First, thank you for all the responses to my numerous posts. Each and every one helped in some way.
My husband now has full custody of his daughter after a long, long year. This was obtained via a modification request.
My last question (maybe): [color=#BF0000]How long does it usually take a formal order to be signed by the judge and mailed off? [/color] It’s been three and a half weeks since the hearing and we’ve receiving nothing in the mail. At this point, my husband’s ex doesn’t even know there is a new order and is planning her upcoming visitation that is not supposed to take place under the new order. Does that make sense? She would normally have had visitation. The new order doesn’t permit it. She didn’t bother to show to the modification hearing.
You should receive the order within a month at the latest. You should contact family court to check the status. I am glad to hear you got a good result.
It will be three months this coming Monday and still no formal order. My husband’s attorney has checked on this and was told that the judge still hasn’t signed the order. We’re talking about custody of a child, so it really offends us that this is taking so long. Is there a State body that oversees judges? Being that the order is drastically different from the old ex parte order (which I guess is technically still in place), not having a signed order yet is causing all sorts of issues with visitation.
Ex was ordered to pay child support and arrears. She now owes over $2,000 and hasn’t made any attempt to pay anything at all. My husband has called Child Support Enforcement numerous times but they come across as though he has no right to any information. Being that CSE initiated and represented him in court, is there someone else he should contact since he’s getting nowhere with them? The ex has informed him that she will never pay a dime. How long before the ex actually has consequences for her actions or non-action?
The new order is in place as of the date the judge issued the verbal order, however practically speaking this does you no good in the event you are confronted with a situation involving law enforcement.
I would suggest you first contact the chief district court judge in your county, the next step would be to contact the state Judicial Standards Committee.
As for the child support a Motion for Contempt would be appropriate at this time.
Thought I would update on my lack of progress since there seem to be quite a few folks reading this post.
I contacted the chief district court judge’s office with no success. The person who answered wouldn’t speak with me at all except to tell me that if I had a complaint, I needed to put it in writing. I wasn’t looking to complain but simply find out how long one should have to wait.
I ended up going all the way to the governor’s office to find out that there is no “acceptable” or “unacceptable” turnaround time for judge’s to sign an order and have it returned. The person I spoke with said they’ve seen it take six months or more, depending upon which judge we’re talking about.
I expressed my disbelief that custody matters don’t seem to matter to anyone except the parties involved. And three and a half months later, we’re still waiting.
Was this in NC?? If it was they are SLOW and I mean SLOW. Same here, it took GAL 8 months to do a report after
interviews, and only did one parent with the kids. It took almost 2 years to even have the custody trial and months
to get final order. I don’t know if this in in all states but this is unreal to wait this long after being told you won.
The best interest that courts promote don’t seem to be at the top of the list, does it?