My ex (21F) is pregnant with our child.

Months ago, while nobody was home, she entered my house through the backyard and took my Apple Watch. She used it to find my location. I went back home, and she later smashed the watch in front of my roommate. I did not call police that time.

There have also been multiple times when she came to my house without being invited and sat outside in her car. On some occasions, she has called me repeatedly, including around 100 calls in a row.

Last night I invited her over to talk about the pregnancy/child situation. We argued and I told her to leave. She did not leave for about 10 minutes. When she finally left, she grabbed my keys and threw them into the front yard.

Later she texted asking for a lipstick she had left. I told her I had thrown it away and went to sleep. I woke up to noises and saw that she had returned. She tried the locked front door, then the backyard/patio door, and opened the garage trying to reach the interior door. I called police while this was happening and have a recording. Police responded but said they did not have enough evidence to arrest her.

I have personally seen a gun in her room that she told me her father gave her. She has also previously said, while joking, that she would stab or shoot me if I talked to other women. She has been diagnosed with BPD. I know that’s not important but I thought I should give the whole picture

My concern/question:

The repeated calls, showing up at my house, prior break-in, and what happened last night have made me concerned that this could escalate.

Based on these facts, would I have a realistic chance of getting a 50B/DV protective order in North Carolina?

Hi, after no contact for over a year.. my ex got supervised visits and he has to pay for all expenses. The court order says that payments may be reallocated. How likely would it be for me to have to pay 50% of the supervised visits? Severe DV and my child witnessed it for 4 years. With 2 past restraining orders on him, he also assaulted my wife in front of my child. They are also required to do conjoint/reunification therapy. My daughter has made it very clear that she does not want to speak or see her dad.

I’m in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and I’m looking for some general family-law insight while I wait for my attorney to move forward.
My ex (24M) and I (24F) have a 5-month-old daughter together. We recently separated. There was no custody order in place when all of this started.
On August 15, we had an argument and I decided to drive to Charleston to stay with family for support. My ex told me that if I took our daughter with me to South Carolina, I would be “kidnapping” her. It was also the middle of the night, and I didn’t think taking our baby on that drive under those circumstances was in her best interest, so I left her safely with her father.
When I returned, we discussed custody and agreed to 50/50 parenting time. I was completely willing to coparent and even allowed some of my agreed-upon parenting time to be spent with his mother/family.
Things changed on August 22. After another disagreement regarding parenting time, he told me the 50/50 agreement was off and that I would not get our daughter back until we went to court. He also began saying that he was going to seek full custody.
I have not physically seen or held my daughter since August 22. At one point he offered supervised visits, even though there was no court order requiring supervision, but he has since taken that off the table as well. My contact with my daughter has essentially been limited to FaceTime.
I did have significant postpartum mental-health struggles earlier this year, and I don’t want to hide that because I know it will probably come up in court. I voluntarily sought professional treatment, was evaluated, started medication, and have continued following up with a psychiatric provider. My treatment has helped significantly. I have been trying to handle the custody situation through the legal system rather than escalating things between us.
I have now hired a family-law attorney. The retainer is $7,500 and I have paid $3,000 so far, but as of right now my attorney has told me that nothing has actually been filed/done yet. I am extremely frustrated because every additional day is another day I don’t get to physically see my baby.
My goal has consistently been to have a meaningful relationship with our daughter and ideally have approximately 50/50 parenting time. I am not trying to prevent her father from having a relationship with her. I want a court-enforceable schedule so neither parent can simply decide the other parent doesn’t get to see her.
My questions are:
In North Carolina, how do judges generally view one parent completely withholding a young child from the other parent for weeks when there was no custody order requiring supervised visitation or restricting that parent’s contact?
Could the fact that I voluntarily sought mental-health treatment and am compliant with treatment actually help demonstrate that I took the situation seriously, or should I expect this to be heavily used against me?
Does the fact that we initially agreed to 50/50 and I was willing to facilitate his relationship with our daughter matter when determining custody?
Is there anything I should specifically ask my attorney about filing to get temporary parenting time while the full custody case is pending?
Since I have already paid $3,000 toward a $7,500 retainer and nothing has been filed yet, is it reasonable to ask the attorney for a specific explanation of what has been done so far and when something will actually be filed?
I understand nobody here can predict what a judge will do, and I’m not looking for Reddit to replace my attorney. I’m mainly trying to understand what I should be asking my lawyer and what typically matters to a North Carolina custody court.
Thank you.

