Q: I need to know if this is how it works
I am in a custody case with my 15 1/2 yr old son and his biological father. We were never married. The Judge issued temp orders in March and our final court is the end of October. I have given proof to my atty of how many of those orders he violated and wanted her to file Contempt of Court charges. She said she couldn't file that until the final court date is over and if he keeps it up after that. Is that true? Does he then get away with everything he has done already? Shouldn't they be filed before final court so the Judge is aware of the things he has done in violation of the Judge's temp orders that he has committed in the last few months?
A:
You can file a Petition for Contempt of Temporary Orders prior to the final trial. Your attorney may be hesitant to do so now because there's a good chance it would lead to the final trial being postponed 3-4 months. You also might be past your deadline to disclose the evidence for use at trial.
But if none of the time pressure applied, then, yes, you could file a Petition prior to final trial; or you could discuss the violations in your Pretrial Statement; your evidence could be disclosed to the other side and prepared to be submitted as an exhibit at trial, and you could testify about it at trial.
All that said, you're better off going into trial with an attorney, and you're too close to the trial date to realistically switch lawyers.
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