My brother in law and his wife have been separated for over a year and have 2 daughters. Their child custody/divorce case has dragged on and on and has been delayed. He is now out of money. He has an attorney but now owes her $8k. He already borrowed over $20k from family for a retainer and legal fees. He has bad credit so he cannot get a loan. On top of that, she set him up for an assault charge so he has to pay for a criminal attorney to get the case dismissed (she lied to the police about what happened, called back later to change the report and admit she bit him - surveillance tape from the store backs up his unchanging story). She did this because the judge issued temporary orders where it was a 50-50 split with no child support, which is what he has been asking for. So in order for her to get money from him, she had to have the kids more than half the time. He has fees for the criminal attorney, fees for the family attorney, and is now living with us because he cannot afford a place of his own. He has gotten rid of his vehicle so he has no more car payments either and drives one of our cars.
So I cannot stress enough that he has no more money. He cannot borrow any more. All of his extra money goes to attorneys and that is just to get him caught up. His family lawyer is dropping him for failure to pay. I’ve read some other answers on here that tell people they just have to borrow money as it is about the children. We understand that. He makes about $35k per year. He owes family and friends $20k and one attorney $8k, and will have to pay the other about $1k to get his case dropped. He has done all that he can to get his kids. He will probably be living with my family and I for the next few years so he can pay everyone back (half of the money he owes, he owes to us).
The question is what can he do now? There is no more money to borrow. He owns nothing he can even take a loan out against even if he had good credit. We need to know if there is any clinic out there that will help him. He’s been told he makes too much money to qualify, regardless of what his current debts are. He’s about to give up because it looks like he has no other options. Can he go to the next hearing without an attorney and just present his case? She has a history of violence so he has a couple of police reports indicating that. She has open CPS cases against her. It seems wrong to me that the judicial system will decide that what is in the best interests of the children depends on who has an attorney. She is living with her parents and makes around $20k a year. They cashed in their entire 401k to pay for her attorneys fees (around $40k). Their strategy has been to delay and disagree and basically cause attorneys to trade paperwork so it costs him more and more money because they know he’ll eventually run out. So their children should see their dad every other weekend because he ran out of sacrifices to make for them?
He can defiantly defend himself. It’s just that with a lawyer it is usually easier. He could also ask the judge to appoint the children a guardian ad lidem (kids attorney). Yes usually the parents each have to pay half, but it will wrap things up quicker normally. Sometimes the courts will also let you file indigent on the guardian. But if he has a good case, he will be ok on his own. I’m sure he has been paying attention over the last couple of years.
powered by Yahoo Answers
