My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Florida
In short, my ex-wife is taking advantage of legal issues I had resulting from an ex-paramour of mine and is essentially doing all she can to minimize my communication with my daughter. Due to not being able to afford an attorney, I am desperate for some advice on what to do in order to increase my ability to see and communicate with my daughter.
I had multiple issues with an ex-paramour of mine. I was arrested several times because of allegations of domestic violence on her part. While the charges had been consistently dropped, the last arrest in October of 2016 caused me to take a plea where adjudication was withheld (long story, but there was no evidence of any physical injuries on the plaintiff at all). My relationship ended with this ex-paramour back in October of 2016 after the arrest and I have not been with her since. Prior to this ex-paramour, I have never had any such allegations made against me and had a completely clean criminal record.
While unrelated to that case, my ex-wife has used those circumstances as justification to severely limit my communication with my daughter. Despite me complying with all requirements of the criminal case (explained in detail later), my ex-wife has an attorney and her family is close friends with the judge. As such, she has been given every single request she has made limiting my communication with my daughter.
Since the plea, I have had no issues with probation whatsoever and am on course for early termination in March of 2018. I have completed 21 out of 26 required sessions of BIP. I have no other courses required of me. I have a solid job I have been working at now for three and a half months and have lived in the county that I am in now for approximately five months. I have been having to visit my daughter in a visitation center and the documentation from the visitation supervisor has consistently been extremely positive.
Despite everything I have done to stabilize myself and complete my requirements, in our last hearing last month, my ex-wife requested my visits be reduced from twice a month to once per month and that my ability to communicate through calls and video chat with my daughter be reduced from three times per week down to once per week. Despite the Judge's claims in court of how important communication was between my daughter and I and despite him claiming I would have an opportunity to review and refute a parenting plan my ex-wife's attorney would put together, the judge completely disregarded all of this and blindly signed off on the parenting plan without me ever even knowing one had been made, much less an opportunity to refute it or propose a counter-plan.
While all the documentation I have read online from various psychology resources clearly indicates a minimum of two hours every two weeks of face-to-face contact in circumstances such as this (for her age at 4.5yrs old), I am now limited to once per month visits for two hours and only a once per week video chat (not included on weeks I see her). I am however unable to find anything specifically pertaining to legal rights regarding frequency or duration of visits or other communication.
I feel helpless here, like my ex is going to just keep squeezing me out of my daughter's life and this judge will have no problems letting her do so while I can't do a single thing about it. I have tried to file motions and presented evidence supporting my progress and positive circumstances, but he completely disregards them and continues to give her everything she asks for. The best advice I was given by an attorney (my cousin, who regretfully lives in another state and had very little time to talk to me about my case) was that I need to get the case in front of another judge, such as an appellate court. However, I don't even know what to file to do so and can't seem to find any particular case law showing what this judge has done is necessarily "wrong" in his actions. To further reduce a father's communication with his daughter when he is clearly making progress makes absolutely no sense to me, nor my BIP provider, nor two different counselors I have discussed the matter with.
I would greatly appreciate any advice on what to do here? I know this is a gross oversimplification of my current circumstances and even at that, is a lot to digest. However, I am desperate here and would appreciate any feedback, as my daughter is my world and she is being slowly taken away from me with me not being able to do a single thing.
In short, my ex-wife is taking advantage of legal issues I had resulting from an ex-paramour of mine and is essentially doing all she can to minimize my communication with my daughter. Due to not being able to afford an attorney, I am desperate for some advice on what to do in order to increase my ability to see and communicate with my daughter.
I had multiple issues with an ex-paramour of mine. I was arrested several times because of allegations of domestic violence on her part. While the charges had been consistently dropped, the last arrest in October of 2016 caused me to take a plea where adjudication was withheld (long story, but there was no evidence of any physical injuries on the plaintiff at all). My relationship ended with this ex-paramour back in October of 2016 after the arrest and I have not been with her since. Prior to this ex-paramour, I have never had any such allegations made against me and had a completely clean criminal record.
While unrelated to that case, my ex-wife has used those circumstances as justification to severely limit my communication with my daughter. Despite me complying with all requirements of the criminal case (explained in detail later), my ex-wife has an attorney and her family is close friends with the judge. As such, she has been given every single request she has made limiting my communication with my daughter.
Since the plea, I have had no issues with probation whatsoever and am on course for early termination in March of 2018. I have completed 21 out of 26 required sessions of BIP. I have no other courses required of me. I have a solid job I have been working at now for three and a half months and have lived in the county that I am in now for approximately five months. I have been having to visit my daughter in a visitation center and the documentation from the visitation supervisor has consistently been extremely positive.
Despite everything I have done to stabilize myself and complete my requirements, in our last hearing last month, my ex-wife requested my visits be reduced from twice a month to once per month and that my ability to communicate through calls and video chat with my daughter be reduced from three times per week down to once per week. Despite the Judge's claims in court of how important communication was between my daughter and I and despite him claiming I would have an opportunity to review and refute a parenting plan my ex-wife's attorney would put together, the judge completely disregarded all of this and blindly signed off on the parenting plan without me ever even knowing one had been made, much less an opportunity to refute it or propose a counter-plan.
While all the documentation I have read online from various psychology resources clearly indicates a minimum of two hours every two weeks of face-to-face contact in circumstances such as this (for her age at 4.5yrs old), I am now limited to once per month visits for two hours and only a once per week video chat (not included on weeks I see her). I am however unable to find anything specifically pertaining to legal rights regarding frequency or duration of visits or other communication.
I feel helpless here, like my ex is going to just keep squeezing me out of my daughter's life and this judge will have no problems letting her do so while I can't do a single thing about it. I have tried to file motions and presented evidence supporting my progress and positive circumstances, but he completely disregards them and continues to give her everything she asks for. The best advice I was given by an attorney (my cousin, who regretfully lives in another state and had very little time to talk to me about my case) was that I need to get the case in front of another judge, such as an appellate court. However, I don't even know what to file to do so and can't seem to find any particular case law showing what this judge has done is necessarily "wrong" in his actions. To further reduce a father's communication with his daughter when he is clearly making progress makes absolutely no sense to me, nor my BIP provider, nor two different counselors I have discussed the matter with.
I would greatly appreciate any advice on what to do here? I know this is a gross oversimplification of my current circumstances and even at that, is a lot to digest. However, I am desperate here and would appreciate any feedback, as my daughter is my world and she is being slowly taken away from me with me not being able to do a single thing.
Modification of Custody: Ex-Wife Continually Reducing My Communication with My Daughter
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