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Need Advice For Future Custody Battle

laballard's picture
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Okay, so let's start with when my husband and his ex wife were still together, right when my step son was born. My husband and my SS's mother hadn't been getting along for quite some time at this point, but decided to try and work it out for their child's sake. Then, two weeks after SS was born, BM took off and my husband didn't see her until after SS's first birthday. She came and took SS from my husband and filed a VPO against him, saying he was harrassing her, she was then granted "majority" custody.

My husband has never legally had to pay her child support up until recently when she started throwing a fit about it. BM already gets free food for her children and doesn't have to pay anything medically. My husband buys all of SS's clothes, school supplies, etc.
And now she's taking $300 or more from us monthly and is still asking my husband to buy SS things to keep over at her house. Isn't child support meant to be used for the child?

I have many other complaints. For one, she gives my SS who is 4 baths with little girls, which I personally think is wrong since he's learning what everything is now... and she's taking pictures of this and posting it on her Facebook and you can clearly see my SS genitals.

My SS came home from school one day saying this "Momma uses all of her money to have parties." He said he doesn't ever get to sleep over at his mother's because there's so many people there drinking. He even knows what certain types of alcohol are. There's even a picture of him with beer pong going on behind him.

Also, just yesterday they "forgot" to pick him up from school and my husband and I had no clue until I saw it on her facebook. I picked him up from school today and he was telling me that he was worried no one was going to pick him up yesterday and that he was crying the whole time and soooo hungry.

On top of all that, the woman lives in a two bedroom house with 4 children (2 part time, 2 full time), her fiancee, her brother, her fiancee's friend, and her mother in law. Her children sleep with adults who aren't even related to them and don't have their own rooms. Some of her children sleep in a laundry room.

SS also says that he wants to live with us all the time. He throws a fit when he has to go to his mother's.

So how would we convince a judge to give my husband custody? We don't feel we should have to pay her child support when she's spending it on alcohol and not on her child. I'm tired of everything having to be up to her, and my husband is a much better parent than BM.

Can anyone give me some advice? I don't know where else to go or who else to talk to.

Thank you so much.

Marie0124's picture

Do you have those pictures? I would think those living conditions would be enough. That poor little boy!! Do they let children that young testify?

IslandofDreams's picture

Document, document, document. Keep a book with dates, times and events. Print out pictures from her faceook account with dates. Record EXACLY what your SS says.
This will help in the custody battle. I wish you lots of luck. Custody battles are a long, cumbersome road to travel.
Make sure you get a lawyer who is VERY familiar with your state custody laws and knows people at the courthouse.

ddakan's picture

If she has primary custody, she has the right to child support....as much as you hate it, she can do whatever she wants with it. When she asks for more, say no, that is what child support is for.

We pay 1200 a month, be glad you don't have to pay that much. Proof of these living conditions would be enough to alarm a judge, but she'll probably be given time to clean up her act. EVERYTHING goes "poor little BMs" way. Been living it for 10 f-ing years.

You file a modification of suit. If you want to change things.

RaeRae's picture

Your DH does not have to buy his clothes or anything over the money he gives her for CS. If DSS hears about what is going on, drinking, naked pictures, etc with the child, they may not like that too much and you could possibly gain temporary custody pending their investigation. Otherwise, document and file. And every time you see such a pic of the child, click and save it for the judge.

sixteensmom's picture

Pay for nothing more. As soon as you and dh stop being her ATM she will probably just hand him over to you. Don't send anything from your house home with him. Get him a secret little disposable camera and play a game. Here you go ss... Let's play a game... This is how you use this... Point it at the bad things at mommys house and push this button. Then bring this back to laba and we will try to make those bad things go away.

Do any of those roommates have records? Jobs?