11.20.09 - 9:29 am

when it comes to the efficiency of the washington county court system, the things that should happen fast happen slowly. and the things that happen slowly should happen fast.

sarah and i essentially were able to settle our custody experience. she finally agreed to let me have ashton 50% of the time. something id been battling for years. so instead of granting this change immediately, washington county thinks its better that it becomes a 150 day process of gradual increases in time before ashton can stay with me that long. one hundred and fifty days? come on, just rubber stamp it and make it done. ashton will be just fine. my grandfather has spent over $15,000 to allow me the opportunity to have a 50% influence over the next 12 years of my sons life and i have to wait six months? apparently money can only buy so much in washington county.

and then, with all the fighting and police involvement at sarahs house, i try to get ashton taken completely out of that situation and placed into a much more stable and safer environment and not only is my request rejected but it takes days of scheduling with the washington county courts and then establishing dates for hearings weeks later. what? i dont get it. but i went to the court house, met with the judge and let me attorney do the best we could.

it would seem that we would have every best interest at heart. that my affidavit of evidence explaining the dangers ashton is facing at sarahs house is sufficient enough to sway any judge to allow ashton to stay somewhere else until she can get her problems maturely worked out.

not so.

sarah filed a restraining order against dusty. that sunk my metaphorical battleship right there. as judge raines put it, it should "cure the situation". it shows that sarah is taking the steps to keep dusty away from her and arthur and by proxy, ashton. we wanted temporary emergency custody to be granted to me. to have sarah limited to restricted or supervised parenting time. all to buffer ashton against any future conflicts that might erupt because of sarahs violent end to her relationship with dusty.

no. not necessary, i guess. a restraining order cures all that.

however to my surprise, in addition to the restraining order, the judge amended our custody settlement to include that dusty was to have absolutely zero contact with ashton from now on.

intense.

"he wont even be able to say hello to him".

so, the ultimate goal of keeping ashton safe essentially came to fruition. he has a paper barrier protecting him. the fear of legal consequences as dusty prepares to fight for his own son, should cause dusty to make more rational decisions when it comes to interacting with sarah. ashton knows that if he sees dusty he is to let me know.

i didnt get to take ashton away to somewhere safe, but at least the person half involved with all the fighting and shouting and arguing and police calling can not be present around both sarah and ashton at any point, thus preventing any conflict from materializing.

according to washington county.