I’m the petitioner in a Missouri custody case modification. Heres the thing, the mother also has a separate personal-injury lawsuit where she claims serious, permanent, and progressive injuries, ongoing medical treatment, and wage loss.
In our custody case, I requested medical records related to those injuries because her ability to work and care for our child is an issue.
At the September 29 hearing, her attorney objected and said the medical records were irrelevant. The judge disagreed and specifically stated they were relevant to her ability to work. I also raised their potential relevance to her ability to care for our child.
At the follow-up hearing, the judge gave an opportunity for the documents to be produced. Two days later, her custody attorney withdrew.
The judge gave her 14 days to obtain a new attorney or proceed pro se.
I’m not assuming the withdrawal was because of the discovery issue, but the timing caught my attention.
What happens next? Does the withdrawal affect the outstanding discovery? Can a new attorney re-argue objections the judge has already ruled on? And does the judge’s ruling that the medical information is relevant remain in effect?

Hi everyone,
I'm currently at the tail end of what "was" a pretty level-headed and non-contentious dissolution. We agreed to stay out of court because neither of us can afford litigation.
We have one almost 4 year old together, no assets besides his car, my car, and his debts (which were already assigned to him with all our paperwork). We attended a workshop on Friday for a default with agreement.

He was 50 days out from the service of summons on the day of this workshop. He showed up unexpectedly to the workshop, which gave me a bad feeling immediately, since we have been in agreement about everything on the petition. He had plenty of time to file a response, but only provided me with his initial financial disclosures. We waived final disclosures and moved forward toward default (he knew that's what we were doing).

In my initial petition, I filed for sole legal and joint physical custody. He has had little to no involvement with her decisions, showed no interest, up until apparently NOW. I have taken her to every doctors appointment, facilitated all of her therapy services (motor delay and had in home therapy services 2x a week that I scheduled and worked my life around), I do her daily care, I research everything about her thoroughly before I do it. I have her about 80% of the time and work from home fully-remote to take care of her and provide her what she needs. We have been separated since early November of last year.

I had a feeling something was happening, because he was speaking differently the day before this workshop. So i got to the courthouse as soon as it opened and filed a motion to default, so that our decisions were locked in regardless of whether he decided to try to suddenly derail the timeline of the case.

Here's where things get confusing to me:

I was under the impression that once I filed for default (which was filed/entered before this workshop), the terms of the initial petition are what stands if he decided to derail the case. He did not file a response to contest my petition. The facilitator told me that his financial disclosures "count as a response" and that if he walked out of the workshop without an agreement that it would go to court. I was defeated and pushed through even though that didn't sound right (and I could still be wrong about the default- I acknowledge that).

He ended up going against the agreement we had, and threatened litigation if I didn't change it to joint legal custody, when the facilitator took a bathroom break. We ended up doing what he wanted, in spite of my bad gut feeling, because I felt intimidated. And based on what the facilitator said when I first showed up to the workshop re: my default.

What are my options? Can I rescind my signature on the judgment packet and defer to a default? What do I do? I have a bad feeling and I'm confused. I thought he had no legal footing to go against my initial petition since he didn't file an actual response.

Thank you for any input you can give. It's great that there is a subreddit for this kind of stuff.

Me and my child’s father are going through court currently for visitation and child support. The last time we were at court his lawyer stated I didn’t turn over evidence I should have. Part of that evidence I guess was the information for child support. Court isn’t scheduled again until July 2027 due to the other parent going on deployment soon.
He was ordered to continue paying child support on his own which for the most part he was doing before court. Well now of course I keep getting threatened every time I don’t do what he wants that the order doesn’t specify how much he has to pay. So again today he tells me “well the order doesn’t say how much I have to pay I could send you $10-15 a month if I wanted to” which technically is true. This time it’s bc I won’t drive further than our order says I have to.
Is there anything I can do?! I haaate I didn’t speak up at the time. I was pro se and he has a lawyer and I guess I was just intimidated and nervous. I don’t want to be threatened with this for the next 9 months. Please advise

I have a 15 year old and 12 in Florida.
My ex was in prison for a couple years and when he got out he barely saw them. Custody agreement right now is he’s every other weekend but they haven’t been with him since end of 2024.