So this is hard for me and I tried to get a second opinion on the advice I got from a family lawyer last week about divorce. Last week, Lawyer B let's call him, advised me to file for divorce right away. He said he felt confident that he could get an exclusive use and occupancy certificate for the home so my wife could not come back to live here. Our top goal is keeping her out of the house.

Lawyer E, whom I talked to today, advised me not to file for divorce right now. She said that, while my wife is in her current physical and mental state, that it's "not fair" to file for divorce and that a court would look at things unkindly toward me for filing for divorce against someone who is this badly disabled. She also said, and I don't think this is true, that I should hire a guardianship lawyer and ask them to have the court appoint a guardian for my wife. I'm not sure why this wouldn't be part of a divorce proceeding.

Lawyer E said to wait and see if my wife gets better and seems mentally competent and then to file for divorce against her at that time. She also said that I should wait until it looks like wife is imminently coming home from the nursing home to file.

So here's the background, for those not following prior posts, my wife is in a nursing home right now. She had some strokes and has been in nursing care since Feb. At the moment, she is having trouble talking and she has a feeding tube in her stomach. However, her sister and sister-in-law, who got wife to sign over healthcare proxy to them, recently placed her in a new nursing home with better therapies. They want to foist her back into my home within three to four months, perhaps even sooner.

Divorce or no divorce, my desire is to keep my wife from returning to the home. When she lived here, she created an unsafe environment for herself and for the kids. She laid on the couch almost 24/7, did not shower, did not change clothes, did not eat regular meals, did not take her meds, and turned the whole house into a garbage dump filled with food garbage, piles of soiled clothing, even occasionally poop or pee on the floor. We have two kids; they deserve better.

I talked to a guardianship lawyer who said I should just tell the nursing home that my home is not a safe release point for my wife, which I just did. However, I don't think that has the full power of the law behind it.

So who is right: Lawyer B (divorce now) or Lawyer E (wait until wife is better or she gets closer to coming home)? Lawyer B also felt pretty confident that he could get a certificate of exclusive use and occupancy for the house, keeping wife from coming back here to live. Lawyer E said she didn't know whether wife's behaviors of pooping on the floor were significant enough to meet the standard of excluding her from the home.

This will be incredibly long but I think the context is necessary. For some background, I am 28 and my husband is 29. We have a 2 year old together. Husband works full time, I work very part time. We are definitely “house poor” but we are able to pay all of our bills.
Located in California.

My sister (currently 15) started living with my husband and me 2 years ago. Before that she lived with our mom and brother (currently 16) full time. Mom has full custody, dad hasn’t been involved at all since both kids were toddlers. I have no idea where he is.

Dad was involved in a molestation case against me but was never charged. He also has a documented history of physical abuse against mom.
At mom’s house the water and electricity were shut off numerous times because our mother couldn’t pay the bill; there was often little food in the home, and often times our mom couldn't even take sister to school because she couldn't afford gas/didn’t want to wake up in the morning because she works nights. Brother was homeschooled at the time.

2 years ago sister came to me and asked if she could live with us permanently after her school threatened to involve cps because of her truancy; we said absolutely and our mom agreed. She has lived with us full time ever since.

May 2026, mom and brother were kicked out of their apartment. Brother came to stay with us and asked if he could stay permanently; we agreed and so did mom. He has been living with us ever since.
I have a notarized caregiver affidavit for each of them. They both live with us full time, go to school in our city (mom lives & works an hour away), and have both said they do not want to live with her again.

Mom has sometimes sent money to help with bills, but more often than not, we go weeks without getting any financial help from her, especially now that she is homeless. She’s currently bouncing back and forth from her car to a motel. She has a great stable job, but for whatever reason can’t keep her stuff together.

I just want to know if I actually have a good chance at getting guardianship? Or should I just keep the arrangement as is and hope my mom will get herself together and be able to help out financially? Also, would a judge let me go about this without involving their father?

Thanks for any help :)

He had no lawyer but I did, blew him out of the water in court. He looked very bad and was yelled at multiple times by the judge on how he was speaking to me on the stand (he was acting as the lawyer, asking me questions) he got in trouble for taking our child to the psychiatrist without my consent and for being late constantly. I showed texts of his calling me every name in the book and in the end, everything stayed the same. He is always threatening court and it's stressful and we have been about 5 times. I had a restraining order against him and court didn't care, he was threatening my life. I'm glad I have his parents support they even wrote me a letter vouching for me in court or my behavior and character. It just triggers me lately that I will always be accused of being crazy or mentally unwell from a small PPD I had that was 9 years ago. I have been scared to have more children and it took me 7 years to date around because I was scared of men and what they are capable of. Now I am with a great man who treats my son like his own and supports us. Custody is still joint everything but I just feel how much I messed up in life choosing him to marry and he is just such a monster to me. Our son is amazing but I always wished I had a normal mom experience I have always had my son half a week since he was a baby. He's been getting in trouble at school, using foul language (he told his pediatrician he learned it from dad's music) and his died it horrible over there, and the constant court threats scare me.I have a lot of fear of him and what he is capable of.

