Legal Question in Family Law in Iowa

The father of my child and I have been broken up since December, technically. After I was not ready to reconcile soon after our split, my ex went behind my back and filed for full primary custody even though we had agreed on doing mediation and doing joint custody while we figured out our issues. I had recently changed addresses so I never received any sort of notification of a court date or that I was going to lost primary custody because of a default judgment. So in February, I lost primary custody of my 1 yr old daughter because I didn't receive the papers and show up for court. As I originally thought, we were supposed to do mediation together. So since February, my ex has had full custody of our daughter with me just getting visitation on the weekends which is absolutely absurd! I already raise my other daughter who is 2 years old on my own. I am college educated with a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and I work at a bank as an Assistant Operations Manager so I have a pretty decent salary. I am more than capable of taking care of my children and there is no reason this should be happening to me. I quickly filed a motion to set things aside in March after all of this occurred, took the parenting class that is required, and I paid my $5000 for my lawyer. It is now June and I have yet to hear anything from my lawyer. I have left multiple messages too. How long does this stuff take? I am becoming upset as I am missing out on crucial time with my ONE YEAR OLD. She needs to be with her mom and sister. It hurts so much to know she doesn't have her mommy around. When he gets mad at me he threatens to revoke my visitation and it is the worst feeling ever. I have worked with kids all of my life, have a very stable life, and am more than capable of taking care of my child. I live in Iowa, which is a "mom state" they say. I know judges don't normally like to split up siblings either, even though my girls are half siblings. Just wondering if anyone has been through this or has any advice? I just need to know a timeline of how long this will all take and why I haven't heard anything yet after making multiple calls to my lawyer. Thank you!


Asked on 6/10/13, 9:25 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Robert Luedeman solo practitioner

It would be really helpful if you would simply state your legal question. But it seems to me from this that you may need to consider hiring another lawyer if the one you have is unresponsive.

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Answered on 6/13/13, 5:45 am


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