Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
So I'm active duty stationed in TX. Long story short my ex husband and I got divorced and had the custody agreement (he's primary all because the judge said that I had not intent on leaving the service within a year)amended. My son now lives in California with his father. The problem is his father works for a correctional facility and his new wife facilitates weekend and additional telecommunications time when he has to work (which is not in the decree). His spouse is very rude and says desparaging things to me (you're a horrible mother, I'm more of mother to him than you are etc). When I try to discuss this with my ex, he immediately sides with her. I also found in the decree certain requirements on his end for my telecommunications time with my son are not being met. I'm not sure who to talk to or who to go to to fix this problem. His spouse is not named anywhere in the decree and she essentially runs the show on that end. Also, I have requested information im entitled to and not received it (name and location of Childs school, names and contact info for teachers, progress reports etc). Because this order was issued in TX and they live in ca, im not sure how to have it enforced
1 Answer from Attorneys
Frankly, you need to enforce it in CA. You can file enforcement in TX, but he does not have to show up for court in TX because an arrest warrant for a civil suit will not lead to his extradition to TX. So if he won't voluntarily come to TX for the contempt hearing, there's nothing you can do. That's why I say you need to enforce it in CA. There are several steps to enforcing the order in CA and you'd need a CA attorney to help you do it.
In terms of information regarding your child's progress in school: If your child is in public school, do some legwork and find out what public school he is in. You can use the Internet to see what school their residence is zoned into. You can call local schools asking for your son to see if he is enrolled there.
Once you find your son's school, you can send to the school a certified copy of the divorce decree which, hopefully, gives you the right to receive information from the school. Enclose with it a letter asking that you be added as an emergency contact. Also, call the school and see if they have a computerized system that you can access, as his parent, that will show you his classes, teachers, attendance reports, and grades. You can't count on his dad providing this information to you--you're going to have to exert your rights as a parent with the school and get it yourself.
Second wives are notoriously difficult to deal with. Not all of them are...probably not even most of them are. But in my family law practice, second wives stir up a lot of trouble and create a lot of business. That's just a sad, difficult fact you'll have to accept. Your ex is spineless and his wife is ghastly to deal with. That puts you in a tough position.
Good luck!!
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