Existing Attorney fees
Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2016 5:20 am
Live in New York, Rochester.
To whom it may concern,
Please help me find some means of assistance and hopefully an end to the Attorney fee's I've struggled with the past 2 years.
I have a 9 year old son whose mother passed away in a car accident while under the influence of alcohol 2 years ago. Shortly after her death, her mother filed to receive my sons SSI & Disability benefits that my son's mother was giving to her before she died. I was notified weeks after the accident by the SSI office that she (Grandma) filed to receive those funds and that my son's mother was deceased. Days later I was also served with papers that she was taking me to court to get custody of my son so I had to get a lawyer in the county where my son had lived, 3 hours from my home.
The judge made it clear from the first court date that I have all legal rights to my son and that by law she could not get custody unless I was unfit to care for him, which I was not. Unfortunately she still had the right for her day I'm court.
She has had a long history of drug and alcohol abuse which is obvious to this day when trying to conversation with her. She desperately needed his monthly Social Security Disability checks to afford her rent as she only works 2 nights a week at a bar. Like us all she had the right to her day in court and continued on to trial. It wasn't until the trial was over that I learned she had found a lawyer for free by claiming poverty, which is how she could afford to carry this on for 6 months. Meanwhile, I was paying $350/hr. to a lawyer, missing numerous days of work and money on travel. She brought in 12 very strange people as witnesses during this time who all stated that my son lived in multiple homes during the week and not with her like she testified to. The judge was not impressed and was also growing more and more agitated by her antics and lies in court.
In the end she received no custody. I ended up owing $30,000 in lawyer and court fee's to fight for custody of my own son. Since she claimed poverty all court and lawyer fees fell on me. I had to take a loan from my parents to pay a portion up front for the attorney and still currently owe about $19,000 that I don't have.
I have been struggling for 2 years to keep it out of collections and keep up with all his medical bills as well as to pay the attorney off. My son was born with a serious heart condition (Tretrology of the Fallout) and had open heart surgery at 5 months old and will require another surgery at the age 18 or when his heart is Large enough. He has very large medical bills yearly that I also have to keep up with. I am at a loss on what to do and feel it was just morally wrong to have to pay all of this when I did not initiate this custody battle and is his only living parent with all the rights to my son.
Before him living with me full time he could barely read and was at a 3rd grade education level at the age of 8. He had a number of psychological issues that we addressed with a therapist. He is now doing better in school and registered in the IEP program, he is now 17 years old.
I do not drink, have never done drugs and have always had a full time Job and paid child support. I have owned the same home for 5 years and have had my longtime girlfriend of 4 years. Why as his only living parent and stable person in his life did I have to fight for custody totaling over $30,000 for my own child.
Please help me overcome this financial disaster.
To whom it may concern,
Please help me find some means of assistance and hopefully an end to the Attorney fee's I've struggled with the past 2 years.
I have a 9 year old son whose mother passed away in a car accident while under the influence of alcohol 2 years ago. Shortly after her death, her mother filed to receive my sons SSI & Disability benefits that my son's mother was giving to her before she died. I was notified weeks after the accident by the SSI office that she (Grandma) filed to receive those funds and that my son's mother was deceased. Days later I was also served with papers that she was taking me to court to get custody of my son so I had to get a lawyer in the county where my son had lived, 3 hours from my home.
The judge made it clear from the first court date that I have all legal rights to my son and that by law she could not get custody unless I was unfit to care for him, which I was not. Unfortunately she still had the right for her day I'm court.
She has had a long history of drug and alcohol abuse which is obvious to this day when trying to conversation with her. She desperately needed his monthly Social Security Disability checks to afford her rent as she only works 2 nights a week at a bar. Like us all she had the right to her day in court and continued on to trial. It wasn't until the trial was over that I learned she had found a lawyer for free by claiming poverty, which is how she could afford to carry this on for 6 months. Meanwhile, I was paying $350/hr. to a lawyer, missing numerous days of work and money on travel. She brought in 12 very strange people as witnesses during this time who all stated that my son lived in multiple homes during the week and not with her like she testified to. The judge was not impressed and was also growing more and more agitated by her antics and lies in court.
In the end she received no custody. I ended up owing $30,000 in lawyer and court fee's to fight for custody of my own son. Since she claimed poverty all court and lawyer fees fell on me. I had to take a loan from my parents to pay a portion up front for the attorney and still currently owe about $19,000 that I don't have.
I have been struggling for 2 years to keep it out of collections and keep up with all his medical bills as well as to pay the attorney off. My son was born with a serious heart condition (Tretrology of the Fallout) and had open heart surgery at 5 months old and will require another surgery at the age 18 or when his heart is Large enough. He has very large medical bills yearly that I also have to keep up with. I am at a loss on what to do and feel it was just morally wrong to have to pay all of this when I did not initiate this custody battle and is his only living parent with all the rights to my son.
Before him living with me full time he could barely read and was at a 3rd grade education level at the age of 8. He had a number of psychological issues that we addressed with a therapist. He is now doing better in school and registered in the IEP program, he is now 17 years old.
I do not drink, have never done drugs and have always had a full time Job and paid child support. I have owned the same home for 5 years and have had my longtime girlfriend of 4 years. Why as his only living parent and stable person in his life did I have to fight for custody totaling over $30,000 for my own child.
Please help me overcome this financial disaster.