Legal Question in Family Law in California
I went to the court to get a help filing a modification of child custody and visitation order after ex neglected to reimburse me child care expenses and his mother-in-law verbally assaulted me when she came to pick up kids but only their father was allowed to pick them up per the existing order. Then I found out that ex hired a new attorney and had filed order to show cause a month ago but I haven't been served yet.
I read the declaration and found that most of the things he, his wife and her mother had stated were something that were dealt at the court 2 years ago. They stated that I had rarely spent time with my kids after divorce, I didn't provide any financial support to them, they were not able to contact me because they did not know my whereabouts. I provided evidence to the court such as photos and phone bills to prove that in fact I cared for children and provided them while their father was on deployments. The Judge examined the evidence and figured that ex was lying because he was engaged in a new relationship and he just wanted me to be out of kids' lives.
So 2 years later, he decided to take me back to the court but as I said, they just brought up the same issues that were already dealt with. Would the court even deal with this? I will prepare my declaration and would mention that these have already been dealt with, but do I have to provide the evidence again?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Yes, you need to provide evidence again. Attach a copy of your old responsive papers and then any new evidence, along with a copy of the last order. You should also point out in your response that there is no changed circumstance, which there must be before the court can even consider a change in custody.