Donate to help Justice be served

Edited to add more detail.

Hello, my name is Megan, and I am trying to help a close family member pay for court fees, attorney fees, and anything involved in this fight for freedom and peace from a demanding and abusive ex. Unable to put exact names for legal reasons at this time, I’ll call this family the Smiths.

Several years ago, Mr. Smith and his first wife divorced, and about a year later he met the now-Mrs. Smith. They dated for about a year, got engaged, and were married in 2019. Mr. Smith brought into the marriage his three beautiful children that he had primary custody of, and Mrs. Smith brought her one child from her first marriage that she had sole custody of, making an amazing family together. Right from the start, Mrs. Smith stepped up as the stepmom and more for these children, making sure everyone had clothes, good healthy food, care needed, and everything else. The children loved her, calling her “mom” not long after their family started, calling her from school when something amazing happened, coming to her when they had bad dreams, etc. Not long after the marriage began, it became apparent why the previous Smith marriage had ended. The children began coming to their dad and stepmom with concerning things to say about their mother and stepdad in their other home, were being returned from the other home in extremely questionable states (the snow clothes they had been sent with missing and their return being refused while the kids were wearing sandals and shorts with a foot of snow on the ground, the youngest wearing diapers that were so full that there wasn’t time for the 5-minute drive home before the poor child’s clothes were soaked or covered in poop, the mom and stepdad returning the children at 8:30 at night and saying they had not been fed dinner or lunch, the children not being bathed for a week – and the smell that accompanied them certainly supported that claim, etc.). Mr. Smith attempted to address these concerns with his ex and was told these things would stop immediately, so he thought that was that.

The issues stopped for a short time, but unfortunately continued, and became much, much worse. The ex began taking the children from school/preschool/daycare when she wasn’t supposed to and refusing to answer calls or texts, especially if the current Mrs. Smith was the one that was going to be picking them up from school or daycare. Mr. Smith once again spoke to his ex and asked that this behavior please stop as it is very damaging and confusing to the children, and that everyone just needs to work together to provide the best for the children, and it did stop again for a short while.

Mr. Smith talked with the ex about having the children talk with a therapist since having the major changes in their lives would obviously be confusing and maybe difficult for the children to understand. Unfortunately, the ex adamantly refused, and Mr. Smith didn’t push at that time, but still expressed his desires for this.

At a doctor’s check-up, a couple of the children told the doctor the worst news that a parent never wants to hear - “new daddy” had touched them in “funny ways and places that made them feel funny.” They pointed at parts of their bodies and said he touched them there and there. The doctor was floored. Mr. Smith was informed, and the state’s Child Protective Services (CPS) were immediately called by the doctor. This led to further disclosures from the children. A judge determined that he was extremely concerned by what the children had said and put in place a protective order saying the ex and her husband couldn’t see or speak to the children for awhile. The ex immediately called the police and attempted to have the children forcibly removed from their father’s care, but the police thankfully refused due to the active protective order against her and her husband. The Smiths needed to hire an attorney, costing them several thousand dollars to retain one. After a short court battle, it became clear that the courts and CPS were biased towards the ex, and the protective order was removed.

Over the next two years, the children talked about how their “new daddy” kept touching their “cupcake,” telling them he loved when he ate their “strawberry ice cream,” and that he didn’t want them to tell anyone, but they knew that they shouldn’t keep secrets from Daddy and Mommy Smith so they told them. The children even told their teachers at different schools or daycares, and church leaders about some of these things, who called CPS. After a couple of years, CPS eventually told Mr. and Mrs. Smith that if any more calls were received against the ex or her new husband, that the Smiths would be brought up on charges of “false reporting to law enforcement.” CPS told the Smiths that they knew that the Smiths had only called CPS once out of the 12+ calls they had received regarding the ex and her husband, but they didn’t care and would bring charges against the Smiths if they received another call. At this point, the ex had already begun her retribution against the Smiths on her own, and the “fun” began.

The ex first filed a claim that Mrs. Smith possibly spoke poorly about her in front of the children, violating the divorce decree between the ex and Mr. Smith, so Mr. Smith therefore needed to go to jail and pay a hefty fine because he “failed to control his wife.” The Commissioner that heard this case dismissed it, explaining to the ex that you cannot send someone to jail because someone else might have done something, and that Mrs. Smith could not be held accountable for what the divorce decree between the ex and Mr. Smith said since she was not named in it. Next, the ex called the police and claimed that Mr. Smith had kidnapped the children and was keeping them from her during her visitation time, claiming this twice, and causing the police to show up at the Smith home, traumatizing the children. All four of the children came to Mrs. Smith later, in turn, telling her essentially the same thing – they were terrified and thought that the police were there to arrest her or Daddy Smith because of something that the ex had said. This led to criminal charges of Custodial Interference being filed against Mr. Smith by the state. Mr. Smith had to hire a criminal defense attorney, costing him $5,000. Thankfully, Mr. Smith and his attorney were able to prove that Mr. Smith was actually supposed to be exercising his parental rights at both times the ex had called, and the charges were dismissed.

