Ask Me Help Desk - Pre-Trail Conference in Custody Case

Hi... I live in Pennsylvania and would really appreciate a bit of advice here.

A bit of background... my wife and her ex-husband separated when their daughter was an infant. He was unfaithful, never at home, etc... he later went through the proceedings to get the divorce from my wife and she was notified when she received a notice in the mail.

They agreed to a separation agreement outside of the courts, but legally notarized. He was to have visitation, with the provisions and times of visitation specifically spelled out.

He remarried eventually and moved to Charles County, MD. My wife was living in Baltimore County, MD when we met. We eventually moved to southern PA (Adams County).

Fast forward 12 or 13 years... a few days after Thanksgiving 2009, we get a summons to appear in court. The father is fighting for custody of the daughter, as well as child support payments from us. Mind you, he is a dead-beat dad, who is consistently behind in child support payments, to the point of Support Enforcement suspending his license or arresting him on several occasions.

He requests that the case be transferred to his home jurisdiction of Calvert County, as opposed to Carroll County, where the support order is.

A judge reviews the case and dismisses the case, saying there is no cause for change to Calvert County and that even Carroll County has no right in the case. If the case is heard, it needs to be in the Child's jurisdiction of Adams County, PA, where the child had lived for over 3 years at that time.

His attorney files an appeal, saying that Carroll County does have jurisdiction, as they determined the custody back when they initially separated. The judge then calls for a court date to settle it.

At the court proceedings, our attorney showed that the document that his attorney presented to make it seem that Carroll County had jurisdiction was nothing more than the separation agreement (agreed to out of court) attached to a document from the Carroll County court system for an entirely different issue. Basically, they tried to dupe the court system.

Needless to say, the result in Maryland was that his motion for transfer of custody was denied.

Prior to the decision, the child's paternal grandmother, who is the driving force behind all this, told the child that if she says she didn't want to come live there, that the entire family would disown her and she can forget that she know them.

As a result of being falsely accused of not following the separation agreement, my wife informed the father that from now on, she was going by the agreement, to the letter. Which meant that instead of my wife driving 30 miles, to meet the grandmother, to drop the child off, so the grandmother could take her to the father in Calvert County, that HE PERSONALLY would need to come pick her up, as is stated in the separation agreement. For years prior, my wife inconvenienced herself in an effort to maintain peace with these people, by driving to meet to drop the child off.

Since this, the father has picked her up ONE TIME for visitation. And that was when his mom drove him up to get her. He could have contact with the child through my wife's cell phone, but only sporadically sends messages, maybe once every 3 months or so.

The child has grown to resent him and the entire family for their apparent disowning of her.

Today, June 30, 2011, we received a certified mail that they are now trying to bring this to court, in Adams County and that we must attend a pre-trial conference in August. What is this pre-trial conference? The paperwork also states that the child is NOT to be brought to the conference and if she is, a warrant will be issued for my wife's arrest. What is this all about? And realistically, what are their chances for success in this case?

P.S. I should add a few facts:

1) the child will be 16 in a little over a week and is going to be a junior in HS
2) she is active in Marching Band and Concert band at her HS
3) all of her friends are in our area
4) she has started referring to me as her Dad... and refers to her natural father as her "sperm doner"
5) THE FATHER WAS RECENTLY ARRESTED FOR 2ND DEGREE CHILD ABUSE AND 2ND DEGREE ASSAULT.

Quote:

Originally Posted by five309

...
Today, June 30, 2011, we received a certified mail that they are now trying to bring this to court, in Adams County and that we must attend a pre-trial conference in August. What is this pre-trial conference? ...

Is this the same case as the one in which he sought a change of venue?

A Pretrial-conference is a hearing held for the purpose of seeing that everybody has their ducks in a row for an upcoming trial.

It looks like he may have filed another spurious motion which, somehow, you never received. Call the clerk of court for Adams County and ask what exactly has been filed in the court file lately.

Yes, it is the same situation. Same child. However, that was his attempt in Maryland. Now he has brought it to PA. A place where the child has roots for 5 years now, is excelling in school, actively involved in extra curricular activities and her social network exists!

I did call Adams County Court of Common Pleas and the case they are referencing is the 1996 divorce of my wife and this bozo. This has nothing to do with the custody of the child. In fact, the clerk told me that she sees no mentioning of anything about custody. That is because it was all agreed to outside of the courts.

Like I stated, this is all a result of his whacko mother, who controls every facet of his life and is trying to do the same thing with this poor child.

Quote:

Originally Posted by five309

...Today, June 30, 2011, we received a certified mail that they are now trying to bring this to court, in Adams County and that we must attend a pre-trial conference in August. What is this pre-trial conference? The paperwork also states that the child is NOT to be brought to the conference and if she is, a warrant will be issued for my wife's arrest. What is this all about? and realistically, what are their chances for success in this case?

P.S. I should add a few facts:

1) the child will be 16 in a little over a week and is going to be a junior in HS
2) she is active in Marching Band and Concert band at her HS
3) all of her friends are in our area
4) she has started referring to me as her Dad....and refers to her natural father as her "sperm doner"
5) THE FATHER WAS RECENTLY ARRESTED FOR 2ND DEGREE CHILD ABUSE AND 2ND DEGREE ASSAULT.

For starters, I'd contact the courthouse to make sure that a motion was actually filed with them. If it was, your wife should have gotten a copy of the motion and not just a notice to appear.

At this point, I wouldn't even worry about it. It sounds like an absent father who got a bug up his backside and is trying to cause trouble. He'd have to have substantial grounds for a custody change, especially with the child being as old as she is; unless the child has been getting abused or neglected, his odds are slim to none.

Quote:

Originally Posted by five309

... I did call Adams County Court of Common Pleas and the case they are referencing is the 1996 divorce of my wife and this bozo. This has nothing to do with the custody of the child. In fact, the clerk told me that she sees no mentioning of anything about custody. That is because it was all agreed to outside of the courts.
...

That's peculiar. Normally in a divorce one of the things the court will establish is whether there are any children. If there are, custody/visitation is at issue.

AK Lawyer... they mutually agreed that my wife would have full custody and he would be granted visitation. That was done out of court.