Oklahoma - they appointed a guardian ad litem to my custody case. I've had one before on a different case w another child. This time was very different . I understand every one is different. I am seeking for full custody and he get day visits with no overnights because of living conditions he has can't accommodate for keeping them overnight. My question is why was his visit so short and why did he not ask questions? Isn't that what his job is?

I think you should have asked him.

I asked him if he could tell me what to expect at court (tomorrow morning) and he advised Me to bring my daughters. He seemed like he was in a hurry or he had his mind made up that quick. Any pointers or ideas?

When I have been appointed an attorney ad litem (same idea, basically, except an attorney is appointed), I would sometimes do a short home visit, if the order of appointment required it, but basically my role was to review the court file, perhaps interview the child(ren), decide where their best interest was, and express that to the court. Perhaps an in-depth with the parents may have revealed it, but I doubt it, and it wasn't my style. I'm of the opinion that if an interview will get useful information, the judge can do that at the hearing.

OK thank you! Like I said I have had one before with my son in a different case and she was very thorough. This gentleman just struck me as odd.

I took my ex husband back to court for modification. Our case is through sac and fox tribal court (Oklahoma) because he's a tribal member. They appointed a guardian as Litem who "investigate" us. We went back to court this past Thursday and my ex was told if he can get a place of his own then our 2 daughters can live with him. I am shocked! The guardian as litem claimed to of pulled up my now husbands past record but upon further talk in the courtroom admitted he just scanned it. And a year and half ago me and him for into a physical confrontation. It was thrown out before but suddenly he is bringing it back up. It was before me n my husband were married and no kids seen this. Me and my husband attend marriage counseling and other things to make sure we have a sound marriage. Sense then me and him have had stability and everything nessacary for custody to stay with us. Why are they suddenly wanting to give my ex custody? What happened to ruling in favor of the mother?

Ask them. I cannot answer you because I know almost nothing about the case.
Another point of view is that they have their own laws and / a form of/ government.

Is "guardian as Litem" Cherokee for guardian ad litem?

In Oklahoma - case is originally in sac and fox (tribal court) ex husband is tribal and I am not. I have reason to believe that are making biased decisions involving my children because of that. I need information on what I can do to get my case through state instead of tribal. Please help

Not that I am reading - I don't know about Oklahoma but it's a big argument in NY and, no, the case is heard in tribal court IF the father is native American.

Also in NY when a non-Native mother gets an Order in Court the Nation and father refuse to respect it.

I got pulled into one of these situations and it was not pleasant. Are the children recognized by the Tribe?

I agree, once tribal court takes over, you can try to move it. But the tribal court will ignore any other court.

I just took a look at the history and there are several threads involving children and stepchildren.

Could these be combined?

There was violence involved in the current marriage of the OP. This, and other info, is not posted here.

Do the children live on a reservation or other tribal land?

Indian Child Welfare Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And it goes on to say: "Concurrent jurisdiction is shared jurisdiction between the tribal courts and the state courts. In all cases that the tribal court does not have exclusive jurisdiction, they have concurrent jurisdiction. These cases would be custody proceedings involving Indian children that don't reside or are not domiciled on the tribal lands (such as someone born off the reservation and whose parents don't live on the reservation). In these concurrent decisions, the ICWA expresses a preference for tribal jurisdiction in Indian child custody proceedings."

In my area - and, again, I'm not in Oklahoma, if the child is registered with the Tribe (and that's a simple matter) Tribal Court has jurisdiction. The issue gets argued frequently. The Seneca Tribe's Attorney appears and argues and the matter ends up in Tribal Court. I've worked them, I've seen the cases, I've read about them.

There was a single incident between Me and my husband. We weren't married at the time and no children seen this. Me and my husband do have sole custody of my stepchildren and I had primary custody of my bio children. When I went to remodify ( miss kaytee if you took the time to read previous threads then u must of read the first one id posted which states the reasoning to want to modify) I have tried to speak w the appointed guardian ad litem who is also of the same tribe and he hangs up on me every time I call. He made a reccomendation without actually looking into anyone's past except looking at that one incident . Which was actually completely dismissed and excused by another court system. No the girls are not recognized by the tribe. Just him .

It's actually Mrs. Your comment that "if I had taken the time to read your thread" is totally out of line. I did read your thread. In fact, I read all of your threads. The fact that you don't want to hear what I have to say does not give you the right to be sarcastic with me.

