A New Low

[How to communicate after a contentious divorce...]

BPDm who has not had custody or visitation ( or any contact) for 17 months and has requested a full blown trial to try to get the judge to change his mind about going along with three CE reports stating that mom needs intensive therapy prior to unsupervised visits has hit new all time low.

She has actually subpoenaed SD8 for the trial. For heavens sake this woman knows no shame.
She would actually put her tramatized 8 year old on the witness stand with her attorney asking questions, the same attorney that is going along with filing the subpoena.

We are of course going to fight it, and our L says there is NO way the courts will allow it. But I am just appalled and flabbergasted at the insensitivity of a mother who thinks that her eight year old should see her for the first time in almost two years in a court room under that kind of stress.     

Please let the judge see the depth of this mothers illness and continue to protect her from her.

[bravhart1]

BPDm who has not had custody or visitation ( or any contact) for 17 months and has requested a full blown trial to try to get the judge to change his mind about going along with three CE reports stating that mom needs intensive therapy prior to unsupervised visits has hit new all time low.

She has actually subpoenaed SD8 for the trial. For heavens sake this woman knows no shame.
She would actually put her tramatized 8 year old on the witness stand with her attorney asking questions, the same attorney that is going along with filing the subpoena.

We are of course going to fight it, and our L says there is NO way the courts will allow it. But I am just appalled and flabbergasted at the insensitivity of a mother who thinks that her eight year old should see her for the first time in almost two years in a court room under that kind of stress.     

Please let the judge see the depth of this mothers illness and continue to protect her from her.

[flourdust]

Yeah, that is amazingly self-centered and cruel. I'm glad your L is going to fight it.

[ForeverDad]

Courts are generally very reluctant to involve young children in the courtroom process.  Interviews with GALs, evaluators, CPS or children's services investigators, okay.  But testifying in court?  Yikes!  My court had a play room for children if they had to be brought but never let them in the hearing rooms.

I was in and out of court from when my son was 3 to nearly 12 years old.  Only in the last case did the magistrate agree to an in camera conversation with my son and the GAL.  (Though it was my ex who had requested it, I noticed that court staff conveniently, ahem, scheduled the session on my time.)  The court never revealed specifics from the interview.  Just a couple items, that son tried not to be in the middle favoring one parent over the other and he was more comfortable when discussing me and avoided eye contact when discussing his mother.

At 8 years old I would expect the court to have a court social worker or a counselor or similar professional submit a report, or the judge have a relatively private and informal encounter, rather than have the child give testimony.

[Thunderstruck]

The judges we've seen have been very against having children testify in court (especially at 8 years old). That's way too stressful. Kids don't want to be placed in the middle. :/ What could she possibly say that would change the situation for BPDmom?

[bravhart1]

We feel fairly certain that the judge will not allow it.

As far as what she hopes to gain? Geez who knows, could be anything.
She spent years programming this kid to say stuff about us. She may want to see how much stuck?

Based on her deposition questions she's fishing for anything she can contort into us being the problem