Legal Question in Family Law in New York

Re: Visitation

First, if you believe that you cannot afford to hire an attorney, you should at least check with your county's local bar association to see if they have a referral program. You could do yourself no harm by having at least an "initial consultation" with an attorney, and the bar association's referral program should be able to help you with that at minimal expense.

You can, on your own, file a petition in the Family Court {"which" Family Court might be an issue if you all live in different locales}.

The staff at the Family Court will know how to help you. It is not all that complicated. Go to the Family Court early in the morning on a regular business day, and expect to spend ..oh, how long?.. a couple hours at most.

You should equip yourself with copies of any court orders, such as the divorce decree, and/or Family Court orders, including orders of protection, support orders that pertain to your case.

You will have an opportunity to ask the Family Court to determine whether you are eligible for assigned counsel.

You need to approach this with a 'calm' state of mind: it 'ought to' suffice to file a petition that simply states the core facts: (1) that one piece of paper you have gives you certain rights; (2) that another piece of paper seems to "limit" or "impair" those rights; (3) that you have a sincere desire to spend time with your son; (4) that you believe there to be no 'legitimate' reasons why your contact with your son needs to be / should be so restricted (or 'non-existent').

I note, however, that you make specific reference to there being no claim that you beat or mal-treated your son:: IF there were claims or established incidents involving you, your ex-wife and domestic violence, you MAY have to confront difficulties to overcome the 'negative' that those instances permit the judge to consider.

In any event: taking action sooner rather than later would be a wise thing to do ... doing nothing will not, over time, put you in a better position.

Good luck.

Regards, etc.,

J. M. Hayes

>>--> The foregoing amounts to musings and observations based on some years familiarity with the 'day-to-day' operation of the law with regard to the issues involved In The Most General sense; my remarks should not be thought of as "legal advice and counsel" in the formal sense of that phrase, since there is, in fact, no 'attorney / client' relationship existing between us. <-<<

Re: Visitation

I agree with Mr. Hayes. You will have to go back to court to get the court to "harmonize" the order of visitation with the order or protection. Good luck!

Re: Visitation

You need a lawyer or at least legal advice.

If you are in the NYC / LI area, please call my office to schedule a free consultation. (516) 741-7799.

For more information, please see my web site.