Our client, the Mother, had a child with the opposing party, Father, and broke up with the opposing party shortly after the birth of their daughter. Our client was the victim of domestic violence at the hands of the opposing party.
When the client came to us, she had represented herself at an Order of Protection hearing, during which the judge unlawfully awarded the Father parenting time and issued an Order of Protection to that effect. We stepped in and filed for temporary orders, which were granted by the court after an evidentiary hearing, during which the Father and our client testified. We were able to secure temporary orders giving our client sole legal decision-making authority and our client was designated the primary residential parent. The opposing party was ordered to have only 1 hour per week of parenting time at a supervised facility, at his cost.
Due to our client’s serious concerns regarding the Father’s act of domestic violence against her, although the Father was granted 1 hour of supervised parenting time at a supervising facility, we were able to prevent the Father from seeing the child throughout the duration of the case.
We took the case to trial and were successful in cross examining the Father and presenting evidence of his parental fitness issues to the court. In the end, we were able to secure a total victory for our client. She was designated the primary residential parent, with the Father only having up to 1 hour per week of supervised parenting time at a reputable supervisory agency at his own expense. Our client was also granted sole legal decision-making authority. We were able to convince the court to order the Father to complete drug and alcohol testing, even though he denied having substance abuse issues. We also obtained an order requiring the Father to complete a domestic violence and anger management program. Despite the Father stating that he was unemployed and could not afford to pay for the supervisory agency to conduct his supervised visits, let alone pay for child support, we were able to successfully obtain a substantial award of child support for our client.