Any family court lawyers out there? Need advice DESPERATELY!!!?

In desperate need of help!!! My husband and I just got a call from my stepson (my husbands son)’ s school. Apparently our son’s “birth” mother went to the school and allowed him to get signed out of high school so that he can go to night school. We went to see the principal this morning and he let him back into the school. He is failing and played hooky for 24 days. We now have to go to hearing through the board of Ed to find out if he will be left back. We will do what we have to do but long story short. Our child’s birth mother had no right to sign him out of school. Our son’s primary residence is with us not her!! Legally what can we do? My husband is so upset. We want to call her and tell her we will no longer be sending the kids to see her on Wednesdays any longer. If we do this, is that considered kidnapping? Legally we don’t want to get in any trouble but we have had enough! What would happen if we refuse her the visitations?





Thank you so much for any help and advice!!!Any family court lawyers out there? Need advice DESPERATELY!!!?
everything gets better with time.Any family court lawyers out there? Need advice DESPERATELY!!!?
I am a father who had gone through the same type of situation. First I will tell you that unless the child in in harms way you should not keep him from the visits. If seeing her is detrimental, you need to file a motion in family court and plead your case otherwise depending on the court ordered visitation you may be in contempt. The school issue goes like this, If she has joint custody she can do what she did and for the most part get away with it. If you and your husband have sole physical and legal the school had no right to let him out. The thing is you need to make clear with the school that she has no legal rights and should not have been able to do that.
No one can advise your husband without a copy of the divorce and custody declaration. Also, IF the mother's visitation (as spelled out in the visitation order) is wednesday's and he fails to provide the child, he can be held in contempt of a court order. If it happens enough times, he could be held in criminal contempt, jailed, fined and lose custody.





So, what does the custody order state?
I am no attorney but I think the school was also to blame for allowing this. If she is not his legal guardian, the school should've denied her access.





Obtain all of the documents that SHE signed from the school - present them to whoever is looking in to this matter.
i doubt any real lawyers would give you any advice for free. my last lawyer once charged me half hour fee for leaving a voice mail on his machine.





your hubby's gotta get a lawyer and maybe file a restraint order or something.
File for an emergency hearing to have her rights suspended temporarily. If she had no right to do this, why did it happen? You’ll also need to get to the bottom of all of this. And how did your stepson miss 24 days? Are you and your husband not noticing this? Not trying to point fingers, but I just am trying to figure this out because a judge will ask the same thing.





Does this mother have any legal rights? Has she ever? If not, then none of this matters. And your husband needs to do more to protect his son regarding his mother’s actions.





Do you have a lawyer? If not, seek one out or find legal aide.





** ADD **


Also, you shouldn’t refuse visitation at all. I know his best interest is kept in mind here, but I think if anything, you should just ask to reschedule or ask that they be supervised. That way your court date will hopefully come first.
Do you have sole custody of said child? If so, it is your husband's responsibility to let the school know that. If they don't know that the childs' mother has no rights to make decisions, they can't stop her.





Whether or not the primary residence is with you is irrelevant. The only relevant fact is who has custody. If you have sole custody, the school MUST take him back, as she had not authority to remove him. If you have joint custody, both parents must be in agreement. If they can't agree, they go to court.





Refusing court ordered visitation will land you in hot water. Don't do it. If you want to get back at her, take her to court for misrepresentation of guardianship.
I'm not an attorney by any means, but have had my share of drama in the family court system. I would advise you not to withhold visitation. You can file a motion for order to show cause to find the mother in contempt (for exercising rights she doesn't have). You have to prove it's in the child's best interest to not have visitation with the mother and than can be very hard to do. Look around your area for attorney's who offer free consultations, as I'm just going off of experience. Also, if the school allowed the mother to do this without a copy of the court order (stating her rights) they can be in big trouble. I'd suggest looking into an attorney for that as well. Schools have to be very very careful these days and it doesn't sound as though they're taking the appropriate steps.
Your husbands divorce papers should show he has custody, so the school should be aware that the kids mom has NO rights to make any decisions!


Even if the lady isn't pay child support, you shouldn't take it upon yourselves to STOP child/mother contact because of YOUR OWN ANGER!! That falls into the catogory as ';game playing'; and useing the kids as Pawns in the match!





It also sounds to me that you and your hubby's parenting skills suck if this kid has played hooky 24 days!! WHERE are you 2 in his LIFE? Why haven't you been paying attention to his actions?


Time to stand up and be parents all the way around!!





I raised 4 kids alone!! They didn't play hooky! I kept in contact with the school!! So should you!! or maybe NOT YOU, but your HUSBAND should.
Take it back to court! Show them that she doesn't have his best interest in mind. That should be enough to grant FULL custody. Keep at it and make sure you're on top of things in his life. Call that school or have them call you when something like this comes along again. Take a copy of the divorce decree if needed.