Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland
Backlash using Visitation
My Fiancee has three children with a woman he lived with for 14 years. They split in Jan 2000 and made an agreement outside of court for support and visitation. Up till Sep 01 he had his kids every other weekend until I became ''known'' to the Ex. She has since harassed my Finacee and denied him visitation, or allowed conditional visitations and nonvalid reasons for denying visitation. In December we filed a Contempt of Court Order (he hadn't seen the boys since Oct 13th) and included a list of visitation rights he wished the court to grant him and enforce. The Court has ordered Mediation first, but the Ex is very nasty now, threatening him that he will never see his kids again. First, I fear continued verbal abuse, both against myself and Fiancee and second, that she will not be compliant with mediation or with a court order. What can/should we do to ensure that this gets handled fairly and legally, without the abuse? With an attorney, could we cease all contact with her and she with us? I am tired of the lies and abuse she inflicts on my Fiancee. Any advise would be appreciated.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Backlash using Visitation
Unfortunately there is virtually no way to stop all contact with her because he will have to communicate with her for issues involving the children. What you can do is to ask the court to order parenting classes for both parents and hopefully she will discover through that class how she is severely damaging the children with her antics. Also, there are several books on how to co-parent with a difficult parent. One such book is "How to co-parent with a jerk". Perhaps that will help the two of you learn to deal with her.
Other than that just make sure he presents his case as well as he can. He needs to show the court a history of being an very involved Dad and that he has a strong bond with the children. He needs to bring in witnesses who can testify that he is a loving and involved dad.
Good luck to you.
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