Actually if you hadn't called the Police for reason or no reason on your boyfriend your life - and the lives of your children - would be easier. I don't know what happened, and I really don't care.

So you called the Police on "him" for domestic violence and then you married him. That changes neither the domestic violence NOR the call to the Police.

The children don't have to witness violence or abuse. I appreciate things got heated, the Police were called. I don't know what "excused" means. Dismissed I understand. Apparently there is still a record of the incident because it was/is being used against you. I'm not arguing with you - I'm just saying that it was an incident involving domestic violence and children are involved here. Lots of people, probably the majority, have never had to call the Police on a boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse. No one has to look into anyone's past - this one incident can seal your fate.

You said: "The guardian as litem claimed to of pulled up my now husbands past record but upon further talk in the courtroom admitted he just scanned it. And a year and half ago me and him for into a physical confrontation. It was thrown out before but suddenly he is bringing it back up. It was before me n my husband were married and no kids seen this. Me and my husband attend marriage counseling and other things to make sure we have a sound marriage. Sense then me and him have had stability and everything nessacary for custody to stay with us. Why are they suddenly wanting to give my ex custody?? What happened to ruling in favor of the mother?"

For starters, the Guardian ad Litem (which I assume you meant) "scanned" your current husband's record? What do you think he was required to do? You admit you attend marriage counselling and do "other things" to guarantee your marriage will survive.

What happened to ruling in favor of the mother - which you ask. Hopefully the Courts ALWAYS rule in favor or the children, and that can (and does) mean custody with EITHER parent. It would be totally unfair for the mother (by virtue of nothing other than being female) to be the favored party.

However - if the children don't live on Sovereign Land, aren't recognized by the Tribe, why are you in Tribal Court? Tribal Court doesn't have jurisdiction.

Why/how is Tribal Court claiming jurisdiction UNLESS the children have somehow been named wards of the Tribe?

Do you know? Is there paperwork?

I still don't see where, in this thread or in other posts by OP, that she says whether they live on tribal land.

The point of my earlier reference to the ICWA is that unless they are off-reservation (or other tribal land, etc.), the tribal court has exclusive jurisdiction. So no, she would not be able to remove the case to a state court.

I agree - and I am reading that even if they are off reservation (Sovereign land being the term "here") if they are registered members of a tribe they are under the jurisdiction of Tribal Court and "the State" will not accept the case.

No, I don't know where the children are.

Pardon me MRS. kaytee for the wrong heading. My apologies. I didn't call the police on that incident. My ex husband did. The girls are not recognized by tribal no. And I posted on this because I feel there's people on here who sincerely do care enough to give free legal advice. And I do appreciate that. {Mod edit as unnecessary} Anyway back to the post question.. . I'm not sure how it got to where they were trying to hand him custody. His criminal record is lenghtier then my husband's. I'm trying to save my family and I feel civil court would be fairer.

Please leave God out of this OR post on God's site.

You and I don't like each other. We've established that. That doesn't mean I don't know what I'm talking about. Short opinions? Did you actually read my last post? (You still didn't get my name right, by the way.)

So let's see - first husband has lengthy criminal record. Second husband has criminal record, not as lengthy. That's for starters. Maybe the Court is picking the lesser of the two evils.

Good that you feel civil court would be more fair. The question is can you get to civil court. I'm not reading that you can, you don't seem to have a clue WHY you're in Tribal Court so there's nothing to contest and you don't understand why mothers don't have the upper hand.

I don't think you're a guaranteed winner in civil Court.

HOW did Tribal Court get this issue in the first place?

Instead of your rant why don't you tell AMHD:

What does "excused by the Court" mean?

However - again - if the children don't live on Sovereign Land, aren't recognized by the Tribe, why are you in Tribal Court? Tribal Court doesn't have jurisdiction.

Why/how is Tribal Court claiming jurisdiction UNLESS the children have somehow been named wards of the Tribe?

Do you know? Is there paperwork?

You cannot attempt to transfer this from Tribal Court on the grounds that you think the mother would have a more fair "shot" at custody in another Court. You need a legal reason. No one can figure out what that might be unless you share some of the information. For example: If I lived in Oklahoma, if I were in a child custody matter, I'm not Native American, my children are not recognized as Native American my case would NOT be heard in Tribal Court. Why is yours? I don't know how many ways I can say that.

If you don't want to share or feel you've burned out AMHD with your various custody disputes over 6 separate threads, retain an Attorney in your area.