Questions regarding child's wellbeing

[Mike703]

What is the name of your state? TN

I'm full of questions tonight but this one is definitely the most serious.

As agreed in my and my ex's parenting agreement, I have parental rights to my daughter (as any father should). These include having access to anything my daughter is involved in including school, medical issues, extracurricular activities, etc. I am also supposed to know where my daughter is at all times and have access to her (residence and phone number).

I was given this information originally when the parental agreement was put together. Since then (about 5 months later) my ex has moved and all of the information she had given me is now bogus. She never gave me any notification (verbal or written) that she had plans of moving or had moved. I live 500 miles away and it is next to impossible to make sure they are where they say they are as I am not in any way familiar with the area they are living. I did not know they had moved until I tried to call my daughter and the number was no longer in service. My daughter (who is 6) told me that they had moved and where living with my ex's mother at her house.

My ex in this time period (as she has previously) refused to keep me informed of any issues regarding my daughter and will not give a real answer when I ask her. I am trying very hard to be a father to my daughter the best way I can, but I also feel it is her responsibility to keep me informed since she is the custodial parent. What can be done as far as obtaining my daughters records (medical, dental, school) and make sure he is being taken care of properly??

I feel as though I am intentionally being taken out of my daughter's life and would like to do whatever I can to prevent it from happening. Any constructive advice would be appreciated.

 

[Ohiogal]

What is the name of your state? TN

I'm full of questions tonight but this one is definitely the most serious.

As agreed in my and my ex's parenting agreement, I have parental rights to my daughter (as any father should). These include having access to anything my daughter is involved in including school, medical issues, extracurricular activities, etc. I am also supposed to know where my daughter is at all times and have access to her (residence and phone number).

I was given this information originally when the parental agreement was put together. Since then (about 5 months later) my ex has moved and all of the information she had given me is now bogus. She never gave me any notification (verbal or written) that she had plans of moving or had moved. I live 500 miles away and it is next to impossible to make sure they are where they say they are as I am not in any way familiar with the area they are living. I did not know they had moved until I tried to call my daughter and the number was no longer in service. My daughter (who is 6) told me that they had moved and where living with my ex's mother at her house.

My ex in this time period (as she has previously) refused to keep me informed of any issues regarding my daughter and will not give a real answer when I ask her. I am trying very hard to be a father to my daughter the best way I can, but I also feel it is her responsibility to keep me informed since she is the custodial parent. What can be done as far as obtaining my daughters records (medical, dental, school) and make sure he is being taken care of properly??

I feel as though I am intentionally being taken out of my daughter's life and would like to do whatever I can to prevent it from happening. Any constructive advice would be appreciated.

Oh good grief. How many threads are you going to start? At least they are different subjects but...
Anyway, if your ex has violated the court order, you take her back to court for contempt. That is the solution.

 

[Mike703]

I am seriously condering it but, as I mentioned in a previous thread, I live about 500 miles away and it is very expensive for me to do anything legally (court, travel costs) so I have to make sure I actually have something and have a plan in place before taking action.

 

[Ohiogal]

I am seriously condering it but, as I mentioned in a previous thread, I live about 500 miles away and it is very expensive for me to do anything legally (court, travel costs) so I have to make sure I actually have something and have a plan in place before taking action.

The problem is unless we know word for word the ENTIRE court order we cannot tell you without a doubt that she is in contempt of it. Some court orders are written with exceptions and what not. So it is highly dependent on your individual court order whether or not she is in contempt.

 

[Mike703]

understood....

If you were able to provide some insight, would it be possible to send a emailed copy to you?

 

[Ohiogal]

understood....

If you were able to provide some insight, would it be possible to send a emailed copy to you?

Truthfully no. You need an attorney that practices in the state of the order. many attorneys do free consultations and some may do phone consultations where you could email THEM the order. I have no time to tear apart someone's order when I am not in the relevant state.

 

[Ljnsy]

What can be done as far as obtaining my daughters records (medical, dental, school) and make sure he is being taken care of properly??

How about calling the school, doctor, dentist etc. to obtain the records yourself? If what you say is true and you have a legal right to them, they can not deny them to you.

 

[Mike703]

How about calling the school, doctor, dentist etc. to obtain the records yourself? If what you say is true and you have a legal right to them, they can not deny them to you.

True, but I would need to know the school, doctor, dentist, etc. that my daughter is going to. My ex has moved at least once in the past 6 months and not even told me that she was planning to move (so needless to say, I have no idea where they are currently residing).

 

[rmet4nzkx]

This is a jurisdictional issue and you MUST seek competent counsel in the state that issued the order.

 

[Mike703]

This is a jurisdictional issue and you MUST seek competent counsel in the state that issued the order.

That's not as easy as it sounds.....

 

[rmet4nzkx]

That's not as easy as it sounds.....

You have a better chance of finding an attorney competent for a jurisdictional issue than in TN. The judges have to confer, has there been a UCCJEA conference betwen the two jurisdictions to decide who has jurisdiciton or any appeals? This is something for which you need an attorney, you can't do it pro se.

 

[Mike703]

You have a better chance of finding an attorney competent for a jurisdictional issue than in TN. The judges have to confer, has there been a UCCJEA conference betwen the two jurisdictions to decide who has jurisdiciton or any appeals? This is something for which you need an attorney, you can't do it pro se.

Believe me, I do not even want to try and do it on my own (i'm sure it's ovious y now that i have a very limited knowledge of the legal system). I am not exactly sure what a UCCJEA conference is but pretty sue i've never had one. I was originally awarded full custody in VA (on account my ex had run off to tennessee with our daughter). I realize now that I did not have to go to court in tenn and that the case should have really been thrown out, by my lawyer at the time neither attempted or brought it to my knowledge. Unfortunately, we had gone before a very old school judge who never had any intention of letting me assume custody of my daughter. He declared them both residents of the state and awarded her custody. So from then on I was told that anything I did further would have to be done through their courts.

 

[rmet4nzkx]

Believe me, I do not even want to try and do it on my own (i'm sure it's ovious y now that i have a very limited knowledge of the legal system). I am not exactly sure what a UCCJEA conference is but pretty sue i've never had one. I was originally awarded full custody in VA (on account my ex had run off to tennessee with our daughter). I realize now that I did not have to go to court in tenn and that the case should have really been thrown out, by my lawyer at the time neither attempted or brought it to my knowledge. Unfortunately, we had gone before a very old school judge who never had any intention of letting me assume custody of my daughter. He declared them both residents of the state and awarded her custody. So from then on I was told that anything I did further would have to be done through their courts.

You should have had the VA order domesticated so it could be enforced rather than accepting TN jurisdiction as you did. Have you tried going back to the VA court and made any motions or tried to get an order to enforce?

 

[Mike703]

shoulda woulda but didn't know anything about the law (was just doing what I was told I had to do in order to see my daughter...at the time i had been denied any access to her for almost a year).

 

[rmet4nzkx]

shoulda woulda but didn't know anything about the law (was just doing what I was told I had to do in order to see my daughter...at the time i had been denied any access to her for almost a year).

Did you have an attorney in VA when you got full custody? Who advised you to accept TN jurisdiction? If you can't get VA to do something, you may have a case of mal prctice against the TN attorney who advised you.