Legal Question in Family Law in Montana
Two years ago I was granted temporary custody of my son, with his mother being allowed visitation. We have been waiting on the final parenting plan for almost three months now, since the final hearing back in May. Since then, my son's mother has been denying her visitation rights and has not seen our son in about two months. I let the judge know of this and he reopened the court case, with a trial set for September. The catch: he threw our standing temporary custody order out the window and gave my son's mother temporary custody until then, and I am allowed visitation... This is about the same exact temp. order we had but in complete reverse! Why would the judge decide this all of a sudden when I was not in the wrong? She was the one not coming to see her son, even though I gave her every opportunity to do so. She lives in another state, which I understand travel is difficult, but she does not work - her fiance` provides for her and they have the money for her to travel. I work 6 days a week and it is almost impossible for me to go and see my son. All of his family is here in my state, whereas where his mother lives, it is only her and her fiance` there for him. My son is scared to death of his mother's fiance` as he has abused him in the past. Also, what sparked this battle is that two years ago, my son's mother and her fiance` kidnapped my son in the middle of the night from my home. We didn't hear from them for 5 whole months. I have had temporary physical custody of him since then until now, and I am so confused/hurt as to why he is being taken away from me again. Is there anything I can do about this, even though it is just a temporary custody order? Two months is a very long time to go without seeing my son.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Two years ago I was granted temporary custody of my son, with his mother being allowed visitation. We have been waiting on the final parenting plan for almost three months now . . .
"Why would the judge decide this all of a sudden when I was not in the wrong?"
I can't second-guess your judge. In my experience, after the final hearing (which you apparently had and are waiting for the final order), the Judge would have issued some oral findings of fact and issued a brief order, to be fully spelled out in the written order. What the Judge says from the bench is usually being recorded by the court reporter. You can get a copy of that transcript.
Here's what I suggest:
Hire an family law attorney, one who practices before this judge. Do it right now.
Tidy up your file, put all documents in order by date, put all the court orders together by date. Your attorney will want copies of everything.
I see the attorney taking one of two possible approaches (and s/he might have more ideas):
# 1: Ask the attorney to look into the reason the court reversed its own order without a hearing. The attorney might want a transcript of the hearing so be prepared to spend about $150 or more to acquire a transcript.
# 2: Ask the attorney to draft a "proposed order adopting final parenting plan" for the Judge's signature. The order should set out in detail the parenting schedule that the judge approved when you had the hearing and IF he spoke it aloud for the court reporter, you have a record of it in the transcript. Otherwise, the transcript might have enough references and clues that your attorney can construct a parenting schedule that the court adopts and includes in an Order Adopting Parenting Schedule.
By the way, the midnight kidnapping is a huge red flag. Make sure your attorney knows about it.
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