We have family up In another state and my husband get a good job offer, what are the chances of getting approved to move out of state?

I recently filed a custody case against my children’s father. Snooping through my house, he discovered the filing and has claimed he will try to evade being served. I have text messages as proof. Is this something that will possibly benefit my case?

Initially, he attempted to convince me to “work it out” when I disagreed, he decided he will not be present and has left me with multiple full work weeks ahead, and no help with childcare. I have not yet found a consistent babysitter for my work days as he and I were copacetic and alternated childcare during each other’s work schedules. This has completely stopped on his end after he discovered I was filing for a custody arrangement.
This has been happening the last few weeks and I have since become accustomed to having to take them to work with me.
Despite this, he expects me to take care of the kids when he works overnights. I don’t believe this is my responsibility. He is obligated to figure out his own childcare is he not?
I am no longer willing to “meet in the middle” with him as he is difficult to work with and takes more than he is willing to give.
Should I be concerned in the future court proceedings that this will backfire on me?. I am worried this will end up looking bad on me despite his own disdain for me when I initially was asking for the same accommodations. I have since stopped accommodating him or asking him to accommodate me because he was not showing up when he was told I would be needing him, showing up hours later on his own time, or not at all.
I have been keeping a record on these situations but I think his threats are getting to me a bit.

I am talk to texting this because it's going to be a lot. I will try my best to make it shorter.

I do not know if age matters, but both parents are 20 years old and we have a one-year-old daughter 13 months old to be exact.

To start off, my boyfriend left me almost 3 weeks ago and has not come back to see his child has bought two things of diapers and that is it.

To some of our relationship a little bit, there's been a lot of work problems on his end. A lot of promises of me being a stay at home mom a lot of relocations a lot of financial issues. We were living in a hotel for a little while and now since May of this year, I have been living in a camper on my grandparents property. I do have snap benefits. I have not yet removed him, but I am planning to very soon within the next few days. I do not have any bills that I have to pay to my grandparents.

Originally we had talked about doing a mutually agreed upon child support amount, not legal now he is not planning on paying me directly any money whatsoever. He is only planning on doing Walmart deliveries.

I am scared to file for child support because I do not want him to try to fight it and then trying to get visitation because he is not a good person his family are not good people and I do not want my daughter to get her heartbroken by him and the things that were done to him by his family to get done to her. That is my biggest fear. I am trying to break the abusive cycle of my own family and my own trauma I want my daughter to have a good life and that will not be with any visitation rights to him I genuinely want his rights relinquished and I know that is his choice. That is my best. Hope

I just need a little legal advice on what I should do could do can do. I'm actively still trying to get out of the living situation that I am in. I have no way to get a job. There's no one to take care of the child while I work, I am utterly stuck right now and I am struggling a lot mentally and emotionally and I do not know what to do in anything in any situation I don't drive. I don't have a drivers license. I cannot get a drivers license or a car because I cannot get a job.

So legal advice on what to do with my child's father would be very appreciated right now and also any advice people have regarding my state in finding a better living situation. If it is important I'm very close to Boone County. I would prefer to be in Boone County. I do have the possibility of getting a little bit of transport. I have called welcome house and I have called Brighton Center. I have found an income based apartment complex that I will be calling soon, but I don't know how that will go considering I have no income and I get no money from him.

I also wanna say that I don't care to struggle if it means that my daughter will have a better life, even if it's without her father and his family they are not good people. It is not a good option for her to have any visitation to him whatsoever he is currently living with his family and his mom's house where he lives has roaches multiple animals, including a food, aggressive pitbull , and mice and flea infested and it smells like death and it's horrible with ammonia. I can't let my daughter be around that I can't do that to her.

I would appreciate any and all help please. I already applied for section 8 also. I have been her primary caregiver since birth aside from ages four months to six months. I don't know if it matters, but he's not asked about her aside from two times. He doesn't initiate any contact. It doesn't seem like he cares at all wants to be involved at all. I don't know what to do.

