Hello

I went to court a year ago to tried to get custody of my two children, after a year I was awarded custody of my kids. My argument was base on the Moms long criminal history and the fact that her current husband has attented murder in his background. She has been many times in jail for stealing to her employers more than 20,000 dollars. She is out on probation until 2012. Whenthe court gave me custody one of the request was for us to attended co parenting classes and for the children to get therapy. After 4 months going to co parenting classes the therapist noticed that the children were to receive therapy too. I decided not to go back with this lady because she was very unprofessional. I lost my job after that and was not able to pay for the kids therapy or the co parenting classes. My driver licence is suspended for unpay tickets and that was also order by the court for me to get my license asap. My ex wife is now taking me back to court because The kids have not receive therapy and we stopped going to the co parenting classes. She is asking the court to give her the custody of the kids because I was not able to comply with the court order. My question is if that could happen? Will the court take the kids from me and give her the custody due to me not been able to comply with court order? She has been in jail for stealing, public assistant fraud, and many other things. Please advice.

There is no pat answer to this. It will depend on the judge. If you are not working, you may have the same access to public assistance as did your wife. The question is not who "owns" the kids, but who can best care for them. If neither of you are able to give these children proper care, the state may remove them from both of you and put the children in foster care.

Re not being able to pay for cour-ordered counseling--most areas have agencies that charge on a sliding scale according to your ability to pay. Contact Social Services in your area and see if they can refer you to one within your means or that offers free services.

Re the parking fines--ask the court if they offer community services in lieu of paying a fine. Some offer this, some do not. These services usually involve simple things like picking up trash along the roadways, painting over graffiti, etc. If you are not a scoff-law, the judge might be willing to allow you to work something out to get this resolved. In the meantime, look at what you are doing to get all those tickets. Maybe you are your own worst enemy and need to handle things better.

Thank you for your response to my question. I am working now and the kids will start getting therapy soon. I went to court for the tickets and they send me to do community hours and dismiss all unpaid tickets but I can't get my license until I complete the community hours. My ex wife is basing her case on the fact that the kids were not getting therapy for a few months and that we were not attending the co-parenting classe. The court appointed a Guardian at litem for the kids and every one agreed that the children are in better care with me.

Thank You once again for your help.