Legal Question in Family Law in Arkansas

son needs custody

son left family home took children and childrens belongings with him filed for divorce & exparte request believing children are endangered. Sons wife filed for exparte (with false info) same day beat him to it Sons attorney worked out arrangement with Her attorney as to seeing the children she only requested to see them 2 days one week 3 days next until tempoary hearing at the end of the two week period. so son did not go to exparte hearing then her attorney withdrew she had to have new attorney, new attorney cant keep the court date so was supposed to be rescheduled suddenly sons wife will not cooperate, son cant see children he is primary caregiver.and no hearing sheduled what to do?.


Asked on 1/09/03, 11:57 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Herb Southern The Southern Law Firm

Re: son needs custody

Your question is really quite common in family law situations. Parents fight and children get hurt.

You need to trust your lawyer to do what needs to be done, or hire another lawyer. Most courts will grant an emergency hearing if there is reason to believe that the children are in danger. If that fails and you have good reason to believe that the children are really in danger, then call the DHS hotline and report the suspected abuse.

However, you should expect that the failure of son to attend the first hearing is going to be held against him and he may just have to wait until the final hearing.

Honestly, not to downplay your concerns, very few parents will actually harm their children, so there is a very good chance that if wife were the one asking the question, she also would be saying that son is filing with lies and false information. That is why we have courts and judges. When the parents cannot work together to the best interests of the children, we have the judges decide within an hour or so just how this family's future will go.

My advice to anyone in a similar situation is to have a good Attorney, have all of the facts, keep a cool head, and present the whole package to the judge. Beyond that there is little else that can be done in most cases.

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Answered on 1/10/03, 9:53 am


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