possible domestic violence claim

[John-J-Jay]

posters

as many of you know my story. I've had custody of my child for 9 yrs and she's 10 ½ yrs old. my 1st ex and I divorced when she was 1 ½. I obtained custody and the mother basically just signed her over to me. I got remarried and it didn't last and my 2nd wife and I were divorced last August 2006. A year ago I filed a petition to try to get my daughters mother to pay child support and she turned it into a HOT custody battle. My 1st ex and 2nd ex never liked eachother while we were married. Now they are best friends.

My 2nd ex and I never had any domestic violence or anything never had any police over. We never hit one another we just didn't get along. Here's my problem now. My 2nd ex wife is teaming with my 1st and I've heard thru the grapevine that they are going to CLAIM domestic violence and that I've hit her. In fact my 2nd ex wife is getting a friend of her's involved saying I did. However, I have many and many of neighbors, mutual friends etc that can testify that I never did hit her nor did there appear that there was any sort of violence.  No police reports, no medical reports, no pictures of anything because it never happened. Does anyone on the board see this as a huge problem before the judge?
Doesn't she have to have evidence that something like this happened?

Thanks
John

[mistoffolees]

Yes, she has to have evidence.

If they both show up in court and claim that you hit one and the other witnessed it, that could be pretty bad. Your attorney will want to ask them why they never filed a police report, but it could still go against you (all she has to say is 'I wasn't seriously injured, but feared for my life if I reported him').

Witnesses who claim that they never saw you hit her are worthless - unless you have someone who has been with you every minute of every day of your life. Even a first year law student would simply ask "could he have hit her when you weren't around?" and the answer has to be 'yes'.

Witnesses can help you in two ways:
1. If they make that claim, your attorney will need to try to pin them down on specifics - when and where did it happen. If they claim that it happened on noon of Nov 1 at your home and you can provide witnesses (or a plane ticket or whatever) that shows you were somewhere else, that will weaken their testimony.
2. If you have any witnesses who directly heard them say that they were going to fabricate a claim against you (not 'through the grapevine'), that will weaken their testimony.

Many times, people threaten to make claims like this, but they back down when it comes to standing before a judge under oath. You are right to take it seriously and work with your attorney on it.

[John-J-Jay]

Mist,
I think you are the best on here. My followup question is if someone claims that a person hit them and they don't have any medical or police reports. How seriously is the claim taken in court?

My 2nd ex wife is friends with a neighbor who got a divorce and I'm friends with her ex husband. So if they were to team with my 1st ex wife wouldn't a blind judge be able to see thru the mud when there wasn't any type of police or medical reports to support her claims? the fact is I never hit my ex but they can't find anything on me to try to regain custody of my daughter and they are searching for things.

Thanks,
John


my situation sounds like Jerry Springer doesn't it LOL

[mistoffolees]

Not a legal opinion, but IMHO:

1. If she says you hit her and you say you didn't AND there's no other evidence (such as a police report or witness), I would guess that MOST judges would ignore it.

2. If she says you hit her and she has a witness and you say you didn't, it could go against you even without a police report. Judges are generally hesitant to assume that a third party is lying unless there's evidence of that. Basically, the judge has to assume that either you're lying or both of them are lying - and it's easier to believe that you're lying. I wouldn't want to rely on the fact that there's no police report because a large percentage of cases are never reported and she can always act innocent ("I didn't want to create problems for him in front of our child").  Does that mean the judge will automatically accept her side? Probably not. But I would guess that there's a pretty good chance she'll carry the day.

[John-J-Jay]

I agree with your comment (1) but (2) not all the way.  

My 2nd ex wife is brining in a friend to support her claims only because I'm friends with her husband whom she is divorced from. In fact I've taken her daughter to the park, zoo, out to eat, movies, bike ridding, swimming, school functions with my daughter. So if she uses that person to try to make me look bad does it make sense to you to show that "hey if he was did that why did you let your child be soley in his care and take her placed etc".

This is the only hope that ex #1 would ever regain custody is with something like this. They keep digging and asking for discovery information which we have complied and they are coming up with nothing. So they are out on a fishing expedition trying to snag something.

[mistoffolees]

>
>I agree with your comment (1) but (2) not all the way.  
>
>My 2nd ex wife is brining in a friend to support her claims
>only because I'm friends with her husband whom she is divorced
>from. In fact I've taken her daughter to the park, zoo, out to
>eat, movies, bike ridding, swimming, school functions with my
>daughter. So if she uses that person to try to make me look
>bad does it make sense to you to show that "hey if he was did
>that why did you let your child be soley in his care and take
>her placed etc".

You can make that argument. But she's not the one being accused of a crime.

Whether you like it or not, if 2 people take the stand and swear under oath that you hit her, it's going to look bad for you. You can possibly lessen the impact by showing that she's biased, but I don't think that will carry the day unless you have a smoking gun (someone saying that they heard the two of them agreeing to lie under oath to get you in trouble or the equivalent).

Work with your attorney on it.