In my previous blog posts, I’ve given co-parents step by step tools to strengthen their relationship for the betterment of their children. I started with Forgiveness, then I moved to Communication, and for my latest post, I talked about Flexibility. Each of those posts focused on ways to better the co-parenting relationship to prevent lawsuits. But, what happens when a lawsuit can’t be prevented? What happens when you’ve taken all the steps to be a better co-parent but your child’s other parent refuses to take those steps along with you? This is the issue I will address in today’s blog post.
There’s a famous saying that says “it takes two to tango,” which means that if a certain process is to work, it takes TEAMWORK. Since our topic is co-parenting, we can remove the word tango from the saying and insert co-parenting. So let’s say it together shall we? "It takes TWO to co-parent!" If one parent is not fully engaged in having a good co-parenting relationship, it doesn’t matter that the other parent is engaged. The co-parent relationship only works with effort from BOTH parents. So, if one parent is refusing to work as a team, then it may be time to hire a lawyer.
Below are factors to consider when determining if it is time to hire a lawyer:
Every conversation is an argument.
It doesn’t matter what you say or do, your child’s other parent takes offense to near everything you say and refuses to accept an apology when it is offered. These are parents that seem like “they’re mad for the sake of being mad” and the focus is on creating more problems rather than solutions.
There is no conversation at all.
The other parent avoids you at all cost. They either force someone to be the communicator between you both, or they block or ignore you when you attempt to communicate with them. Also, you have no line of communication between you and your child.
Your child is being used as a weapon to hurt you.
You have to comply with the other parent’s demands or you won’t be able to see or communicate with your child. A common way that this is used is when a parent is behind on child support. The other parent refuses to allow the parent who is behind to see or communicate with the child until payments are caught up, and even then, they still find a way to withhold your child from you.
Your relationship with your child is diminishing because the other parent speaks negatively about you to them.
Despite you asking your child’s other parent to please stop speaking about you negatively to your child, they will not stop. This has now caused your child to be angry with you because they have internalized and believed every negative word said about you. Often, a lot of it being untrue.
Your child’s other parent is refusing to support them financially.
When you have reached out to your child’s other parent for financial help multiple times but they consistently refuse. By Texas Law, parents are responsible for providing for their children, so failure to support is actionable and enforceable by law.
Your child’s other parent is harming or neglecting your child.
This is the most important factor because your delay in hiring a lawyer to help you try to get custody and possession of your child could result in serious injury to your child and in some horrible cases, death. Under this factor, your child’s other parent likely suffers from some mental illness that affects their behavior towards your child. This behavior could look like beating your child or cursing them out, refusing to feed your child properly, or refusing to groom your child properly i.e. not bathing or brushing teeth effectively or at all, which likely leaves your child with some sort of health issues.
If any of these factors apply to your situation, as mentioned before, it may be time to contact a lawyer to help you pursue legal action. It is important to talk to a lawyer that understands your situation both emotionally and financially (Family Law cases can cost north of $10,000). Furthermore, you will need a lawyer who will encourage you to not only make the right decision for yourself, but most importantly, for your child.
If you are looking for a lawyer as I described above or know of someone who does, I strongly encourage you to fill out the form on the contact page so that I can schedule you, or a one of your loved ones, for a FREE 30 minute consultation. The LEE Law Firm is a firm for YOU, and I am ready to help you fight for your child's best interest!
Comments