- Jurisdiction
- Georgia
My fiance' has filed for a modification and goes to court with the custodial mother tomorrow in Hall County. They have been divorced for 6 years and presently have joint physical and legal custody. Because he could not afford to live in the same area in order to pay child support and often had to pay her rent and utilities because she could not hold a job, the children (12 year old girl and 17 year old boy) live with the mother. She has never complied with the court order and feels they are her children and decides at her discretion when the father can see them. She has refused to ever transport the children to or from visitation and although the order says he gets them in the summer, she refuses and has even taken them out of town on his weekend without letting him know. He has never been late on his child support and not only pays that but she signed the daughter up for competitive cheer and makes him pay. She has even gone to the extend of calling him saying the daughter is crying until he pays (which she was not). He pays for school lunches, clothing, all school supplies including laptops and the mother will call demanding he buy groceries and pay utilities to avoid disconnection. He also had to pay for a trip to Disney for competition to avoid his daughter missing out. The mother pays absolutely nothing and he is forced to put things on credit cards to take care of the children's needs. The children share a bedroom and have never been to the dentist. The son failed math (going into his senior year) and when he gave the mother 1/2 the money for summer school, she refused to pay the other half and even said she needed the money he provided for her bills. We have a 4 bedroom home where the children have their own bedrooms. The 17 year old does not like change so the father would like to ask for custody of the daughter. He feels we provide a better home and she is happier with us. We life in one of the best school districts (Lambert High) and the daughter is a great student that would thrive there. The mother was previously in drug rehab for prescription drugs 5 times which was a big factor in their divorce. Her behavior and spending habits lead my fiance to suspect she may be using again. She has turned of her daughter's cell phone recently so she can not call her father. She calls the father up to 50 times a day and even calls his office if he won't answer and verbally attacked me at a cheer competition in front of the children. Their stove has been broken for two years and threatened to not allow the children to attend our upcoming wedding. The daughter adores her father and I have a great relationship with her. I also have a 16 year old daughter at home and the girls are very close. The modification required a mediator which the father tried to schedule. The court called the mother and she refused to schedule it. We have no idea if she is going to show up for court tomorrow and I am hoping to provide the father with any advise someone could share on what he can expect. Also, in a modification he was hoping to enforce what they initially agreed to but now would like to get custody of his daughter. Would the judge listen to that at a modification hearing? He is not concerned about child support modification except for her to understand he is not obligated to pay additional. He has also told her he will no longer pay for cheer which the daughter does love but she won't unenroll her and Friday will be the first time he will refuse to pay although he gave plenty of notice and the mother will not pay either yet blames him on crushing her dreams. Looking forward to any advise as we are nervous for tomorrow. Although this is their hearing, I live through this daily and am tired of seeing his daughter, who I have come to love, cry every time her mother calls and yells at her while in our care.