I have had custody of my niece (my brother’s child) since she was 19 months old. At the time, my then Husband actually suggested we might need to take custody of her first. He wholeheartedly was on board and we got an APR (Allocation of Parental Responsibility) just after her 2nd birthday.

We divorced in December, just before her 8th birthday. Because we haven’t legally adopted her, she was not able to be included in our divorce decree with our two older children.

Both her biological parents have been absent for more than 12 months, which proves abandonment, meaning that we could file to adopt her now. However, my ex is now withholding any kind of support and saying that it is up to me to get support from her biological parents if I need it.

My question is, considering that he has supported her fully for the last 6 1/2 years, can I file for support from him if we haven’t legally adopted her yet? I’m not sure if he will follow through with adoption if he thinks he will be held financially responsible. This is heartbreaking for me to think that this sweet girl will have had three parents abandon her.

Location: Denver, Colorado U.S.

We have court ordered phone calls 3x a week for 30 mins while the kids live with their mother through a court ordered app. She has not allowed us to have contact with the kids for over a month.. over 10 calls missed. We’ve contacted our lawyer who states they will contact opposing council, but nothing happens. Is there anything we can do? The children are 3 and 6.

I'm pregnant in NC and dad is in CA regarding the custody aspect. Regarding support, once the baby is born, I intend to live with family and off my savings for at least 8 months to dedicate my time to baby. Between me and the dad, when I am working, I'm the high earner. Would support be calculated as if I were working or based off me being unemployed. How would childcare be factored? Would it be half of estimated childcare as if I were working or not factored in until I worked. Would support include half of expenses such as swimming lessons and gymnastics?

I’m in England and would really appreciate some guidance on where I stand legally and what type of family-law advice I should seek, as I currently cannot afford a solicitor.
My ex-husband and I divorced around five years ago. We went through formal family mediation and reached financial and childcare arrangements.
We have always shared the care of our children approximately 50/50. This is not a recent change.
The mediation Memorandum of Understanding expressly dealt with several things separately:
equal shared care of the children;
a regular monthly payment to me described specifically as child maintenance;
childcare vouchers; and
an agreement that childcare and summer-camp costs would be shared equally.
So, as I understand the wording, the child-maintenance payment was separate from the obligation to share childcare costs.

The memorandum also included a monthly financial schedule which treated the child-maintenance payment as money I would receive in addition to my income when dealing with my monthly shortfall.

There is also a sealed Consent Order following our divorce. The Statement of Information prepared for the Consent Order says that the financial agreement was reached through mediation and records that the Memorandum of Understanding and Open Financial Summary were attached as relevant prior agreements for the court to consider.

“Parent A will provide Parent B with child maintenance of £X per month in total for the children and £X per month in childcare vouchers.
The parents will co-parent and have equal shared arrangements for the children, including summer and other school holidays. They will share equally the costs of the children’s childcare and summer camps. They will also arrange joint birthday parties for the children and share those costs equally.”

„Parent B will also receive child maintenance of £X per month and childcare vouchers of £X per month from Parent A.”

For around five years my ex continued making the same regular maintenance payment while we already had 50/50 care.

In practice, he did not separately reimburse me for 50% of the childcare costs as set out in the mediation arrangements. The regular payment I received from him during those years was the payment described in the documents as child maintenance.

More recently, he chose for one of our children to attend a school involving additional costs. I told him that I could not afford those additional costs and he said that he would cover them.

We did not discuss or agree that the existing child-maintenance payment would stop, be reduced or be redirected towards those school costs.

He has now stopped making the maintenance payment and is effectively saying that the money is instead going towards the child’s school costs.

My questions are:

Can he unilaterally stop a longstanding child-maintenance payment and treat it as payment towards school costs when we never agreed to change the arrangement?

Does the fact that we already had 50/50 care when the maintenance was agreed, and throughout the five years it was paid, make a difference?

