It is with tremendous sadness and deep humility that I am reaching out to my friends, family, loved ones and anyone with a compassionate heart that can sympathize with this situation.

This is the most trying time of my life, my ex-husband and the father of our son suddenly and tragically passed away.

Although I have full, legal custody of my son he has been living with my ex husbands estranged girlfriend. After the death of his father I filed an emergency ex-parte court hearing to secure custody of my son. We have a hearing set for April 14th in Santa Monica. I have to retain a lawyer to represent me. After this date was set, she filed a separate case petitioning for guardianship of my son. I was served with papers to appear at this hearing which takes place in downtown Los Angeles (in a different court system) on April 30th.

This means that I now have to finance legal counsel to secure my rights as my sons only living parent, while also securing representation with her guardianship petition.

The sad thing in all of this is that it has to go to court. I way hoping to resolve this amicably.

Without going into legal specifics or details here I can tell you that I'm only interested in what's best for my son, his emotional, physical and academic future.

Having just lost his father, the last thing that should happen if for this young man to be put through the emotional trauma of extended legal procedures. I hope this can be resolved quickly so my son can get through this, grieve in peace and obtain a sense of security during this transition. To move forward in his life, to a bright future surrounded by his family and loved ones.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, I'm feeling strong and positive. The bond between a mother and son is so powerful, we WILL get through this.  
Thanks for the love and support from all of you.
Thank you to my higher power for giving me strenght and courage to stand up for my child.

Love,
 Babs