Taking away our visitation?? PLEASE HELP!

[MandoandJess]

First of all, the basics:

My step-son is 6, he lives with his mother in Texas.  All court orders are done through Texas.  My husband and I currently live in Florida, but we lived in SC up until last December when my husband got out of the military.  Before my husband and I were together he had a hard time seeing his son for every visitation.  He lived on a ship, and was deployed often.  After we were married we has my step-son ALL the time, above and beyond what was agreed upon in the court order.  We had him the entire summer (june-august) every year, we had him for 6 weeks at Spring Break before he was in school, when we should of only had him for a week and a half.  Birth Mom would call and BEG us to take him, saying she couldn't handle him anymore.  Well, she got married a few months ago, and now everything has changed.  The child she admittedly never wanted (they had him in high school) is her weapon against us.

And then:

We couldn't get my step-son for our Spring Break visitation last March.  We told her that up front, we desperatly wanted to, but there was no way.  We our struggling big time financially, my husband had just started a new job, and he couldn't get the time off.  She told us it was ok, she understood, and we could have an extra week during the summer to make up for it.  Months go by, and we are planning our summer visit, we put off getting him for an entire month to help her out.  We agree we will have him from July 1st until a few days before he starts school in mid-August, so we don't get an extra week but we were just happy to have him.  A week before we are suppose to have him my husband is served.  She is trying to take away our visitation and get more money out of us.  We immidiatly replied to the court orders with our own documents, and were told that we would be notified of what would happen next.

The newest developments:

We received a letter in the mail from the Texas court systems saying that we never responded (we mailed it return receipt and I have the slip) and that they had a court date, which we were NEVER notified of.  She of course was there with her attorney and got EVERYTHING she wanted plus some.  The new order takes away all of our visitation except for 30 days during the summer... no more Spring Break, Christmas, Thanksgiving, nothing.  We have to provide her with an address and phone number that Stephen will be at the entire time, no trips are allowed I guess.  We have to allow her to talk to him at least 15 minutes once a week (this had NEVER been an issue, bc she NEVER calls while we have him), we have to carry insurance on him, AND pay her an additional $150 a month for her to cover insurance on him.  She has been required to provide insurance, which we have paid for every month, since he was born, but hasn't covered him for the past 4 years, we have.  That's a whole other issue.  It's all kinds of little extras too, but that the important stuff right now.  

So what do we do?  Why weren't we ever notified of a court date, and how do we fight that?  Why does it say that we never responded when I have the return receipt and they cashed my check?  I just don't know what to do next.  We can't make any phone calls until Monday.... but any ideas??  

Please Please help. And thank you all so much!

Jessica

[mistoffolees]

See an attorney with experience in custody matters, preferably one in the district of the court who had the hearing. They're likely to get much further than you can on your own.

[MandoandJess]

We plan to, but we aren't sure how yet.  We're still not financially well off, and now we have to pay her more!  We can't make any phone calls until Monday, and we want to know everything we possibly can when we start calling.

[gemini3]

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but you have two options.  Either get an attorney with experience in these matters and fight it, or move on.  There's very little you're going to be able to do on your own, unfortunately.

There are some great articles on this site on what to look for when you're hiring an attorney.

Good luck!

[MandoandJess]

I understant that, but legally aren't we suppose to be notified of a court date???  And who is suppose to notify us?

[mistoffolees]

>I understant that, but legally aren't we suppose to be
>notified of a court date???  And who is suppose to notify us?

Of course you're supposed to be notified. That's one of the reasons your attorney will use to try to overturn this. However, perhaps they convinced the judge to do an ex parte hearing. In any event, you have to follow the court order unless you (via your attorney, presumably) are able to get it reversed.