My thoughts exactly. In this case, the person who wrote the custody study is a “licensed marriage and family therapist.” In hindsight I think she was very biased in favor of Susan from the beginning. This “therapist,” by her own account, was a single teen mother herself. She didn’t go to college and start a career until after her kids were grown, in her 40s. Therefore I think she really related to poor Susan, who probably reminded her of herself. There is no other logical explanation for how biased against Greg this woman’s custody report was.
And unfortunately for Greg, from everything we can gather, the court basically just rubber-stamps the therapist’s report and recommendations. To fight it in a full trial would cost Greg at least $30,000 to $50,000 more. He does not have that kind of money. He has no choice but to give up. His next court hearing is this Friday, where he will basically have to bow down and leave the proceedings with his tail between his legs. There is nothing more he can do.
In another blow, if you can believe this, when Greg told his attorney that he wanted to write a point-by-point rebuttal to the therapist’s report and have it entered into the court record, his attorney mockingly said that no one, including the judge, would ever read it, and it would be a waste of his time and money.
Regardless, Greg will be submitting the rebuttal anyway, even if we are the only ones who will ever lay eyes on it.
Let me also add that the therapist’s custody report was riddled with major factual errors. In many instances, she reprinted allegations made by Susan as if they were facts, with no attempt to get a response from Greg.
The most serious thing she did, though, was reprint excerpts from e-mails written by Susan, wherein Susan was quoting things Greg allegedly said (which he did not say), and the therapist presented these quotes as actual statements that Greg made.
So for example, Susan sent the therapist an e-mail where Susan claimed that Greg once said in a conversation between them several very negative statements (which he did not say).
The therapist then reprinted these quoted statements citing them as actual statements that Greg made, without noting that they were actually quotes from an e-mail written by Susan herself.
This was done with about 4-5 statements, which made Greg look very bad. Greg has written to the therapist and his attorney requesting that these egregious errors be fixed and he never got any response.
After this is all over, we do plan on filing a formal complaint against this woman with the state licensing board that governs LMFTs in California.
You are once again shown to be wildly out of touch with American life. You cannot drink alcohol at 18 or rent a car. Many states also require child support to age 21 or through college. 18 is amorphous at best.
Well, there you have it. Hook line and sinker. Teen moms are these morons who believe “nobody helps them” and they face “insurmountable trials” to get “where I am today”. Uh, you fucked someone and didn’t take precautions in a world where condoms are $1 and birth control is free if you’re low-income - why am I supposed to feel bad for you? You didn’t get AIDS through no fault of your own, you didn’t wake up with cancer one day - you, lady, had sex and had a baby.
I had a sociology professor in college who was a leading expert in her field - teenage motherhood. Talk about a chip on her shoulder. Jesus Christ. As if America isn’t full of immigrants who have had it rough.
I believe it is pretty hard to sue a government employee for statements made as part of her job. Otherwise any person not convicted in a trial could sue the prosecutor, for example.
And perjury is knowingly false statements under oath. Is the report of a therapist given under oath?
Technically, she is not a government employee. She is a therapist in private practice appointed by the judge to do the report. Greg paid her entire fee which was over $6,000.
From what I can gather, the best thing to do would bring a compliant before her licensing board claiming that she did not perform her duties to the best of her ability, and that she acted in an unprofessional manner. I have not found anything suggesting that we would be able to sue her. But even if we could, that costs money, money which Greg does not have.
If nothing is done, the court is going to keep appointing this incompetent woman to other cases. I would like to figure out a way to warn other people who may have her appointed to their cases. Maybe post a review on Angie’s List or something?
What sucks is there is no way for the public to be able to scrutinize her past performance, because these custody reports are confidential and sealed. So no one but the judge and the families know the contents of their own reports, and are legally barred from disclosing the report to anyone else. So there is no way to be able to see if this particular “therapist” is performing poorly across the board, or consistently showing bias for mothers.
And when you think about it, she is basically getting a steady stream of business sent her way by the courts. The plaintiff has no choice in the matter. The judge just says, Ms. XYZ, LMFT, is appointed to your case, and you have to pay her entire fee of $6,000, and the judge essentially rubber-stamps whatever her report says, and offers the plaintiff no recourse for a serious flawed product. There are no checks and balances, and this lady is free to get a steady stream of cases from the court, do a shoddy job, and go on her merry way without any scrutiny.
Eighteen is a excellent cut off point. It’s the point at which you can join the military (and potentially kill somebody or be killed yourself) and the point where baring mental defect the legal system views you as an adult for the purpose of prosecution, trial, and sentencing. Renting a car or signing a lease can happen at eighteen. There’s nothing legally preventing an eighteen year-old from doing those things only the policies of various car rental companies and landlords.
I would ask your lawyer about criticizing her on Angie’s List first, just because she sounds stupid enough to sue in retaliation or somesuch. But if the lawyer gives the thumbs up, by all means do it. If you can’t save yourself, at least help others to know she’s a deadbeat piece of shit.
I’ve seen too many cases where the courts screw up on custody to give positive encouragement on that point but it might help to realize that if there were no other people in the house except for the mother and your boyfriend’s 3 children she still would not be spending more money on the kids. She would be buying them second hand clothes and scrimping on them to pay for whatever luxuries she deserved.
Since his 3 are teens and the wheels of justice move slowly maybe he should consider letting it go and saving all he can for his kids so they can leave her house when they’re 18. He can still call them every week but do it in a way they know he called, so she can’t say he never calls. If the kids have emails he should email so she can’t say he never writes. Does he offer them long summer vacations in DC without reducing her payment Not fair but she might go for that as it will be a mini vacation for her.
Even if he can manage to have $1,000 for a kid as a graduation present, that’s a big deal. If the ex manages to get the kids through graduation in this situation she has done at least some hard work.