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Longest Custody Case

Dogmom1321's picture
Forums: 

Hi there! I read some recent posts on here about refiling for CS or modifying custody. Which got me thinking....

- How long was your custody battle? What do you think the average length is?

- How long until CS changes are finalized?

Our (2nd) custody case lasted from Feb. 2017 - May 2018. We also live in a major city though.

Curious what the lengths are for different people, especially with COVID now.

nengooseus's picture

And had a hearing that did not result in a decision in December 2019. The next hearing was scheduled for August 2020. It settled (tentatively ahead of that), but the judge signed off in October 2020. Our BM is impossible and won't agree to anything unless it's what she wants, so she delays and delays. 
 

We just filed again last week, and our attorney is warning us it will be several months before there's a hearing. If there are CS changes, our venue makes them effective the date the request was filed. 
 

We're in VA and able to do in person or telehearings. 

CastleJJ's picture

We met with an attorney in May 2019. It took them three months to review all the documentation and evidence and create a case to petition the court. We had a lot of documentation and evidence for them to review. BM was served in August 2019 with a court date set for September 2019. Our custody battle was not settled until August 2020. It would have gone longer if DH didn't concede on smaller issues because we had run out of money and patience. BM would have drug it out forever. It should have wrapped up in spring 2020, but BM kept taking DH back to court to revisit settled matters. 

CS changes were finalized and ordered in August 2020, but was based on the CS recalculation ordered at the September court date. DH was unemployed due to the pandemic and had a $10k paycut upon becoming reemployed, but his CS still went up by $150/month due to the $600 unemployment benefit that ended in July 2020. DH owed BM $1800 in arrears due to the $150 increase over the 12 month court battle, since they were made effective based on the filing date, not the finalized order date. 

From September 2019 to March 2020, all court hearings were in person. After March 2020, they were all virtual. 

Rags's picture

For us,  the custody phase lasted .... about 8mos.  CS.... never ends until the Skid ages out from under the CO.  Most jurisdictions allow for a CS review every 2-3 years.

NotThatTypical's picture

My SO's was right at year but could have been alot worse. At the same time it could have been alot better. We lived an hour apart so he aggreed to "standard visitation" and paying child support. She tired to claim he shouldn't have any legal rights and pulled all this extra bull crap. She ended up losing her lawyer when we proved her lies and sent some lovely pictures proving TECHNICAL felony behavior. She was willing to settle after that for standard everything but then the court wanted to drag out some stuff over wording issues.