QLD Chances of 50/50 custody

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Amelia5

Member
24 August 2018
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Hello,
My fiance's daughter Amy is 7 and he has had her in his care Thurs through to Sunday morning since separation which was over 18 months ago. Initially they had agreed to an equal care arrangement but a couple of months into it she changed it to Thurs to Sunday. He has a written document that she signed when they seperated agreeing to 50/50 and has texts to show when she changed it.
Since November last year we have been embroiled in a custody issue. Mediation was august of 2017 and she refused to go back in December of 2017 instead choosing the court route of getting a family report. We haven't spoken to the family report writer yet and we're due back in court in November. We've recently discovered that she's filed for a subpoena for his medical records from 3 years ago to try and substantiate her claims of his mental instability and trying to proove he's an unfit parent. In his affadivt he provided a discharge document of his time spent seeing a psychologist for the living with pain program which was very positive. Since doing the program at the end of 2016 he's been off all pain medication and has found a new career as a child educator. It's important to note that while he was injured and not working he was Amy's primary carer for 2 years whilst she worked. The medical records she has issued a subpoena for was during this time which I feel contradicts her claims of fear that he is a mentally unstable and unfit parent.
He and I attend parent teacher interviews are involved with school and do homework tasks weekly. We go halves in all medical and have paid and booked all of Amy's psychology appoinments. Her mother rarely attends and has only contributed financially to 3 out of the 11 appointments so far. Amy and my son (who is 5) have a very strong bond and see eachother as brother and sister. We also have a new addition to our family and he's now 7 months old. Both Amy and my son adore their little brother.
The reason behind the psychology appointments was initially started by the mother and we have continued with it to help support Amy with the major adjustment of her parents separation and in adjusting to the arrival of her brother. Her mother is recently engaged and pregnant and we feel the ongoing psychology appointments would be beneficial to support this new adjustment.
His ex is seeking time be reduced to 3 nights a fortnight, friday to monday morning. This is through her claims that Amy isn't coping with the current arrangement and that my partner is being emotionally and psychologically abusive. She has made claims from their 10 year marriage of emotional and verbal abuse and has outwardly lied and twisted facts to suit her adgenda.
What are the chances of a 50/50 arrangement?
 

sammy01

Well-Known Member
27 September 2015
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so just checking? right now he has Thrusday - Sunday morning (weekly)???
 

Amelia5

Member
24 August 2018
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Yes he has her every week Thursday to Sunday 10am. If she is sick on a Thursday he will take the day off work to care for her as he sees it as his responsibility since it's his scheduled time.
 

sammy01

Well-Known Member
27 September 2015
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So you're off to court in November?
50/50 good chance. Continuation of 6 a fortnight, which ain't a bad deal - even better chance.
Chance of her losing credibility? very good. If your partner is such a basket case (which it would appear is the argument for reducing his time) she is gonna struggle. If he is a nutter then she should refuse access on welfare grounds. He can't be a nutter some of the time... I'm interested to see how this goes for you guys.
 

Amelia5

Member
24 August 2018
4
0
1
Yep court on the 1st of November. Once he receives the subpoena we intend to file a notice of objection on the grounds of the documents being irrelevant. We will need to go to court before Nov to hear the decision on this.
He openly admits to mentally struggling at the time and after his injury. As a result of his injury he lost his livelihood and identity. From that time he's come an incredibly long way. There's no evidence to suggest he's a nutter or an unfit parent which is why I suppose she's going after medical records from 3-4 years ago. I guess our argument is if she had such grievous concern for her daughter's welfare she would have taken this route a lot sooner, it would have been her legal obligation to do so.
We're doing this all ourselves as we can't afford legal costs, what we pay for is advice as it's needed (which in itself is a lot). Some how she is being able to fund her endeavour. My concern is that she'll achieve her goal because we can't afford representation.
 

Migz

Well-Known Member
20 November 2016
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A couple of points;
1. He is now a Child Educator, include all of his paperwork showing his current "Blue card", in your court paperwork
2. I wouldn't be objecting to the medical records being viewed, and most Judges would allow it as he is a parent coming into contact with the child, and the medical records being asked for are less than 5 years old. Plus the fact that he sought help actually is a positive for his character as he looked to fix a known issue, you need to spin it around and put it in a positive light.
3. How to counteract this Subpoena is to get a written letter from the GP stating that he is off all pain meds and fully capable of looking after his child, add this to your court paperwork.

Make sure you take all this paperwork with you to the Family Report Writer interview should and when it ever happens.

The fact that he had substantial time previously, I don't see it going backwards, continue to push for 50/50, I think you have a good case going on what I have read and at face value.
 

Amelia5

Member
24 August 2018
4
0
1
3. How to counteract this Subpoena is to get a written letter from the GP stating that he is off all pain meds and fully capable of looking after his child, add this to your court paperwork.

Should he see his doctor first or wait until the subpoena is served?

Thanks for your input.