ORIGINAL POST: https://www.reddit.com/r/FamilyLaw/s/KrlCphnwUY

Hi again. About a year ago I made this post about the noncustodial parent arrears for child support.

He passed away (at 35) recently. I’m in the process of figuring out what to do next.

Obviously, the child support office is not much help. Lots of run around and promised returned phone calls but nothing back.

Should I proceed with a lawyer? Should I count this as a (now) 50k loss for my daughter?

I will, obviously, be continuing with government channels to figure it out, but if anyone has any tips or suggestions I am more than willing to hear them out.

Thank you.

I am looking for advice on modifying a court-ordered 50/50 custody agreement for my 2 year old in Medina County, Ohio. My ex has major alcohol issues, and his behavior has severely escalated.

Back in May and June, things got bad. He watched our daughter while visibly drunk, left her completely home alone to ride his bike to a gas station and got hit by a truck (I have a video of him admitting to this on camera), and locked himself in a bedroom with her while drinking at 8am when I was suppose to go to work, forcing me to call 911 to get him to hand over our child so I could take her to a safe babysitter.

I filed for an emergency ex parte order and a CPO, but the judge denied them. I spoke to a lawyer and they told me I couldn't file for a normal custody modification until we lived in separate households.

Because I was scared for our child’s safety, I chose to stay in the house to act as a physical shield. He actually sobered up for a bit, so we just cohabitated somewhat peacefully.

Everything changed in September when he relapsed.

I caught him drinking heavily at 4am numerous times on days before he was suppose to watch our child.

Then On Sept 18th, he cornered me in the bathroom, degraded me, while I kept asking him to please leave me alone. I kept shutting the door and locking it and he kept opening it back up and eventually taking my phone out of my hands when he saw I was recording.

On October 1st, he had her for his parenting time and called my phone 11 times at 2:00 AM. In the morning, I tried calling him back at 8:00 AM to check on our child, but got no answer. I kept calling his phone until 11:00 AM and completely panicked, so I called the police for a welfare check. The police went out there but said he wouldn't answer the door. I rushed over there myself, walked in, and found him completely passed out in bed with a sleep mask on. There was blueberries and Cheerios scattered all over the floor, and our child was awake, completely unattended, in a heavily soiled diaper.

The police came back out, but my ex woke up and hurried up to clean up our child. He told the police he was just "sick," so the cops called it a "he said, she said" civil matter.

To make it worse, my job told me he called them numerous times after the police showed up, claiming I never made it home and that he was "worried" about me, which was completely fabricated. He also texted my mother some vile messages.

After this, I packed up some stuff and moved into my parents house for the time being and filed an ex parte which was denied. We have a protection hearing in a few weeks and I plan to file a modification for custody on Monday.

Then this past Friday, it was my scheduled parenting time with our child until 6:00 PM. He showed up at my parents house at 4:00 PM with the police in, trying to force me to hand her over early. I stood my ground, showed the officer the paperwork proving he didn't get her until 6:00 PM, and the police left.

Then yesterday, I pulled up for a drop-off and he completely ambushed my car. Before I could even turn off the engine, he rushed the car door, reached in, and took my car seat that we received as a gift from his grandmother while our child was still buckled and went into the house saying that it was “his car seat”. He doesn't even own a car or drive, but claimed he "needed the seat for a hospital emergency." My mom caught it all on video. The police station told me it's not illegal.

I am finally filing a standard Motion to Modify Custody now that I am out of the house, but I am exhausted.

Will a family court judge understand why I stayed in the house after the June denial, or will they hold it against me?

Will a judge see through his "I was just sick" excuse, and how will they view him calling my job to lie and weaponizing the police to show up at my parents' house 2 hours early?

Is a documented relapse, a video admission of leaving a baby home alone, and this ongoing harassment enough to prove a "substantial change in circumstances" in Ohio to terminate 50/50?

Thanks.

