Legal Question in Family Law in Illinois
I got in a small fender bender with my daughter in the car. She was checked out on site and everything was ok with her. I called my ex to let her know and left two messages, she never called me back. She is now taking me to court saying that I violated the Joint Parenting agreement by not informing her of the accident, and that I directly put our daughter in harms way. Can she get Joint custody or visitation taken away by doing this? and can I go before the judge to plead my side by myself or do I need to retain a lawyer?
1 Answer from Attorneys
I would have to look at the pleadings, but it seems she's going to use this as a pretext to go for the jugular and have the issue re-opened. You will not be allowed to plead your case in the manner you're thinking of - you will first need to reply in writing, attend mediation, discovery, the appointment of an evaluator, et. al. before a trial date is even set, let alone pretrial.
Custody issues in Illinois are nothing like what you see on TV. So please talk to an attorney, most consults are free. If you wait until she gets a significant legal concession at one of the preliminary appearances, it may be too late.
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