Legal Question in Family Law in Georgia
My brother's soon-to-be ex-wife is currently in jail on felony drug charges, felony credit card fraud charges, and cruelty to children charges. She has no one who is willing to bond her out and is actually being held for subsequent transfer to a different county for MORE felony credit card fraud charges.
We live in Georgia and they currently have a temporary visitation agreement between them that states that they are to exchange their two children (ages 2 and 7 months) on a week to week basis. Before her arrest on November 25, 2009, she was living in an extended-stay motel with another person. The cruelty to children charge stems from her oldest daughter being present at the time when officers were anonymously called to the motel on suspicion of child abuse and found her surrounded in tons of prescription pill bottles filled with Percocets and OxyContins - none of the scrips, of course, were hers. She already lost custody of her oldest daughter, age 4, as of last week to her parents due to this matter and my brother is seeking full custody of their two children.
She is still in jail and will definitely be there at least for a few more weeks, but the judge in the divorce is ordering that my brother and his wife seek mediation to settle the visitation and custody. His fear now is that IF and WHEN she gets out, she will try to gain access to their children and impose the week-to-week custody agreement until they can get a mediation date or court date.
My brother is scared to death that she will get out and attempt to take the kids, in which case, if she calls the police and shows them court documents, they'll make him hand the children over.
Does the nature of her current charges affect whether or not she can actually be allowed to potentially have the children for a week at a time, even though she has no home, no car, no job, and no way to actually care for them? Do charges of this nature deem the parent as unfit and therefore unsuitable to exercise visitation or is there something more that he can do to protect his children? (His lawyer is extremely difficult to get a hold of and we are all currently seeking other counsel - I'm asking here more for peace of mind.)
1 Answer from Attorneys
This case is obviously one far too complex and with too much at stake for your brother not to have an attorney, so why is he not discussing this with his lawyer. (If he represented himself, he could have expected a bad result as most people do not know how to legally present custody issues).
His lawyer I am sure has explained that most courts require mediation, but also I am sure has discussed the possibility of an emergency hearing due to the charges. Follow his advice as to what to do.
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