In all honesty a month is not long at all.
He needs to listen to his attorney. Really, all he can do now is wait.
In all honesty a month is not long at all.
He needs to listen to his attorney. Really, all he can do now is wait.
Update and questions: Emergency court date was sent for April 14th and ex-wife was served on April 1st. Found out ex was in town a week ago to meet with her lawyer. Got a letter in the Mail today from my son-in-laws lawyer that she requested a Continuance due to cost of airfare at sort notice with a new date of April 28. He talked to his lawyer yesterday and he had not heard from her lawyer. How can you get a continuance on an emergency hearing due to cost of travel when you are the one who illegally took them out of state. He could not talk to lawyer tonight but will be burning up the phone in the morning.
Can the attorney agree to this without discussing with client? It is obvious ex could afford to fly in to see her lawyer.......
Comments appreciated....
While this is all understandably distressing, it is not in fact an "emergency". There is no eminent danger to the children. If it was an emergency dad would have been granted an ex Parte hearing.
Dad's "burning up the phone in the morning" can only be directed to his attorney, and the best his attorney can do is object to the continuance, nothing more.
It will be entirely up to the judge to decide whether or not to grant the two week continuance. And at this point it could go either way.
Update: Request for continuance was denied. Court is this Thursday.
I will provide an update on what happens.
Court has decided on temporary orders. He gets the kids this Spring Break and all summer to make up for missed time. She does not get child support until October. These are just temporary orders as they will need to discuss final outcome. All contempt charges against her were dropped. Lawyers are finalizing the paperwork today.
Note: Ex this morning told my son-in-law that there is no way she will send the kids to him for Spring Break. He pays airfare to get them and she pays to fly them home. He already told his lawyer who is meeting with her lawyer today anyway. So what is the worst that could happen if she does not send them....just another contempt charge?
If he has orders in hand stating he gets them 04/24-04/30, can he go get them with help of local police?
Assuming your son files it, yes, it would be a contempt proceeding. However, the consequenses can be quite punitive, depending upon the pattern of behavior, statutory provisions, etc.So what is the worst that could happen if she does not send them....just another contempt charge?
Both your son and his ex have joint legal custody, therefore the police will not intervene and force the mom to hand over the kids. They leave that stuff to the civil courts to sort out. However, that doesn't mean that your son shouldn't attempt to exercise his visitation with his children. If he doesn't try to get the kids, then he has no grounds to stand on for a contempt motion. Mom could easily say that she saw the error of her ways and would have given your son his kids if he purchased the plane tickets and/or had shown up to get them. Of course, the need to attempt to exercise his visitation does not necessarily mean that he has to physically go to his ex's house; if his court orders say that he is to purchase airline tickets for the kids and she is to put the kids on the plane, but doesn't do so, that should be sufficient for the courts.If he has orders in hand stating he gets them 04/24-04/30, can he go get them with help of local police?
As an aside, and with the realization that the other memebers of this forum may stomp on me for this (and that's okay), I'd like to pose a semi-retorical question: Why were the original contempt allegations dropped?
I realize that I don't have all the facts of this case, and I'm hesitant to question an attorney, but by agreeing to dismiss the contempt "charges" and entering into this temporary visitation agreement, I am concerned that your son may have provided his ex with permission to keep the kids out of state, killed his custody petition, and turned himself into a long distance parent.
Unless they weren't really "dropped". Perhaps your son's ex is stipulating to the allegations.