Brody, our son has had to endure being separated from me, his daddy for over two years now. I have pleaded for the right to be Brody's father. I am also on workers compensation currently. And now I have to file for bankruptcy. I have spent well over $50,000 in family court and $18,000 in criminal court. Our story can be best summed up in my latest plea in court. I am trying to raise money for legal fees.
My real estate career came to a screeching halt on the night of February 8, 2019, as my neighbors watched as I was handcuffed and detained in the back of a police vehicle. Nothing says, “Hi, neighbor, yes, I’m your friendly neighborhood realtor,” while a helicopter, four police vehicles and many officers help you announce that to all. By this time Brody and I were seeing less and less of each other. I understood and respected the respondent's decision to back to school; however, I still do not understand why she made extra excuses to remain at her mom’s as often as she did. We were supposed to be a family. None the less I continued to try my best to be supportive. (See Supportive ex) I include text messages between her and myself over the years. You will see attempts to communicate with her and my desire for all of us to be a family. You will also see how she and her mother tried their best to not only keep Brody and me apart but to eventually try and banish me from our son’s life altogether. I will also show that the December 21, 2021, was a set-up orchestrated by the respondent and her mother with the aid of her counsel. I will show how the respondent and her counsel continued to harass my right to be my son’s father. (See email ex) I will show that I did NOT inform the respondent at the last minute of my departure from California and that I made plenty of attempts to arrange removal of Miss respondent's furniture and other belongings. (See Movers ex)
I’m not sure why her counsel and she have tried so hard to make it difficult for a father and son to communicate. But that’s exactly what has been transpiring since December 24, 2021. That was the last time I really got to hug my son. And I will never forget the last thing Brody said to me before I was served. Brody said, “I love you, Daddy. You don’t have to work so hard. Tomorrow’s Christmas and Santa is bringing me toys, so you don’t have to work so hard.” The memory haunts me to this day. However, that sadness was topped the following Christmas of 2022. I had been trying my best to communicate with our son. Despite my best efforts to do so and to let Brody know how much I loved him and longed to be with him, the respondent and her counsels efforts to molest a father and son’s relationship would win out again. I wanted so badly to wish my son a Merry Christmas and to let him know that his father loved him. Instead, I had to hear something that no parent should hear, and no child should have to ask. My mother had a facetime visitation with Brody for Christmas 2022. Brody was able to open the gifts that my parents and I had sent. After my mother explained which gift was from me, my son said, “Wow, my daddy got me this! Mom-mom, does my daddy still love me?”
Although the respondent and her counsel tried their best to stop me from being Brody’s father I continued on. Brody and I finally got a chance to facetime through a monitored video visitation. There were a few visits where Brody and I cried. Brody told me that he prays every day to God that I come back to California so we can be together. Since January 2023, Brody and I have had video visitations three times a week. We love it! We have so much fun. But that hasn’t deterred her, not at all. Miss respondent continued to interfere this past summer. (See Talking Parents ex)
I have tried to communicate with the respondent and come of some kind of agreement for the sake of our child. However, she said that she was not interested and wanted a trial. A mediation was set for November 13, 2023. I was online through the L.A. court program, parentingplans@LACourt.org. This mediation never occurred. Despite following protocol, I was never involved even though I was online. I called my attorney. We were on a three-way call with Parenting Plans. We were informed that we had to reschedule. My attorney and I reached out to counsel several times. We never heard back (See email ex). I even asked the respondent about this through Talking Parents. She said her attorney hadn’t contacted her (See Talking Parents ex).
Your Honor, I think it’s clear that neither the respondent nor her attorney care enough about Brody to ever sit down for mediation. I’m referring to the Talking Parents example. (Please see ex Mediation Proposals from November 2023). Which brings me to the last example (See transcript April 19, 2022 ex). During respondents testimony, she stated that I was a good, loving, caring father. She also said that she would like 50/50 legal custody. However, now, she wants full physical custody, full legal custody, changes to Brody’s legal name and complete control of all decision making for our son as well as when and how Brody and I can visit with each other. In other words, Miss respondent wants Brody and me to have the same father and son relationship as before. She would have complete control of Brody and our son will have her name.
Your Honor, without mediation or a court ruling, the respondent would gladly continue to erase me from our little boy’s life. Please help!
