hearing in December

[WILSON]

Soc,
I have a question.  I am the father of  a 13 year old boy, whom up until a recent court decision (Sept 2003) I had custody of.  I live in Ga.  The law states that at age 14 the child can decide w/ whom he wants to live.

His BM had taken me to court several times over the years trying to regain custody - even though I was vcery liberal w/ her visitation.

My son is very unhappy now that he lives w/ his BM.  There really was no valid reason to make the change.  Basically they used his grades (an 80 average) as the change in circumstance.  The Sept court date was actually supposed to be the final hearing as this case was filed over 2 years ago on behalf of his mother.

I filed, pro se, a Motion to set Aside the Temporary Order (the custody change was listed as temporary, even though the hearing was scheduled as a final hearin.

My question is as follows:
1.  At the hearing next month will I be limited in what I can prsent to the court?  i.e. I want to establish through my son's teachers that his grades are not any better than they were in Sept.  I also want to point out that he is not happy in his current living arranngement.  I'd also like to point out that in less than 6 months my son will be 14 and thus his desires will be comntrolling according to the current Ga law.

2.  How can I get the judge to speak to my son so that he can hear for himself what my son wants?

3.  How far in advance must I serve subpoenas or is it summons to the witnesses I plan to question?

4.  Do I have to provide my son's mother's atty w/ a list of my witnesses?

5.  If I have my son visit w/ a psychologist to evaluate him, may I subpoena the psychologist into court to testify about his or her findings?

Thank you in advance.
wilson

[socrateaser]

>Soc,
>I have a question.  I am the father of  a 13 year old boy,
>whom up until a recent court decision (Sept 2003) I had
>custody of.  I live in Ga.  The law states that at age 14 the
>child can decide w/ whom he wants to live.
>
>His BM had taken me to court several times over the years
>trying to regain custody - even though I was vcery liberal w/
>her visitation.
>
>My son is very unhappy now that he lives w/ his BM.  There
>really was no valid reason to make the change.  Basically they
>used his grades (an 80 average) as the change in circumstance.
> The Sept court date was actually supposed to be the final
>hearing as this case was filed over 2 years ago on behalf of
>his mother.
>
>I filed, pro se, a Motion to set Aside the Temporary Order
>(the custody change was listed as temporary, even though the
>hearing was scheduled as a final hearin.
>
>My question is as follows:
>1.  At the hearing next month will I be limited in what I can
>prsent to the court?  i.e. I want to establish through my
>son's teachers that his grades are not any better than they
>were in Sept.  I also want to point out that he is not happy
>in his current living arranngement.  I'd also like to point
>out that in less than 6 months my son will be 14 and thus his
>desires will be comntrolling according to the current Ga law.

Make sure that your written motion addresses all of the concerns that you wish to raise at the hearing. Have your son supoenaed to appear, and hope that he testifies that he does not wish to live with his mother. This should be sufficient -- if not, then just wait out the six months, and file a new motion.

>
>2.  How can I get the judge to speak to my son so that he can
>hear for himself what my son wants?
>
>3.  How far in advance must I serve subpoenas or is it summons
>to the witnesses I plan to question?

Every jurisdiction has differnt rules -- you will need to consult the GA rules of civil procedure.

>
>4.  Do I have to provide my son's mother's atty w/ a list of
>my witnesses?

Usually, yes.

>
>5.  If I have my son visit w/ a psychologist to evaluate him,
>may I subpoena the psychologist into court to testify about
>his or her findings?

Yes, but frankly, if there's only six months to go, I would just tell the kid to hang in there, and then drop my current motion and wait it out. It'll be cheaper in the long run.