My DH wants to file contempt - does it really do anything?
My husband and his ex have 50/50 custody. He is primary custodial parent. No child support.
She is to pay 50% of their medical bills, keep $100k life insurance plan, not speak badly about him in front of the kids - and a few other little things that aren't really applicable.
Well, she tells them they don't have to listen to me, don't have to listen to him, told them if they don't get what they want they don't have to come back to their dads - her whole plan is to keep them there so she can file for full custody and child support. She refuses to pay 50% of the medical bills, refuses to sign for certified letters and has sent him texts telling him not to bother because she won't pick them up, she harasses me and encourages the kids to talk horrible about me (all of them do it on Facebook and I keep documentation of EVERYTHING) she just never stops. And so my husband wants to try one last time and file contempt to see if it will do anything and make anyone help him so she has to listen to the court ordered parenting plan.
I have told him my life would be easier to just give up - but he wants to try this one last thing but I really have heard that they don't even look at contempt charges when it's against the mother. We live in Tennessee - does anyone have any experience with this a really working? He's supposed to have them every-other week and one has refused to even speak to him in a year and the other now won't come over because her asshole "mother" has convinced her that he doesn't love her anymore since I'm pregnant and he has a "new family" and doesn't care a out his "real kids" and this is crap that she can just feel like she can do whatever she wants.
It's worth a try. In
It's worth a try. In Virginia, where I live, "show cause" hearings where the BM was called to show cause why she had violated the court order giving my DH custody were pretty useless. BM was found guilty of contempt, but SD remained with her, and there was no penalty to BM for violating the court order. So he may win legally, but still lose. Is he prepared for that? My DH ended up with the legal change to the custody proceeding faster than it would have if he had not filed and just waited for BM to file herself. So he had to start paying CS sooner. But CS may be cheaper in the long run than a long court battle. We paid a fortune in legal fees.
We live in TN, too. We've
We live in TN, too. We've tried the contempt route, and it didn't work. To be fair, she has tried it with us, too (although she made false allegations to do it), and the judge didn't do anything to us, either. From my understanding, unless it is brought to the court's attention a lot, nothing comes of it.
so you're stuck with tons of legal fees and no real changes.
Ummmmm yeah, he should have
Ummmmm yeah, he should have filed contempt year ago. It's better late than never, but like another poster said, the status quo has been set.
Get in there and file, this
Get in there and file, this woman is breaking all kinds of rules on the "Childrens bill of rights" in fact, you need to do some SOLID research and get one heck of a family law attorney. ASK EVERYONE you know who is divorced and interview the attorney in person. Once you have your gal (its better for the dad to have a female lawyer - but get the best one no matter the gender) you need to ask the courts help for help against parent alienation/need for parent coach to work out differences etc...this woman should not get away with what she is doing. Look up Golden Uterus complex, you will find that she has one....what ever she has its not healthy! Look up childrens bill of rights too, it will define what "healthy" parents do to keep their kids relationship with the other parent healthy-- once you know that info, take her a$$ to court!
look up childrens bill of
look up childrens bill of rights by Rob V Robertson. I think what you want is not contempt of court but to "further clarify the court order" already in place..don't waste another minute. These women should not get away with this stuff!