My husband and I have been divorced, we share joint custody and our child has lived with me since the divorce with my ex husband having visitation on weekends. I have been in a relationship myself and with financial stress at it highest we have had arguments, sometimes in front of my child. She has talk to her daddy about the arguments that we have had. Her father has decided to file for custody of our child stating that he feels like the environment is not fit for our daughter, he has refused to return her from his weekend visit and also will not answer my phone calls. While we have had our problems, my child has never been subject to any harm, the house that we have is clean, safe and she has everything she needs, food, clothes, a bed etc. I wanted to know what steps will be taken in this process and what chance I might have in this case... I actually do not want to fight for custody, but I do want to fight for things to remain as they are without interference.

You need to file for enforcement of the custody order that he violated by refusing to return your daughter. Don't wait for him to file for custody modification. He made a mistake by violating the order instead of going through the court. That will not sit well with the court. He needs to prove you are unfit and that's unlikely from what you have said.

Yes, I will be honest depending on the age of the child, he may well have a good case, esp if the child testifies she wants to live with Dad.

But he messed up by keeping the child unless he has filed for an emergancy custody order. You can take him back to court to be held in contempt for keeping the child, and in some states can file for custody interference for not returning the child.

My husband and I have been divorced for 3 1/2 years. We have a 4 year old daughter together. We share joint custody, she lives with myself and my boyfriend and visits her father on the weekends. I have been in the relationship with my boyfriend for 3 years, he has been taking care of myself, my daughter and our son we have together by his self during this time, with financial stress at their highest, we have had heated arguments, at times in front of her... there were 2 or 3 times where he had thrown something (never at me or any person) Obviously this upsets her, so she tells her dad and his wife about it. Her father has decided to file for custody of our daughter stating the environment she is in is "Unfit", there are also accusations of drug use, neglect etc. While our arguing is a problem, my child has NEVER been subject to any harm what so ever, the house she lives in with us is always clean, she has her own bed, clothes, toys, food etc. I do not have anything bad to say about her father he is a good dad, he pays his child support and gets her every weekend as he is supposed to do... the problem I do have however, is the fact that his wife and him "shower" my daughter with things from toys and clothes to out of state vacations and visits to amusement parks. I feel like this has altered my daughters feelings about me simply because of the fact that they are aware of the financial struggles we are facing, we do good to manage our bills and a safe clean environment, let alone all the other luxeries they seem to give her constantly. I also feel like they question my daughter a lot, for instance instead of letting her come to them with whatever might be troubling to her, they drill her with questions as if there looking for reasons for all this trouble. I think that they will try and use this to their advantage. I wanted to know if I needed an attorney or to go to the court house? What steps will be taken if it goes to court? Also what chances do I have?

This post needs to be combined with the other one. Answers are much easier when all the information is in the same place.

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