Hello,
After contacting a NC family law attorney for a consult & finding out the costs involved in retaining the services of said attorney, on top of flights, rental car, hotel, food, gas, etc, etc, we have come to the sad conclusiuon that we simnply cannot afford to get an attorney for modification of child custody. DSS is currently involved in the household, in which my boyfriend’s 4 boys are living in with his ex-wife, because of the conditions of the home. They have been to the house on a number of occasions & there is an open ongoing case. The oldest boy wants out YESTERDAY (months ago actually) as do we want them ALL out. Even though things are bad in the house, apparently things are not bad enough for DSS to actually remove them, which is CRAZY! She is also withholding communication with the boys. What do we have to do to get these boys removed from this home? The house is filthy, so bad upon initial contact with DSS that they declared the house uninhabitable, the heat is broken, they are not fed on a regular basis, the oldest, who is 14 is the de-facto parent figure & has been for years, they are left unsupervised all the time, even late at night when she has apparently been sneaking out to meet with 2 different men. We have so much evidence that the boys would be much better off getting out of there but we have no money for legal help to go to court. PLEASE what can we do?! Can we file criminal charges against her for child neglect with the magistrate? We so badly want to get them out of their situation but feel like our hands are tied.
Thank you.
You can pursue your modification of child custody without an attorney. You would just need to show that there has been a substantial change in circumstances sine your previous order (and based on the facts it sounds like there has been).
You could also consider filing for emergency custody. Temporary emergency custody orders may be entered in order to provide continuing stability in a deteriorating situation, to preserve the status quo, to prevent a child’s removal from the jurisdiction, to return the child to an appropriate custodian, and/or to protect the child from harm, neglect or abuse. Emergency temporary orders may be entered ex parte upon a verified pleading or affidavit. “Ex parte” means that only one side tells the court its version of events. The court must review a temporary emergency custody order within ten days, at which time the other side has the opportunity to present his or her own evidence. After the court has heard the evidence from each side, the order will be continued (kept in force), modified, or terminated (dissolved).
Thank you for your response. This is heartening to know! What forms do we file & do we have to do it in person? We reside in Massachusetts & if/when we get the boys out of their situation, they would be coming here to live with us. Also, he is paying her child support in the amout of $1300 each month. If the court were to grant us a temporary emergency custody order would he still be required to pay her that money if we have the children? I certainly hope not. Thanks again for your help!
You can get access to a library of legal forms and communicate with an attorney through our Rosen Online Service. This service only costs $199/month, and would be a great resource to help you file your motion for modification. As far as the child support order goes, if you succeed in being granted primary physical custody, the amount of child support he owes should change. Spend some time on our To get an idea of what your child support obligation should be, use our child support calculator.