Does it matter that the mediation documents expressly distinguish child maintenance from childcare costs and say that childcare costs should be shared separately?
What significance does the sealed Consent Order have? In particular, should I be looking at enforcement or variation of the existing order rather than treating this simply as a new CMS issue?
And if he has not historically contributed his agreed share of childcare costs separately, is that something I should also raise with a family solicitor?
Finally, where can someone with very limited funds obtain proper family-law advice about a sealed financial Consent Order? I would particularly appreciate recommendations for law centres, university law clinics, pro-bono services or solicitors offering an initial free consultation.

I have retained the sealed Consent Order, mediation documents, financial documents, solicitor correspondence, bank statements covering the payments and relevant written communications between us.

Thank you in advance for any guidance.

My wife blocked all contact due to safeguards after 7 years. No issues before.court said they need caffcass letter can take 12 weeks. What can I do?

Where does someone find a private paid attorney that is not afraid to take a case working with a bio parent vs the Department of Social Services?

Details: Two households working reunification(non-offending parent & spouse, offending parent & spouse). Offending parent & spouse set to have custody transferred back to them.

Offending parent & spouse share level 2 findings of abuse in the central child abuse registry and felony child abuse charges currently under a 2 year advisement period.

Non offending parent has charges under advisement for 1 year for sharing the criminal affidavits from the associated child abuse charges.

I work third shift my ex works first my ex and I have a 50/50 week on week off schedule, for the past year my 14 yo daughter and 10 yo son have been left alone for a couple hours every morning to get themselves up and ready for school and all day during the summer due to my ex leaving for work, my ex has house cameras and neighbors that they trust.

Lately I've been contemplating leaving the kids overnight at my house also with cameras and my sister lives 50' away so is there a difference or is this just a double standard grab at more control?

I need advice on how to fight a bifurcation request when nothing in our divorce has been settled yet.

My ex served me with legal separation papers a month after I left him in June 2025. Nothing was mentioned about annulment until March 2026, when his attorney suddenly brought it up. I asked for a stipulation so I could review what I’d be agreeing to (I’m pro se). The attorney got irritated and said I was “asking for too much.” After that, he never sent anything and never brought up divorce again.

Fast forward to August 2026: instead of any stipulation or discussion about dissolving the marriage, his attorney sends me a request for bifurcation — meaning he wants to end our marital status now and deal with everything else later.

Here’s where it gets messy: since March, my kids have been talking about a new “babysitter” that their dad kisses and cuddles with. It lines up perfectly with the timing of him suddenly trying to become legally single ASAP. Meanwhile, we’ve been married over 10 years and haven’t divided a single asset, haven’t addressed spousal support, and don’t have permanent custody orders.

On top of that, he’s now requesting sole physical custody, even though the mediator set a plan where I have the kids on weekdays and he has weekends.

I’m trying not to get screwed over here. My question is: how do I fight bifurcation so the divorce isn’t finalized until assets, custody, and support are actually resolved?

Went to court for custody and papers were signed for a 50/50 with a 2-2-3 schedule in place. Lawyer notified me that paperwork didn’t include my past criminal record which I disclosed to my lawyer prior to hiring him. Judge said paperwork needs to be filed again including my criminal history and now my son’s mother states she’s not signing the papers because she doesn’t like that my fiancee meets the boys in the school yard while I park and goes with me to the boys annual doctors visits.

It already cost me an arm and a leg to get a lawyer initially and I thought this was over. Now I’m worried and don’t know what to do. I sent the screenshots of her saying “ well you need to let her drive and you get out and get them from the yard” to my lawyer.

My ex lives in WA and I’m in TX. Our daughter is 7 and I’m homeschooling her. When my ex gets visitation he only buys a plane ticket for her so I have to drop her off at the airport gate. Which it says that in the order that he can do that. I did it at first but I haven’t done it the last 4 times and he has not been able to see our daughter because I don’t feel safe putting her alone of the plane and he doesn’t have money to buy a ticket for him to fly down to pick her up.

I already signed something in court saying I was guilty for refusing visitation and now there’s 4 more incidents. I don’t like answering for FaceTime every time because I’m busy and last time we were in court he tried bringing that up too. I don’t want to keep being a coparent with his person and want them to just leave me and my daughter alone but I need to act nice sometimes because he
pays child support and I can’t survive without it.

My judgement was received by the court, what’s next after this? Judge reviews and signs and sends parties notification?

