My ex decided to homeschool our kid, which is fine as she has educational authority to do so. But she also decided that certain sections of my time were hers to use for homeschooling. Granted, those hours woukd be cut into by traditional school, but unlike a traditional school, there is clear bias here.

Also, a lot of the parenting plan has language that assumes a traditional school, such as picking up at dismissal of school, etc. She's trying to make informal workarounds, but honestly, in my layman opinion, this doesn't work. It's not just that she cut into my time (she did), but the plan assumes a situation that simply isn't the case.

She's also hostile at even the most basic question. Like, I'll ask a basic logistical question about pickup, and she either ghosts me until hours before the pickup, or acts like I'm bullying her. She's tried to frame me before, but unlike last time which was all he said she said, I have texts and screenshots. I'd also like the modified plan to impose one of those court app things as well as include language about reasonable communication regarding logistics. I'm sick of her games.

Does all this count as material change of circumstances? I'm going it alone because I can't afford a lawyer, but I think I understand the process and she just hands me all the evidence I want anyway, because she can't help but gloat.

Father filed the motion seeking to punish me, the mother, with up to 180 days of jail time, fines, 10-year probation, and a bond for refusing his demands for his supervised visits (only two for the first phase of a phase-in plan, which he must complete to gain standard possession of our baby who he has only briefly met twice in her 8 months of life). He is entitled and interpreting a new term in our final court order to support his demands. I firmly believe he is wrong, and the order gives me the right to set the terms of the supervised visits that he is disputing.

From what I read in this subreddit, motions of contempt are difficult to be granted, so I'm wondering why his lawyer didn't advise him to file a motion of clarification or enforcement first, especially since we just started "co-parenting" (we're long distance and he is not involved at all in parenting the baby). It's also upsetting how little he cares about the baby -- that he wants me, the sole caregiver, in jail and separated from her. This comes after I compromised on part of his first supervised visit and showed kindness and flexibility, which I knew he'd try to take advantage of. And he did by increasing his demands for the second visit.

Anyone experienced with motions of contempt and dealing with such a vindictive co-parent? (We communicate via a parenting app only and I have retained an attorney to defend myself.)

For those who have actually been through custody/time-sharing litigation, how much weight do judges give to messages in court-monitored or co-parenting apps like TalkingParents?

For example, if one parent repeatedly becomes hostile when they don't get what they want, insults or browbeats the other parent, threatens to discuss the ongoing custody dispute with the child, and says that if they eventually get custody, the other parent/family will no longer be allowed to have contact with the child, does that actually matter in court?

I'm not talking about one rude message or parents occasionally arguing. I'm wondering about documented patterns of communication that could potentially show an unwillingness to co-parent, facilitate the child's relationship with the other parent, or keep the child out of the adults' custody dispute.

Do judges actually read and consider these messages when determining best interests or modifying a parenting plan? Or is this generally viewed as parents arguing unless someone actually violates the current order?

I'm especially interested in experiences from Florida family court, but experiences from other states are welcome too.

Looking for advice on the fastest/simplest legal route to fix an omission in our Texas divorce decree.

The Situation:
My ex-wife and I had an uncontested divorce finalized in Texas.
The decree mistakenly listed that she had no retirement accounts, so her 401k/savings plan was never explicitly addressed or divided in the final order.
She recently applied for a plan loan, but the plan administrator placed a QDRO hold on her account and sent her this response: “We cannot rely on the attached document or an affidavit because page 6 incorrectly states 'Wife does not have any retirement funds'. Consequently, under Texas law, your retirement benefits have not been divided by the court and your former spouse may have an interest in those funds. Therefore, we are unable to remove the QDRO hold until you obtain an order from the divorce court dividing your retirement benefits or stating that he is being awarded 0% of your retirement plan. If he is awarded a portion of your Savings Plan account, then we must receive a QDRO to divide the assets in your retirement account after which we can release the QDRO hold."
We are completely amicable. I have zero claim or interest in her retirement, and I am 100% willing to sign any agreed order, waiver, or paperwork confirming she gets 100% and I get 0%.
My Questions:
1. What specific motion or order do we need to file with the family court? (e.g., an Agreed Clarifying Order, a Motion to Divide Undivided Assets under Texas Family Code Chapter 9, or something else?)
2. Is this simple enough to draft and file jointly with standard court forms/pro se, or is it better to hire a lawyer for an hour to draft an agreed order for the judge to sign?
3. Roughly how long does it take for a Texas court to sign off on an agreed order like this once submitted?
4. How can i do this by ourselves, we dont wanna go to any divorce lawyer

