Four-Year Legal Struggle Ends Happily
P.C. received Legal Aid’s help on three intertwined cases that took several years to complete: a divorce with family violence; a protective order; and a lawsuit filed against client by non-parents seeking custody of P.C.’s child. Despite the hurdles presented, the attorney prevailed in all three cases, showing the determination that makes her a great advocate for our clients.
P.C. applied for help in divorcing her abusive spouse to protect herself and the couple’s child after he improperly filed for divorce in a far-away Texas jurisdiction solely to inconvenience P.C. The filing was improper because neither party lived in that jurisdiction. Around the same time her spouse not only assaulted P.C., but also, allegedly with the help of his parents, planted narcotics on P.C. and reported her to law enforcement. P.C. was arrested. It did not take long for officers to conclude that the drugs were planted, which resulted in the spouse’s arrest and later incarceration.
P.C. and her attorney faced many hurdles, among them were lawsuits filed by the spouse’s parents: one to intervene in the divorce during their son’s incarceration and the other to establish custody of the child. Both of these cases were successfully defended by the Legal Aid attorney, who also prevailed in the divorce action. On behalf of her client, the attorney obtained not only sole managing conservatorship of the child with no visitation awarded to the father, but child support upon his release from prison, back child support of more than $30,000, and P.C.’s share of proceeds from the marital assets. The attorney’s manager credits her with working diligently for more than four years on these cases, each successfully fought despite the aggressiveness of the opposing party and his parents.