Legal Question in Family Law in New Jersey
Parental Responsibility
About 9 months ago my son while in his mothers and stepfathers custody slashed 22tires while going to wrestling practice with a friend.Our son was supposed to be on punishment due to bringing home an all F report card. His mother and stepfather went behind my back and signed him up for wrestling anyway even after our agreed upon punishment. To date I have not seen my sons in over 6 weeks.
The last time I had my 2 sons there mother called me the in the AM and began screaming at me as to what were the boys chores for the weekend. I at such time hung the phone up on her. She then called back threatening my visitation with sons (I still have recording) and stated not to pick them up or even call till I submit court papers to her going against current
visitation order! Then My Exwife 3 days ago calls me, cause she wants something and notifies me we received court papers for our sons misdead! I then told her I was not responsible because our son was in her custody at the time and as usual I'm only a Father to our sons when its convenient to her.My current visitation allows me to have sons every other weekend which If lucky would mean I'd have sons a whole 52 days out of 365 days in a year!Am I still resonsible!
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Parental Responsibility
This is a very complex problem. It involves issues of discipline and responsibility and children being given the ability to manipulate parents. It is clear to me that counseling is in order, Court ordered or otherwise. You need to talk with a lawyer immediately to figure out a game plan to bring some order to this situation. Keep in mind that this advice is based purely on the little bit of information that you have given to me. There certainly may be other factors that would change my opinion. Further, no one can rely on advice from an attorney who has not been retained. Since it appears that you have not retained an attorney, you may want to contact an attorney (either me or someone else) to discuss your matter in more detail. Only then will you be able to rely on the advice. Feel free to call me for an appointment at 856-546-8010. Mention LawGuru and your first one hour consultation is free. Good luck! Rob Gleaner
Re: Parental Responsibility
Please be advised that I have not been retained to represent you and I am basing this response on the limited amount of information supplied. However, if you have a Court Ordered visitation policy in place, your wife cannot withold visitation from you on the dates and times you are supposed to have the children. If they are gettting into trouble while in her custody and she is witholding visitation, you may want to petition the Court to enforce visitation and alter the Order so you get more time with the children. Courts base visitation on the "best interests of children" and you could argue that under her care they are getting into trouble and therefore, her care may not be in the children's best interests. As to your responsibility for the children's actions, the trouble occurred outside of your care, your ex-wife has not allowed you to see the children and you were unaware of the children's whereabouts or activities. Therefore, you should not be held responsible UNLESS there are provisions in your divorce decree which allow for division of responsibility for the children in under certain circumstances. If you wish to discuss this further, please feel free to contact me at 908-537-7975.
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