Custody Attorney Fees
Don protégé
(Update below!)
Hi. My name is Anna, and I've been a single mom since the middle of my pregnancy. My husband at the time walked out, leaving me bedridden with a back injury, awaiting surgery and terrified of losing our baby. Thankfully, baby survived surgery, and was born full-term, healthy and strong, and has since grown to be the sweetest, brightest, most creative, loving and outgoing little girl I could ever imagine. She is truly my sunshine, and her smile makes everything worth it.
In the divorce agreement, he agreed that I would have primary custody, and I offered and promised to maintain frequent Skype and phone contact between our daughter and her daddy, which I have. I've also kept her dad's extended relatives involved in her life as much as possible, and when her dad wasn't available by phone or Skype, often we would call her paternal grandma and aunts. I've hosted her dad's extended family in my home regularly over the past few years so as to encourage a wonderful bond with his side of her family, just as I have shared her with my own relatives and built a community around us full of friends and neighbors who are as dear to us as family.
Fast forward to now, our little girl has been thriving. I can hear her happily singing and playing piano in her bedroom as I'm writing this.
This past May her dad moved back to Indiana, giving us less than a month of notice, and once he arrived, he immediately filed for custody.
I've been blessed to have a wonderful attorney take our case, thanks to the kindness and caring of a local church that paid the initial $1500 retainer. This however, has been exhausted, and now my attorney requires $2000 up front by October 2nd to get properly prepared for trial.
I very much value her father's participation and involvement in our daughter's life, but I don't think a 5 yr old little girl should lose access to her mommy and the only home she's ever known for a huge portion of her remaining childhood. Yes, I understand her father feels it is unfair to him, but this is not about his feelings or mine. This is about protecting the emotional well-being of a happy confident child and not making her pay the price for the choices made by her parents.
Please help me retain my attorney so that I can continue to make my daughter's childhood the best it can be, and even if you can't afford to donate (as I know many of my friends and family are also struggling), please keep us in your prayers.
Update 3/29/16: Our trial went well, our custody situation remains unchanged, and now life moves forward! There was a large reduction in child support retroactive to May 2015 that reduce the weekly support further until the balance is paid in full. I'm asking for help with paying off the lastof $2147 in legal fees. My attorney has been incredible, as well as conscientious in her billing, and I am surprised and thankful the remaining balance is as low as it is.
Thank you who have helped, and you are welcome to share this publicly now that it's all over and I've edited it down to the bare details.
Hi. My name is Anna, and I've been a single mom since the middle of my pregnancy. My husband at the time walked out, leaving me bedridden with a back injury, awaiting surgery and terrified of losing our baby. Thankfully, baby survived surgery, and was born full-term, healthy and strong, and has since grown to be the sweetest, brightest, most creative, loving and outgoing little girl I could ever imagine. She is truly my sunshine, and her smile makes everything worth it.
In the divorce agreement, he agreed that I would have primary custody, and I offered and promised to maintain frequent Skype and phone contact between our daughter and her daddy, which I have. I've also kept her dad's extended relatives involved in her life as much as possible, and when her dad wasn't available by phone or Skype, often we would call her paternal grandma and aunts. I've hosted her dad's extended family in my home regularly over the past few years so as to encourage a wonderful bond with his side of her family, just as I have shared her with my own relatives and built a community around us full of friends and neighbors who are as dear to us as family.
Fast forward to now, our little girl has been thriving. I can hear her happily singing and playing piano in her bedroom as I'm writing this.
This past May her dad moved back to Indiana, giving us less than a month of notice, and once he arrived, he immediately filed for custody.
I've been blessed to have a wonderful attorney take our case, thanks to the kindness and caring of a local church that paid the initial $1500 retainer. This however, has been exhausted, and now my attorney requires $2000 up front by October 2nd to get properly prepared for trial.
I very much value her father's participation and involvement in our daughter's life, but I don't think a 5 yr old little girl should lose access to her mommy and the only home she's ever known for a huge portion of her remaining childhood. Yes, I understand her father feels it is unfair to him, but this is not about his feelings or mine. This is about protecting the emotional well-being of a happy confident child and not making her pay the price for the choices made by her parents.
Please help me retain my attorney so that I can continue to make my daughter's childhood the best it can be, and even if you can't afford to donate (as I know many of my friends and family are also struggling), please keep us in your prayers.
Update 3/29/16: Our trial went well, our custody situation remains unchanged, and now life moves forward! There was a large reduction in child support retroactive to May 2015 that reduce the weekly support further until the balance is paid in full. I'm asking for help with paying off the lastof $2147 in legal fees. My attorney has been incredible, as well as conscientious in her billing, and I am surprised and thankful the remaining balance is as low as it is.
Thank you who have helped, and you are welcome to share this publicly now that it's all over and I've edited it down to the bare details.
Organisateur
Anna Bone
Organisateur
Lafayette, IN
