Father in Missouri needing some advice...(Kids in Ohio)

[maddogacey]

Let me start off by saying that I am not perfect, I've made mistakes in my life, and yeah...I should have done a lot more early in the break up...I won't make excuses, but anyways...

Hello, I'm a Father of 2 (techincally 3, but we'll get in to that later) living in Missouri, my two children live in Ohio, and finally gotten a divorce after trying for 4 years, unfortunetly the custody could not be resolved as the divorce was done in a different state to the one the children reside in.  I'm hoping for some advice about several things.

I can not afford a lawyer, I know I can't.  But I did my divorce and my girlfriends Bankruptcy Pro Se.  I'm hoping I can do the Child Custody thing in the same way?  Has anyone done this that can offer me any advice?

I really need to know what my rights are as to where I stand right now with the children, I am completely at her mercy at this point, and she is rather upset I managed to get the divorce to finally go through, so I'm not sure if I can do anything here...

She continues to threaten me that she has a "bunch of people" willing to say stuff for her when it comes to the hearing, I'll, again, be honest, I do not remember much from my time living with her, I blocked most of it out of my memory I guess, but I know I didn't do anything bad and I was a relatively good father, not the best, but I wasn't terrible.  Is this anything I should be concerned about?

Any advice at all would be appreciated. 
Thanks.

[snowrose]

How long have the children been away from you?  Have you seen them at all?

[MomofTwo]

It sounds like the courts have decided custody/visitation issues are to be handled by Ohio....so you need to file in Ohio for visitation/custody.  If it has been a long time, expect a step up visitation plan with possibly supervised visits to start (not sure how much Mom would fight for that) and possibly counseling for a reintroduction phase.

You may also want to ask for specific telphone times as well.

[Davy]

Maddog;

Before you can get much assistance you really need to provide more info. concerning the children and, particularly,  if there have been other custody proceedings filed in any court anywhere.  Moreover, if there are other proceedings filed DO NOT assume the filing(s) are legal and jurisdiction has been determined.  You may have beed deceived about the proper custody jurisdiction when you proceeded with the divorce proceeding 4 yrs ago.

Start reading the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA) and the Parental Kidnapping Preventation Act (PKPA) in the articles section of this site.  It could very well be that your state may be able to retain custody jurisdiction and you could proceed pro se'.  It is probably not advisable to attempt to represent yourself in an out of state court.

You probably already know her feelings or yours usually don't matter a whole lot in the court room (we hope).

[maddogacey]

Well thanks for all the help!  (For someone with such a negative Karma, you give some extremely useful advice Davy!)

I will read into what I have to do and get to work on this...

Thanks again!

[Davy]

Maddog,

As you might guess, I'dont pay any attention to Karma but thanks for accentuating how negative it has grown.  I worked hard for that and I'm very proud of it !!!!