Legal Question in Family Law in California
My ex husband is taking me back to court for custody again third time in 6 year each time a new reason to show I am an unfit mom each time proven wrong. Ok latest accusations are he states in his declaration that school officials have approached him stating their concerned that I use drugs, I am parent volunteer so this upset me so I emailed the school principal and she responsed with no that school if they had concerns would call CPS and not approach an ex spouse. Is this blantant lie by my ex to smear my name allowed could that fall under perjury?
Also my son was been late to school by under 5 minutes 14 times this year and they are all on my days...so I dont argue that needs to be improved but I had no idea it was this much...I walk my child into school and before they head into class they run around the soccer field 2x. I was under the impression that as long as the gates were opened and we got to school in time to run we were on cutting it close but still made it on time...I emailed the school and said I thought we were only late if we got a tardy slip through the front office....the principal said that teachers can still mark the kids late if the gates are open., Ok so know I know...but do you think my ex will win his request to have our child moved to his school district because of this situation which I agree needs to be better but now its been addressed with school and I can fix it ...
I like to note that when I thought we cutting it close to being late but thinking we just made it is also because the parking lot is filled with parents still in line dropping thier kids off and lots of kids still going in through gate....the Vice Principal even told me the school has a lot of kids with tardies and I think its for the same reason......my child is in Third grade and all his latest progress report said he was doing an amazing job and improving and got satisfactories in everything ....I also have many emails from teacher saying how well our son is doing.
Also the current order states that child shall go to school in moms school district because father is more focused on negative attention towards mom than the welfare of the child.....I am a good mom not perfect but really a good mom I volunteer at school all the time...I am not worried about the drug abuse allegations thats easy to prove....but the tardies that the worst thing I have done ....please give me some advice on how to handle my response to the judge from what I wrote in this letter.
1 Answer from Attorneys
It may be a good idea to file a declaration with your response. His statements are hearsay until he brings in some proof other than "somebody told me...". The tardies do have to get under control, but your story sounds reasonable. You can show that judge that since you were put on notice that your behavior was going down on record as a tardy, there have been no further tardies (I hope). If nobody has said anything to you from the school, how would you know until he brought this up? Did he ever mention the situation before filing this, or was he just saving up ammo?
Focus on how well your child is doing, the friendships and stability his present situation give him, and how disruptive a change of school and teachers would be for him. Agree to a test that you will pay for if you test dirty, but he pays for if it isn't. The Court's purpose isn't to punish a parent for doing something wrong. It is to do what is in the best interests of the child. Reading this, it sounds like he is STILL focusing on negative attention towards mom...