What are my son's chances of getting custody of his 2 yr old son?

Question

His wife was put on probation for 2 yrs , violated that and was put in jail for a total of 3 months. Because she beat my son on a number of occasions. One time to the point of fracturing his face. She filed for divorce while she was in jail, when she got out to put her affairs in order before she went back in she got pregnant by someone else.

My son is on his own, has a good job and spends every moment that he is not working doing things with his son (walking in the woods, going to the family farm and watching football and animals on TV) . Before , during and after his wife was in jail. She was up on three counts of domestic abuse, plus attacking 3 other people who were trying to keep her off of my son. I do know men have it harder when it comes to getting custody , even when they are the ones who get abused. If my son even once would of hit her, he would of went away for along time and forget about seeing the child.

Answer 1

Lilly;

If he is in CA, he has a snowballs chance in hell. My ex is a drug user and she got custody. I hope that your grandson fares well. There are a lot of kind words here today, but the fact is, if she doesn't give up custody, it ain't gonna happen. Beg the mother, pay her off, do whatever you can. Try to keep this out of the courts if there is anyway possible to do it.

If he can't, plan on spending very big bucks just to get weekends. I pray to God that you folks aren't in CA.

Studies show that equal time with both parents will make a child more likely to grow up emotionally well adjusted and healthy, and more likely to perform better in school and life.

I will gladly do anything I can to help. If you need anything at all, please feel free to contact me. My profile is public and I have nothing to hide.

God Bless

Frank Pytel
[e-mail]

Side Note: Various Google searches including the quotes.

“Child Custody” : 1,800,000 hits
“Child Custody” -Lawyer : 1,680,000 hits
“Child Custody” -Lawyer -Attorney : 1,460,000 hits
“Child Custody” -Lawyer -Attorney -Judge : 1,260,000 hits
“Child Custody” -Lawyer -Attorney -Judge -Litem : 1,250,000 hits
“Child Custody” -Lawyer -Attorney -Judge -Litem -Law : 587,000 hits
“Shared Child Custody” : 1,270 hits
“Joint Child Custody” : 790 hits

http://www.true-equality.org/
http://www.deltabravo.net/
http://www.fapt.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
http://www.f4j.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query=shared+child+custody
http://360.yahoo.com/my_profile-O8EcRbkhYrI8Y76FID5PBDX6;_ylt=Av95cKrS2heIv727lcF0FuikAOJ3

Answer 2

Is your grandson in danger when he is with his mother?
That will be the #1 question.

I would think his chances would be very good..considering she is going back to/is still in prison - but each judge is different!
Has she ever been abusive to your grandson? if not, the courts like to make it known that the relationship with the spouse has no bearing on the relationship with the child - we've seen plenty of people who've murdered/attempted to murder their spouse/ex and they still are given custody or even unsupervised visitation.
The courts will look at how both parents relate to the child....
and hopefully how the child relates to each parent. They should take into consideration where the child has been while she's been in prison, and what arrangements or contact or doings for her son she made/did. (ie. phone calls, cards, financial support (?), etc.) They'll probably also look at each parents situation, ie. apt, job,finances, etc. to see who has the appropriate means of being the sole support for the child - start looking into care for the child while daddy's working, whether that is a friend, family member, or daycare...start making a plan is if he'd already gotten sole custody, to show the judge that dad already has it planned out, think of all possible scenerio - what if the child becomes sick, or dad has to work late/overtime, etc.
think about a visitation plan: is there enough grounds to terminate parental rights? what about supervised visitation, and if these don't apply, make sure to ask the how to set it up so that the parents do not need to be incontact or see eachother when the child is brought from one parent to the other....
there must be a restraining order already in effect, right?
paper trail is one of the best things you can put in your corner!
Hope all goes well!
Continue to pray for the safety and proper outcome for your grandson, your son, and his ex!
ps - the fact that she is pregnant with someone else's child will more than likely not even play any part in the decision...

Answer 3

I don't know about other countries, but in the UK we have the Childrens Act which says that the childs needs come first in all decisions. The fact that she has done time for assault will go against her, but if she has not harmed the child in any way a court might look at the bond between a mother and child as more important. But...seeing violence is direct harm to the child, so it could be argued that she has harmed her child if the child has been present at any time during the assaults. Also, a small child stands a high risk of being caught in the crossfire, and if she has been reckless as to that that would be grounds for saying that she was not protecting her child from harm.
But in any case your son would have to prove that he has his childs best interests at heart and that he is in a position to look after his child properly, and that means being around, not just bringing the boy round to you all the time, which is what a lot of men do when they get custody.

Answer 4

Many courts favor the mother but the only way for him to get custody is to ASK for it. He needs an attorney to give him the best chance of winning. He needs to show he can provide a more stable environment for the child and that even if he has custody he will support his son's relationship with the mother (courts don't like to award custody to a parent who hates the other parent and wants to poison the child against that parent). He should also ask the court to appoint an independant custody evaluator and read up online about what custody evaluators look at in making their recommendation.

Answer 5

not very high based on what you have said. nothing you have revealed says anything about the living conditions of the child. where was the child when she was in jail?

if she goes back to jail, he needs to file an ex-parte motion the requires him to have custody while she is in jail.

she may have been abusive to him, but as long as she never harmed her own child, he can't claim anything.and if he didn't report any harm to an official when his son was hurt, it doen't matter to the judge.

and her getting pregnant, isn't a negative impact on her.

i got a DUI, was in jail for a day, was pregnant, got married, and still got custody.

i honestly think the best thing he can get is joint custody or more visitation. if an attorney tells you otherwise, he's robbing you.

Answer 6

He has a very good chance
so far it shows that the mother is not going to be able to keep the baby since she is violent and also broke the law
also she seems to have another husband and another baby already
so that gives enough prove that she is not capable of taking care of the baby
but make sure your son proves to be capable of being a good father
what they are looking for is a father that works, gains good money enough to take care of a child, a place to live big enough to share it with a child and good conduct

Answer 7

If this can be proved that she bears a child of some body else, may be by way of DNA or otherwise, there are fair chances of getting the custody of the child. You need to have a very good advocate

Answer 8

Unless he can prove that she is an unfit mother and the environment that she is raising this child in is unsafe then his odds of getting custody are pretty small. He may be better able to get joint custody, depends a lot on where you live and how good a lawyer they each have representing them.

Answer 9

Hopefully chances are good! She seems very unstable so its likely the court will give him a better chance at custody...Although many courts dont like to take children away from there mother...might have to be a joint custody, but for his case I hope its a 75/25 split!

Answer 10

I would think his chances would be very good especially if he has a job and a home for him .Are you going to help your son with your grandson because he will most likely need help taking care of him.
It doesn't sound like his mother is very interested in him if she keeps getting throwed in jail besides she sounds like a very violent woman