awfullawful

[awfullawful]

My daughter is in a legal situation because the father of her child refused to give their child adequet support money.
She has full custody btw, but when she asked for an increase in support, that was still far below table amount, the father took her to court in an attempt to get joint custody.
He believed (in his mind) he'd therefore only have to pay her 1/2 of any support.
The language of the request for joint custody was completely dropped after the 1st write back.
My daughter from that point forward, has agreed to all his requests re: visitation etc.
Aside from her refusal to joint custody, all other requests she have been agreed to on her part.
She appears at court with her council every time the case comes forward.
However, the child's father and his lawyer show up when they feel like it, and simply refuse to close even tho all his requests have now been agreed upon.
This case has been going on like this since January 2006.
The father claims that his lawyer does not inform him of all court dates.
The father has an indepenent, privately paid lawyer.
My daughter has had to borrow from legal aid to pay her council.
The private lawyer and the father of the child have now created a situation where the father's support is $100.00/month but the legal costs for my daughter are now costing her $150.00/month.
She now is losing $50.00 from the meger wages she earns with which to house, feed and clothe her child.
My question to you is:
Can this private lawyer be investigated for abuse of the system? Everytime he delays the settlement, he gets a very good payment from the child's father. This smacks of abuse to me.
All I can see in this entire mess, is a little child who is not getting HIS day in court and by not getting his legal rights; the courts are causing a situation of strife.
I think this well paid stalling lawyer should be brought to account for his harm to a child.
Thank you for any input anyone may have on this subject.
Awfullawful

[logicalvelocity]

awfullawful,

welcome to the forum

It is apparent that your daughter's lawyer has yet to file a motion to get the issue of child support settled. I suspect the court appearances they have had so far is most likely were a first appearance and or case conferences. Generally a Judge may give an opinion during a case conference, However, orders for such things as custody, child support etc are generally never issued during a conference. The reason being is that a case conference brief is unsworn information. Basically a case conference is procedural and it gives the parties an opportunity to narrow the issues or to make a settlement on their own. If no settlement occurs, then the next step is to either bring an interim motion forward or schedule a settlement or trial management case conference and have the case listed for a trial date.

If the other party is with holding child support, it sure says allot about their character and conduct in acting in the best interest of the child. Hence, making a joint custody regime unworkable.

Your daughter should bring forth a interim motion for child support and custody. If the other party is in consent, the court could issue a consent order. If the other party contests the order, then they would have to provide evidence to support their stance. The result of this motion would most likely be a child support order being issued and child support should start flowing once the support deduction order (SDO) has been processed by the Family Responsibility Office. (FRO) In all your looking at 3-6 months from the date of the order.

If the issue is contested and your daughter is successful in her request for a specific order, she could also ask for an order for costs. It appears on the face of it that the other party may be stalling the case. You have to remember that the other sides lawyer is working for the other side. If this lawyer is not informing the other party of significant dates, hence the other party is not showing up, it is up to the other party to straighten this out with their lawyer.

Just remind your daughter to remain focused on the real issues (child support, custody) haver patience, and turn a blind eye to right now to the stall tactics by the other side.

The courts of Justice Act(family Law Rules) are in place to fast track most cases, However, the rules often get overlooked or disregarded ie: documents are filed without financial documentation, thus creating further delays. It is up to the Registar to enforce the rules, however, many Registars are inexperienced and they themselves are unclear of the rules. Hence creating problems in the case. It is not a perfect system, but it is the only system in place.


lv