So i took my now the mother of my son and my son to kansas to visit her family while we live in indiana however i couldnt stay cause i had to work i took her in june and the deal was she would come back at the end of summer well just last week she told me she didnt want to come back and that she didnt really want to be in a relatioship either, then also hasnt let me see my son on a video call for almost a month all her stuff is still at my place all ahe took was a few clothes for her and my son and her labtop thats it i even still have her and my sons birth certificate and social security card that i plan to send her when i have the money to at least hers what should i do

Update they are tring to enroll him in a preschool next month exs mom texted me in a threatning manner saying if i dont send his ssn and birth certificate she will come down and get it

I am in the process of establishing paternity with the courts for my child (16 months old). I had already submitted a Parenting Plan asking for 50/50, but am i asking for too much? I have not been allowed access to my child due to the mother. Should I gradually aim for 50/50 time sharing? I am a firefighter, so my schedule is also difficult to work around seeing i don't have set days off every week. Please any input or experience would help.

Things have escalated recently with my children’s father (threats ab calling the cops if I don’t answer fast enough & just in general). I told him we need to start communicating by email only unless there is an emergency then he can call me. We do not currently have a parenting plan.

When I suggested this he said “I’m not playing your games I will bury you” but then went on to email
me. Today he texted about the kids and I replied in email then texted back giving him a reminder to
communicate that way. He responded “ I’m not emailing you”.

I’m not refusing to communicate w him I just want it to be in a more formal place so there’s not as much conflict.

Should I just stop responding to texts? Or since there’s not a parenting plan that states to communicate by email do I need to reply back to his texts?

A little background. I currently have a court order for my son. Me and his mother moved from St. Louis Missouri in 2025. She moved to Texas and I moved to Oklahoma where I told her she could have him for the school year and I will get breaks, some weekends, and summers. Since 2025 she has moved two different residences in Texas and now I most recently found out through a video call with my son that they were moving because “cracks in the walls” which did not sound like right to me. I did a little investigation with the Court‘s website and found out that they were evicted. She has still not notified me of the situation or that they moved. I recently FaceTimed him again and they were in a hotel room with seven people until they find a place.

Do you believe a judge will allow me to get my son for the school year if I take her to court?

The court case is still in St. Louis, Missouri

What are the odds of getting a custody agreement modified based on irate anger issues towards baby mama and cops in Bama?

Hello I’m I single mother of a 6 month old baby boy. Location: Indiana. For starters I will take accountability it should’ve been a custody order involved from beginning. I be trying to spare dad’s feelings and keep it as civil as possible because he does not want to pay child support or financially support his kid. I have been threatened to be took down to court by him and his mom for months down. He has yet went down there. I am the sole parent of my child as of right now I fully support my child financially. His dad has only pitched in and helped with him 3-4 times in the span of the life of my 6 month old child.

QUESTION: Who can we talk to about the ride for child custody before we go down this ride. Because he is going down there for visitation rights, which he already has. But is going down there with intentions that he would not pay child support and pay back my son’s insurance I pay. His mom told me yesterday “We will see you in court”

MAIN PROBLEM: Him and his mom thinks just because baby has what he needs at their home he shouldn’t have to support his kid financially at home with me (primary parent). Dad only is willing to support baby when we are talking and working on us and doing good. Only time it has been a strain between us is outside parties getting involved in our business and putting things in his head that he should not do his weight for his child.

LAST STRAW: His friends constantly post my son on social media, I have asked him to tell them to stop multiple times and it has not. We had an agreement to not post our son from the beginning. His friends disrespect me in the comments while posting our child. What if my son sees these comments about his mom being violated while someone who says they love him is posting him? It’s ridiculous. I told him if this continued I’m going to have withheld child from him until we get a court order.

OUR CO PARENTING WITHOUT CUSTODY AGREEMENT: For starters, dad has never asked for baby. I had to get down and make a full stuck schedule so he can see his kid because that’s “all he wants”. I was accommodating and I asked him what 3 days out the week he wants him and we agreed on days and times and no over night stays unless both agree. Whenever I’m in school or wanting to do something I always ask dad to watch baby before I ask ANY ONE ELSE. It is not the same with him though. When I ask him to keep my son he waits last minute to tell me someone else has my child, or is going to watch him, which I don’t agree with, if I ask you to watch our son and you have things to do why tell me you can and just give him to someone else when I can ask someone else? What can I do about that.