Over the next year, the ex filed claims herself or via the children telling their therapists, against Mr. Smith, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Smith’s 9-year-old child, even their brand-new puppy! Every time the kids said something, it came out that the ex had been the one who had told them what to say, but they just wanted to make her happy so they did what she asked; or that they had been threatened that their nana-bear or something else extremely precious to them would get taken away if they didn’t do what she said. The claims ranged from Mr. Smith owing half of retirement funds that didn’t exist (the ex actually requested that these accounts be cashed out while they were married, and the documents requesting this with her signature sealed the fate of that legal request), to the Smith’s brand new puppy attacking the children and demanding she be put down (no injuries were found on the children – the puppy was saved!), to Mr. Smith keeping the children from the ex again, Mrs. Smith speaking ill of the ex again, and more. The ex demanded a copy of any of all emails, texts, instant messages, or a recounting of all verbal conversations that Mr. and Mrs. Smith had where they mentioned herself, her husband, the divorce, or the children, in an attempt to prove that the Smiths were speaking maliciously of the ex and her husband; she claimed the Smiths were once again keeping the children from her and demanded the police remove the children from the Smith’s home. The commissioner denied her requests time and time again, but the Smiths were still forced to go to court each time, spending thousands of dollars in preparation and for the court appearances themselves.

About three months after the last of these court appearances, the ex filed a new complaint, stating that Mr. Smith and Mrs. Smith had purposefully planned timing of custody of the children so that the eldest would begin her first menstrual cycle with the Smiths, and that they had attempted to hide that fact and refused to let the ex come pick up the child. At the court hearing in the Family Courts, the ex and her attorney showed the commissioner the text messages from Mr. Smith “proving” that he had done this, but the text messages actually showed the ex being informed that the eldest had started her cycle but was doing fine, a several-hour delay before the ex replied demanding she be allowed to call the children at that exact moment, and Mr. Smith saying that that exact moment wouldn’t work because they were at a work function for families offered by Mrs. Smith’s company and that they would be happy to let her call later or the next day with no reply to that offer from the ex. The ex stated that this, the fact that Mr. Smith changed the kids’ school after he moved three towns away (remember, he was the primary custodial parent), that they had gotten a therapist for the children during a protective order time without the ex’s permission, and all the other claims she had filed against the Smiths proved that Mr. Smith was unfit to be the primary custodial parent of the children, so the ex should receive sole custody of the children effective immediately, and her current husband should be allowed to adopt the children. The ex also demanded that she be granted all courts and attorney fees, child support, and that Mr. Smith be required to pay 100% of her daycare and child medical costs “since he was forcing her to do this.” The commissioner denied the requests and told the ex that if she came before them again with these ridiculous demands she would be found in contempt of court. Despite this, and the countless other wins, the Smiths were now over $80,000 into this legal mess, and had to begin taking on some extra work to pay the bills. They had had to apply all tax returns, money that was set aside to start their new business, and any monetary gifts they received to the cost of these bills. They had to borrow money from Mrs. Smith’s parents, and take out loans to pay for these fees, but they thought that maybe, for now, the stress would be done and gone since the family court commissioner told the ex to stop.

That summer, the Smiths were given the opportunity to take the children to a Fun Center that had skating, laser tag, bounce houses, ropes courses, and more; the kids loved it, and were, of course, rambunctious kids. One of the children was very headstrong and determined to accomplish things on her own, even if that meant falling down and getting hurt over and over, and she certainly was the same with skating. For two days in a row, the young child was determined to learn to skate, and wouldn’t give up or accept help even though she fell over and over. The same was said for when the kids went to play laser tag. At the end of the fun-filled days, the child - along with the others - was covered head to toe with bruises. When it came time to give the kids to the ex two days later, Mrs. Smith informed her of the source of the bruises on the child – learning to skate, and falling while doing it. The kids excitedly told their mother of the great time they had at the Fun Center, and were quick to show the bruises they had from their exciting adventures, the one child exclaiming that they had tried to roller skate by themselves and was getting the hang of it and showed off the bruises to go along with it in the way excited children do. The ex laughed it all off and said she was so happy the children had had so much fun, thanking Mrs. Smith for taking them there. Mrs. Smith, now ever wary of the ex, recorded the entire exchange, and thank goodness she did.

A few days later, the Smiths went to the meeting spot to get the kids, but they never showed up. Mr. Smith began calling and texting the ex, asking where the children were, where they needed to go to pick them up, but the ex denied his calls and wouldn’t answer his texts. Finally, about two hours later, the ex texted him and said that the children were safe, and her attorney or someone else would be in contact soon.

