1st Communion

[sabor06]

Dear Soc,

My divorce is final, I live in Texas, my kids and my ex live in Texas. I have a 9yr old and 4 yr old. My daughter (9) has her 1st Communion on Sat 17 of June, but it is father's day weekend, father refuses to cooperate and have her attend cermony.

1. What can I do in a legal aspect? Divorce Decree states father's day weekend with dad.

2. Can I mail a letter of intent? How do I word it? Such as I cordially invite you and yours to bla, bla, bla, and state that my daughter will be available to him by Sat night after ceremony.

3. What can be done to me if I do not provide her friday at 6pm?

He will not cooperate and will not answer my calls.

HELP

[socrateaser]

>1. What can I do in a legal aspect? Divorce Decree states
>father's day weekend with dad.

You can file a motion for a temporary order granting you the weekend, but you'll almost certainly lose, because you will be asking the court to violate the establishment clause by creating an "unnecessary entanglement with religion," and I don't believe the court will allow itself to be involved.

>2. Can I mail a letter of intent? How do I word it? Such as I
>cordially invite you and yours to bla, bla, bla, and state
>that my daughter will be available to him by Sat night after
>ceremony.

Can you mail a letter stating your intent to violate a valid and enforceable court order? Sure, and if I were the Dad I'd be on my knees praying to God that you will do just that, because it will be proof beyond a reasonable doubt of your contempt of court.

>
>3. What can be done to me if I do not provide her friday at
>6pm?

He can file a motion for contempt, and if he wins, he will get make up time and you will have to pay his attorney fees and costs of suit, and you may find yourself doing some community service for a few days, picking up trash on the highway.

>
>He will not cooperate and will not answer my calls.

He doesn't need to cooperate. You are about to wilfully and with conscious disregard, violate a valid and enforceable court order. That is contempt and it is punishable both by money and by community service or jail time.

I don't actually think that anything other than make up time for dad and your being ordered to pay his legal fees will be ordered, but I wouldn't bet on it. And, those legal fees could be pretty hefty. A contempt hearing could cost several thousand dollars to prepare for.

I strongly suggest that you change your child's communion date, because based on your facts, the father's rights trumps the Father's rights on this issue (if you catch my drift).

[sabor06]

There is no other time for her to do her 1st communion, I cannot just change it she is not the only one, she has been attending services and  preparation classes since she was 5. What is my recourse?

[socrateaser]

>There is no other time for her to do her 1st communion, I
>cannot just change it she is not the only one, she has been
>attending services and  preparation classes since she was 5.
>What is my recourse?

You can either file a motion for an emergency restraining order granting you the extra time and make up time for the other parent, on grounds that the child will suffer great or irreparable harm if your motion is not granted, or you can simply violate the order and hope that the other parent cannot prove contempt later on, should he actually file a contempt motion against you.

If you move for an emergency order, then it's still a crap shoot, because if I were judge, I would not find irreparable harm here. I would say that Father's Day is predictable well in advance and you could have prepared for this in some other fashion. However, you could get lucky and have a fairly religious judge who will grant your request, because he/she believes that the communion should trump Father's Day.

If you lose the emergency order and you still violate the order, then my dear you will get your ass handed to you, as in a few days in jail, because you will be directly snubbing your nose at the court.

If you don't move for the order, then you're basically just committing to an unlawful action and I am ethically forbidden from advising that you take such a course. However, there's always a chance that the other parent won't file for contempt or that he won't be able to prove it.

Thems yer two choices.

PS. You could have the child ask daddy herself. Spoonful of sugar, and all that rot.

[sabor06]

Dear Soc,

Guess what, God does answer prayers, Father (Church) just called and he will have my baby do her 1st communion with the 4, 5, 6th graders the following weekend the 25th Sun and her confession on June 1st. WOW!

thanks to you I did not do something I would have regretted I have never broken the law and do not plan to start now and give my ex any ammo against me.