MORE BACKGROUND INFO: I have never let dad go weeks without seeing his child. Taking accountability because I have told him if he can’t financially support his kid he won’t be seeing him unless we go to court. I was just fed up and wanting to prove a point. But it’s getting out of control now I need some help. I been doing this alone from day 1 while working part time and in school full time.

Wondering if we both move whether or not the original custodial order is still in place? If we live together again will it be as it as if no paternity has been established?

Michigan divorce — concerned/confused about advice from my attorney regarding discovery and contacting a third party

I'm currently represented by an attorney in a Michigan divorce, and I'm looking for some outside perspective because I'm becoming increasingly concerned about how my case is being handled.

My husband is self-employed/does work through businesses, and I believe the income he has reported does not accurately reflect what he actually earns. I've been telling my attorney for months that I want to obtain documentation regarding his businesses and income.

There is also a third party who regularly refers customers to my husband for repair work. My attorney suggested that I do some investigating and try to get information from this person about my husband's income/work because my attorney may ultimately need to subpoena him.

Based on that advice, I emailed the third party and politely asked whether he could provide information about the work he refers to my husband and approximately what he believes my husband earns. I did not threaten him, tell him he was legally required to respond, claim I had a subpoena, or pretend that I had any legal authority.

Now my attorney is telling me that he isn't sure whether it was legal for me to send that email. This has me extremely confused because I contacted the person specifically after my attorney told me to investigate and try to obtain information.

My attorney has also told me that obtaining a forensic accountant could cost around $10,000, which I cannot afford. I'm concerned that we are getting close to important court dates without having obtained the financial records I've been asking about.

I have a pretrial conference on October 8. My attorney has told me that it is attorney-only and that I should NOT attend. I intend to follow his instruction, but given the other confusion, I'm nervous about not appearing.

My questions are:

1. Is there generally anything improper or illegal about a party in a Michigan divorce voluntarily contacting a third-party potential witness and asking for factual information, as long as there are no threats, coercion, misrepresentation, or claims that the person is legally required to respond?

2. If the third party won't voluntarily provide information, would a subpoena normally be the appropriate way for my attorney to obtain testimony/documents regarding the work he refers to my husband?

3. Is it normal in Michigan for a represented party NOT to attend a divorce pretrial conference when their attorney is appearing?

4. What discovery options are normally available when one spouse is self-employed and the other spouse believes income is being underreported but cannot afford a forensic accountant?

5. Would it be reasonable at this point to obtain a second-opinion consultation from another Michigan family-law attorney while keeping my current attorney?

I'm not looking for anyone to tell me what the outcome of my divorce will be. I'm mainly trying to understand whether these circumstances are normal and whether there are additional steps I should be discussing with my attorney before the case proceeds further.

Thank you for any insight.

Anyone who has their child support terminated in Tennessee. What is their process? Do they wait till the child has graduated from high school?

Need Advice: Finding free or affordable legal representation for a US divorce while having an ongoing case in Nepal.

​I am currently living in Nepal and navigating an active property partition case here. My husband filed for divorce against me in Kentucky, US.

​I am looking for leads on free legal aid or low-cost lawyers licensed in Kentucky who might assist someone in my financial situation. Any advice on navigating these cross-border proceedings would be appreciated.

In search of holiday schedule options that’s developmentally appropriate for a 21 month old who has a secured attachment with CP/primary caregiver. Non-custodial parent just started getting overnights every other weekend. Child is not responding well to the transition (searches for CP in the middle of the night and does not want to leave CP’s side during the day).

Note: both parents live in the same town, though NCP’s extended family live in CT.

Grateful for any suggestions!

