Washington DC Custody Help

First things first. If there is any chance you and your ex or soon
to be ex can work out custody arrangements. PLEASE do so.  As long as
both parents have the best interest of the children at heart, Family
Court, Court Clerks, Friends of the Court, attorneys and mediators
would much prefer that arrangements be made by the parents. If you find
yourselves almost able to reach an agreement but can’t quite work out
the details contact the Multi Door Dispute Resolution Office @ 202-879-1549 to help work out the details. This will also help avoid a lengthy, stressful and emotional trial.

If you feel you have no choice but to go through the courts you’ll need to file the correct papers.

First: File a Complaint for Custody or a Complaint for Access to the children and a court form called Cross Reference Intake. All the pleadings (legal documents) and forms you will need, you  can get  at the DC Superior Court Family Help Center located @

500 Indiana Ave NW, Washington DC room JW-570

M-F 8:30a-5:00pm contact number 202-879-1471

Second:
You must supply the other party with a copy of your complaint and
summons. The court will give you a summons.  This is called a Service of Process.
You have 60 days to give the complaint and summons.  There are a few
different ways you can do this. If you know where the defendant lives:

Personal Service: An adult not involved in the case hands the papers to the defendant.

Substitute Service: An adult not involved in the case hands the papers to someone who is known to live at the same residence as the defendant.

Certified Mail with a return receipt request.

If you cannot locate the defendant file a motion to Serve by Publication or Posting. You will get a copy of the judges decision in the mail.

Service by Publication: The judge will tell you which two publications to post in.

Service by Posting: If you cannot afford publication. (You must ask for this!) In this case the Clerks Office will take care of posting it. It must stay posted for 21 days.

Third: You must prove the Summons and Complaint were filed.

If
you used Personal or Substitute Service, the adult who served the
papers must complete an affidavit and file it with the Clerk of Family
Court.  For Certified Mail use the return receipt you received in the
mail after the defendant received it from the post man. For Service by
publication, the publication you used will supply you with an affidavit.

If
you do not serve the Complaint and Summons and file the Affidavit in
time, your case could be dismissed and you will have to start the
process over.

RESOURCES:

Multi Door Dispute Resolution Office @ 202-879-1549

If you currently are a recipient of TA NF (Temporary Relief for Needy Families) you may be eligible for to receive help from the Legal Aide Society of the District of Columbia.

FREE Child Custody Clinic by the DC Bar Association. You must register first. Call: 202-737-4700ex424 (Don’t miss this one)

DC Superior Court Family Help Center:

500
Indiana Ave NW, Washington DC room
JW-570

M-F 8:30a-5:00pm contact number 202-879-1471

Concerning Seperation, a few things Not To Do

This particular post is strictly for the purpose of THINGS NOT TO DO!

Soon after my husband moved out of our house, I started dating. Think badly if you like, it’s OK. I couldn’t stand my husband and had been trying to get him to leave our home and give me a divorce for 2 years. He never wanted to leave and I was only able to remove him by threatening him with arrest. (I’ll cover that in another post)
I digress.
I decided I would have my guest over for dinner.(mistake one) I wasn’t ready to introduce my “friend” to my children so we planned a late dinner. After dinner my friend excuses himself to the bathroom and then…A knock at the door. I peer through the window to see my “soon to be ex” husband standing at my front door at 12:45am.

A visual for you:
I am 5’5-140lbs, my soon to be ex, 6’3-285lbs and my friend, 5’10-185lbs. Okay?

At this point I realize we may have a bit of a situation on our hands and tell my friend to go upstairs to the family room(mistake two) and take the phone if he needs to call the police. I open the door slightly(mistake three) and ask my STBE(soon-to-be-ex) what on earth he is doing at the house at 12:45am! I tell him everyone is asleep and to go home. He was flushed, gritting his teeth and I’m pretty sure shaking. By now I realize he wasn’t just strolling by the house and decided to visit. I am pretty sure he had been stalking the house and knew my friend was there. He tells me he has come by to check on the kids. He says this over and over as he is starting to push on the door. I told him he was scaring me and to leave. I try to push the door shut, he throws the door open, me to ground and starts up the stairs. I start yelling at him to get out of the house. I get half way up the stairs(mistake four) and grab him only to be tossed down the stairs. I hear the door to the family room smash open, the two men yelling, some banging, more banging and I head up the stairs again.(mistake five is going up stairs and not calling 911) I get into the room, my STBE has my friend blocked in a corner. I guess I distracted the STBE when I came in the room because when he turned his head my friend bounded out of the room down the stairs and out the front door. My STBE runs down the stairs and out the door after him. Shocked I’m standing in the middle of my living room when the police walk in.(my neighbor heard the commotion and called) Soon after the police my STBE walks back in. He is attempting to convince the police he was well within his rights to basically break into my house, assault me and attempt to assault someone else. My friend had met the police at the entrance of my neighborhood and already explained what happened. I’m banged up, a little bruised, a little scraped up and my STBE is without a scratch.(his account of what happened was I attacked him)
Hindsight: I knew my STBE was a loon. I think in the back of my head I knew he had the ability to be a stalker(it got worse..future posts) if not out right violent. Having my friend there at all, while the kids were there was a major no-no.

Two years later I married my “friend”. (more future posts)