child custody question – Texas?
I am 36 and have a 5 year old son. Me and mx ex currently have joint-custody of him. I have him every 1st, 3rd, and 5th weekend. The situation is this. His mother is currently in rehab for pain perscription medication abuse. She has been fighting this battle for 2-3 years now. She does not have a job and lives with her parents who are currently caring for my son while she is in rehab. My question? She has alot of medical issues that require she tak medication. Her problem is she abuses it. Is this enough to go on to seek custody of my son who also has a brother from a different father that lives with them. I want to seek custody of my son but my first concern is one I would have to prove she is a unfit mother and not sure if this qualifies. My second concern is would a judge even consider splitting two brothers apart? Any help on this is much appreciated. I want to fight for my son but want to make sure I am fighting a fight I can win.
You never know until you try right?? hes your son fight for him if you want him – i dont htink the other child would even be an issue since you are not his father.. the only thing i can think is that they may also make the other child live somewhere else or go in to foster care or something if she is seen as an unfit mother i dont think they would let her keep the other child
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October 1st, 2009 at 9:44 pm
You never know until you try right?? hes your son fight for him if you want him – i dont htink the other child would even be an issue since you are not his father.. the only thing i can think is that they may also make the other child live somewhere else or go in to foster care or something if she is seen as an unfit mother i dont think they would let her keep the other child
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October 1st, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Is this her first time in rehab? Do you have PROOF that she is a drug addict? You MIGHT have a case. Talk to a good lawyer about this, but you should try for sure. Your son’s brother is not yours so he would probably not be included in a custody case of YOUR child. A lawyer can tell you what you would need to have for a court to prove she is unfit (from documentation to interviews with other people in her life).
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October 1st, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Is your son safe and happy living with the grandparents? If so I wouldn’t move him from the home he is happy with. If he is in danger or not being cared for I would try for custody. It may be hard. Today the parents can behave as careless as they want and most judges don’t see any problem with it.
Don’t fight for your son because you are sure you’ll win. Fight because you love him and you are concerned about him.
Good luck!
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October 1st, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Of course her abusing her prescription meds is enough to prove her to be an unfit mother. Judges frown on drug use/abuse. Also, yes a judge would split 2 brothers apart if it is in the best interest of the child. Just make sure you have proof of her addiction and that she is in rehab.
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October 1st, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Drug abuse is one of the legitimate reasons to remove a child from the mom in TX. You could easily file an emergency motion for custody for the boy right now, and you probably should. It’s in your favor to get him while she’s in rehab, because that’s proof of her problem.
The disposition of the other boy’s custody really isn’t pertinent to your custody case. I think CPS will probably get involved and do something about him, too.
This is a great time to move. Call the county clerk’s office where you live and ask them exactly how to do this. You probably won’t even need an attorney for the emergency motion. Good luck.
I’m in TX.
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October 1st, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Hello,
First off I feel you on this one becasue I had a woman who had the same issue. If her taking the medication is medically necessary there is more than likely nothing you can do. However in Texas there is a very large problem with prescription mills that hand these scripts out to most anyone complaining of an issue. Most recently pain management clinics can no longer prescribe xannax without the patient first having a phsyc eval. Second, pain management clinics hand out different looking prescriptions than a regular doctor’s office. They are "pain management prescriptions" and reputable pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS wont touch them.
The easiest thing for you to do is find out or proove that she is going to more than one doctor for the same medicine. If she is, she is breaking the law. This would be a Federal drug crime by the way so the State of Texas may or may not pick up those charges. At any rate she could get herself in to more trouble than just family court issues with you by doing this.
Prooving her an unfit mother through prescription drug abuse may be difficult for you without the aid of an attorney. But if you have "plain as day" evidence, like reciepts for the drugs or the bags they came in which would contain her name, the drug type and the date it was filled or issued. You can probably find these on her or in her car, or in her trash.
Trash is considered public once set along side the road, thus you would not be breaking any laws obtaining the things she threw away and you would be able to use them in court without having obtained a search warrant for this evidence.
One other thing to note is that the courts treat drug addiction as an illness primarily and tend to follow the simple principal that this person did not set out to be a drug addict and they will offer treatment options to her. You would most likely be awarded temporary custody of your son if you can prove to the court that she is going to more than one doctor for the same medicine.
You can go to http://www.mydivorceusa.com and sign up to download free texas divorce and custody forms. If you prefer to ask a lawyer they have a free lawyer refferal program as well.
It cost me $2000.00 to get custody of my daughter and it took about 12 months to be final. The courts are going to give her every chance they can to "make herself better" but they will more than likely grant you temporary custody of your son until she has proven to them she is a "better person." Her parents would not be able to stop you as they do not have as much rights to your child as you do.
You can file a petition with the court the modify the custody orders, you can file an emergency protection order or you may even want to get CPS involved. CPS will investigate your allegation. They can get access to information that you and I would need a court order to get. Like prescription drug records at local pharmacies and DEA records of filled prescriptions in her name.
They can make her submit to drug tests and check the levels of the drugs in her system to tell if she has been taking more than the doctor prescribed.
Custody issues in Texas can be a mess. Don’t lose your temper in court no matter what she or her parents may do or say to push your buttons. Keep it in the courts mind that your main concern is for the safety and well being of your son and nothing more. Do not act like you are trying screw her by taking custody away from her either. The courts will probably make you pay for and Ad Litem attorney. I had to pay $500 to the one they appointed to my case. This attorney is for having a neutral opinion on your sons best interests.
Hope all of this helps and good luck to you.
-Mike
References :
http://www.mydivorceusa.com
October 28th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
That’s a tough one and as one person said, you never know until you try. Think about this, what choice can you live with? Acting or not acting? Trying or not trying? That is what you will have to live wiith whether you win or lose, did you try?
December 3rd, 2009 at 1:03 am
I live in Montana and my brother has similar circumstances. Then almost exwife living off of her mother was addicted to prescription pain killers, and the judge admitted it was the worst case of drug addiction he’d ever seen. The judge then took her word that she was clean (she is incapable of telling the truth, con artist to the bone), and that my brother wasn’t as good of a father as she was a mother, even on the meds, (he is an AWESOME father), and awarded her full custody…
So, no. I have NO FAITH in the court system. The courts believe that children should be with their mother, at any costs. Fathers are punished for supporting their families.
Luckily, it was just a show on her part and she continued to let the daughter stay with her father, as long as she still recieved the child support. He has had the child 99% of the time since that ruling. Three car wrecks (chasing pills across the state), countless prescriptions, and two arrests for “fraudlently obtaining dangerous drugs” later, she had the nerve to file against him for contempt of court for not following the parenting plan. So now we’re trying to organize all of the evidence against her, and hope that the judge wakes up from his standard routine of mothers winning no matter what. My brother is TERRIFIED that the same thing is going to happen again, and he might lose his child all together.