Legal Question in Family Law in New York
help with child custody
The father of my child lives in New york State and I live in Delaware. I moved here because he left me and my daughter for a few days did not contact me, we had no phone, no money. I called my brother to come and get me because before he left he told me he wanted me to leave. Recently I let him take our daughter for 2 weeks because he wanted to spend time with her. Today I received a summons from the Broome County family court to go for a custody hearing. He is lying in his affadavit about me and stating our daughter was dirty when he got her and had barely any diapers. He sent me no child support when I had her and I had not yet found a job because I just moved to Delaware. The job he has now is not steady but his main defense against me is that I do not have a job. He also states that me and my family are depressed over my mom's death 3 years ago which I believe to be irrelevant and his opinion. My question to you is am I going to have to hire an attorney and will it have to be a NYS atorney? Also do you know of any free or reduced legal council I can receive because I am just about to start a job and do not have a lot of money to spend on a lawyer.Lastly do I have any chance at all of getting her back?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: help with child custody
This is an interesting 'venue' question. The answer is: you must respond in Broome County because that is where the case was filed.
However, and this is important, you can get the case moved somewhere closer (maybe even your Delaware home) because this imposes a clear hardship on you. This is not a slam dunk, but courts have made such decisions.
The Broome county court is the one that must make this decision. Except under one condition: if there was ever any case surrounding your daughter's custody anywhere else, then you just need to inform the Broome County Court of that and the case will go to that first court.
regarding your finances, don't worry about that. It is way down on the list of things that a judge looks for. First is your sincerity and devotion to your child.
Re: help with child custody
You raise several issues which require further detail in order to properly assess and comment on your case. You should definitely contact, and retain, if possible, an attorney right away. Feel free to call our office to discuss your case; we will not charge a fee for the initial consultation, and we may be able to refer you to an organization that provides free legal counsel under circumstances similar to your own.
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