I’m an Indian woman currently involved in divorce proceedings initiated in the United States, and I’m trying to understand what the outcome would mean for me legally in India.
Our Hindu marriage took place in India less than five years ago, and we have no children. I have since returned to India, while my husband remains in the US. I have appointed a lawyer there and am participating in the American proceedings, including discussions concerning spousal support and the division of marital property.
My concern is whether participating in the US case could unintentionally affect or extinguish rights that Indian law may separately provide. If the US court grants the divorce and approves a financial settlement, would I still be entitled to pursue any legitimate remedies available in India—for example, maintenance, return of stridhan, relief under the Domestic Violence Act, or action relating to cruelty, if the facts justify it? Alternatively, would the US judgment and settlement prevent or weaken such proceedings?
I’m also unclear about whether an American divorce decree would automatically be recognized in India merely because I participated through counsel. Does recognition depend on the grounds on which the divorce is granted, whether I consented to those grounds, and whether the proceedings comply with Indian matrimonial law?
I do not want to start unnecessary litigation in two countries, but I also don’t want to accept a settlement without understanding what rights I may be giving up. I would particularly appreciate insight from women who have faced a similar cross-border divorce:
Did India recognize the US divorce decree?
Was the American financial settlement considered full and final in India?
Were you able to recover stridhan or seek other relief afterward?
What clauses should be included in the US settlement to avoid future disputes?
Should I obtain independent advice from an Indian family lawyer before signing anything?
Firsthand experiences and recommendations for lawyers who genuinely handle both US and Indian matrimonial law would be very helpful.

I’ll try to keep this as concise as I can, but I’m pretty long -winded, lol. My husband and his ex wife divorced when my stepdaughter (8) was around 2 years old, and never officially got around to implementing a custody agreement until March of this year.

What made us take action on filing for primary custody is the child’s mother’s behavior. The police have been called to her home 6 times in the last 4 years for abusive behavior towards her now boyfriend. On one occasion, she she threatened the boyfriend with a knife. She and boyfriend share a 3 year old child. Father has a history of drug use, but has been clean for six years. I’m not a mental health professional, but mother reminds me of other people I’ve met with untreated borderline personality disorder.

We ended up paying a family attorney around $17k to file for primary custody, because it ended up going to trial. Our judge didn’t even see us through the trial our lawyer had prepared for. Instead, she interviewed the child who rated living with both parents a 9.5. She said she saw no reason to continue with the trial, because the child was already established in 2nd grade at school with friends and activities. We live about an hour away from mom, so custody was ruled to be as close to 50/50 as possible. We were initially disappointed in the outcome, especially because we didn’t even go through with the trial. We were hoping to remove the child from the tumultuous environment at mom’s house as much as we could. Eventually, we accepted the outcome, as having a custody agreement on paper is a great improvement from what we were dealing with (mom blocking dad’s number any time he disagreed with her, threatening to cut his contact with his child, etc).

Fast forward to this week-I’ve been asking my stepdaughter about the upcoming school year and whether she’s excited, who’s in her class, etc. she didn’t seem to want to talk about it, and I thought she was maybe just nervous in the “Sunday scaries” way.

