Legal Question in Family Law in Tennessee

Full Custody or Joint

my ex(not married)and i have joint custody

he has been in jail on several ocasion and is on probation

now and is in jail now but don't know what for this time

i think it might be on child support.i want to modify custody, he get's her everyweekend we both drive one hr and half and meet friday and sunday and it get's tiredsome for my daughter. so i need advice on how to modify because i've called and the court clerk said he doesn't see custody cases but my ex has a court date friday as he told me to reduce his support payments,because of a disability by-polar and now is getting ssi he is able to work and i think he has got away with it will he continue to? i can't afford a laywer how do i modify or go about it? peolple say i have to go back to the same judge witch he knows personally.

please help me soon

thank you

desperarly


Asked on 6/05/02, 2:36 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Philip Owens Philip M. Owens, Attorney at Law

Re: Full Custody or Joint

the only way to ask for modification is to file a motion in the court where the custody order was given. You can ask that the Judge step down under certain circumstances. A lot of the time they will anyway. You have to ask. In the same sense, your ex must go back to Court to have the support obligation modified but you must receive notice of the hearing. His telling you about it is not sufficient. Call the court clerk and see if a hearing is scheduled. If one is scheduled, then attend even if you do not have a lawyer and bring up the visitation modification issue. SSI does not exempt him from paying support and in Kentucky is calculated into determining the amount of support. If the SSI is more than he had when the support was established, then you may get an increase. If you are in Kentucky, call Applachian Research and Defense Fund (Legal Aid) to see if they would be able to help. Your case may not fit what they can do but try anyway.

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Answered on 6/05/02, 4:35 pm


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