[jns]

He shared more about her and their relationship history, but it didn't shed much light on it. The thing for me is that, he isn't a stupid, or unassertive man. He is savvy, intelligent, and I can't imagine he didn't understand his custody agreement when he signed it. He's no pushover.

Lawyers can be quite clever at times and occasionally fool even a good lawyer on the other side.

[atskitty2]

I guess that's true jns...he's smart but hasn't studied law.

[WaveRider]

astkitty2,

If you want what could be credible info, go to the court that has jurisdiction of his divorce, pull his divorce file and read it. However, it won't contain court transcripts (oral testimony). For those, you'll have to access the court's stenographer.

[atskitty2]

He never married the kid's mother. They were together 12+ yrs. So there's no divorce papers to read.
I'd not be inclined to do that anyway, unless I thought he had lied.

[jns]

He never married the kid's mother. They were together 12+ yrs. So there's no divorce papers to read.
I'd not be inclined to do that anyway, unless I thought he had lied.

Depending on the state, there is still the possibility of common-law marriage. I think that never being in a formal marriage with the mother probably leads to diminished rights on his part.

[atskitty2]

That's what I thought jns, even tho they lived together all those years. I'll see what more he shares as time goes on, and investigate if necessary, but at this point, I'm curious and interested what could possibly have happened.

ETA: there's no longer commonlaw marriage here.

[WaveRider]

He never married the kid's mother. They were together 12+ yrs. So there's no divorce papers to read.
I'd not be inclined to do that anyway, unless I thought he had lied.

If there's a custody order, there was a lawsuit. Hence, there would be court records that are available to you. They're public record. You can access them.

[Popcorn&Candy]

My parents divorced when I was a young teenager. Because my mother was ill, my dad got custody of us. As amy40 says: it is in best interest of the children. My mother was in no fit state to take care of myself, brother and sister. Courts are usually fair [of course, there are exceptions] but the court will put the child/children first. It is not always the woman who gets custody.

I also second everyone elses posts.

[Texasred]

It varies hugely state by state, but generally speaking, when it comes to child custody issues, the man is assumed guilty of something, not "until proven innocent," but forever. The system is run by women and for women exclusively. A good friend of mine had to fight in court for years to get custody of his two daughters from his drug-abusing, heroin-addicted, convicted-felon ex-wife. *Then* the court wanted to penalize him for "waiting so long!!!"

[atskitty2]

I have no idea what this woman did or how. He seems to share just a little more info each time it comes up.
He hasn't been allowed to see his kids in over 6 months.