Complaint For Temporary Custody: Fill & Download for Free

Many years ago, I represented a woman in her divorce from a husband who had cheated on her. There was quite a bit of money at stake, and we got off to a very good start with initial motions, getting temporary possession of the home, the new car, ample temporary family support to be paid by the husband, etc.But mom was quite bitter against dad. She wasn’t satisfied with primary temporary custody of the parties’ only child, who was a pre-schooler.She also wanted a very restrictive visitation schedule, raising a lot of arguments that seemed to me mostly contrived, about the dad’s lack of experience in taking care of the child.The judge went along initially — this was back far enough that it took some major unfitness to make a mom lose custody, but the “alternate weekend and one evening per week” type schedule was almost automatic and she wanted much less than that — but at dad’s lawyer’s request, the judge ordered some psych evals and parenting counseling.I was concerned that in the long run, mom’s animosity toward dad would cause problems if she couldn’t control it once the experts got involved. (Indeed, the experts were uniformly negative on mom’s behavior; fortunately, I was able to get the most damning report excluded on a motion in limine, and the other expert was not very capable and wrote a wishy-washy report.)There followed months of weekly ranting complaints to me from mom that dad had done something wrong at the visitations (always trivial at best), was a day late on some payment, had asked for some small item from the house, had asked to change the schedule, etc. Many demands for motions to find dad in contempt, which I’d have to explain wouldn’t work and would annoy the judge.Often I could hear the child in the background, sometimes even pleading with mom not to be mad. I repeatedly counseled mom not to engage in what amounted to tirades about the dad in the hearing of the child, until finally I told her we’d have schedule these discussions for in-office meetings if she couldn’t wait until the child was at pre-school or with the Dad to talk to me by phone.Mom refused all settlement offers because they weren’t “enough to compensate her for what he’d put her through” and we prepared for trial. I must have spent 20 hours in the week before trial trying to prepare her to testify, mostly on controlling her anger, bitterness, and fury against her husband, especially during cross-examination. Finally, it seemed to sink in, she claimed to understand, and assured me that although she could never forgive him, she would be able to keep it together when she testified. Call me skeptical — all I could do was keep my fingers crossed.And she did hold it together, during a careful direct. But she didn’t make it more than 15 minutes into cross before she came unglued. And I knew by the look on the judge’s face exactly the moment she lost primary custody.The financial end of things went extremely well for us, and she had a very generous visitation schedule, but of course, she was devastated. And even angrier than before, although fortunately not with me.I declined to handle the appeal for her, and she went through five or six lawyers after me, pursuing various remedies.

The only way it can be forced, is if there is a court order. She would need to file for temporary custody, and an investigation would be needed to confirm what she wrote in her complaint.

If the child is in immediate danger this moment, stop reading this and call the police. Tell them a child is being harmed and they will come fast. If the child is not being harmed this very moment but is experiencing harm, Google the number of your local child and family services (social services) office and ask to file a formal complaint.You can also talk to a mandated reporter (professional who is required by law to reporter when a child is being harmed) such as a doctor or teacher.Once social services or the police are involved , you can ask them to help you complete the steps to apply for emergency custody. If you are not immediate family you will likely need extensive background checks (and depending on your location may need them even if you are family).If needed and you run into obstacles, enlist the help of a child and family attorney or child advocate.Children are our most vulnerable segment of society and it is a privilege to step in and help when one is in danger. You will change his or her little life by bringing safety and care.