# Ex Wife Split Custody of Two Children



## calimontana (May 17, 2011)

Lets see how successful I can be at simplifying this. I'm looking for opinions. 

I have two children from an 9 year marriage. A 6 year old daughter and a 10 year old son. Marriage was rocky for some years, but the last 2 seemed to be patching up. At least I thought. My ex filed for divorce out of the blue, and we completed it amicably, no child support, share custody. I was a police officer at the time so living with her during the week worked out and i got them on my days off each week. 

A year later, I met another woman, and that is when hell broke lose. Child custody, Child support, Restraining orders, the full gammet, I went through in court. I'm living in Montana by the way, on an indian reservation (I'm not enrolled here, but my kids are). First she wanted to move to North Dakota, that didn't work out, then to South Dakota, that didn't work out, back to North Dakota, didn't work out. Mind you, we both lived in the same city so I could see my children everyday if I wanted to, and often did, either at school or on my days off. She then met a guy online, who lived in Arizona. She notified me she was going to move with the kids to AZ, and I filed a stop in court. We went to court, and they scheduled a hearing for a month later and said we needed to follow the current parenting plan until then which allowed me visitation. Problem is, the next day, she took off to Arizona with both of them, and the court didn't care (long story). Then a week later, she calls me and says that she cannot handle our son (ADHD/Bi Polar) and wants to send him back to live with me. So I responded to the court asking them to please give me full custody, because I did not want to split up my kids from each other. They ended up giving my ex custody of my daughter and me custody of my son. 

Sorry if that was too long. Anyway, I'm moving back to California now. Since the Tribal Courts won't have jurisdiction anymore, and I keep reading how judges DON'T like to split up siblings unless there are extreme circumstances... Do you think it would be worthwhile for me to save up a few thousand dollars and hire an attorney to try to get custody of my daughter so my kids can be together again? I like most adore and love my kids, have been in there lives everyday of their lives until the divorce in 08.. my kids had never been apart from each other and I think it was incredibly selfish of my ex wife to do this to them. She won't even let my daughter put Skype on the computer so we can video chat. She only lets us talk on the phone. We do have summer visitation, half and half, but thats it.

I appreciate your comments.


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## Laurae1967 (May 10, 2011)

I would talk to an attorney in CA and see what they say. This is tough. Your ex sounds selfish and she's not putting the kids first. So sad for them.

How old is your daughter? I would document all the moves your wife has made, her "online" boyfriend, and her illegal run from you to AZ. Too bad the tribal courts screwed you over. You would have won in a US court, probably.

Try to be the stable parent and document all the crazy stuff she does. If your daughter is in danger being with her mom, document that. Does your daughter want to be with you and her brother? If her mom is not providing a stable, safe environment, you should step in. But splitting up the kids in and of itself may not be enough to win. If your kids want to be together, however, and have made that clear, go for it.


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