Legal Question in Family Law in Florida
Failure to appear at mediation
Nutshell: My ex-wife and I are both Pro Se. Ex-wife filed a Petition to Relocate with Minor children to New York. I objected. Judge ordered a requirement to attend mediation on May 29. I showed up and paid the fee. She didn't show up or pay because she has already relocated (despite a court order denying her permission to leave the state of Florida). The mediator said that the judge would automatically issue an order to show cause. It's been two months and the judge hasn't issued anything. There have been other proceedings since then (contempt and custody). I'm afraid that the judge has mistakenly overlooked the mediation. She has already been found in contempt for moving and I've already been given temporary custody until the petition to modify custody has been resolved. But the relocation is still an issue because custody is still in dispute.
Question #1: Is it appropriate, after two months, to file a Motion For Order To Show Cause or would the judge interpret my motion as impatience? (I don't want to irritate him)
Question#2: Ex-wife's petition was to relocate to NY but that didn't work out and she has already moved to another state. Is her petition to move to NY moot at this point? If so, what do I do about that?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Failure to appear at mediation
Move to dismiss her petition as moot and file the motion for order to show cause as well as a motion for sanctions, as she should pay the fee. The judge should be ok with that. The important thing is the children are with you, right? You may also want to file a motion for temp. child support until the custody issue is finally resolved.
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