Retainer fee for Custody Lawyer

Hi everyone.

My name is Nikkole Ledda and I’m the mother of the sweetest, little girl, Ellie.

I got pregnant with Ellie when I was 21. I found out the day after I left my abusive ex that I was pregnant and against all advice given by friends, I kept my baby girl because I knew she was going to change my world in the best way.

Her dad was not involved during my entire pregnancy and we didn’t even speak to each other. It wasn’t until my daughter was a few months old that his mother took an interest in my daughter and decided to pay and force her son to take me to court.

Despite the previous abuse, my daughters dad was granted supervised visits with her. Eventually they took me to court to get unsupervised visits and won. His mother has continued to pay for him to take me back many times over the years, despite me being a single mother with no financial help as her son doesn’t pay child support (even though he’s ordered to).

This past year my daughter has complained about many issues at her fathers home, including not being fed and him sleeping all day while she just roams around his house by herself. Amongst other things that I am saving for court. I spoke with a lawyer a few months ago but was told that a retainer would be $3500. I was on an unpaid maternity leave from work and unable to afford this. I planned to wait until the new year and to save every check I made to get this resolved. This same lawyer decided based on everything I told him, that I needed to fight for supervised visits again. 

Unfortunately they’ve filed a motion before I could get the chance. I am still in my first week back from maternity leave and still unable to afford a $3500 retainer. I have never asked for help from anyone but protecting my daughter is so important to me. They are fighting me on a number of things and most of it is all lies to try to manipulate into taking time away from me. It is simply all their way of continuing to try to have control over me & my life, as narcissists do. 

My court hearing is December 1, 2021 and with the holidays coming up, I only have a few days to retain a lawyer.

I don’t expect anything from anyone but would absolutely be so grateful for any help.