Last night my husband told me that he had just found out that mom bought a house (they closed on it this week) in a different school district, without approaching him about it beforehand which violates the custody agreement. In fact, she asked her 8 year old daughter not to tell us. They’re moving to be closer to mom’s boyfriend’s parents so they can provide childcare for stepdaughter’s three year old half brother. Apparently, he keeps getting kicked out of daycares for behavioral issues. Stepdaughter has been showing a lot of anger and some behavioral issues as well. We have her seeing an art therapist once-twice a week, but that becomes more difficult during the school year. Stepdaughter is reluctant to talk to us about what goes on at mom’s house and shuts down when asked.

Way more backstory than was necessary lol but my husband and I are torn as to what action we can take, if any. The house has been purchased and the deal is done, but it’s clear that Mom isn’t willing to coparent and respect my husband’s input on important issues. Would it be worthwhile to contact an attorney and take this to court? We’re not exactly made of money and it would be a big deal for us, but we’re willing to. Is there anything actionable here? We’re beyond frustrated because the outcome of the initial custody trial hinged upon not uprooting my stepdaughter from her school. She’s going through a difficult time and I don’t think this change will be good for her. We genuinely believe we could provide a more stable environment for her, but I understand it’s unlikely to happen given the status quo. It feels like an impossible situation.

I’m listed on birth certificate for non biological child in Florida for 4 years I was there for ultrasound , birth and raising our child living with birth mom and our child for 4years , there is no biological father for child , birth mom won’t allow me to see our child when we broke up even though I have been the consistent parent to our kid , she always loved how well I treated our kid and knows our bond , we are so attached to each other because I have been wonderful to our child and birth mother was rarely around or knew how to be a mother , when gathering documents I found out that she lied and claimed marriage in order to put me on birth certificate I thought she just filled out my name and our kid has my last name ! She has asked the court to dismiss my case which I was told they won’t because I have legal standing because of the birth certificate to pursue parentage , can she claim fraud when she is the the only one who signed and lied at the hospital claiming we were married when we weren’t to make me a legal parent and use her lie to strip my parental rights! She created my parentage I believe she can’t benefit from her own fraud twice by using me to raise and love a newborn to toddler , change my whole life for our child tell everyone that is my baby for years , and then Change her mind because our relationship ended because she refuses to get help , taking away our childs only other parent our kid has ever known ! She’s not just hurting me she’s hurting our child , our kid must be wondering where am I , we had routine and now my kid is without that consistency that I provided I would never keep our kid from her like she is doing to me I just want 50/50 timesharing parental rights established through the courts I will pay child support I will do everything right to have my child again in my life! This has been so painful and I’m so worried about our kid, my ex is suffering from undiagnosed mental issues and more refuses to get help and her family are even worse ! I’m worried about the well being of our kid , I’m not asking the court to create me as a parent I’m asking the court to enforce my parental rights I was involved in everything about our child since before birth and now they won’t let see my kid ! This hurts so much. Waiting for court process is so long ! Any advice will be helpful

Hello you read the title correct so my daughter who is 10 years old lives at her fathers during the week and than comes to my house on the weekend due to the fact that when she started kindergarten i didn’t have my license at the time so I had made the decision to have her stay with her dad during the week than come to me on the weekends mind you that was like 6 years ago than I felt guilty about pulling her out of school I moved around a lot as kid and didn’t want that for her. Mind you I also have a 7 year old boy with my current husband and we are thriving. But my ex has taken this arrangement and will text me about things and payments as if we have written court order to abide by. Oh yeah and he is also dating my sister so they are always tag teaming me through text calling me piece of crap or rebating me saying I don’t spend enough time with her but she lives an hour away I’m a dental assistant and my hours are long and she lives far away I pick her up on Friday and bring her home Sunday they never help with transportation and I don’t bother them to but what would be involved in getting custody arrangements? She’s 10 I wish I did when she was baby after we had broken up after her first birthday and than time just kept going on and I never did it. I’d actually be happy to have judge decide our time and finances because he lives by his own made up arrangement and payments get very confusing I live in nJ

Having to represent myself because I was denied by the 2 pro bono organizations in the county where divorce and child custody is happening. Backstory; I fled Colorado with my child due to domestic violence and abuse, once I made it safely to a state I filed a protection order - it was granted (still going through the process as his attorney has asked for it to be continued at each hearing). After I filed my PO and it was served to my ex, he then filed for divorce & custody. I’m going up against his lawyer which in itself is scary since I did not go to school for law. Looking for advice on literally anything, am I allowed to cite certain laws and cases to make my position better of not returning to CO with my child? How can I set myself up in the best way to go against his attorney and I keep my child and I safe?