Mrs. Smith then received a phone call from the sheriff's office asking her to come in so she could be served her protective order and speak to the deputy regarding allegations that she had beaten one of the children. Their proof? – the child was covered in bruises from head to toe, and the mother said that she had been told by Mrs. Smith that the bruising came from a bounce house. Mrs. Smith knew she needed to call their attorneys again. The attorneys discovered that the ex had gone to the Juvenile Courts this time, bypassing the ruling from the Family Court Commissioner a month prior, and told Mrs. Smith not to speak to the police without them there. Mrs. Smith was served her papers and told the police that she would love to talk with them with her attorneys present, providing their contact information to the police. She then started packing her bags so that Mr. Smith could get the children back without her being there violating her protective order; she would go stay with family.

Mr. Smith was then served with a notice that a protective order had been filed against him as well but had been denied by the courts, and the attorneys were told he could go get his children. He went to the ex’s home to collect the children, only to have the police show up and search him, and the ex came out onto the front porch in hysterics. The police told Mr. Smith that the ex had called them and told them he was there violating his protective order, and that he had appeared at the ex’s house threatening her with weapons – none of which were found on him. Mr. Smith showed the police the denied protective order and was told that he needed to leave and let the courts work this out.

The Smiths went to court for their respective protective orders. Mrs. Smith’s stayed in place; Mr. Smith’s was denied again. The ex told the judge that she didn’t agree and needed more time to find an attorney for herself (despite the fact that she had hired one several days earlier, who had already been in contact with the Smith’s attorneys, but he just wasn’t able to make the court date), and asked the judge to stay things until she could find an attorney. The judge repeated himself and told Mr. Smith to go get his children. Once again, Mr. Smith showed up at the ex’s house, with the judge’s denial of the protective order in-hand, and once again the ex called the police and claimed he was there violating a protective order and threatening her and her family, and once again he was told by the police to leave. Several weeks later, they were back at court again, and the judge again told the ex that she was in violation of the divorce decree and to give Mr. Smith the children, and once again she called the police when Mr. Smith showed up with a signed Writ of Assistance from the judge’s clerk this time, and once again Mr. Smith was told to leave.

Mr. Smith eventually found out that the police officer that had responded was a family-friend of the ex’s, and was using Mrs. Smith’s protective order as grounds to keep the children with the ex.

A horrendous legal battle ensued, resulting in thousands of dollars more for the Smiths in order to go back to court over 10+ times over the next few months for this, to hire an expert witness, to have their attorneys prepare, and everything else. The children testified, the Smiths testified; Mrs. Smith’s child wasn’t allowed to testify. An expert in child abuse and trauma testified that there was no way Mrs. Smith could have done what they were claiming due to an injury she had at the time. The “victim” testified that it didn’t happen, but had been told what to say. The middle child testified that the abuse didn’t happen, but the ex had told them what to say. The eldest testified that she wasn’t there at the time, but her mother had told her what happened. The ex was proven to be committing perjury in her testimony, claiming first that she had never been told about the bruises, then that she had been told that they came from a bounce house, which “was ridiculous,” and that no mention of skating had ever been made. The Smith’s attorneys cued up the recording from Mrs. Smith of the child exchange, in which the ex’s voice could clearly be heard acknowledging being told about the bruises and that they came from falling while learning to skate, but she denied ever remembering that conversation and said she “possibly was told about this.” The ex was asked if a month before these allegations, she had been denied sole custody of the children in the Family Courts and had been told by that court that she needed to stop harassing the Smiths – she said she may have, but she couldn’t remember. The CPS worker was proven to be committing perjury in her testimony and her filed report, again through recordings of interviews with the children and others. Closing arguments were made by the Smith’s attorneys, the ex’s attorney, and the attorney assigned by the courts to the children – the Guardian Ad Litem, and that attorney did not like the Smiths. The Guardian Ad Litem told the judge that Mrs. Smith was “absolutely guilty,” and that Mr. Smith had been an accomplice by allowing it. The juvenile court judge ruled in favor of the ex, citing word-for-word that the one attorney had said. Mrs. Smith was not allowed to be near the Smith children for several months, had to take parenting classes, and have an evaluation by a therapist for anger management. But Mr. Smith was allowed to be around the children since the judge believed the abuse happened when he was not at home.

Mrs. Smith and her child began the process of leaving their home every other week when the children were with Mr. Smith. She took not one, but three parenting classes to prove her dedication to these children she loved as her own. CPS received her evaluation from the therapist but wasn’t satisfied, and Mrs. Smith was ordered to do another evaluation, which repeated the findings of the first – Mrs. Smith was not a danger to herself or anyone else, and never had been. Mrs. Smith received papers that she was being charged criminally with abusing the child, so she had to hire another attorney, costing them another $5,000, and another loan. The Smiths were crumbling, and Mr. Smith ultimately had to find another apartment in order to appease the ex and CPS.

