Hi - my name is Jeri. My husband Nick and I have our daughter (Nicole), 5 year old granddaughter and mentally challenged brother-in-law living with us. My husband (former firefighter) was severely injured in 1982 and cannot work; his disability payments are less than $800/month. I'm self-employed as a consultant (until mid-January, when I start a new job). My current contract is out of hours and ended this week.
My daughter has relapsing/remitting multiple sclerosis, which has been acting up the last several months. She cannot work and most of her child support is used for our granddaughter's pre-school each month.
Her ex-husband filed a motion in October for full custody and legal decision-making of their daughter, claiming our daughter has a severe drug problem and that she neglects our daughter. NONE of this is true. Nicole has been in supervised pain management for the severe leg and back pain associated with the MS exacerbations, has never failed a drug test at the pain providers, and our granddaughter is the light of her (and our) life, happy and healthy. She goes to a Montessori school, is bright as can be, and absorbing information like a sponge. Her father doesn't believe that pre-school is worth paying for and wants to reduce the $1000/month he gives Nicole for child support to less than 2/3 of the amount.
The initial retainer we paid to the lawyers for her is used up and we are faced with not only another retainer but a motion for temporary custody by the ex, who claimed that because her drug tests have all come back negative from the testing place imposed by the court, that she must be "gaming the system."
Just to give you some perspective, our daughter's ex never went to a neurologist appointment with her when they were married, never visited her in the hospital when she had exacerbations, didn't believe she was ill. He also claimed his first wife was a chronic drug user who "faked having cancer in order to take drugs." His first wife had lymphoma.
The emergency hearing is scheduled for 1/5/17 and cannot be postponed. Her lawyers said if we cannot come up with the additional retainer by Tueday, 1/4/17, they will not represent her in the hearing on the 5th, as well as will not continue on the case until the next retainer is paid.
My daughter has asked for a payment plan, but the legal counsel said the money has to be in the retainer account before they can move forward with anything after today. We are strapped for cash due to a house we purchased that has turned into a remodeling nightmare (mold, electrical and plumbing not up to code, we replaced every window in the place because they ALL leaked, etc.). We are out of funds and my current contract for work cut down to 1/3 the hours the last few months. I don't start my new job until mid January.
We need the funds ASAP to prevent him from getting full custody and demanding Nicole have supervised visitation for a few hours every other week with her daughter. Additionally, the lawyers will need more retainer once the new one is used up.
None of us can even imagine the pain and heartache of not having our granddaughter here with us, much less the stress and devastation it would put on both Nicole her daughter. Our granddaughter's father has never been much in her life, calls every other week for 5 minutes, and sees her every other month for 3-4 days or so, even though he lives less than 40 miles from us.
We would very much appreciate your consideration and donation, as I know this time of year is one where people are asked to give. No donation is too small. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
My daughter has relapsing/remitting multiple sclerosis, which has been acting up the last several months. She cannot work and most of her child support is used for our granddaughter's pre-school each month.
Her ex-husband filed a motion in October for full custody and legal decision-making of their daughter, claiming our daughter has a severe drug problem and that she neglects our daughter. NONE of this is true. Nicole has been in supervised pain management for the severe leg and back pain associated with the MS exacerbations, has never failed a drug test at the pain providers, and our granddaughter is the light of her (and our) life, happy and healthy. She goes to a Montessori school, is bright as can be, and absorbing information like a sponge. Her father doesn't believe that pre-school is worth paying for and wants to reduce the $1000/month he gives Nicole for child support to less than 2/3 of the amount.
The initial retainer we paid to the lawyers for her is used up and we are faced with not only another retainer but a motion for temporary custody by the ex, who claimed that because her drug tests have all come back negative from the testing place imposed by the court, that she must be "gaming the system."
Just to give you some perspective, our daughter's ex never went to a neurologist appointment with her when they were married, never visited her in the hospital when she had exacerbations, didn't believe she was ill. He also claimed his first wife was a chronic drug user who "faked having cancer in order to take drugs." His first wife had lymphoma.
The emergency hearing is scheduled for 1/5/17 and cannot be postponed. Her lawyers said if we cannot come up with the additional retainer by Tueday, 1/4/17, they will not represent her in the hearing on the 5th, as well as will not continue on the case until the next retainer is paid.
My daughter has asked for a payment plan, but the legal counsel said the money has to be in the retainer account before they can move forward with anything after today. We are strapped for cash due to a house we purchased that has turned into a remodeling nightmare (mold, electrical and plumbing not up to code, we replaced every window in the place because they ALL leaked, etc.). We are out of funds and my current contract for work cut down to 1/3 the hours the last few months. I don't start my new job until mid January.
We need the funds ASAP to prevent him from getting full custody and demanding Nicole have supervised visitation for a few hours every other week with her daughter. Additionally, the lawyers will need more retainer once the new one is used up.
None of us can even imagine the pain and heartache of not having our granddaughter here with us, much less the stress and devastation it would put on both Nicole her daughter. Our granddaughter's father has never been much in her life, calls every other week for 5 minutes, and sees her every other month for 3-4 days or so, even though he lives less than 40 miles from us.
We would very much appreciate your consideration and donation, as I know this time of year is one where people are asked to give. No donation is too small. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.