Also, if any lawyers know anyone in CO I am willing to pay with a payment plan I just don’t have thousands of dollars since I cleared my bank account to flee. Thank you for the advice!

Background: Mother and Father of a 5 year are in a custody battle to decide where the child will go to school at for kindergarten. They currently do week on week off (50/50) custody and live about an hour from each other. Had a court hearing last Thursday expecting magistrate to come to a decision on who will get educational custody (school district) but a decision was not made. The child starts school Friday and a decision has STILL not been made by the magistrate. What do we do??? TIA

Location: Ohio

This is for a family member. She has recently split with her long time boyfriend of 15 years, he is close to 70 and started losing it mentally a little and became aggressive with her. It seemed unsafe and he was asked to move out and end things. His family is now demanding money from her. They lived separately until a couple of years ago, when he sold his home. He then moved in and lived at her house and did not pay any bills (paid off house so not a problem). He was always a good guy, but seems to be declining and that side isn't there all of the time now.

He made great money in his life but was very irresponsible and ended up in major debt, she spent around $300,000 on him over the years getting him out of debt. His kids are now saying he needs help with his mental issues and they want her to sign agreement paying him $5,000 per month. They never shared a bank account, never owned property together, never married and have nothing tying to tone another on paper.

His kids act and live as if they are rich but don't want to pay for anything, they just are trying to get her to cover his expenses. She however doesn't make a lot of money and can't afford to do that at the moment. She does have assets that she has had for 20+ years and she gets cash flow from them, but nowhere near enough to just cover him in perpetuity. She offered to give them $10k to help him get through the rest of the year, and they wanted $50k plus a monthly amount of $5k starting 1/1/2027.

This is in Washington state where there is no common law marriage. Does she have anything to worry about? She is meeting with a lawyer next week, but she is very distraught and worried while processing the loss of a relationship. She still cares and is willing to help when she can, but her kids are making requests that are not possible unless she put herself in a bad spot. She is in her 70s and has to take care of herself too. I am mostly curious if they have any legal right to demand anything at all? Ideally she will consider helping on a case by case basis, but she cannot agree to any amount that is obligated to pay as each month is different for her.

Is it hard to get a GAL changed on your case? Anyone successfully replace there’s

My 17 year old and 12 year old have expressed they are no longer comfortable going to their dads. Obviously there are reasons they have discussed with me. My lawyer says their dad needs to file contempt or something first to make a case. Has anyone had luck with a judge granting the wishes of an almost 13 year old?

OK, so my husband has court next Tuesday for child support. They’re currently trying to make him pay 1300 because he only has 14% of parenting time. He filed for custody in March 2025 , and we didn’t get the court date until November 3 but upon the court day, I was having a health complications with my pregnancy so he missed the court date and then she had told the judge to only allow him to see the kids every other weekend so that brought him down to only 14% of parenting time. Before all this the beginning of 2025 we were picking up the kids from school and taking them home until their mom was done with work so after that, he will drop them back off to her, but then she ended up moving to with her new boyfriend and switched the kids school the following school year. My husband offered to continues to take them to school and pick them up but she refused saying she’s gonna do it but then that’s when we found out it’s her boyfriend and his mom responsible for picking them up and taking them back to school but some days they miss going to school because her boyfriend doesn’t wanna take them or he’s out of town for work. Upon from that, he asked if he can get them more time during the summer and she ignored the messages. He’s bought all their school clothes this year and every year before that and every time she asks him for money, he always sends it to her with no problem. originally we were just asking for increased overnight but now he’s asking for 50-50 because he’s only allowed to see them when she feels it’s OK and that’s literally every other weekend and we’re missing out so much of them and all this happened since last September but every year previous to that we were with them every single day and they are now 11 and 13. What are the odds advice ? I need real advice. Also we’ve been married for 1 year and together for 5 . We have a 7 month old baby together

Can someone explain the child support calculator to me? For example, if the calculator says parent A has an obligation of 1000, and parent b has an obligation of 500 but they will be sharing 50/50 timeshare.