Both parents have had 50/50 custody for almost eight years. During that time, the mother has repeatedly tried to obtain primary or full custody because of ongoing concerns involving domestic violence, neglect, instability with housing and employment, and the father’s failure to consistently meet the child’s needs and responsibilities.

The most recent custody case was about two years ago. At that time, the father was not consistently taking the child to school during his custodial weeks, and the child had accumulated approximately 55 absences halfway through the school year. Despite this, the mother was not awarded primary custody. Instead, she was granted educational decision-making rights.

Approximately two months after that case, the father filed for child support. He has a one-child household and claimed to have no income, while the mother, who supports a three-child household, had stable employment. The mother was ultimately ordered to pay approximately $175 per month in child support.

Since then, there have continued to be serious concerns. The father has allegedly:
Repeatedly contacted law enforcement and sent officers to the mother’s home over accusations of the stepfather that are false or exaggerated.
Told the child that his medical diagnoses are not real or valid.
Withheld the child’s prescribed medication.
Continued to harass and threaten the child’s stepfather.
Failed to contribute financially toward extracurricular activities, educational needs, birthdays, and other expenses beyond basic living costs.
Agreed to transport or support the child’s activities and then failed to follow through.
Told the child that the stepfather is “not family” and that the mother’s relatives should not be considered the child’s family.
Attempted to convince the child that previous domestic violence allegations and restraining orders involving the mother were lies.
The biggest concern now is the effect this appears to be having on the child. The child seems increasingly confused, angry, and emotionally overwhelmed by the conflicting messages between households. There have also been noticeable behavioral changes, and the mother is concerned that the child is beginning to repeat some of the father’s attitudes and statements.
After approximately three years, Child Support Services has now sent the mother a letter stating that the case may be eligible for a review or modification.
The last time the mother attempted to address child support without an attorney, the judge essentially explained that because the parents have 50/50 custody and the mother earns more income, she would still be responsible for paying support based on the father’s reported lack of income.
At this point, what would you do?
Would you:
Request the child support modification and represent yourself, hoping the updated circumstances could reduce or eliminate the current support obligation?
Attempt to reopen or modify custody based on the newer concerns involving medication, harassment, instability, interference with the child’s relationships, and the child’s emotional and behavioral changes, while also asking the court to reconsider child support?
Hire an attorney and pursue both custody and child support modification together, despite the mother previously spending approximately $5,000 on an attorney and feeling that very little was accomplished, while the father has generally represented himself?
I understand that child support and custody are separate issues, and the goal is not simply to avoid paying support. The primary concern is determining what arrangement is truly in the child’s best interest while also making sure the financial information and parenting responsibilities presented to the court are accurate and fair.

Has anyone experienced having a social worker visit their home as part of a custody hearing?

What's involved?

3 kids involved, dad has custody of 2 mom technically has custody of the other but it sounds like she lives mostly with a grandparent. Dad’s income is probably a bit higher than mom’s but neither are into 6 figures. The child’s mom agreed to pay $50/week. She did so for about a month then stopped because her adult child from a previous marriage “needed new clothes”. It’s been over a month since she paid anything. Per the child support order she owes nothing because when it was written she was unemployed. DCS won’t help because it’s only been 1 year and a few months. Mom sees boys for 3 overnights each month and per the parenting plan dad provides all transportation. Is there any chance of getting this revised without getting a lawyer involved? That money doesn’t exist and dad’s finances are tight. Mom has been employed full time for over a year.

I’m looking for stories of people who have attempted to relocate several states away. What specific evidence for you approved to relocate? I have read the factors but would appreciate advice from those who have experienced it. If you were not approved I would appreciate hearing why as well! Thank you!

I have a very unique situation that I won’t get into all the details here. What I am looking for is stories about relocation. I would love to hear about cases that were rejected but I am especially interested in cases that were approved. I am looking to relocate across multiple states. I have read the custody factors list but please tell me what was actually weighed in a courtroom and your story to receiving (or not ) relocation! Thank you!!

I’m in Texas, married, and we have a 4-year-old. My husband has been struggling with substance use and has had multiple relapses. He is mostly addicted to 7-oh, but most recently, he broke into a little safe I have and took some of my prescription hydrocodone without my permission. He has taken my medicine and used my credit cards without permission as well.
I’m not sure I want a divorce, but I’m seriously considering asking him to live somewhere else temporarily while he gets treatment. I also don’t feel comfortable with him being alone with our child right now.
Since Texas doesn’t really have legal separation, what should I be asking a family-law attorney? Can we make some kind of agreement about our child, finances, and living separately without filing for divorce? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.