What Can I Do

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

Here's the quick and dirty. I hired a lawyer a while back to get Child Support altered since I had been in the military, I'm now out but CS was still based on that pay. I have civilian employment but I lost almost 14k a year in pay and of course now I have to pay for insurance. FYI We have "joint custody" but she has them most of the time and refuses to let the kids come live with me.

So we go to court, and my lawyer blows it, my CS actually went up and my ex, was ordered to carry the kids on her insurance. She lost her insurance last year, and as far as I know she has not put them back on. I have to pay her extra to cover her carrying the kids on her insurance. Yeah my paycheck of 2k a month I take home less then $760.00 a month.

I'm pretty damned ticked off right now, but don't know what to do, I live in another state, and my ability to act is limited.

She has the kids living with her new boyfriend in a mobile home... it's horrible. The guy leaves a loaded pistol under his pillow for "safety" the kids complained over the break that they feel unsafe. I'm going to hire another lawyer (I fired the last one) when my child hits 12 but that's still two years off.

What can I do? Friends tell me to call CPS on her, but I'm scared of doing that and losing the kids if CPS deems there is no problem. I cannot afford a lawyer again because I'm so burdened.

Any help, would be GREATLY appreciated.

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Quoting MrViccho

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

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Are you in Kansas, or are the ex and kids in Kansas?

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Here's the quick and dirty. I hired a lawyer a while back to get Child Support altered since I had been in the military, I'm now out but CS was still based on that pay. I have civilian employment but I lost almost 14k a year in pay and of course now I have to pay for insurance. FYI We have "joint custody" but she has them most of the time and refuses to let the kids come live with me.

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Leaving military service is a major change in life, and if you're now grounded in civilian life, that's a substantial enough event to ask the court to re-evaluate type/degree of custody or visitation.

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So we go to court, and my lawyer blows it, my CS actually went up and my ex, was ordered to carry the kids on her insurance. She lost her insurance last year, and as far as I know she has not put them back on. I have to pay her extra to cover her carrying the kids on her insurance. Yeah my paycheck of 2k a month I take home less then $760.00 a month.

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Why are you paying extra for the insurance? Either (a) she is in violation of the order requiring HER to provide insurance, or (b) she HAS the insurance and you're still paying more. I understand completely how as a loving parent (and we need more of them like you) wants their kids to be covered, but stop paying HER this extra money. Either find out the amount and make it payable directly to the insurance carrier, or, if she has the money taken out of her paycheck, then the kids are covered by her as required and you can stop sending "extra". Right now you are shelling out money that isn't your responsibility and you have no idea what it's really being spent for. Also, if you plan to have support altered, you'll want a paper trail to prove that YOU are the one actually paying the insurance bill, in violation of the court's order. No documentation from her = no moolah.

[quote]I'm pretty damned ticked off right now, but don't know what to do, I live in another state, and my ability to act is limited.

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She has the kids living with her new boyfriend in a mobile home... it's horrible.

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The boyfriend, or the mobile home?

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The guy leaves a loaded pistol under his pillow for "safety" the kids complained over the break that they feel unsafe.

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If he's ON that pillow, I don't see an issue. If it's left accessible to the kids when he's NOT on the pillow, problem. Is the gun thing the reason the kids feel unsafe, or is there some other circumstances at play? Have you had the discussion with the kids about how to contact authorities when they feel unsage?

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I'm going to hire another lawyer (I fired the last one) when my child hits 12 but that's still two years off.

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Does something magical happen at age 12? Why wait?

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What can I do? Friends tell me to call CPS on her, but I'm scared of doing that and losing the kids if CPS deems there is no problem. I cannot afford a lawyer again because I'm so burdened.

Any help, would be GREATLY appreciated.

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Why do you think that a CPS finding of "unfounded" would cause you to loose the kids? If you truely believe the kids are in danger, then this is the ONLY option you really have. If it's unfounded, it's unfounded, and CPS closes the file and drives away. Let me put it this way; say that a year from now you go to court, and you haven't called CPS about this gun issue, and either you or one of the kids bring up the gun (or God forbid there is some "incident" involving the gun). You knowing about the danger and NOT acting to protect the kids is going to put YOU in the exact same boat in the court's eyes as the idiot leaving the gun accessible in the first place.

Just wanted to add cps reports are annonymus. They are not going to walk in and say xxx told us .... you just simply call and say There is a loaded gun kept in this house that is in the reach of children and the kids are expressing they are scared. You could be anybody a neighbor, the school, a friend, anybody. The kids could have told the school councler how is the mother to know? They will go in investigate and find out what is going on with out any more information from you. How are you going to feel if something did happen and you didn't report it?