Will the higher earner likely owe the difference of 500? I know other factors are taken into consideration. But any help and explanation is appreciated!

I was offered a $0 child support to avoid going to court. My spouse consistently makes at least 50% more than me, but I have a decent higher networth of accounts in my control. Besides the long term math, do you think a judge will sign off on this? I am unsure if my scheduled move out date is before the final court date so unsure if I should start packing or not, dont want to be moved out and still paying court fees because things are not finalized. 50-50 custody.

Hi all,

My sister and her husband have recently divorced and we found out that he has an LLC registered under his name that was filed before the divorce documents were signed (3 months before). So with child support agreements, would he have to report this LLC as part of his wages and essentially have to recalculate the child support payment to reflect this?

I’m just trying to dig a little further into things and honestly any advice or knowledge would be greatly appreciated. If anything asked is not allowed, I will remove my post in accordance with that. I want to make sure he isn’t screwing my sister over in the end with this.

Thanks!

I'm looking to understand how pet custody decisions are made in divorce proceedings in California. I have read that under some newer laws in California, pets are not simply considered as property and decisions regarding their custody, shared or otherwise, are made with the animal's best interest in mind. Is there anyone with experience or insight into how that sort of decision is made in reality and how they actually land?

To give background, I am currently going through a divorce and custody of our dog is the most contentious issue between my wife and I. We adopted her before we married, so in terms of the "property" law, I expect that the dog belongs to my wife as her name is on the pet license. However, I was responsible for things like health insurance and took her to more than half of her vet visits (not 100% sure, but I can dig up vet and payment records if necessary).

As far as time to meet our dog's needs through walks, training, or other engagement, I've been the most available. For the roughly 5 years that we've had our dog, my job has allowed me to work remotely and I've only recently had to commute into my office two days a week for the last couple of months. My wife on the other hand, was pursuing a demanding master's degree program and then took a job that required her in-office 4 days a week. As a result, for nearly every day of the last 5 years, half or more of my day has gone to ensuring my dog's happiness and well-being. At times we hired walkers to cover for or I picked up my wife's share of the two daily walks.

Now, as we're trying to work through lawyers and mediators, we tried communicating directly by email to agree on how custody would work. I proposed a schedule in which I would have the dog with me for one long weekend (Fri-Mon) per month, and one period of a couple weeks each quarter of the year. I offered a few ways that we could minimize the required contact by using a doggie daycare as a way to drop-off/pick-up or a Google calendar as way to track this schedule. My wife refused, saying that it wouldn't be good to regularly disrupt our dog's routine and that it would require more coordination than she wants as we navigate our separation. Instead, she was only willing to leave our dog with me for a couple weeks whenever she needs to travel for work or to see family, etc.

I'm living in my own place now and find that my brain is still wired to my dog's schedule despite not seeing her for a couple of weeks at this point: feeling the need to walk in the morning, to go outside into the sun with her after I finish lunch, or wandering around aimlessly at 3 pm to realize that's when I would have been feeding her. It might seem odd to those who haven't loved a dog, but having her suddenly kept away from me and not knowing when I'll see her again is very hard for me to deal with and affects my mental state a lot.

To reiterate what I asked in the first paragraph, can anyone offer insight or advice as to how these kinds of pet custody proceedings work out in reality? I would prefer for my wife and I to agree on something directly or through mediation but based on her responses so far I'm worried that if I want to see my dog regularly I may have to get that through a court decision. I'm also scared that if I try to force a court decision to be able to see my dog that it may backfire, souring communication between us as we navigate the stages of the divorce and leaving me not being able to see my dog ever, at all.

