Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

I am in need of some advice. I have an 11 year old daughter that I had custody of. we moved in with my mother and step dad back in November 2013 because I was getting separated from my husband. Now to give a brief history of myself, I was addicted to pain pills back in 2002 and got in trouble for writing prescriptions in which I received probation and deferred adjudication for and wen to rehab and have been clean ever since. I have been married 3 times in the last 20 years. With my daughter who is 11 her dad lives in the state of Georgia and had denied her up until she was 3 years old when I went after child support. He sees her only 42 days during the summer and every other Christmas for 1 week. Now, my mother for the last 11 years has wanted to become my daughters mother and always is manipulating situations and telling my daughter what and evil person I am because of when I was a teen, I dropped out of school and I was a slut just a bunch of negative things about me constantly. I would constantly tell my mother to stop trying to act like my daughter's mother and undermining my authority. My mother would constantly put down my daughters father telling her that he was a bad father because he did not want her and then he was ruining her summers by making her go and visit him. This has been an on going battle, but point is when I moved in with my mother back in November 2013 it got worse. I started a job in January 2014 and was planning to move out with my daughter in February 2014. My mother did not like that and would manipulate my daughter constantly by coaching her to believe that she is 11 and could make up her own mind on what she wanted to do. Any time my daughter would want something she started to run to my mom and step dad and they would give in to her and baby her they treated her like a 2 year old child and I would say something all the time and then my mother would cry and tell my daughter that I was starting fights over this stuff and so my daughter would be mad at me for making my mom cry which was all manipulation. my step dad had 2 heart attacks and despite that he is very strong man but when my daughter would not agree to do what they said she would tell my daughter that if she did not then grandpa would be upset and have another heart attack and die and it would be her fault. Now also when I would work late if I was not off by 9 pm and not home my mother would lock me out of the house to where I could not get inside which forced me to sleep in my car and she would tell my daughter that I was out drinking and had to pass out in my car because I did not love her. I DO NOT DRINIK... my daughter would ask me the next day if I was high or drunk because grandma said that I was. My daughter started having doubts and started to misbehave to the point of kicking my repeatedly in the stomach and when I would grab her and bear hug her my mom and step dad would burst through the door and pull her away from me and take her off somewhere and tell her that I was abusing her. I have never laid a single hand on my daughter. Every time I would pull my daughter off to the side to talk to her and find out what was the deal and why she was acting out and she would tell me that she did not have to talk to me and then she would scream and my mom and step dad would burst in again and take her out somewhere. I could never get her alone to talk to her. My mother started picking her up from school against my wishes and I took her off the check out list at school and they would still let my mother take her out of school. February 9th me and my daughter went skating and had a wonderful time finally alone and we took pictures and everything. The next day I got served papers to appear in court for custody from her dad. That afternoon I went to check my daughter out of school to take her to counseling because I had been trying to get her an appointment for her behavior and was told that my daughter was not there and my mom had brought up paperwork to say that I could not take her. I told them to look again at it that it was only a summons to appear in court and why did they let my mother check her out when I took her off of the check out papers. They could not give me an answer. Well I kept calling to find out where my daughter was and when I got home they arrived 2 hours later. I told my daughter to put her shoes on that we were going to talk somewhere and she told me that she did not have to that she was 11 and could make up her own mind on where to live which I was clueless on why all of a sudden she was saying this. She ran to the back bathroom and locked herself inside and I went back there and she was quiet so I started to pick the lock and when I opened the door she screamed as if I was murdering her and she was on the phone with her dad in Georgia and then she calmed down a second and we went to her room to talk and she started to cry telling me something about her grandpa and all of a sudden my step dad busted the door open on me in which I was standing in front of and pulled me by the hair and my mom was there and pulled me down to the ground and they started to throw my head into the door frame and my daughter left screaming out of the house. my mom held me down while my step dad hit me and spit in my face and she kept telling him to not be so rough because the