I have court ordered visitation, but...

[Triad]

I began my divorce in 2002 when my wife left the state with my daughter. After spending a couple thou on a lawyer he ended up splitting after just a couple months, leaving me with no money and no lawyer.

Regardless, before he left, he managed to get me temporary custody even though i had no clue exactly where the mother was. And without the lawyer, no idea what it meant or how to go about it.

Her parents found out about it and intervened, people who hate me beyond words, and i really have no idea why. They just didnt want me with their daughter. Shortly after the wife got involved in the case.

The gradparents spread about accusations about me and 'faught' the battle against me and their daughter, even tho they paid for their daughters lawyer. They used the fact that i didnt pick up my daughter with my temp custody order as a sign i had no interest in her (even though I started the divorce and was fighting for her) And managed to get the temp themselves. The only time I ever did the supervised visitation (because they managed to convinve my smalltown court that I was dangerous) It was apparent that she was coached on how to talk and react to me. After that i Refused to put her through that..

The wife ultimatly got custody, which is fine. And my visitation is only stated as, as agreed upon by mother and father. As soon as she 'won' i havent seen my daughter since, And she took her to colorado (Im in Texas)

Of course all of a sudden after the 'win' her and her parents were thick as theives and transfered my daughter between them, and never let me know. The few times i sent gifts or letters they were returned. and i got letter from the wife stating that i should try to see my daughter, to contact her. But every time I try Im refused.

Im 3 months behind on support. Now I find myself being taken to a moderation by the AG of texas. I assume she is going for more support, and I have no doubt that whatever visitation is ordered will be ignored and me accused of not even trying.

I so desperatly want to see my daughter, and know deep inside that the GP's will mess with her again(coaching), and the wife obeys her parents.

Their lawyers refused to let her testify then, and im sure if she had, she would tell them. How do i deal with this?

this is jumbled and not the full story, but i need info quick cause i have to go on the 29th

[MixedBag]

I am not an attorney....

BUT:  Child support which I assume from your post is why you're going to a hearing on Nov 29th and Time with your child are two separate things.

You shouldn't be assuming she's going for more support, you should KNOW why you're being summoned back to court.  Go back and read your papers carefully, they will tell you why this hearing has been scheduled.  

However, I will assume that it's because you're behind as you posted and that TX is being aggressive and following up on the situation.

YOU need to file a "Motion to Show Cause" or something similar in TX to ask that the EX be found in contempt of court because you have had no time with your child, period.   This way your complaint will be heard by the judge too.  However, it's probably too close to Nov 29th for both subjects to be heard at the same time.

[gipsy]

