Feb 2012, I left this abusive for last time and moved in with my sister. I called him every night so he could talk to our son and allowed an open invitation for visitation (I did not have a license yet). My Ex did ask take our son for a week in April, but couldn’t handle our son’s crying, so he brought him back within 4 days. Eventually m Ex proposed a visitation schedule in which I would have placement from Sept 1 – June 15 and my Ex would have him throughout the summer; of which I agreed knowing that I would have to work and thus place our son in daycare over the Summer, whereas my Ex is “disabled” and could be at home with him. On May 1, I allowed my Ex to take our then 16 month old son believing that he would bring him for monthly visits and return him to me August 1st; but none of this happened. During these months, I called my son nightly and also talked with my Ex who repeatedly asked me to get back together with him, but I always refused. The night before he was supposed to return our son, he told me that he was “signing his own death warrant because by giving our son back he was going to lose housing and be homeless,” I should have known something was wrong then.
At 11am, on the morning he was going to return my son to me, he called to tell me that he would not be bringing him home, that he was going to file for permanent custody, and that he “didn’t feel comfortable with allowing me to see or visit our son until we go to court”. After contacting the family court and the police department, I was informed that there was nothing anyone could do to force my Ex to return our son because we did not have a placement schedule filed with the court. Note: He has since allowed me now to see my son, it is ONLY in his backyard, at HIS convenience, with HIS supervision, and hasn’t allowed more than 1 hour per week. This of course is but one more attempt at controlling, manipulating, and abusing me.
Almost immediately, I filed a Motion to Change Physical Placement and to order Temporary Physical Placement, a Request for Mediation, and an Order to Show Cause (to find him in contempt of court for not returning our son and violating the court order). We have since went to Mediation where my Ex was informed that he has no right to keep our son from me and he reluctantly agreed to a 2/2/5/5 schedule, but then informed me immediately after that he had to intention to allow me to take our son. Also, the Judge refused to hear the “Order to Show Cause” Motion, claiming that there was no written schedule filed with the court and because there was already a hearing regarding this matter on the court’s calendar.
Also, in consulting the Family Court, I discovered that my Ex’s Attorney had also filed a Motion to Modify Custody, ironically on the same day as I had. I requested a copy of his Motion and so have it, but have yet to be served it by my Ex or his Attorney (court is in 2 days, but it was filed 2 months ago). His Motion is riddled with a host of false allegations against me, ranging from accusations of drug use, to unsafe housing, to claims of instability, neglect and abandonment. I have gathered a number of documents to prove his statements false and need to know how to present these to the court.
Our Status Hearing is in 2 days and I need some guidance.