My husband and I are going to court 7/18 for dissolution of marriage. He has been in jail for the past 3 years for attempting to kill me and was released in 9/2010. He started a visitation means with the children and everything seemed to be going well until he decided to keep the children from me and would not allow me to see the kids. This happened because I signed myself up for a rehab facility to kick the habit of oxycodeine. He is also an addict and still to this day asks me for help on finding his street drugs in between his urine screenings for felony probation. He knows when he will be tested and quits using prior to the appointment. He gained temporary custody of my children who are 6 and 8yrs from which he has never given an interest or taken care of them before. He lives with his mother so that is why I feel "some" sense of relief, however, he has a past for drugs, domestic violence and also has been diagnosed with severe bipolar and other depression. He revealed to me that he quit taking his meds (which made a huge difference) because he had gotten a girlfriend and it prevents him from having sex... This alarms me because he will go back to the abusive way he was around my kids. I have been successfully receiving treatment. The kids have remained at his mothers house with him or with him and his girlfriend. My kids tell me when I talk to the them all the time that they are ready to come home, my daughter Jocelyn cries when ever I see her because she wants to come home. Help! I cannot afford an attorney. He has filed a child support request from the dissolution of marriage which he wants $653.00/mo/ He has never paid me a dime, number one I want my kids back. Number two when I go to court appearance tomorrow how do go about regaining custody or indicating to the majesrate that I would like to extend the appearance while I seek legal advice? I want my children back and they want me back. Please, any advice would be greatly appreciated!

It appears you serious need an attorney, And it also shows you most likely don't have evidence in a form and manner that will be acceptable in court.

If the current court order says you are to have custody and he has refused use that.

But what is court tomorrow about, if it is just the divorce, it may have nothing to do with child custody, what motions have you filed in court to regain custody

So he had the kids for a visit and you told him you were in rehab and he refused to return the kids. What did you do? Did you go to court for a contempt order? It appears that there was a court hearing afterwards in which he was given temporary custody. Were there any conditions on this custody?

As Chuck asked what is the hearing tmmw about? Do you have proof (not just hearsay) of his being off his meds or his drug issues?

Ataylor0628 Jul 17, 2011 03:14 pm It happened so quick that I didn't even realize that it was happening. He had started taking the kids after school everyday and then I would pick them up at his moms house. One day he decided to take the kids and not return them... I called the police and they advised me that he has custody also and there was nothing I could do about it. I had just signed up for rehab about that same time and informed him of it. . Because we had an open discussion about that subject, I didn't realize that it would cause an issue to arise... I have remained cleaned and have been given random drug screenings to ensure the same from my drug rehab. We did attend a court appearance which he gained temp custody and because I was honest with the majestrate and informed her that I was attending a drug rehab, I believe she looked at me like this was bad or terrible... I think just the opposite. I could have lied to her like my husband, and now Im wondering if that is what I should have done. Help To better answer the question regarding is there any proof that he is off his meds, no.. other than he had informed me of the same...

Its like an attachment to the dissolution of marriage I think... All I know is that the appearance for tomorrow is before the majestrate at 9:45am and we each have a 30 minute window. He has also filled out a worksheet for child support which I was served... Im confused by it all because it all started with a summons and went so fast...

First, when posting a follow-up question or info, please use the Answer options at the bottom of the page rather than the Comments.

You said visitation, I assumed this meant court ordered and that you were the primary custodian. If that isn't the case, then yes he could keep the kids. And if he gave the court your rehab as the reason he was doing so, that is why he got temp custody.

But that's why you need an attorney to tell you what proof you need to show to get custody back.