Help Reunite My Brother and His Son

Hi, my name is Ally; I am starting this Go Fund Me for my brother Kyle. He’s an amazing brother, son, and father. Last year my brother asked his wife for a divorce for several reasons, none of which need to be announced publicly, to which she was sad but agreed to it. My brother is in the Navy and had to travel to Hawaii on a detachment. Detachment is similar to deployment. It’s just not as long.

On his detachment, a sonobuoy exploded, and he was standing next to it. It snapped his tibia and fibia, and they immediately began surgery to try to salvage the right leg. This accident left his leg with a rod from his knee down to his ankle and screws everywhere. Luckily, he survived this accident, but he can no longer fly with the Navy. This accident was almost a year ago, and he still can’t run, stand or sit for long periods. He is in so much pain every day and doesn’t get much sleep.

When he came home to his wife with this injury, he was in a wheelchair and still did his son’s bath, bed and bottle routine even though it was upstairs. Out of his son’s almost 3 years, he did this every night except for the six months he was deployed. While in this state, his wife asked him to move out of the house, he had nowhere to go except on his friend’s sofa, and that’s where he stayed. He needed 24-hour care at this moment, so our father and mother flew him to Florida to be with family. They helped him change his bandages, use the restroom, make his meals, shower, and even try to start walking.

When he returned home, he had nowhere to go. He tried to go home again, and she said no. So, he went back to his friend’s house. 2 days after being home, they agreed they would hire a mediator because they were both living off his navy salary (which is not much). They decided it was important for Leo to be in both of their lives and for them to remain a family unit. The next day Kyle was served with divorce papers and a restraining order. A restraining order! She claimed he was an alcoholic and violent, and she was “scared of how he would take the news.”

There was no history of violence, no intense fights, or even arguing. There was once incident in March 2019 when she was angry that he changed up the bedtime routine when our family and I flew in to see Kyle before his first deployment, and she threw the tv down the stairs, he went downstairs to see if it was broken and “aggressively took the remote out of her hands” This was the incident she used to get the restraining order only she changed the date of when it happened and then called Fleet and Family (a naval family resource) to file it.

She was granted her restraining order; she also took out a loan in their joint Navy Federal account to hire a lawyer, and he was not allowed to see his son until they went to court. Once they finally went to court, he could only see his son 5 hours a week. She also was awarded her credit cards and car to be paid for, both of which she had before marriage; he also pays for two open credit cards, which she continues to charge (so she gets to charge on her credit card and get spousal support). In addition, he must pay for the credit card that purchased her lawyer and her lawyer fees. A double whammy.

The court ordered a guardian at litem to the case, but he also has to pay for that. Our mother paid for a lovely 2-bedroom apartment and fully furnished it, so Leo could come over and spend time with him and have his own space. He could not afford rent because she was getting all of his housing allowances the navy gives you, $400 in spousal support and $705 in child support.

During all this madness, my brother received a navy achievement medal and made an E-5 (increase in rank). A month later, she filed an emergency motion for more money and said that she needed to move to Puerto Rico due to the cost of living. Kyle asked our mom to come over from Nashville for emotional support and help With Leo while he worked to ask for 50/50 custody, and she agreed.

Shortly after this happened the court granted her request saying she was the primary parent because she was a stay-at-home mom, and she was able to move to Puerto Rico with a parenting plan that included 2) 15-minute video calls per week.

Last month, she asked for increased spousal support because she maxed out her credit cards and the minimum payments went up even though her expenses had decreased. She was granted this even though this puts Kyle in the negative of what he currently brings in vs what is going out. He does not have enough to cover his bills and hers. He also drives an old, beat-up car that is on its last leg because a car payment simply is not in the budget.

He presented this to the court with a budget from the Marine Corps, proving that what he was saying was factual. This included bank logs that show my mom has been sending him money monthly, even paying his child support, his rent, food, her car payment, their phone bills etc., because he cannot cover it.

Moreover, he could not afford his lawyer anymore, so he is now representing himself, but he still needs to pay for her attorney. His bills are currently $1400 over what he makes monthly, putting him in contempt if he doesn’t pay. He will lose his security clearance at the Navy and his disability pay in the future (he cannot do his job anymore due to his injury). No one is listening to him, no one believes him, and he is being taken advantage of simply because he cannot afford a reasonable attorney, so I am raising money to help him hire one. The attorney is $6,000 for the retainer, but he also needs a few months to pay this child support, or he is in jeopardy of losing everything he has worked so hard for.

Please help my brother be reunited with his son. This is legal kidnapping, and fathers have rights too.