Legal Question in Family Law in New Mexico

When you use the term "partial custody" I will assume you are talking about visitation. If you are saying that since April, 2004 she has not visited or otherwise seen the children then you have a very good argument for her to only have a limited interaction with the children & for her to not have any overnight visitation. There are many reasons for her not to have overnight visitation some being (a) maybe she does not have sufficient accommodations; (b) she needs to build a relationship with the children first not just have them start going to her house for long extended periods of time; and (c) she needs to demonstrate (since she has been gone for over 6 years) that she is actually ready to come back into their lives and be there - not disappear again. There has to be a reason that you were given sole legal and physical custody of your children. You need to bring that up to the court (or her) and say what the reason was why that happened. Mom has a pretty big burden to overcome to say that such a thing should now change. And, if it looks at all like mom is trying to get visitation so she can get some money then she will even have a harder time than usual.

If you go back and look at some of my other answers to other people you will see that I tell people routinely and regularly to go talk to a lawyer! And, you are no exception. There are plenty of lawyers in your town and you should sit down and review your last order with a family lawyer and find out if there are any specific concerns. From what you have said I think not but I also think that the mother might get some visitation. Overall, you are in a relatively safe place. But, if you sit back and do nothing your safe place might become not so safe. This website helps point you in the right direction. It will not and cannot fix your legal problem. Go Talk To A Lawyer!

Good Luck

Law Guru