Legal Question in Family Law in Georgia

Can a judge deny a step-father from seeing his step-children. Case: Mother filed for support for her three daughters, 12, 14, 16. When she appeared in court in July 2010, the father's attorney filed a deprevation hearing, which change the scope of the hearing from a child support/visitation hearing. The Superior court judge did not let the mother have a contiuance to obtain an attorney. He continued with the hearing - the case for deprevation was that the mother was living/engaged to a man in the same household with the children. The deprevation was based on morals, that the mother and her future husband were not yet married. The judge subsequently, made the mother and her fiancee' move out of the home, leaving the children in the care of their grandmother. In addition, the judge ordered mom's fiancee to not have any contact with the girls, as the judge believes the mom's fiancee is interfering with the fathers ability to bond with his girls. Note: the fiancee is a well established police officer, with an unblemished record. The father however, does not want custody of his girls - he has only wanted to not have to pay child support. Two years earlier, he threw his girls out while their mom was in Wyoming, working as an overland trucker. The mother had to quit her job, return to Georgia and take custody of her girls. Since that date, no child support of any kind has been paid by the father. This case has gone on for almost two and a half years with no resolution. A Guardian at Litem has been assigned to oversee the best interests of the girls, but has only complicated maters. She is getting paid for nothing. The judge set forth some guidelines for the mother - find employment (mom was in school to be and Emergency Medical Technician). Mom is not working as an EMT making high pay; get a place of her own, mom now shares and apartment with her husband; and finally resolve the issue with being married ( mom and husband married). Now that they are married, the GAL says that the step-father still can't be around the children. Final Point: No court papers have been produced since July 19, 2010. There are no guidelines on paper that say what each party is supposed to do. There are no guidelines as to how long this is suppoed to go on. what I have just given was a breif on the circumstances. Oh, one last thing, the judge and the father's parents have been business partners in the past - in property management. There is more. What can you do to help


Asked on 12/03/10, 4:44 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Scott Riddle Law Office of Scott B. Riddle, LLC

How much clearer could if be that all parties in this case need lawyers? That is, if things like custody and visitation of the children, and child support, are important to them. The lawyer will then address all of these issues.

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Answered on 12/08/10, 4:57 pm


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