The day after Mrs. Smith’s protective order was done, she was able to see the children again. The visit was filled with tears of joy, hugs, kisses, the youngest asking her where she had been, why she had gone away, and for Mommy Smith to never leave again. CPS came during the visit and saw the youngest clinging to Mrs. Smith, refusing to be put down even while Mrs. Smith attempted to make dinner. A couple of days later, Mrs. Smith was informed that the ex had asked the Juvenile Courts Judge to extend the protective order, stating that she had heard Mrs. Smith threatening Mr. Smith in the presence of the children – the judge denied the order, stating that Mrs. Smith had gone above and beyond to prove herself. Two days later, Mrs. Smith was served a protective order from the criminal courts stating that the ex had claimed that Mrs. Smith had threatened Mr. Smith in front of the children, and was a danger to the children, so she had to stay away from them indefinitely (until told otherwise).

The resulting legal battle in the Criminal Courts lasted two years. Meanwhile, the ex didn’t stop her harassment of Mr. Smith, filing more false allegations of aggravated abuse against the eldest child as soon as she found out that he and Mrs. Smith were still married and spending time together when the children weren’t present. A temporary protective order was assigned to Mr. Smith, but was quickly dismissed, along with the allegations by the ex, and a date for mediation to discuss the ex’s “other concerns with the divorce” was scheduled for a couple months away. Mrs. Smith was declared not guilty in the Criminal Courts, but not before she had lost the career that she had literally poured her blood, sweat, and tears into and had been dreaming of for years. Case closed. Over the last 2 ½ years, they had been drug through the mud, stressing about what was coming next, and the thousands of dollars they now had to pay back. Things were starting to look up for the Smiths again, kind of, (over $110,00 later), but that relief was very short-lived. That next week, the ex filed a new claim in the Family Courts, requesting sole custody of the children, compensation for being forced to care for the children while Mr. Smith had had the protective order against him, claiming that that Mr. and Mrs. Smith both had active investigations of abuse against them – citing the cases that had just been resolved as the “active investigations.” Mr. and Mrs. Smith and their attorneys knew then that as long as they were in the kids’ lives the ex would never stop.

They went to mediation to attempt to resolve issues, where the ex added that Mr. Smith needed to pay 100% of her childcare and child medical costs since he was once again “forcing her to do this,” she wouldn’t budge and told the mediator that she knew that the children were in danger if they went back to the Smiths, and many more lies about what was said in the divorce decree and the other countless court cases, all of which the Smiths and their attorneys proved to be false right then and there. It was then that Mr. Smith had to make the most difficult decision ever – he gave permission for his ex’s new husband to adopt these beautiful children, in hopes that this would allow them the chance to live a normal life without being used as pawns or weapons. The mediator went to talk to the ex about this and returned to the Smiths saying that immediately upon hearing that Mr. Smith was willing to let her husband adopt the children, she broke down into sobs saying that that wasn’t what she wanted but if that was what Mr. Smith wanted then she would let him do that. In the Spring of 2023, the children were adopted by their stepfather.

The Smiths thought it was all done. The ex had won. She’d gotten sole custody of the children, had ripped away the core happiness of the Smith family, leaving them to collect the pieces of their lives and move on, so there wouldn’t be any further reason to bother them. They couldn’t be more wrong. Exactly one year after the last allegations were filed against Mr. Smith, the ex was back, filing more allegations, resulting in criminal charges against Mr. Smith.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith are now needing to hire another defense attorney and are being told that they need $30,000 just to start, with another $25,000+ needed as they get closer to the trial date. Over the last 3 ½ years, the Smiths have had to respond to and fight off over 13 allegations, claims, and demands from Mr. Smith’s ex-wife. They just want to move on, live their lives, and enjoy the little family they have left. They’ve had to take out loan after loan, borrow money from family, and have nowhere left to turn to get the financial support they need. They’ve sold vehicles, have donated plasma, have taken extra jobs to cover the bills and pay back the loans, and as such are already maxed out in terms of earning money, sitting at $120,000 in the hole already. They’ve lost people they thought were friends because of the lies told by the ex, careers that they’ve worked so hard for, goals, money that was meant to better the lives of the children, and so much more. They just want to start their own family and move on. Please, please, help this family to find peace and be able to live the lives and find the happiness they deserve.

Donations will be used to help pay the current amount needed for the new attorney, and any remaining funds will be used to pay off the monies owed to family law attorneys and loans already taken out to pay attorneys. ANY AMOUNT WILL HELP!