
Support a Father's Fight for Custody Rights
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We are beginning the long and costly legal battle for custody of my daughter.
A little background, we have a court ordered supervised visitation on the 1st, 3rd & 5th Saturdays of the month, from 2-4 PM at the location designated by my daughter's mother. This visitation schedule was put in place when I was incarcerated for drug use and I could not fight it, so she got a default order granting what she requested. And to be honest, at that time in my life I was not in a position to be the father my daughter deserved. Since my release from incarceration, I have been on a straight and narrow path. I am over 2 years sober, completed my substance abuse outpatient program, successfully discharged from parole, met my wife and if you ask anyone who knew me 5 years ago, I have turned my life completely around.
I would like to add that mine and my daughter's mother's relationship was toxic. I am just as much at fault for us not being together as she is, but at this point that is not what matters, what matters is me trying to be there for my daughter and be the best father I can be for her.
Since I was released from prison, I had no way to get a hold of my daughter's mother to be able to be in my daughter's life, and any time I tried before I went to prison, it was ALWAYS a fight. I would show up with boxes of diapers and wipes and she would throw them at me in the street because they weren't the "right brand" of diapers when I had no way to get a hold of her to even ask what brand she'd like. She would make huge scenes while my daughter was in the window crying for me. I accepted defeat and let her win and just stayed away for the past couple of years, thinking it was better for my daughter not to be exposed to that toxicity.
It wasn't until my wife began seeking legal advice that we learned we could send paperwork to her mother to notify her that we intend on exercising my right to my court ordered visitation. And that it would be very important to document everything we can to help our case. I live 6 hours away from my daughter one way and work weekends frequently, so being there every weekend isn't feasible, as much as I would like it to be. I informed her mother that I will be exercising my right to supervised visitation once a month and have since stuck to that.
We sent her the certified letter informing her that I would like my visit on 11/2/24 and asked if we could do it at the trampoline park. My daughter turned 5 on 11/1 so we thought my daughter would love it if we did a birthday party for her at the trampoline park, and told her mother we would pay for her other kids tickets and order pizza and cake and all of that. Again- it's not about us it's about my baby girl and what I think she would enjoy. I was informed the visit would not be at the trampoline park, it would be at the police station. She later changed the visitation to the local library. Fine- we'll make the best of it. So we rented the study room at the library and set it up with decorations and cake and gifts.
In our most recent visit, most of you have seen the video. She walked in at 1:53-ish when our visit was scheduled for 2. We weren't recording from the moment she walked in because we did not expect the reaction we received. I kneeled down and reached my arms out for my daughter. Her eyes lit up and she ran to give me a hug and her mother snatched her out of my arms. She told me it wasn't 2 o'clock yet and they were going to the basement(where the kids area is located) I told her we had a party set up for her upstairs and that's when my wife began recording because it was obvious where this was going. The woman walked in looking to fight. Shortly after we got downstairs, she called the cops and they showed up and informed her that they couldn't do anything to enforce the visit, they couldn't do anything to make her stay and it is all a civil matter, all they can do is make sure that nothing turns violent. Because the cops were there, she finally allowed my daughter to come see the party just long enough to open her gifts and sing her happy birthday. She was SO excited about her unicorn cake and her mother demanded that she grab the gifts and take a piece of cake to go. The visit was ended by 2:23PM when I should have had my visit until 4.
That being said- we need to take her back to court and we're going to need an attorney. We have requested quotes from multiple attorneys and $5,500 is the least costly retainer that we have found. We received most quotes upwards of $10K. I have never been one to ask for help, and I know that we will receive some backlash from hateful people but I am willing to deal with that, because I am desperate at this point. My daughter deserves to know the life I can offer her now, and I deserve to be a part of my daughter's life without her mother ripping her away from me and controlling every aspect of our visits, and forfeiting the visit because of her inability to control her emotions. Any help is appreciated. And haters, please back off, this is hard enough as it is.
Organizer

Bobby Marksberry
Organizer
Willis, TX