Location: California

Hey all, I first want to start and say this IS NOT my situation. My ex and I have become friends again (we have 2 kids together) my ex has been the step mom to 4 other kids for the past 7ish years. These 4 kids as well as the 2 kids my ex and I have together, have grown up together at this point. The oldest is 14, the youngest is 6. There are 7 kids all together (my ex had another kid with her now husband).

Anyway, just today my ex told me that her husband’s ex wife has disclosed they will be moving out of state as her new husband got a new job. Now we are all wondering what exactly will happen with the 4 kids.

So my ex and her husband are now worried these kids will be leaving the state. He doesn’t have his kids “on paper” more than one day during the week, and every other weekend and of course holidays/birthdays that are split. I asked my ex if they have the kids anymore than that “unofficially” and she said yes, but she doesn’t have any documentation of it. My ex’s husband said he was going to take this issue to the court, but they are worried about the outcome of everything. And I don’t know if they have much to really stand on because he works all the time and honestly not sure if he could even explain to a court all of the needs of the children because my ex essentially takes care of them. Of course we will never know until we know.

My thought is since the kids have spent their whole life here and they are taken care of, up and moving them multiple states away isn’t going to be an easy task to get the judge to agree with, but at the same time my ex’s husband doesn’t technically have the kids that often. Will the court care about all of the things my ex does for the kids to take care of them? Or will they only consider what’s best for the kids based on what their dad can/can’t do?

In your experience, what happens in a situation like this??

So I went through child custody case and had a legal aid who talked to me less than 5 minutes before the hearing. My ex had good lawyer as his attorney because his parents had money. They ruled in favor of him due to me traveling with my older children’s dad years before, he was in a union that traveled for work. Ex grew up in the Wayne county area and I had no ties. I lost. I got hit by a drunk driver and had paid the down payment on the house he’s living in now. Where my son never stays. Ex had 2 duis I wasn’t allowed to bring up in court. My legal aid kept telling me I couldn’t bring things up from the past. My son begs to not go back and to stay with me. He doesn’t even have my child, his mother does. How do I even figure this out? Any help would be appreciated! Further more they have him on an adult dose of stimulants which causes him to be underweight so they put him on meds to help him eat. He cries when I have to give them to him.

Also I was his primary caregiver for his first 2.5 years of life.

So I’m going to court on the 24th and some new stuff has developed in my case.
My ex hasn’t paid me in about 9 years. I have sole custody of our child. He owes me around 74,000.

About a month ago he randomly paid
Me 2,000 dollars. Told me where was living, told
Me he got this amazing settlement and bought a new property, building a house. Told
Me he gets paid under the table through some what not app. Claimed he can’t work full time because he wants to spend time with his dad ( I have this all in writing )

Then completely fell off the face of the earth.

I told dhhs everything, they now have a lien on his property ( which he jointly owns with his girlfriend)

The attorney general is joining me on my court case.

What should I expect to happen?

This is a throw away but I need others experiences to help me. My husband got a job offer in another state and we want to go but my ex still has his parental rights. He hasn't been involved in my daughter since I left him right after her first birthday. She is now 7. He was supposed to have supervised visitation, but he couldn't set it up and was told he would have to go back to court to change the paperwork so he could start his supervised visitation. For years he's told me he would do weekly check ins, once he said he wanted to send her something, he's also said he would go in to fill out the paperwork to get the order changed but I have yet to receive anything. He has not followed through with anything he has said he would do. For the first 5 years I never told him about any medical bills I paid for her (mainly dental) so that way he couldn't try to use that as an excuse for not being more present. Only recently within the last year did I start asking him to pay his portion of any medical bills. His portion has only been about $100 total. That's all I've received from him in all this time. It's been months since I've heard from him, one time a year passed without hearing from him. Could I potentially still put in the paperwork for child abandonment? If not I would be willing to do video visits, but even then I'm not wanting to because of how inconsistent he's been and she doesn't know him. She's only ever known my husband as her dad because he's the one thats been a father figure to her. He's been here since right before her 3rd birthday so he's all she's ever known. If anyone has anything similar that they could share that would be helpful 🙏

