Legal Question in Family Law in Iowa

Background: I'm divorced and have primary custody of my son and ex has him briefly during the week. My ex gave me a sob story about moving so far away and demanded to change the exchange location (later I found out he lied about the distance and was playing on my sympathy to get what he wanted). I had agreed to work with him, but suggested another location and earlier time to make up for the driving time for my son. He wouldn't negotiate. He's forced me to pick my son up at his choice for 4 weeks now - is in contempt by not coming to the exchange location stated in the decree and is not handing my son back to me at the stated time. My ex refuses mediation, won't listen to his attorney, and continues to control the situation. Every time he forces me down to his choice of location, it puts my son's bedtime off by a half hour or more. I had my attorney draw up papers for a contempt action (have not yet filed them) and I gave in for my son's best interests until the Court would figure it out. At the last custody exchange, I had to work late and was unable to meet my ex, so I made arrangements with my parents to pick up my son. We have a provision in the decree to allow this and my ex has worked with me other times on this. I called my ex to make him aware of this and he refused to allow my parents to pick up my son - would only hand him over to me. This caused my son to be later to bed, caused more contension and stress between my ex and I, and caused problems for me at work.
Question: I'm looking for a more aggressive attorney to battle my ex and his attorney. Do I ask my current attorney to file the contempt action and then when I switch attorneys, have the new one take it over or do I wait to file the action until I hire a new attorney and catch them up? Do I lose impact and urgency by not filing it immediately? Please help!

Asked on 2/17/13, 5:59 am

Robert Luedeman solo practitioner

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0 attorneys agreed

If you have an attorney I suggest you start listening to them. If you don't like what you hear, get another one.

Answered on 2/17/13, 1:58 pm

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