He’s a master marksman at shooting himself in the foot. 0/3 in court and every time for good cause.

The problem is he’s a legit sociopath. He doesn’t recognize good from bad, or normal from abnormal. Every piece of evidence he entered worked directly against him; recording the kids covertly, video of him digging through her phone without consent to show his number was blocked, one thing after another. I’m just relieved the judge saw it for what it was and let him know what he thought about it.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

Congratulations!

Appreciate that. Yes, it’s like she’s emerged from a near drowning and can finally breathe. Today is the lightest I’ve seen her in months.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

Glad it went well for you. You'd hope this would slow him down in the future, but ....

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

I'm not sure "entertaining" is the right word as it's a serious stuff.

Your regular updates allow us all to follow along as things develop. It's like a cross between a soap drama / reality TV show. But very real for you and yours.

Glad to hear that things are seem to be turning out as they should, and in your favor.

This feels like when you see someone do some seriously egregious shit on the road, and you wish there was a cop around right then....only this time there is.

Hope y'all are breathing a little easier tonight.

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_________________________________________________
"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare" - Juma Ikangaa

http://www.litespeed.com

 
Great news. I hope things are less stressful for you all over the summer.

Is the custody case assigned to that judge?

I particularly like: “Judge said none of it matters, so long as it’s respectful.”

The judge was a substitute for the one she was supposed to have, who has ruled on their issues twice before. Lawyer says it happens in about 10% of cases. He’s from the county immediately west of here, as rural and remote a county you’ll find in VA; wife thinks it worked to her advantage (reference the comment on ATVs) and created a somewhat My Cousin Vinny dynamic with her ex and his family.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

One of the more delicious details is that my wife’s lawyer asked her if she wanted to hire a court reporter, which is necessary for appealing the ruling. She declined. He came back again and said his lawyer asked if she’d be willing to split the cost to obtain one, and she declined again. He didn’t want to pay the $600 to get one for himself, so now he’s stuck with a $40k tab for a case that went entirely against him in addition to higher child support and tuition burden, and arrears, that he chose to bring to the court, and no means to directly appeal because he didn’t want to spend the extra $300 himself.

I’m glad that door is closed but it would have been satisfying to read through the transcript.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

I believe there’s a six or twelve month moratorium on bringing the case to court again following a ruling, but you’re right, I suspect he won’t learn this time either. He’s an idiot with means and he probably won’t have trouble finding another lawyer eager to cash his check. It makes me wonder though, do attorneys talk about these kinds of cases in closed circles, and maintain some sort of informal “do not represent” list? It was clear this one didn’t know his history and got blindsided on several occasions. I’d be shocked if they worked together in the future, but also if a family law attorney in the area takes up his case in the future knowing his history in the courtroom.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

You tell stories without names or too many details.

But if I'm a family law attorney I would not be eager to jump into a case with a long history of losing. Experience teaches you to spot problem clients fast. But I would guess someone will think, "how bad can it be?"

I wouldn't touch divorce work no matter how much I needed money. I'd much rather work on indigent criminal cases, and that says a lot.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

Dang, it would be great to have the case permanently assigned to that judge.

This ruling will always be beneficial to your wife because she can refer to it, and it will be instructive to the regular judge. You know, in law and motion we always refer to the papers and records on file in a matter. In this case, I would try to identify a few general take-aways from this ruling and beat them like a drum in every future hearing.

For instance, the theme of respect being a foundational principle for behavioral rules for kids which is more important than any particular word in the kids’ vocabulary. Lack of respect will probably resurface in the future (because the ex struggles with that concept). This order provides a bit of clarity on the primacy of respect. That’s nice.

To side track this a bit (First Congrats, Sphere and Mrs, I am sure summer will be more enjoyable with this out of the way).. JPO is it just lawyers don't like losing? I mean as long as you can tolerate the client, I would think a client that wants to go to court all the time, even if they are going to lose, would be a solid $$ stream, then again, maybe most lawyers have enough business so it doesn't matter. Just seems odd that a business would not want a client who over utilizes the service. Like a lawn care company turning down someone who wants their lawn mowed daily.

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

Having a client who thinks they know more than you do is the biggest pain in the ass to deal with. They are usually the kind where if they get an adverse ruling, the first thing they will do is to not want to pay their fees and then if you attempt to go after them for fees, they will claim malpractice.

My firm actually has a question on the new business intake form that asks if the potential matter is coming from other counsel, and if so, why they are changing counsel.

Note: We do not do any kind of family law ever.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

I assume firms focused on family practice don't rely on getting paid more based on success in court, like a personal claims lawyer might? I do wonder if they build firm reputation and client base in part based on success in these issues. I don't think any firm wants to be known as the one who takes their clients ' money but doesn't succeed in getting them what they want.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

Right. For the most part, success-based contingency fees in family law cases would be barred by the ethics rules.

That's what I figured. It makes more sense when the goal is a large settlement, because that provides significant incentive for the lawyer to do well. Not the same dynamic when you're talking about child custody arrangements or child-support payment.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

The first phrase and the second tend to be mutually exclusive.

The kind of person who wants to take their spouse to court all the time even though they lose is not the kind that is tolerable to be around. Shit people make shit clients. Family law sucks. I don't know how anyone specializes in it.

I'd rather staple my dick to a stick and light it on fire than represent this kind of guy. (Link for context https://www.salon.com/2000/02/23/penis_2/ )

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

According to my wife there were a few instances where his lawyer seemed surprised by his answers and behavior. At one point during cross he became visibly angry and started arguing with her lawyer so aggressively that her lawyer essentially told him to chill the fuck out, the judge intervened and reinforced what her lawyer said. She said her eyes met with his lawyers for a split second in a WTF look from him and a this is what I've been dealing with from her. Aside from the considerable invoice, it's hard to imagine he'd want to staple his dick to that particular stick again in the future.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

My wife was a family law lawyer. I can confirm that it sucks, hard. She is no longer a practicing lawyer.

Mostly the clients are angry and hard to work with because they are unable to think clearly on this topic because they hate the opposition.

"I AM NOT LETTING THAT WOMAN GET MY HOUSE!!"

"You know, if you just sell the house and split the money from it, nobody gets the house and you can both move on..."

"I AM NOT SELLING MY HOUSE!!!!"

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?