BM won't get a job despite court order to do so
BF and BM have had their temporary orders hearings split into 2 pending a GAL evaluation for custody. The financial stuff was heard already. In the Financial portion of the Temporary Orders hearing, BM was ordered to apply to 10 jobs per week.
BM is unemployed, but has certifications and has a work history (albeit spotty). The court determined it was a pre-divorce decision for her to go to work full time to assist with household expenses due to an expensive mortgage. Currently she is living in the house while he is responsible for paying the mortgage. She also has a restraining order in place from a failed attempt at a DVPO so BF can't even legally go to his own house. The court recognized there is no way she can afford this house on her own given her earning potential which they provided an estimate for based on her certifications.
She has been ordered to provide BF with 10 job applications per week. It has been about 3 months and her job applications have consisted of her going down craigslist in one day and applying for things she doesn't really qualify for, and a third of them have been for out of state across the country where her parents live, and a small number have been part time. At this point she has applied for about 120 jobs and there has been no indication of an interview or follow up or any change in employment status.
In addition, we found a fulltime daytime preschool (Montessori) with openings and they are sensitive to our situation. She insists that the 3yo does not need daytime care and that her current part time co-op preschool is sufficient (3x per week at 3 hours per day, 1 day requires a parent to be present). In addition to that, she has admitted to signing daughter up for daytime classes and has asked if he has DAYTIME activities she would like her to sign her up for. All of these conversations were in email with lawyers cc'ed (incl GAL) and in her own words.
So it's pretty clear she is only following the letter of the court order and does not intend to find work. My question is what will the court do if she fails to find work? Will they evict her from the house or what? Will the court penalize her for clearly not cooperating with the intent of the court order? How do they typically do that? I haven't found much online because most people aren't stupid enough to behave this way.
We weren't sure if it would
We weren't sure if it would count as contempt since she's technically applying for 10 jobs a week per the court order. Certainly if they found grounds for that claim, we would pursue it.
Yes he has an attorney. He tried to push a time limit in the financial temp orders part of the hearing and the commissioner stated she was not willing to order her to vacate with nowhere to go and no way to support herself. We already knew she would not take the court order seriously. He originally asked for 3 jobs a week and the commissioner upped it to 10. I am hopeful that they not only charge her with contempt but they determine a timeline for when she needs to vacate.
Regarding the house, we have already gotten an apartment together with a 2nd bedroom for the daughter as we are pushing for primary custody and needed to show GAL that we are serious. I'm paying rent and household expenses as he cannot afford it with paying the mortgage on top of lawyers fees, her maintenance, etc etc. He intends to either rent the house or sell it but can do neither in this situation. We knew that by doing that he risked the court being lenient with regards to her having to vacate the house, but getting custody of his daughter is more important to us.
BM is emotionally/mentally unstable and already has 3 CPS complaints filed regarding bruises on the 3 yo's face when we got her after weekends with her mom and has already attempted to abduct the daughter across state lines. She filed a false DVPO against BF in retaliation that was dismissed in the hearing, but it was 2 weeks of hell where BF was totally denied access to his daughter. The only good thing that came out of that was BM on camera evading questions regarding her own threats/attempts at suicide and admitting she has a history of self-mutilation and that according to her counselors it was an appropriate way to deal with stress.
This process is just so damn slow, we are freaking out about what is going on with SD3 while in her mother's care and it feels like no one will listen to us or take us seriously, certainly not CPS. We're both terrified that they'll continue to give her the benefit of the doubt and not realize she's so obviously not cooperating.
Thanks for the encouraging words, this site is a great resource for us stressed out SP's hehehe