Thanks all, for your concern, advice and support, especially Stef..... .
Well, I didn't lose today. I didn't win the war yet (no I don't consider it or treat it like a war, quite the opposite, but for the sake of that saying.. you know... ), but I did win a little battle.
Her lawyer approached me before we went into the Court and said that there was a date open on January 7th for this to be heard and also one on Jan 14th and since he likes to be a cooperative person he is willing to take the earliest of those two dates. (My affidavit plainly stated that this was an urgency issue because my ex is planning to switch the kids in the schools on Monday.) Thanks to years of being one while I was a JW it is fortunate that I f***ing hate hypocrites. He pretends he's being nice. LMAO
So I put that in my back pocket and played along. I asked him if Mr. Justice Heeney would be available for that date since I felt it would be best for the same Judge that presided over our Settlement Conference to hear these new arguments. He said condescendingly, "that's not how it works. It just gets put in front of whichever Judge is sitting that day. Besides if that were the case I would not allow it to be put in front of Justice Heeney since he has bias."
I lost my pleasant demeanor, glared him sternly in the eyes and said, "I don't think any Judge here would like to know that you called them biased."
He became frustrated, lost his composure, and proceeded to speak nonsense that was going nowhere. I said, "Mr. Garlough, this legal pushing and shoving aside," gesturing with my hands to acknowledge that I was willing to admit that I was just as guilty, "my Affidavits mentioned in great detail the concerns that I have for what is happening to my children. How can we deal with that today?" He retorted, "I'm not going to talk about that now," as if my kids didn't matter. I cut him off before he finished by saying, "Then we are going in front of the Judge today to let the Judge decide!"
He tried to stare me down with an "I'm gonna kick your ass in there look" but I knew I had already half-won the battle. A few minutes later when we were called in I was still fired up but in complete control of my emotions.
The Judge made it apparent that it was not going to be able to be heard today, not by words but she looked like she wanted us out in five minutes. About 50 people were in the Courtroom. I asked if she had had time to read the Affidavits in a tone that allowed her to realize that it was 100% OK with me if she had had more urgent things to attend to. She hadn't read a thing.
I changed my strategy. I had to get the best that I could get. I knew I wasn't going to get it all then. I reminded her of the urgency of the matter and said, "Never mind, for a moment, about the numerous orders that have been broken. The real reason I'm here today on an urgency matter is that not only was the Applicant not supposed to move but she had promised me that she would not move the children from their present school. I was willing to wait another month and suffer the commute in order to bring forward the motion to vary after the six-month non-urgency waiting period. Then but I found out last Tuesday that she is planning on pulling them out of their school on Friday."
She looked to him. He asked again her for a Jan. 7th date and threw in another lie gratis my ex: "Your Honour, my client has been informed by the Principal that she cannot keep the kids in that school."
She was writing so I patiently waited knowing that it was my God-damn Motion so I get another shot at her. She asked me if I was OK with Dec 1st. I said, "Yes I am Your Honour but I would like an opportunity to make a response to Mr. Garlough's last comment." She said to go ahead. "Your Honour, I received their responding Affidavit on Monday night in which it stated that the Principal would not allow the children to stay in the school. I attended at the school yesterday morning and spoke to Mr. Boate, the Principal. He informed me that he is obviously a very busy person and does not really want to be subpoenaed but that if he was under oath in a Courtroom, this is what he would say that he told my ex-wife: Number one - She asked me if the kids could stay in the school and I told her that we try our best to be accomodating and since the children started school here this year that they could indeed stay in the school for the remainder of the year. Number two - If she was going to move to St. Thomas, considering the drive and winter coming up it would be best if she did move them to a school in St. Thomas. Number three - That the most reasonable time to transfer the kids was either at the end of a term, which is Friday, or during the Christmas Break." I cut myself off there, fighting the urge to give her my opinion.
She took another few seconds to write, looked up and said, "Adjourned until Dec. 1st and the children are to remain in the school that they are presently attending until a further Order changes that." (As she said "the children are to remain..." she looked at my ex's lawyer and gave him that look that you give someone right after you feel like you shoved their bullshit in their face. Woohoo!!!!)
We left right after each other I called to him..... he gave me a F*CK YOU look and refused to speak to me. I fought back the urge to say anything in reaction to his rudeness... and believe me I really had to fight it.... lol.... this guy seems like a real a**hole and I don't want to do anything other than get what I want.
So I have to wait a week but the kids can't be transferred until another Judge decides.... that could be awhile.. hopefully the end result is my house being the Primary Residence or me getting Sole Custody. I will allow access to my ex-wife quite freely but she has proven that she can't be trusted to look out for what's best for the kids.
I know this was a long post, so if you read all the way through, thanks...... I feel great and needed to share. And I wanted to let everyone know that being honest and looking out for the kids' interests pays off.
Brad
