The system worked in Montana

[texmon]

Just to give hope to others out there, the system worked in Montana this time. I live in Texas and my kids live in Montana with my ex.
For years, she has ignored literally every line of the decree The main issue is that she has denied me any access at all to our kids. She hid mail, wouldn't let me talk to them on the phone, and only allowed supervised visitation (by her without any court order of any sort).
She was such a pain that the CSED people were actually on my side on the child support issues.
Finally, I had enough money to hire a lawyer (Has cost me over $10,000 to fight this battle. I've hated the cost, but the kids are worth it).
He was able to get Family Court Services involved.

The bottom line is that although the fight was long, and it has not been easy, I have full access to the kids, child support has dropped significantly, and my ex is actually working with me some for the kids' good. I doubt that our relationship will ever be good, but we can actually work together, some.

The kids notice what is going on. It has been great to renew my relationship with them.

I don't know how well Family Court Services works elsewhere, but this time they really dug into the matter, and separated lies from facts. If I had known about them when this all started, years ago, I would have gotten them involved in the divorce process. This group really has the kids' interest at heart. I felt good that they didn't care about my wishes or her wishes, but the good of the kids.

One item for consideration... If you have a contentious relationship with your ex, you might want to consider adding a cellphone for the kids to your plan and block all calls except to your phone (911 is automatic) . It has been worth it to take that control away from her. The kids love the freedom it gives them to talk to me.

[MixedBag]

Congrats!

Yes, there are systems out there that work.

And there are systems that are broken.

And as parents -- sometimes it gets solved one family at a time.