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Divorce Advice for Men | Fathers Rights Divorce | Child Custody

Providing men with essential divorce advice, fathers rights divorce information and child custody articles. Dads Divorce is a community for men facing divorce or fathers rights issues and run by Cordell and Cordell. Cordell & Cordell is a family law firm with a focus on men's divorce, child custody and fathers rights divorce.

Question:

I am a quadraplegic father and I want to know what my rights are towards custody would be.I live about 70 miles away from my wife and son. He is 10 months old and I was with her up until one month ago when she said she wanted me to leave. I can see him during the day but not on overnights and she will leave him with her mother and father when she is gone.

Answer:

I cannot answer your question specifically to the laws of California as I am not licensed in that State. I have represented two disabled father's. Neither were quadriplegic, but were wheelchair bound. They each received more custody time than an every other weekend, one night a week, split summer schedule. However, in each of those cases the children were much older. The physical and mental health of the parents is a factor in many jurisdictions. The question comes down to your ability to get to and from the visitation locations and your ability to care for your son when he is in your custody. Can you change diapers, feed the child, bathe the child, get the child from the home in an emergency ect. If you can manage those tasks and the general parenting tasks your time should not be limited anymore than anyone else. If you are unable to perform those tasks, the court will take any limitations into account when determining the custody and visitation schedule.

Question:

My ex and I were divorced in June 2001 in the state of Texas. We have an 8 year old son. We have joint custody with her having primary custody. I was given standard visitation. In the decree it states that we are to meet halfway between our residences to exchange our son regardless of distance. I moved to Nevada in May of 2004. Since then, I have only seen my son one twice, once in the summer for a weekend and then for a few days during Christmas. Both of those visits were in Texas. My ex refused to let me fly my son up to Nevada for my summer visitation. It is my year to get him for Thanksgiving and now she is refusing to let him fly up here unless I fly down there to get him. She has filed to try and get sole custody of my son and I was served some papers but nothing has happened to my knowledge. I can't really afford to hire an attorney and she has a friend of hers that is a Criminal Defense attorney working for her. According to her attorney, when I moved out of Texas, the order for us to meet half way became null and void. All I want to do is see my son. I pay child support and I have no problem paying for the plane ticket but I can't afford to take off work an extra day and fly down there to get him. I thought about filing a Motion to Enforce the court order but I wasn't sure if that would be enough and if I need an attorney to do so.

Answer:

Allow me to preface my answer to your question with the disclaimer that I am not licensed to practice law in the state of Nevada. It is difficult to interpret your Order without knowing exactly what it says. Generally, if one party moves the Decree stays in effect regardless. However it depends on the language that is used. A motion to enforce could be effective. However a Motion for Contempt is probably a better solution. It states that she has failed to follow the Court's Order and request the Court to have her pay your attorneys' fees. Although an attorney is not required, I certainly recommend one.

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