YOU NEED TO POST THIS ON SOCRATEASERS BOARD !
  Here are some Idea's .aT THIS HEARING  See if she or the atty or entity representing her can be served with Contempt , Usually parenting plans state that she has to give notice of her address before the move outside the school district ;If the parenting plan does she is in contempt !
  And if you can file charges against her for kidnapping ,
   And get to the point and scheduale a trial date for her and you , A trial date will be way out there,Mine was one year out . and will Give you time to interview many atty's . And I recomend that you interview many atty's and you will , And also get the papers to appoint a Guardian ad litem or parenting investigater ,
   Then you have the courts process to go through talking to these people ,
 Socrateaser tells you the Law directly , And usually gets to the point , If you want a direct answer With out delay's read his forum requiremments and number your question :
    Here is my Idea ,;
   Just tell your story Read the paper work that you do have : And try to tell what happened as direct and brief as you can ;
  Then number your question "
   What My Idea for your questions will be
  1 : What to do to get visitation started ?
 2: What do I file reguarding her move and Hiding the child from me ?
 3: Due the circumstance how to get her served :
 4; Should you file a restraining order keeping her from relocation with out notice with your daughter ;
 5: What should I file right now ?
   I have been through this problem the mother dissapeared : If you have enough info about her like birth date name and any credit info , where she last lived you can get these online credit reports: And they will tell where she is living , Or her last reported place to the credit agency that she applied at , And Ask Socrateaser if her parents could be summoneed to verify where the mother lives or if there is a way to get them to reveal where she lives  ,
  These are are my Idea's and Socrateaser is an atty ,
   My Two cents about atty's . Read atty selection on this site , And Interview a bunch of atty's . Before you hire any atty ; And get an atty that tell's it similar to the way Socrateaser does , Like tell' you the law involved and what to file , This is simple to a good atty'.
  In the end of my situation I had fired two atty's the first one I probably should not have , But he made mistakes and was a moody guy , The second one talked  a good story and charged a lot of money , The third one just told me what the process was and it was to appoint a parenting investigater , And the Parenting investigater / Guardian ad Litem . Makes a report to the court , And during this time you are trying to make your self look like a good parent , Upon the advice of My atty I had a crib and toy's, Bottle , food , and baby stuff ready in my house ,My Mom and sisters helped me , And You need a woman that has children to help you , This will take a while so you have time but don't drag your feet to long ,  And the Guardian ad Litem reported to the court that I was ready to have the child , And had all the things I mentioned ,And I first got supervised visits. This seems like you are being treated badly , But if you are nice and ready, and pay attention to the child , They will report such information to the GAL ? Parenting investigater , They did and I got Unsupervised visits , But of course had to take the report to the court to get the court to order it , And Of course at first , In Wash state , I saw A Commissioner first for temp order's  , Untill your trial date comes up , I would suggest you do what My good atty did , And he just filed for change of custody ,He does this just because he does it every time and with that .he say's "you never know whats going to happen at trial" , There was not a reason for a change In My case , but you may have one ,
You have a woman that needs to be held to the law , My psycho tried every allegation in the book , And My atty explains , This works at first , But usually through the courts process The court gets an Idea , And the GAL also reported that there was no Police report or testimony given by the mother that convinced her that the allegations of the Mother  were true , And if they are not true for you and, you remmember to be nice as you can to these people, you will get a good report and this will be cleared up , You have a hard road in front of you because it will take several months , But in reality looking back If I could give you any advice , It would be Be nice through out this process even to thine enemy , If you do things out of anger it will probably get reported ,
  It;s odd to me that they can do all this negative crap , then say look at his reaction ! And try to make you look bad , You need to realise this will be the game , And see it for what it is ,
    I also think you mentioned that the child was made to be fearfull of you , Well I had to pull my son from the mother screaming and crying because she was telling him I would hurt him etc , Ad Infinitum , Don't fall for this either , Bring a video Camera and or a witness to the transfers , And or have the transfers at the police station. I will say the video camera will work quite well . And they seem to behave when it is there .
     And Your child as my son and several other people I know , WILL Realise the truth , they are smart , And My son realised right away that I was not going to hurt him , They are smarteR than you think , And a few screaMING FITS AT THE TRANSFER ARE NOT A REASON TO LET THIS WOMAN KEEP THE CHILD FROM YOU KIDS DO THIS ANY WAY
      And In my case when I began taping she quit , And She realised I was going to pick up my son no matter what she tried to tell him and how he screamed and kicked at the transfer , And I found that giving him a piece of candy made him forget all about her immediatly , And they will adjust quicker that you think , Like five or ten minutes down the road from the transfer he would clear up , And I was not ready for this myself , because he was just all better now , And I learned to go with this , And do the change and start enjoying my visit , And that will make the child adjust quicker and have fun with you , And soon after my son told me he knew I wasn't going to hurt him and that his mother was making trouble !

    If you follow the process you will be very likely to get this straightened out , This isn;t the first case like this ever , And don't let any atty sell a big story , I would be attracted to an atty that listens to your story and cuts to the chase and tells you right away , what is valid what isn;t and what he will file , Be leary of an atty that wants a large retainer and  Talks about really shaking her up , I also advise you to sit and read through a number of post's on Socrateaser's  Board That is located on this site , many question's will be answered and you will see how a good atty states what is relevant , Hearsay , And most important what IS RELEVANT !

[alanp]

I have a couple of suggestions that might help. Since you are from Texas, you can get some low-cost legal advice at TFER (Texas Fathers for Equal Rights):

http://www.fathers4kids.com/html/FER.htm

The above link is for the Dallas area. You pay a small fee for the year, and you consult with as many attorneys as you like. Get lots of ideas. Find one that cares. You can do much of the legwork yourself. They will help you draft motions, etc..  But do not walk into the court alone (Pro Se). On the big day, have your atty there.

Further, I would not go to your date with the AG unrepresented. They are not your friends, and do not expect a shred of fairness from them. See if your new legal representative can help you put this date off. This is definitely not the venue you want. See if you can get the arrears hearing set along with a "motion to modify." The modification changes the terms of the original decree. (Reduce your support, change of custody...or just get a visitation schdule that you can plan around). At this hearing, you can propose a payment plan for your arrears

If you can get this date postponed / continued, and you get a motion to modify set, you for sure can get her address through discovery. Subpoena her address from whomever. For sure, the AG's office has the address, because they know where to send her check.  In Texas you can make all of this happen within say, 6 weeks, unless you are going for a change of custody.

If you do not all out go for custody as described above in the previous post (which for sure, will cost an enormous sum of money), you can at least get a standard visitation schedule that is enforceable. Of course, standard visitation sucks bad in Texas, especially that she already lives in another state. She has huge momentum on her side, unless you can come up with some serious dirt on her. For example, if her new home has a meth lab in the kitchen...go for custody.