me on the phone. He would tell her to tell me what a piece of sh*t he thought I was and constantly belittle me to her. Mother wants to pretend that boyfriend is Bio father and allows him to make decisions and even listed him as parent on school paperwork (which I immediately had corrected) and allowed him to attend her counseling sessions which she denied me access to.  Even though I have joint legal custody the therapist said that it was her ultimate decision whether or not to release her files and conveniently did not feel that I would benefit fom them. By the end of the school year I was filing for custody again. I got a court hearing and travelled all the way to Centennial to be told that the judge (juanita rice) was dismissing our case all together because of the 2 year rule which stated that we could not file within 2 years of a previous filing.

It has been almost another two years since the last filing and I am considering requesting a change of custody again. I do not want to continue to put either of the children through this but there are several factors involved that are hard to ignore. Since the last hearing the oldest child has run away from home (granted she was found within a day), mother has gotten rid of the long distance and took away the oldest childs cell phone and has informed the children that she is recording any conversation that they have with me. If I want to talk to them I have to call them or buy them calling cards to call me (and still not be able to have a private conversation). The oldest one is back to failing school again and can't keep a friend for more than a month. She wants to come live back here and I have asked the mother to discuss this through mediation and mother says she will never again "willingly discuss this, ever". The child plans on walking out on her mom the day she turns 18 which is only 1.5 years away. She thinks that she will be able to do better in school here and wants to live at my house while attending the local junior college before making a decision on a university because with her grades she knows that she will not be ready. I do not want to sit around and wait for her to just walk out of her mom's house in the middle of her senior year of high school. If she is going to come out here then I feel that it would be in her best interest to come out now. This way she can make sure that she can catch up on KS education requirements to graduate, as well as establish residency prior to attending the local junior college.

Do I have any chance, especially given her age? I imagine by the time I get a hearing she will be a junior and 17 years old or very close to it. Does anyone know of any good attorneys in the Denver/Centennial area? Jurisdiction is in Araphahoe county. If we do not get a hearing can she just leave on her 18th birthday without any reprecussions even though she will still be in high school?

Sorry this is so long. I tried to condense years worth of craziness into a small message and it didn't work to well!

[trystero]

Sounds like a bad situation.  I'd recommend a consult with a lawyer.  I'm currently engaged with Cordell and Cordell (out of DTC I believe), seems good so far.......