Going to Trial for a Custody Case

[piercejpierce]

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Ohio

So im going to trial here soon and i was wondering what mind set should i be in and what are the things that will help me most in my case? And what am i trying to prove in the trial, that i deserve visits or is there more?

INFO

this is Ohio juvenile court in Miami county, and me and the mother tried to set up visitations threw the pretrial, but the place called family connections didn't have any weekends open and the only day the mother will agree to is Wednesday at 3 to 4 but i work during this time and its mandatory. so at first i didn't want the mother there at all due to it my be an explosive atmosphere but keep letting in and letting in. the judge suggested that we do visitations at her house but she refused even tho i ask a camera be there for all parties safety. her lawyer said they will only do it threw a place like family connections but i have no history of violence or stalking or anything like that.

[Dogmatique]

Is this the initial custody determination?

How old is the child?

Who has been the primary caretaker up until this point?

What are you wishing to accomplish?

[piercejpierce]

Is this the initial custody determination?
this is the first custody trial we have a bunch of pretrial but this id first trial, she has full custody this is for visitations

How old is the child?
3

Who has been the primary caretaker up until this point?
his mother

What are you wishing to accomplish?
getting visits with my son

[Dogmatique]

How often have you seen your son?

When was the last time?

Realistically, if you and Mom can't agree to a schedule you'll need to wait until the court date.

[piercejpierce]

How often have you seen your son?
2 years

When was the last time?
2 years
Realistically, if you and Mom can't agree to a schedule you'll need to wait until the court date.

i cant afford a lawyer so i have to respesent myself so thats why i need to know about how to do so, such as what key points need to be brought up, what type of things i would need to prove so i can determin witnesses and so on
i make just enough to pay support pay my fine from a differnet case and get to court and that says alot seeing how i have no other bills and no one will hire me cuz i have a theft from over ten years ago

[Antigone]

Why do you have supervised visits?

[Dogmatique]

I'm having trouble even parsing the posts. However, it seems that he actually hasn't seen the child in 2 years....maybe?

[Antigone]

That makes two of us

[piercejpierce]

ok ok ok im going all the way to the begining.


me and my baby's mother was living together and one day David was born from that day on i was told i have to give up my rights to him. at the same time she stopped coming to get me from work and after working 12 hour shifts 5 days a week lifting 100lb Honda front sub frames 2 a min i had to walk 10 miles home so after 3 months of this i told it that she needed to come get me or we would separate. so we separated. so after that i tried calling her and i tried emailing her trying to get visits and anytime i would call she would hang right up and call the police. which we argued like this and on-line for 6 months to a year. Then i went to study mode looking up my rights and how i would get visitations. first step was to establish parenting which actually was establish before we broke up but took like 4 months to find out it was already established. then she file for support after i filed for visitations which she gets support. at the pretrial we were trying to set up visits (they are not supervised but phase in) phase in is where you visit for a hour a week until the child knows who you are which i suggested, then overnights start happening. theres this place call family connections where the mother drops of the child and i can visit with out the mother being there( due to the 1 year fighting on the Internet and phone for visits i felt it would be a hostile environment if she was there) but the family connections don't have any days that me or her have in common for the visits to happen. so at another pretrial the judge suggested the visits happen at the mothers house which i really didn't want to happen but i said screw it my sons more important and i said to the judge i wouldn't mind doing that so long as a camera can be there due to the fact i don't want no bs to go down. she said she don't want visits to happen anywhere but a place like family connections. so we are going to trail.

she did bring him down 2 times at the beginning (two years ago) but with no warning and said for me to come see him but besides that no visits have been established

[Dogmatique]

A judge isn't likely to order Mom to supervise visits in her home if she feels uncomfortable - and given that you two obviously can't get along at the moment, that's not a great surprise.

Are you saying that neither of you can comply with Family Connection's hours?

What is your current work schedule?

How about Mom?