Lawyer Fees to protect my family and home

My name is Anna and this is a fundraiser to protect my daughter from a dangerous father and to protect our family home. Please read the Backstory at the bottom for the important facts of the case. But, in summary, he has the expensive lawyer who is old friends with the judge and there are custody, support, conviction, and divorce hearings coming up. As a full-time homeschool mom and part-time worker, retaining a lawyer is an impossible expense. But, this is so important and we only get one chance to get this right.

UPDATE:

Thank you so much for all your donations so far! It has made a world of difference. And I've gotten quite emotional several times over all the support coming in.

I was finally able to retain a lawyer using what was donated along with a small loan I took out using my car as collateral.

Unfortunately, retaining a lawyer is only the initial down payment and, if Taylor gets his way, this will be dragged out through the courts for quite sometime. He has already filed a couple of bogus accusations that his lawyer retracted for him. So the games are beginning on his end, apparently.

There was a temporary custody hearing recently. He is currently requesting that Leona have every other weekend at his home, an hour and half away from everyone she knows. *please read the backstory below to understand why this is a terrifying idea* It should be noted that Leona DOES NOT want this at all. She has repeatedly told him that she is afraid of him, but he blames me for her feeling that way.

The woman who is Leona's advocate has only spoken to Leona for 15 minutes last November, but spent an hour talking with Taylor prior to the hearing. Then, in court, she asked Taylor - NOT LEONA- if he had taught her gun safety. He blatantly said yes, which the judge believed. But when I asked Leona later, she was shocked and said, "no he only taught me how to hold a nerf gun." The temporary custody hearing was a nightmare. Everyone was there for Taylor's rights as a father and I was the only one fighting for Leona's physical safety. When Taylor was asked why he stored the guns in that place, he said he moved them all over the house and they believed him - they actually believed that he moved an entire drawer of heavy ammo, several guns, and even the receipts from 2 years ago all over the house without the knowledge of his wife and daughter??? They believed every word he said because he had a lawyer and I didn't. It was gross.

Taylor has continued to financially sabotage his family by not accurately reporting his income to the courts, filing my taxes without consent and keeping the money, stealing the $6000 lawn mower to sell and keep the money, refinancing the home without my consent, and draining the savings account that Leona has had for 3 years. To show for all his "hard work", he has a new motorcycle, truck bed cover, Nintendo switch, smart watch, $300 cowboy boots, and quite an impressive bar tab. He has gotten his VA disability increased, taken a second job, gotten a promotion - all of this is really great for him. BUT he has not reported any of that new income to the courts and has left his wife with 5 animals, an EBT card, no lawn mower, and an inability to work for the first 3 months. He said in court that he wants Leona to be homeschooled but he also doesn't want to pay enough required to support it - this home is her school and my place of business, but he doesn't want us living here (forcing us to move would disrupt my ability to make money and maintain educational consistency for Leona). Maintenance of our 3-bedroom home is also exclusively my responsibility - we recently had some flooding and my mom had to step in and purchase a dehumidifier for me.

His lawyer is threatening ME with a psyche evaluation - which would cost ME $3000. Taylor is actually diagnosed with PTSD, paranoia, and anger issues and collects at least 50% disability for mental issues. When I recently saw a counselor, I was reported as level headed and perfectly sane, aside from mild anxiety (most likely associated with abuse).

Sorry to drag out my financial issues, but it really is a lot, y'all.

BACKSTORY:

In the fall of 2022, my husband revealed that he had been collecting guns and ammo for years, unbeknownst to anyone in the family. I found multiple, fully loaded, round in chamber, with no safety - it took only a small child to pick one up and pull the trigger - in a bottom drawer in my daughters toy/play area. When I approached him about this, he attacked me. My entire upper body was bruised and my ribs were fractured. After 4 days I was able to drive myself to urgent care. During those four days, he refused to care for me, making our 9 yr old do my usual household chores. He even threatened me not to tell anyone at urgent care what happened or I would lose our daughter.

A counselor at urgent care gave me gunlocks to bring home to him, which he refused to use. The next day I petitioned for a protective order, which was made permanent and his rights to carry a gun were revoked. He has asked for his guns to be secretly returned to him, so it is very likely that he is armed, still. On the advice of counsel, I pressed charges. He is currently out on bond for felony unlawful wounding. I petitioned for full custody of our daughter, who has witnessed his abuse and was left to care for me and the household after my injuries. I also petitioned for child support.

According to Virginia law, I cannot pursue a divorce until his conviction or one year time has passed. Because he has a great lawyer, his conviction hearing has been moved from May to November - something which would not happen if I had a lawyer to speak to courts on my behalf.

He has continued to pull money from our daughter's savings account. He committed tax fraud by filing our taxes jointly against my wishes.

6 years ago I attempted to leave him. He got a lawyer and filed false accusations against me which lead to our daughter being taken away from me for 2 weeks while I awaited the hearing (she was still breastfeeding at the time). The judge threw it out based on no evidence and she was finally returned to me. After, he continued to use her as a battleground - arguing over bedtimes, pick up times, diet, and every other thing that he paid no attention to prior to the separation. He also went to extreme means to financially sabotage me so that I could not properly care for her on my own. During the 2 years that we were separated, he did not pay me one cent to care for Leona. I made $300 a week working full-time while living in my mom's guestroom, buying all her groceries and clothing, getting her ready for preschool, taking care of her hair and teeth. I was so beaten down by it all, I went back to him, only to give Leona a better quality of life.

I feel like David and Goliath. Despite the truth being on my side, that is not always how the court system operates. This is too important. If he wins in court, it will directly impact our daughter in negative ways. In order to protect her, I need a lawyer.