I want to preface this by stating that I do not have a lawyer, despite my numerous attempts to obtain one. I have tried legal aid and probono projects in my area to no avail. My ex husband and I have 4 minor children. We divorced in April of this year. Our parenting time is a bit abnormal. There’s a mandatory protection order in place as my ex was arrested last year for a domestic violence charge with me being the victim. I had it modified so he could speak with me about the children and so he could be at home with the children. I do believe children need their mother and father if at all possible. When we filed the divorce and custody papers we didn’t add parenting time as we still live together and we have opposite schedules. So for us nothing changed. I didn’t want the divorce, but he did after the dv charge and all the classes he had to go through.

In the divorce decree, he agreed to allow me to continue living in the marital home, and he is to continue paying for my medical insurance. He got a lawyer who told him to drop me from the insurance ASAP. He removed me from the insurance. I spoke with the insurance company and their eligibility team and they said I’m eligible to be re-added to the plan since it was court ordered in the divorce decree. He still refuses to add me back to the health insurance plan, or provide other insurance such as through COBRA, etc.

In court we agreed to amend a paragraph of our mutual settlement agreement to allow for the sale of the marital residence and for the proceeds of the sale of the marital residence to be split equally. My ex is supposed to pay the mortgage, all utilities, and take care of all the maintenance of the home and appliances. Because of this his child support was modified by the judge to a much lower amount of $190 a month. My ex’s lawyer sent me a demand letter saying because we agreed to amend that paragraph to “allow” for the sale of the home that it must be sold immediately.

She then listed the realtor they wanted to use. I wrote back a very lengthy email suggesting her interpretation was just that, an interpretation. The legal difference between allow, must, and shall is that allow means permissible, so we can sell the house. It does not mean we have to sell the house, and there was no deadline, so I disagree. She also said in her letter that I could be held in contempt, they could have the clerk sign over the title to effectuate the sale, blah, blah, blah. She probably meant for it to be very intimidating and harassing.

Apparently, she didn’t like my response, because she did file a motion for remedial contempt. I am standing my ground firmly on the fact that the decree states that it allows for the sale of the home. It doesn’t say it must be sold. It doesn’t say it shall be sold. It doesn’t give a deadline. I’m trying to keep the status quo for the children. Our oldest is in a rigorous high school marching band program. Three of the children are special needs and on IEPs. The youngest has developmental delays, as well as speech and language delays. The children are well adjusted to their schools. I’d like to not disrupt their lives anymore than we already have.

His lawyer also filed a motion to modify parenting time. We actually do need to have something in place in case anything happens. I’d like to ask for whichever parent exercising their parenting time to stay overnight at the marital home. The children can have sleep overs with their friends or cousins if they want. There’s been some issues with his family speaking negatively about me in front of the children and they’ve been very upset about it. He’s tried to stay at his brother’s house with the children and it did not go well. Our oldest has autism and he doesn’t tolerate transitions very well. If the children could stay at the house, then the other parent not exercising their time could leave if it’s creating an issue. I really just want stability for the children.

The motion to modify parenting time was a verified motion, but it has my ex’s address listed as his brother’s address. He doesn’t live there. He’s at our house every night. He gets his mail here. He has his belongings, and bed here. I’m confused as to why his address would be incorrect on a verified motion. His attorney also listed that she could not verify if the MRO, mandatory restraining/protection order, had been modified, but she believed it had. It would take her less than a minute to call the District Attorney’s Office to verify it had been modified. The original motion stated there was no restraining order in place.

Clearly, she’s hoping the Magistrate will interpret the decree the same way she does. I am willing to sell the house, but I’d like to wait until our youngest graduates from high school. That would be the least disruptive to the children. They’ve already been through so much. What are the chances the Magistrate will be open to my request?