new here

[fireweb13]

Hello,
just introducing myself,I have been seperated from my ex for a year and a half now,have a 2 1/2 year old little girl who lives primarily with my ex but we do have joint custody.Having issues in regards to the court order,we went through mediation when we wrote it up and it has alot of things in it that she can manipulate to her advantage and take out of context of what we were trying to get at when we made the agreement.Currently things have been getting worse,she lies constantly to me and has moved in and gotten engaged to her new 43 year old boyfriend,she is 20 and i am 23 years old.I cannot afford a lawyer but make just to much for legal aid,she and her boyfriend both collect welfare seperatly and neither works so she is entitled to legal aid,i just feel so lost in the system and don;t know what the first step to take in going back to court,we have a mediation clause that states we must go to mediation first,but she has stated that she is not willing to change anything in our court order so should i waste my money on mediation?

[dadtotheend]

So what would you like to know about?

[fireweb13]

I am currently trying to figure out what steps to take to gain full custody of my daughter. I have written up a draft of my reasonings for why i want to go back to mediation because it states in my court order that we have to try mediation first before returning to court. When we make it to court i am going to be representing myself and would like to try and get the childrens lawyers involved to have a proper assessment of the situation from an outside view.See what the case looks like from another point of view.I am not even sure about representing myself,at least her legal aid lawyer is very new to family law so that should help me at least.

[dovan]

From the sounds of it you have already tried mediation. Is the court order you have now a final order or a interim order? The reasons I ask is because there are different forms for each. But regardless of that you will want a form from the court which is Motion to change or Motion to Vary. In your affidavit you will state your facts about the case, your relationship to with your ex, your child's full name and BOD, what and why you wish to vary the existing order and any facts that you have you will need to attached to it as exhibits. If she has ever withhold the child from you you should put that in there as well. On thing many parents do not realize is that the police will not enforce a court order unless it has the seal and is stamped by the court as well it needs to state on your court order that it is police enforceable and that they are to assist in same return of the child. Just a few things I have learned along the way as well. The OCL depending on the age of the child will get involved in one of two ways by clinical investigation whereas they collect collateral information and do up a report for the court or by way of a lawyer representing the child usually when the child is around the age of 8 and up. hope some of this helps you out