Okay, volume 2...
My custody action was against my ex-wife. She was holed up in this dude's house like it was on Ruby Ridge. Two deputies, and 3 private process servers tried to serve her, but she never would come to the door, nor go anywhere. During this time, the MIL found out I was going for custody, and filed against my ex-wife and I for custody, citing that both of us were unfit.
The court appointed a guardian ad litem. If anyone doesn't know what that is, it's an attorney that I pay for, however he represents my son, not me. His role is to interview anyone involved in the case, including my son, and to see his surroundings, environment, etc. The GAL started making appointments to drop by and talk to all of us.
During this time, we had a temporary custody hearing. The court decided that he should stay with the MIL since it was the middle of the school year and he had lived there for 10 years. Fine, whatever. The MIL kept screwing with me on visitation, to every possible detail that you could imagine. I found out in this time, as well, that my son was living in the corner of the MIL's bedroom. He had never had his own room because she and all of her loser kids took all 4 of the bedrooms. Even with my ex-wife gone, the MIL kept her room as-is and kept Shannon (my son) in her room. He even went into detail with me about how up until a year ago, she was still having him take baths with her (puke).
We filed for another hearing, since she still wasn't doing what she was supposed to. The judge kept him there, and the judge and the GAL got together and HEAVILY increased my visitation and made it so she'd have to meet me halfway (it's about 3 hours in Friday afternoon traffic, 42.8 miles.)
As we were approaching the final court date, the GAL released his report for the court. It contained such gems as:
"There were restraining orders taken out by her against her husband, and there were accusations of a hostile atmosphere in the home at the time that was uncomfortable enough for her children to seek refuge with other family members on at least one occasion, There was also an incidence physical violence by her, specifically, using an axe to chop down the door to her husbands room in the house that he had nailed shut." - about the MIL and FIL
"The Grandmother cant seem to get over her hard feelings for the Father, and if she is allowed to continue being the primary custodian, she, and her family members, will constantly undermine the Fathers relationship with his son."
"The Grandmother, in her deposition stated that prior to the commencement of these actions, she was unaware of the court ordered visitation schedule the Father was entitled to, however, she was very much aware of the financial obligations he has been ordered to pay. After the initiation of these actions, the Grandmother was reluctant to allow the Father additional visitation until required by the Court in January 2010 to agree to increased time."
"The Maternal Grandmother seems to exercise control over her family members to the point that she has made them completely dependent on her, and unable to make it on their own. She currently exercises this control over Shannon, however, it would be in Shannons best interest to foster a relationship with his Father without the interference of the Maternal Grandmother. While it is my recommendation that Shannon maintain a relationship with his Mothers family, his primary relationship should be with a parent, and, custody should be placed with him. At this time, his Mother is not an option, however, at some point, the mother is going to have to rehabilitate her relationship with her child and a schedule of supervised visitation should be implemented to eventually allow this to happen."
Well, mysteriously, three days after the report was released, the ex-wife left the boyfriend and filed an answer to my case and got an attorney. I'm relatively sure that the MIL told her that I was going to win permanent custody, thereby removing their control and extra income. Both of them kept filing BS motions for discovery, after the 180 day discovery period had concluded. We had to go to court yet again to squash all that BS before the final court date.
Volume 3 coming sometime soon...
