Court date coming, what to expect?

[whippertizzy]

This is for me more than my DH, but I am curious. What happens at a hearing to modify visitation?  The CP says she is going to be there, I am assuming to say that she does not want DH's visitation changed. The original CO says that after a year he could come back and receive more visitation. I really don't see a problem with Dh getting a little of what he asked for(atleast I hope so), A few questions,

1. Aside of what happens at one of these, I am assuming that if the custodial parent is there, they are allowed to say what they think.  Does the whole " I don't want them going because they live 4 hours away" argument really hold up?

2. What could cause a NCP not to receive more visitation? As I mentioned in another post, DH gets every other weekend Friday at 5 til Saturday at noon. He asked for it to be changed to Every first weekend of the month Friday at 5 til Sunday at 3 pm.  Also for the exchange point to be made the police station, and for summer visitation to be clarified from "reasonable" to specific dates in the summer.

To me, this all seems like it should be no problem, but after reading a few stories, I guess you never know.

[onedaddy]

In our case as long as the request was reasonable there was no problem with getting the judge to sign the order.  But they will not waste their time coming up with the specifics.  Go in with a very specific plan, specific schedule with specfic dates, times and locations if the BM cannot come up with a good alternative you have a better chance of getting what you want.  All of our modifications were broad so they've always been broken.  There are a few good ones on this site.  I used this one.....

http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/pplan3.htm

[whippertizzy]

Well, at the courthouse, DH had to write what he wanted on a blank motion form. I think what he asked for was specific enough (I hope)
He asked specifically for the first weekend of every month, From friday at 5 pm till sunday at 3 pm. The exchange point always to be the local police dept. He also asked for specific time in the summer starting from the one week from the day they get out of school, at 5 pm to I think 5 weeks later at 5 pm(sorry shady on that detail.)  He asked that visitation not be missed due to the CP being out of town. That was her favorite trick to "go out of town" and supposedly have the kids with her.  I hope that is something that can get adressed.

[FleetingMoment]

Some parents do not agree with giving the other parent every weekend, as they claim they'll never get the opportunity to do weekend things with their children.

Splitting the summers sounds fair, also instead of every weekend, he should ask for 3 on, 1 off.

Who moved the 4 hour distance. Parents really should stay within a 50 mile/1 hour radius of their children. Any chance of moving closer to them?

[whippertizzy]

I must have typed something wrong, He asked for every First weekend of the month.   One weekend a month, not every weekend.

He is the parent that moved away. He was laid off, and could not find another job that he could get a decent wage and pay child support and daycare, and still be able to pay for things like food and rent LOL. The CP gets all sorts of aid from the state, so she can afford to live in the area they used to still. (very nice place to live actually just EXPENSIVE, it was either Nice or The dumps)  Once we get out of college however we are hoping to move back. CP, however, is planning a move to Cali. We live in Illinois.

[wendl]

CP has to be there or her atty if she has one, if the CP fails to appear and doesn't have an atty then the ncp can file a default judgement.

SO bet cp will be their.

Remain calm DO NOT interupt cp while speaking DO NOT interupt judge while speaking and don't play with change in your pocket.

State your case and go from there.

What you are asking seems reasonable to me.

:)
**These are my opinions, they are not legal advice**

[whippertizzy]

Well the CP got there, and was going along with everything until it looked like the judge was going to give DH everything he asked for and more. Then CP went from being ok to saying she needed a lawyer. The Judge asked her how much time she would need, CP asked for a month, and the Judge got angry with her and told CP that she was not going to drag this out. Unfortunetly, DH has surgery in 5 days, and will not be able to travel for a while. Since DH cannot travel, or even obtain a lawyer that quick the Judge continued it until early november.  The Judge informed CP that if she did not show up, or did not have a lawyer in this time, that she was ruling in favor of DH.  I have no clue what we are going to do, we really can't afford a lawyer, but on the off chance CP actually shows up with a lawyer, I don't want DH to be there without one. The info here is great, but I am not confident enough for DH to do the whole thing by himself. Oh well, I have a sprark of hope, because the Judge was in his favor the whole time. Hopefully we will have the same judge!