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Stressed...Court date around the corner and I don't know if there are any surpri...

Started by rebecca, Jul 13, 2004, 01:05:41 PM

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rebecca

Hi.  I have joint physical/legal custody of my son 6 years old in California.  When his dad relocated to a new city and enrolled son in new school without my agreement, I filed for mediation and an Order to Show Cause, so the mediation report could be made a court order.  That basically addressed two topics that had me concerned not just one, which was that son could not change schools unless both parents agreed, and that son could not share a bedroom with Ex's girlfriends 6 year old daughter.  
Well, since Ex didn't like that plan a trial date was ordered.  I hadn't received anything from the court regarding a date, so I called the court house and learned we have a date in August.  I don't know if there was a mix up at the court house and they failed to mail me a notification or if EX was supposed to serve me with something?  The lady at the courthouse could not tell me.  I am afraid he is going to claim to have served me with items that he really didn't, so that I am unprepared at the court date.  Or, that he just wanted me to look like I failed to appear.  
He wants full custody so that he can change sons school so that his girlfriend can pick son up from school when she picks up her own daughter.  He offered me an extra weekend with son every other month if I went along with the school change.  But, since I did not go along with that plan he wanted full custody based on the fact that my work hours would require son to go to daycare if he stayed at his current school.  I since reduced my work hours from 40 to 32 so that on my parenting days (wed, thurs, EOW) I can transport son to and from school.  Now he wants full custody saying that I am angry and display my anger in front of my son in a harmful manner and that I alienate son from him by not letting son talk to him on the phone.  The anger claim is false and backwards.  We usually ignore each other except for when he comes to my car when I pick son up.  He claims to have friends that are witnesses to these tirades of mine.  These witnesses will be lying if they claim to have witnessed a tirade, but I don't know if I have to defend myself to this or what I have to do.   I have phone records that show how often his phone number is called and it is at least once every parenting weekend of mine.  I transport son to and from his new home over an hour away every parenting weekday that I have to work.  He has the opportunity for contact with son at least 6 days per week but usually 7.  His girlfriend is the one who cares for son when I drop son off at Ex's because she works from home and Ex is a mobile worker.   He is claiming to spend all of the time with son, but it is not him it is his girlfriend.  How can I prove this, or will they interview my son at this court date?   Or does that matter?  I just wonder what to expect and how to determine if ex has stuff to present to the judge that was supposed to be served to me.  Thanks for any advice or comments.