My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Texas Mother and Child live in Louisiana
I am the CP and have full Sole Custody. Father is Possesorary Conservator(NCP). We divorced in 07, I also moved out of state in 07. And yes, I followed the court order on my move. Father didnt exersize visits for years. Long story short Texas AG office filed contempt on him last year for child support nonpayment. He counterfiled for full custody. Right now he is now exersizing his visits, but still not paying the court ordered child support. there are 3 amicus attorney's assigned to our case. There is a lot of conflict between us, we have started to talk through e-mail and seeing as the amicus attorneys read everything I admit we both see this as an opportunity to voice our version of how we got where we are. I see that it leads us into arguing over e-mail about the past. I have started counsling a couple of months ago to deal with all the long term added stress and recently started my daughter in counsling to help cope with all the changes. I have also started reading a book called how to make a parenting plan that works. Its a really good book and has a lot of usefull steps to come to an agreement. Anyways... I wanted to know if it is still required that we both go to mediation even though I live out of state. I want to go to mediation but I get the feeling my ex just wants to go to court. I am not sure if that is what he wants or not. He has hinted towards him dropping the suit for custody if I drop or forgive the 15K he owes in arrears, and me moving back to Texas. I want to got to mediation, I think that we could work through this without having to go to court. We both show the want to come to an agreement but through e-mail we both are having trouble not bringing in the past. I have read about mediation and it sounds to me that the mediator will help us communicate better with each other and keep us focused on the future. So will it still be required that we go to mediation even if I live out of state? I am willing to travel to go to mediation. Does or has anyone here been through mediation? Do you think it might be possible for us to be successful with mediation?

