Any point in post-judgment contact with evaluator?

[DecentDad]

Hi Soc,

Predictably, my ex started creating problems a week after final ruling with her imaginative interpretation of orders.

I had emphasized to evaluator that the parenting plan had to be extremely tight, as any loophole will be exploited for chaos or attempts to minimize my contact with daughter.

Though he found two elevated psych scales in mom, she still got recommendation for majority of timeshare as per status quo of 3 years' of temporary orders.  My primary "wins" were a bit more custodial time, a blocked move-away, and court ruling that this is joint custody.

Vacation orders note that each parent gets 14 days with child during the summer.  He described the 14 day allotment as covering the "full span" of two weeks.  Both attorneys agreed that it is intended to mean 14 consecutive days.  Opposing counsel argued that it's too much for a 4 year old, judge agreed and broke it into two week-long vacations for each parent.

In 2004, I pick my weeks first, which I did.  Ex replied (by email) saying that she doesn't agree with my weeks.  I replied, just letting her know that I'm following the orders on vacation and will be taking those weeks.

She replied, noting that 2 weeks = 336 hours.  She then spelled out her "vacation" times for 2004, by slicing up that 336 hour sum so that she effectively eliminates all of my Monday dinners with child, a dozen or so of my dinner/breakfast overnights, and a few of my weekends.

No far-fetched interpretation of the orders can reach what she's trying to do, and it's just much of the same bad faith that no judge has done anything about nor the evaluator; in terms of tightening the orders so they leave absolutely no wiggle room.  Wiggle room is nice for reasonable parents, but chaotic when one parent is unstable.

1.  Any point in me forwarding her email to the evaluator in contrast to his recommendation and how she exploited it?  The only reason I ask is if there's a change of circumstance requiring an updated eval, he'd have gotten doses of the problems post-judgment.

2.  Any strategic advice beyond just wait for her to violate orders and then contempt her?

Thanks,
DD

[socrateaser]

1: Don't bother writing the evaluator. What he thinks now, or what he testified to, is irrelevant.

2: I can't tell if what your ex intends is contempt or not, because I don't have a copy of the order.

[DecentDad]

Okay, thanks on #1.

I don't have the final orders yet, only the Stipulated ones ones I signed, which were modified by the court.  After signing, attorneys wanted the judge to rule on whether vacation should be a single 14 day period or two 7 day periods (along with a couple other issues).  Judge picked the latter, which will change the language below when final orders are filed.

The following language comes from the eval recommendation, and the last sentence is a handwritten addendum to eliminate opportunity to exploit the parenting schedule in conjunction with vacation:

"Parents will have 2 weeks of summer vacation.  In 2004, father will pick his vacation first for the full span of the two weeks.  In 2005, mother will pick her vacation first.  Neither parent will take vacation that causes minor child to go more than 14 consecutive days without seeing the other parent."

The court record and minute orders would show that my attorney was saying the evaluator recommended 14 consecutive days and that's what we've accepted, and opposing counsel arguing that it should be split into two 7 day periods.  The judge agreed with opposing counsel.  Opposing counsel is drawing up orders from May 28 court appearance and hasn't yet provided them.

Order states that it is "summer" vacation, so I guess that one could argue it is either the period between the last day of preschool and first day of preschool or the season of June 21 to Sept 21.  Some of biomom's recently advised "vacation" dates (i.e., chunks of several hours at a time) stretch into October, November, and December, so that part is clearly not supported by orders.

If one were to map her 2-hour to 14-hour "vacations" (summing to 336 hours) against my custodial time, it'd be a perfect match over the next many months.  She must've spent a couple hours on that email, calendar by her side.  :)

1.  Thoughts?

Thanks,
DD

[socrateaser]

>1.  Thoughts?

The system is broken. Judges shouldn't be able to order anything that doesn't add up to 50/50 physical, absent clear and convincing evidence of parental unfitness. But, judges can, so my thought is, that since the judge hasn't signed, and that an ambiguity ALREADY exists, that you should have your attorney write the judge and the other attorney and try to clear it up, NOW, before final judgment is entered.

[DecentDad]

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