Judge said he would rule after july 4th weekend... still waiting

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

I am not sure what to make out of it... . 

On the last day of testimony, we asked judge to issue a summer parenting order as summer parenting was silent on initial order.  I did not get last summer either.  Judge said he would get a final ruling on the weekend after lawyers gave their findings so he could have summer included in his final aslo.  Lawyers gave their findings on June 29.  We are still waiting.  School starts this week. 

My lawyer called the judges chambers about 3.5 weeks ago and said he would have it done shortly.  It is still not done. 

1.  Does that mean the judge realized it was going to be much harder than thought to rule.  Not realizing he had a 76 page Custody eval plus 2.5 days of testimony.  7 children and 2 with special needs... .that is he is taking time to read everything. 

2.  It does not mean anything.  Judges always take this long to rule on. 

Not sure why he told us he would completed it over a weekend and then still be 35 days late.   He does have 90 days, just hoping it does not take that long.

How long did yours take after testimony?

[Sluggo]

I am not sure what to make out of it... . 

On the last day of testimony, we asked judge to issue a summer parenting order as summer parenting was silent on initial order.  I did not get last summer either.  Judge said he would get a final ruling on the weekend after lawyers gave their findings so he could have summer included in his final aslo.  Lawyers gave their findings on June 29.  We are still waiting.  School starts this week. 

My lawyer called the judges chambers about 3.5 weeks ago and said he would have it done shortly.  It is still not done. 

1.  Does that mean the judge realized it was going to be much harder than thought to rule.  Not realizing he had a 76 page Custody eval plus 2.5 days of testimony.  7 children and 2 with special needs... .that is he is taking time to read everything. 

2.  It does not mean anything.  Judges always take this long to rule on. 

Not sure why he told us he would completed it over a weekend and then still be 35 days late.   He does have 90 days, just hoping it does not take that long.

How long did yours take after testimony?

[takingandsending]

That stinks, Sluggo. I don't have much experience with this, so hopefully others with more experience will post soon. Have you asked your L what options you have? I'd definitely press when the 90 days has expired.

[ForeverDad]

In 2013 I had custody but stuck with equal time.  A couple years before when I had won custody the GAL that that alone would be enough to deflate mother's entitlement hoping letting equal time continue she would have access to child support and be less obstructive.  Didn't happen.  So in 2012 I had gone back to court and filed again for majority time.  In mid-October we had two full days of testimony.  A decision had to be made within 60 days, or mid-December.  That day passed.  It was another two weeks, Dec 30, when the decision was filed.  Then my lawyer told me that we had to wait another two weeks before the court would journal the entry, to allow time if there was an objection or request for reconsideration.

So what might be a lockout for me, such as if I had filed an objection one day late, evidently doesn't apply to the court on its own rules.  Family courts are especially lenient when it chooses to be.  They are granted wide discretion and so its rules for itself are more like suggestions.  I had a Contempt of Court case where my lawyer said it was a slam dunk but the magistrate found a loophole.  My ex had failed to observe the notice rules and the magistrate ruled she had "an inability to comply" and was "technically" not in contempt  But she had ignored the notice requirement for vacations.  How?  The old order had just ended and the new order had not been in place long enough to give her the full time for notification.  Evidently the fact she didn't even try to comply didn't matter to the court.

[Thunderstruck]

For our temp CO, the judge told us it would be two weeks and he took two weeks. BUT he was being reassigned to another division and wanted to get all his cases wrapped up before he left (and before the Christmas holiday). We also didn't have any testimony or reports and only one child. So... .I don't know what you tell you. He might be overloaded with work/cases and hasn't gotten to it. Or it might be a large task with so much evidence to consider so he hasn't had enough time.

[Sluggo]

Thank you for your input takingandsending, FD, and thunderstruck.

I did hear today that the courts are taking the full 90 days in our area.  Good to know that the full 90 days might even not be accurate to keep my expectations in line with reality.

[ForeverDad]

Get make-up time.  Or take a vacation during Winter Break before the year ends.  However, you may have to be in the area to allow some time before Christmas or time during Christmas.

What does your lawyer say, does lack of specific mention of vacations in the temp order mean No or just not specified?  Too late now for this summer, but could you have defaulted to whatever vacation policies the county has published or posted online?  My county has Guideline Parenting Schedule that can be downloaded.  It lists vacation policies.  Could you have just used that?

I had assumed that Guideline was official and applicable to my temp orders.  (The first one lasted 4 months before the temporary protection orders were dismissed.  The second was my divorce temp order that lasted unchanged nearly two years for the entire divorce.)  However they didn't specifically list a vacation schedule though they did reference the Guideline which did.

I served my then-stbEx with a vacation notice.  Predictably she said No, as though the notice was a request.  I asked my lawyer what to do.  He said have a good time.  I had been smart and had timed to begin my vacation on my weekend, so I had him all weekend before she could make a fuss.  Well, once I didn't return - we were nearly to the Rocky Mountains by then - she got the police involved.  They didn't do much, after all, their main focus in domestic disputes is to defuse the immediate incident by separating the parents.  We were separated by 1000 miles.  She tried to get an Amber Alert but the deputy's log recorded that he told her the complaint didn't fit the criteria for Amber Alert.  (I thought it was well worded, he didn't say No, he deflected blame by saying the criteria did.)

The end result was that I was already deep into vacation time and distance so my lawyer had negotiated for me to call her every few days and let her talk to our preschooler.  I said she has my number, she never tried to call!  He still told me to do that.  That was basically my consequence.  Once I was back the professionals never mentioned it again.  I wondered if it was that old axiom, It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.  (I don't know your court or lawyers or stbEx so I can't estimate whether you could do as I did.)