Change of Venue

[WIsister]

My question involves child abuse or neglect in the State of: Florida

My sister is in deperate need of advice. She has spent over $60,000 fighting to protect her kids. She is out of money and has a very important court date coming up next week. This is a VERY long and complicated story, but I will try to make it as short as possible. I can't give a lot of information in a public place. If you need more general info. for clarification, please let me know.

Important info.:
*Original divorce and custody matter was heard in county A
*Sis now lives in county B.
*They have shared custody and visitation from county A.
*The kids have lived in county B with Sis for approx. 2 months and are now well-established in the community.
*A motion requestsing jursidiction be moved from county A to county B is on the desk of the judge in county B. It has not yet been granted.
*Legal Aid will not take the case because "it is too complicated".

Sis has a restraining order against exBIL from county B. banning him from any contact with her or the kids. (there was witnessed physical abuse) The judge ruled against exBIL in regards to a rehearing to overturn the order.

Prior to the restraining order being filed by Sis., exBIL had filed an order in county A. requesting Sis's visitation rights be terminated on the basis of parental alienation. I can't say why that is being alleged, but I can say that it is false. This is one of many baseless motions he has filed...one of the reasons she is now out of money.

Sis must now go to court in county A. for the hearing. It has been very difficult for Sis to get folks in county A to believe the orignal abuse allegations as the kids were not old enough to testify even though the doctor and the detective believed her and the kids. She will not have an attorney with her at this hearing. She is afraid that the judge will think that she filed the restraining order as a manipulative move...which is not true.

My question is: Can the judge in county A terminate her visitation? If by some awful chance he does, what happens to the kids if there is a no contact order in place for the dad? How can she convince the judge in county A. to allow the tranfer of jurisdiction to county B?

Thanks.

[Xena]

My question involves child abuse or neglect in the State of: Florida

My sister is in deperate need of advice. She has spent over $60,000 fighting to protect her kids. She is out of money and has a very important court date coming up next week. This is a VERY long and complicated story, but I will try to make it as short as possible. I can't give a lot of information in a public place. If you need more general info. for clarification, please let me know.

Important info.:
*Original divorce and custody matter was heard in county A
*Sis now lives in county B.
*They have shared custody and visitation from county A.
*The kids have lived in county B with Sis for approx. 2 months and are now well-established in the community.
*A motion requestsing jursidiction be moved from county A to county B is on the desk of the judge in county B. It has not yet been granted.
*Legal Aid will not take the case because "it is too complicated".

Sis has a restraining order against exBIL from county B. banning him from any contact with her or the kids. (there was witnessed physical abuse) The judge ruled against exBIL in regards to a rehearing to overturn the order.

Prior to the restraining order being filed by Sis., exBIL had filed an order in county A. requesting Sis's visitation rights be terminated on the basis of parental alienation. I can't say why that is being alleged, but I can say that it is false. This is one of many baseless motions he has filed...one of the reasons she is now out of money.

Sis must now go to court in county A. for the hearing. It has been very difficult for Sis to get folks in county A to believe the orignal abuse allegations as the kids were not old enough to testify even though the doctor and the detective believed her and the kids. She will not have an attorney with her at this hearing. She is afraid that the judge will think that she filed the restraining order as a manipulative move...which is not true.

My question is: Can the judge in county A terminate her visitation? If by some awful chance he does, what happens to the kids if there is a no contact order in place for the dad? How can she convince the judge in county A. to allow the tranfer of jurisdiction to county B?

Thanks.

Please explain- who is the custodial or residential parent? ( according to the existing order that was issued in county A)
You said that the ex filed a motion to have your sister's visitation terminated, which leads me to think that your sister does not have residential custody. Is that correct?

Does her ex still live in county A?

If so, she has a real jurisdiction issue on her hands for a couple of reasons.

First, county A still has juridiction. The motion for change of venue should have been filed in county A, not county B.

Second, how long ago was the restraining order issued by county B?
Was her ex properly served with notice regarding the petition for a RO?
Did her ex contest any court orders being issued in county B based on lack of jurisidction?