cops were on the way. They let up and I turned on my phone recorder and my step dad took my phone and walked outside and threw it on the ground and stomped on it and buried it in the dirt. I sat in the living room trying to use my computer to make a call out but they busted my glasses so it was hard to see and then my step dad came back inside calling me a bitch and to get out the house and started to hit me again. I walked outside and the cops showed up and the female cop started asking me what happened because I was gushing blood from my face and cut lip and scratches everywhere and my eye was cut. She said they needed to take pictures and get my information then a male cop showed up and when he did she started to say something to him and he was rude and said well well we shall see just what happened and the proof is in the writing meaning the court appearance. I waited outside in my car on the passenger side because it was cold and 20 minutes later he came outside and put his hands on my car and used his knees to push mine over and I was trying to show him my phone recording and he said mam I don�t care what you are trying to show me here is what is going to happen you are going to get in your car and leave. I asked why and was he gonna take pictures and he said don�t ask questions and just leave and and I will note it in my report. I was told I could not take my daughter because she was scared of me. I left and went too the police station to file the report and get pictures when I arrived the cop was going to do it and then called the other cop and then came and told me he can�t take a report or pictures and that I needed to talk to the other cop that was at my moms house or go to his station on prue road which was not even the precinct we were in. I did not want to go back over there because I was scared and so I went to the hospital and they took pictures. I went back to my moms house to get some clothes for court and I took a cop with me but my mom still made a report saying I was causing trouble afterwards. We went to court and I asked for a continuance because I could not afford a lawyer and needed to find someone. this was on Friday February 14 and he gave me until Tuesday and it was the weekend plus a holiday so I had no time to find anyone. He would not give me another continuance and so when we went in front of the other judge I had to represent myself. The only thing they could even bring up was my pain pill addiction 11 years ago that is all nothing else. I tried to protest it and was told too bad and I wanted to know how this pertained to here and now.. I offered to take a drug test and they would not let me. It turns out my step dad said I was beating him up and he gurgled up blood but he never had a mark on him and never an ambulance called for him the cop said in his report that he saw me trip over the fireplace and fall against it and that is how I got my gashes and scratches. I had a tetanus shot in the ER because my mom�s nail was stuck in my skin and the ER stated it was assault. The judge gave him temp custody and I have a restraining order against me for what ever reason I don�t even know because I have never laid a hand on my daughter. Her dad is the one with the violent history. They would not even let me say good bye and family advocacy did a letter to request her be taken by force for psych evaluation and he said no. I asked for my daughter to have an ad litem so she would have her own advocate since she was being coached and the judge said no. My mom step dad and daughter all lied on the stand and anytime I would prove them wrong the judge said I could not use any of that information. oh yah nobody could tell me the reason why my daughter was so scared of me and I asked my mom if my daughter was in such grave danger why didn't she call 911 ..... she called her dad in the state of Georgia to call 911 instead. I don�t know what to do because i was homeless after that and moved to Oklahoma 3 weeks ago to live in a shelter and I now have a job and moving into a house but I talked to legal aid here and they said Texas has jurisdiction and I am still a Texas resident. So please advise me... I want my daughter back with me where she belongs. She was very coached and I don�t understand why internal affairs won�t even let me file a report on this officer that lied and would not take any photos. I have a feeling that my step dad was molesting my daughter and that's why my mom who wanted to be my daughters mother so badly and hates her dad so much help him take my daughter away. my cousin told me that when they would come to visit that ed my stepdad would always be rubbing on my daughter. What do I do? I was not treated fairly at all. Like I said they had nothing on me except the fact I was on pain pills 11 years ago and married 3 times. They would not let me take a drug test either in court. Diana Angell 405-614-5503


Asked on 4/20/14, 11:51 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Thomas Daley KoonsFuller PC

No one competent to give you good advice is going to read all this. You are better off paying a consultation fee and talking to a live person. This message you posted with your personal details could easily be used against you in court.

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Answered on 6/04/14, 8:45 pm


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