Child Custody

If less than thirty days has passed she can appeal the order but she would have to prove that there was an abuse of discretion.

P.S. Please feel free to bring up this or any other topic on our live call-in show every Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. EST. Visit radio.rosen.com/live for details

Helena M. Nevicosi
Attorney with Rosen Law Firm

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A relative of mine recently went to court for a modification of custody because her ex-husband has an irate temper. This party has children together. The ex just recently remarried a woman after knowing her for 3 months. His new wife has birthed 7 seven childrenby 6 different men; 2 of them being given up for adoption, 3 that are now emancipated that she did not raise because custody was given to relatives and 2 that are minor children being raised by their father. Of course, this was a red flag to all of us including the biological mother. This stepmother has already hit two of the children.

Anyway a modification was filed and I must say that the biological mother’s attorney did not present a thorough or very good case at all.
The judge seemed bias as she did not allow the mother of the children to present any evidence, no photographs with she and the children, no notes or documentation, no copies of school records and very limited testimony from childcare providers. The father of the children and his new wife sat on the witness stand and told one lie after another. The mother was never allowed a chance for rebuttal testimony to address the lies which was entirely her attorneys fault. However the judge never asked one question of either party, but just believed the father, his new wife and their very aggressive, intimidating attorney.

To make matters worse, the father hasn’t paid any child support in 6 months. His new wife hasn’t paid any child support to the father of her child in 3 years because he hasn’t been able to locate her long enough. The biological mother has to pay for all school supplies, events, birthdays, recreational activites, etc and this was not addressed by the judge after hearing the evidence.

The judge ended up giving the father more custody resulting in a 50/50 split of the children and the children are terrified of their father and stepmother.

What recourse does the mother have?