What is the issue that is now being heard in county A?

[WIsister]

They have joint custody and was granted residential during school days with sis having them on non-school days. It's a very long involved story which the details cannot be discussed in a public venue. All I can say it protected her life and was a necessary short-term solution to a very life threatening situation.

Her ex still lives in county A.

The restraining order was issued one month ago. The judge refused to rehear it this past Monday.

Yes, he was served properly. He filed the motion for the rehearing that was denied Monday.

The issue being heard in county A is the ex. has filed for a motion to terminate her visitation (see original post).

She has filed a motion in county B to have jurisdicition moved. She is afraid if she askes the judge in county A it will make him angry enough to terminate her visitation. I know that sounds crazy, but believe me when I say it's not.

She has filed a motion in county B to have jurisdicition moved. She is afraid if she askes the judge in county A it will make him angry enough to terminate her visitation. I know that sounds crazy, but believe me when I say it's not.

[Xena]

They have joint custody and was granted residential during school days with sis having them on non-school days. It's a very long involved story which the details cannot be discussed in a public venue. All I can say it protected her life and was a necessary short-term solution to a very life threatening situation.

Her ex still lives in county A.

The restraining order was issued one month ago. The judge refused to rehear it this past Monday.

Yes, he was served properly. He filed the motion for the rehearing that was denied Monday.

The issue being heard in county A is the ex. has filed for a motion to terminate her visitation (see original post).

She has filed a motion in county B to have jurisdicition moved. She is afraid if she askes the judge in county A it will make him angry enough to terminate her visitation. I know that sounds crazy, but believe me when I say it's not.

She has filed a motion in county B to have jurisdicition moved. She is afraid if she askes the judge in county A it will make him angry enough to terminate her visitation. I know that sounds crazy, but believe me when I say it's not.

She needs to file in county A to ask that the venue be changed.
However, unless ex agrees to the change, it's very doubtful that it would be granted.

Basically, your sister is attempting to circumvent the court by filing in the wrong venue, for even a restraining order. Just out of curiosity, when she filed in county B for the RO, did she notify the court of the existing court orders in county A? Did she notify the court in county B that her ex had recently filed a motion in county A?

All in all, your sister may be in alot of trouble, what she is doing can easily come across as attempting to deny Dad his rights by filing for a RO right after his filing and filing in the wrong county. Your sister NEEDS to speak to an attorney right away because with what she has done, she just might lose the visitation issue.

[WIsister]

The judge in county B was very aware of all the happenings in county A when the RO was issued. Sis did not know she needed to notify county A of the RO. She was told by the police that the RO had to be filed in county B as that was where the most recent abuse to the child happened.

She truly has no money for an attorney.

How can the judge take away her visitation if there is a RO against the ex? Will a guardian need to be appointed if that happens?

[Xena]

How can the judge take away her visitation if there is a RO against the ex?

Your sister NEEDS an attorney, especially if her ex has one.

I could ask you how many times that her ex has taken her to court (in county A) and how many times that he prevailed, but it probably doesn't matter at this point.

Based soley on the info you have posted, this is what the Judge in the jurisdictional county A will see:

Judge will of course look at what previous litigation has been. The Judge will look at who filed what, what the allegations were and who prevailed each time. This can be a good thing for your sister if she always prevailed, but it could be a bad thing if ex always prevailed.

Judge will see that ex filed to end visitation based on parental alienation.

Judge will see that sister moved out of the county with the children.(do not know if sister moved before or after ex's motion was filed but either way, it won't look good for her)

Judge will see that AFTER ex filed his motion and having lived in county B only 30 days, that your sister filed for a restraining order in county B.

Judge will see that sister has filed for a change of venue, not in county A, but in county B. (your sister not wanting to file in county A for fear that she will not prevail is very telling)

All in all, things do not look good for her and that's why she needs an attorney. If you want to help her, you might want to consider helping her get an attorney. She can go into court and ask for a continuance to allow her a few days to find an attorney. It will be up to the Judge, which it could be denied, but worth a try anyway.

It does sound like a GAL might need to be involved. Sister can request that one be appointed.