I doubt the judge will let a man move out of town when he quit his source of income without a very very good reason. I guess the question is why don’t you have your kids. For a Judge to give primary custody of a 5 and 7 yr old children to a daddy and not the mother raises a eyebrow, anyway a emergency hearing won’t take place without both parties attorney being present, so when the Judge made his dicision your attorney probably felt like she couldn’t argue against the reasoning about your ex request ot your attorney did fight for you and lost.
First, why were you not in court? The judge may have frowned against it. I totally agree with fatherdoright. Why did the judge give your ex the kids?
Is the home in both of your names? He needs your signature before it can be sold. Either he will move and therefore “foreclosure”. I doubt that the home will be sold in a week.
Email me at my address.
You are in a tough situation, luvmykids. But, you do have options.
The propriety of the judge’s actions depends on a number of things. First off, I assume you opposed the move. Nevertheless, did you and/or your attorney enter into any kind of consent order or memorandum of judgment in which you waived findings? If you did waive findings, you may be stuck. If you did not waive findings, the judge cannot change custody - physical or legal - without making suitable findings as to your kids’ best interest. An out-of-state move would almost certainly necessitate a change in the physical custody arrangement, and a new order containing suitable findings would have to be entered.
All well and good, perhaps, but what do you do now to keep your kids from moving away? Appeals take a long time and are very tough to do right. Your kids will be long gone. For right now, look over the order you got that allows ex to move with kids. See if anything looks “wrong.” If you don’t have a written order yet, have your attorney get one pronto. You can go back before the judge with a “motion for reconsideration.” You can also ask the judge to stay the order allowing the move pending appeal, or at least delay the move until the formal order has been filed with the clerk of court. In all likelihood, though, unless something significant has changed since your emergency hearing earlier this week, the judge won’t change the order or stay its implementation.
If you get nowhere with trial judge and you want to keep fighting, your only legal recourse at this point is to request relief from a higher court. Find yourself an attorney who handles appeals and ask for a brutally candid assessment of your situation. If this attorney agrees your case has merit, instruct him/her to seek “emergency relief” from the Court of Appeals. Even if you don’t have a written order yet from the trial judge, the Court of Appeals has discretion to intervene. That’s not to say you’ll get what you want from that court, only that it’s possible. Your appellate attorney will know how to go about making the request.
I need immediate help please. We have joint legal custody, and he has had primary custody; he was just granted permission to move with my young kids (boy 7 & girl 5) out of state after quitting his job. His atty manipulated the courts into an “emergency hearing” earlier this week. (Judge had no idea why we were there–no motion had been filed.) Yesterday I learned he was granted permission to move. Last night on the phone my kids told me that he plans to move early next week. (My atty said she’d get back to me about when he planned to move after talking to his atty; however, she never did; my ex told the kids when they got home; there was also a "for sale"sign in the yard placed after they left for school and before any judgement was made.
I believe I have a strong case for appeal due to concrete evidence that he lied, has continuously violated the court order (for which I have an outstanding motion against him, filed in August, which, due to a “scheduling error,” has not yet been heard), and some other issues. My current attorney claims she doesn’t do appeals, and I must get something done quickly to keep my children from more irreparable damage.
Thanks.