|
Hey group,
Thanks for your assistance in the past. It has been invaluable. I
was wondering if any of you might help my friend's situation. She is
a single mother to five children (and she's still breathing), two of
the children which are her ex-husband's as well. The mother and the
ex have tried to use mediation in the past, however it proves to be
just a precurser to a future court date launched by the ex-husband to
obtain full custody (the mother currently has sole custody although he
sees his children on the weekends) and from my personal experience (he
ACTUALLY has stooped to intimidating me for helping her!) this man is
not only dangerous, but also well funded with a modest $50k/year
occupation. The mother is a waitress who is trying to stay above
water, and she is mentally and emotionally drained (almost paralyzed)
with the fear of not knowing how to pay for this future court
endeavor. To summarize the situation...
1) The ex (he) is unwilling to communicate with the mother and he has
collected what he believes to be enough circumstantial evidence to
obtain his children. In mediation or in person, he has not tried to
further the relationship with the mother and has repeatedly used
emotional abuse (he even used a leaf blower on her once!) to humiliate
and not faciliate any betterment for his own children by discussing
any of his true concerns with her.
2) He currently pays over $6,000 in yearly child support (after a
bitter defeat in court to which he thought he was going to win) of
which I believe is his main focus (along with sole custody of his
children), for his reasons to go to court.
3) The mother has asked for my help to find any and all possible
routes to find affordable legal aid to represent herself. After years
of payments to her previous lawyer, she has almost paid off $5,000 in
legal fees from the earlier court. She just got a van for her
children and was earnestly hoping to collect enough money for a first
time purchase of a home.
4) The mother went to a law assitance branch for poor(er) families,
and they told her they could represent her for a $750 retainer and an
approximate $3,000+ in legal fees to represent her in court.
5) The mother wonders if she can make him (ex-husband) pay for the
legal fees, as she has tried every avenue to communicate with and to
find mutual beneficial friendship between her household and his
household.
I am trying to gather any ideas, opinions and sound advice to all of
you who take a few moments of your time to share your knowledge. As I
am NOT a single mother with five children, I decided that I could
assist her best by hunting for this information for her (she's at work
even as I type this...)
Thanks for any posts, I appreciate your assistance!
|
| |
| |
|
