Q: Do I have a winning case as the mother to keep my ex-husband’s girlfriend away from my child, due to her harassment?
I reside in Virginia. For about a year now, my ex-husband’s live-in girlfriend has been harassing me by text & email. She cc’s my ex on these things. She even verbally abuses my ex in these texts, but he allows her to continue to live there. He excuses her behavior due to her “depression” and “past family trauma”. I had a deputy contact this woman by phone and warn her to stop the harassment, to which she told the deputy that she would stop. 5 months later she started up again. She has issues with the amount of child support my ex pays, as well as the fact that he and I text frequently about our daughter. My ex has had to remove our daughter from his home, and have his mother come over to watch our child, while he deals with his unhinged girlfriend. My child has been visibly upset due to the arguing in their house, and has told me that her father is telling her not to tell me what goes on in their house. Would a VA court actually agree to keeping this woman away from my child?
A: You can try to involve the police again to see if her harassment rises to the level of a criminal charge. I am not sure if it will, but it's a place to start. As to the custody issues here, this situation might be enough of a problem to address whether or not your daughter should be around the girlfriend unsupervised at all. If her father won't deal with the problem, I might advise getting the professionals involved. I might be time for a Motion to amend custody or visitation to protect your daughter's best interest and welfare frankly. Talk to a local family lawyer immediately is my advice.
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