Our courts don't work !

A reader of my post from Dec "My ex is a control freak" commented:

"I'm so sorry to hear about your situation. It sounds like you're dealing with a major control freak. I'm not sure how the court system works where you are but here in NYC she can't just change your visitation without going to court first. If I were you I would tell her that your visitation will remain the same until the court says otherwise, or somehow document the fact that she has not been allowing you to have your scheduled meetings with your son. That will play in your favor in future proceedings. Speak with your lawyer and find out what is the best plan moving forward for both you and your son's sake."

Thanks for the empathy... How do our courts work here? They don't, not just my opinion, our newspaper reported that our State Supreme Court has labeled our county divorce courts as inefficient, non-compliant, slow, and the worst in the state. What's been done about it. Nothing ! Actualy worse than nothing, see this post.

No one, and I mean no one, tells my ex anything, she doesn't answer to me, she doesn't answer to the courts, and she doesn't even answer to God (not yet anyway), when her religion frowned on the divorce, she changed it.

Our divorce courts pick a winner (residential parent) and a loser (NCP). I was designated the loser. My rights are practically unenforceable. Offically, my asswipe court order says we have shared parenting. BULLSHIT. See the long list of visitation problems I have had. But as I said before, I don't settle, I fight, but its an uphill battle.

My ex wanted to allow me 1 hour per week. The magistrate bumped that up to 2 hours after school 1 day a week and 4 hours on the weekend. I pointed out that this is still short of my (fairly limited) court ordered 4 hours after school 3 days a week. She did make a concession to allow one overnight and possibly some extended weekend visits.

At this point in time I can not afford a lawyer. That's not necessarily a bad thing, they don't work well in this county either as my many legal abuse posts show. Thanks for the encouragement. I think I'll get my visitation back, but it is a slow process that started in Nov 2008 and isn't likely to conclude at our next hearing in March 2009.

I do thank you for your encoragement, it helps me continue the fight for what is right.