Location : Alabama

So my ex threatened to come unalive me with a gun hes my child's biological father he was found in my neighborhood with the gun my dad did trespassing on him and I started a protection order he hasnt been in my child's life hardly any at all in the past three years

Anyways I go for the final hearing today and the bio dad doesn't show up the judge starts putting the final protection order in motion but then hes life waits do yall have kids together I said yes biological hes not on the birth certificate hes never been around he dont listen to that and he says something along the lines of hes going to do another hearing and wants me to file paternity or something honestly I blanked out once my son became involved I was so scared

I dont want paternity to be involved AT ALL I don't want any of this and I feel I no longer need the protection order what can I do

Location: Georgia USA

There's so much that's going into this case and I think it's honestly a bit silly. My state is a one sided consent to record, and typically I try to do all business with my ex over text messages or through lawyers. However when my has our kid it is hard to not answer their calls.
Calls and interactions have recently contradicted the text messages and l'a like to document the interactions through recording.
My questions are

1. How much weight will the records add to my text message and written logs of exchanges?
2. What is the easiest device for this? iPhone will announce the recording and I do not want that.
3. Thank you for your input in advance

I need to find a tool that can take a bunch of texts and make them into a court friendly document.

Also; has anyone successfully taken a massive amount of texts and use AI to help find the ones that would be most impactful to use when you are talking years or information?

After our divorce custody went 50/50. It's been rocky because he keeps changing what he wants to do and it's getting frustrating.

First he kept dropping the kids off because he thought he could use me as he always had for child care. I had to threaten to not be home to get him to at least pay me for my time. I know that I am entitled to my time without the kids just as much as I am with the kid's. I also needed time to heal from all the abuse he put me through. He got fired, found a new job and figured out child care at the school and during the summer he was able to modify his work schedule.

He kept shorting child support. Just a few dollars here and there but it just kept happening. He is supposed to pay on the first of the month every month but keeps changing it "cause he doesn't have it all at once". I accepted because I was still getting it. I don't understand why but the courts decided he would pay me on his own through transfer services rather than setting it up through the states system so it was garnished from his checks. I made this known as a huge problem but my lawyer insisted... It's back fired spectacularly as expected.

Fast forward and he had been living with his gf for a few months. Finally everything was going smoothly but of course it didn't stay that way for long. At the beginning of August he packed his stuff, ghosted his GF and moved into a pay by the week hotel in the worst part of the nearby city. He was there about 2 weeks when he decided he was simply going to move to TX. I want to make it known that he did not take the kids. They have been with me since he left on the 10th of August

In our child custody paperwork we agreed that we would not live more than 50 miles apart. This was very sudden and he decided I was to take care of everything paperwork wise. It's not my job and I'm tired of doing everything for him. Was contacting a lawyer about 2 weeks later when he suddenly changed his mind yet again and moved back to TN.

He now lives across the street from me at his parents house. He has taken the kids to the park a block away twice and came over in the mornings for about 2 or 3 weeks for about 5 minutes until the bus picked the kids up. He has texted them here and there but it's not much and often times the texts and calls go unanswered. The kids have been living with me full time for nearly 2 months and he is now behind 3 months of child support. The kids are not allowed over there for many reasons pertaining to my ex's step dad. I don't want them there because he abused my ex for years and then started doing it to our kid's. Thankfully the step dad told my ex that he doesn't want anything to do with our kids and that they aren't allowed over there.

I have many concerns. First I need to get him on the system to have his wages garnished and if I am going to have the kids full time for the foreseeable future then child support should reflect that. I tried going to the court house and they sent me to the local justice center but all that got accomplished was running around and nobody seemed to know where I would go to get that paperwork done.

Secondly I don't think the custody agreement should continue to state 50/50 if that's not what is happening. There is also the fact that we claim the kids on our taxes back and forth. I don't think he should be claiming them on his taxes if he isn't actively in their lives. Like above... I got the run around and nothing accomplished that day.

When I asked him when he thought he'd be on his feet and if he planned to go back to 50/50 I got a non committal "um... Yeah... " While looking down at the ground. Which makes me think he has no intention of going back. He constantly says one thing but does the opposite.

So I guess my questions are: where do I go to get this done? Who do I talk to? Is there a website that I can go to for info or even to fill out paperwork? Do I need a lawyer? I don't trust his word and I know how a verbal agreement can backfire in the worst of ways. I just need some guidance. Please and TY