Blog post here

I finally received the answer to my motion that I filed oh so long ago. I knew that lawyers were a vicious bunch but this really takes the cake.

Before I get to the nitty gritty I'm going to give a little run-down of what happened.

On October 2nd-ish I got a letter in the mail from her lawyer (yes... lawyer) stating that she had enclosed the answer to my motion for her to review. Inside was a document from 2010 regarding anther dispute. I called the lawyer, she wasn't sure what I was talking about but we eventually got it together and she ended up coming over tonight to deliver the correct paperwork.

In her response she states, in brief:

  1. That she told me about the football enrollment: that's true, but it was AFTER we got notice that we had an appointment to go into court.
  2. "There is no information that is available to (her) that isn't not available to (me)" Oh? Then why did I have to call every single flag football league in the area to find out where my son was playing?
  3. That calling her three times in the space of a day is unacceptable and expecting a response within 24 hours is unacceptable as well. Ok... I'll bite this one; I was a bit impatient but when someone says they'll call me is it a reasonable expectation to be called back? Maybe it's just me.
  4. That my attendance is disruptive. I've covered this one before; they love me there and I'm not a distraction. If I was I think the coaches would tell me to GTFO.
  5. That I willfully altered the emergency contact information at my son's school. This is a creative way of saying that I didn't know that my information would overwrite hers. Not my intention.
  6. That after being given the times for my youngest son's football games I was unable to make it to the game on October 1st. What she fails to mention is that I managed to, finally, land a job that is an hour away from where I live. I told her that. I told my sons that. She just... forgot, I guess.
  7. Questions whether or not I should have joint legal custody. Guess getting involved in my son's lives is a good reason to take it away, huh?

None of this comes as any surprise; the idea behind the motions and answers-to-motions are to make the person you're filing against or responding to seem like an impossible, crass and generally hideous human being.

Lawyers are just a little better at it than I am.

My day in court is on Thursday. I'm going to go in with my head up, my eyes open and I'm not going to let anyone take me down.

Also, this isn't the entire bit; I've just skimmed the document and posted what I felt were the most salient points.*