Cantor Simon Law Group » Family & Divorce Law – Recent Successes

Father Wins Sole Custody and Attorney’s Fees

admin — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:54:55 +0000

Father was being denied contact with his 2 young girls. The Mother had given the 11 year old and 7 year old the impression that they could decide whether or not to spend time with their Father. Father then retained us to restore his contact with both girls and increase his parenting time. Mother’s uncooperative behavior throughout the litigation was ongoing. Even after she retained an attorney, she continued her ongoing refusal to facilitate and encourage our client’s parenting time, making serious allegations against our client to justify her behavior. By the time that we got to the trial, 10 long months had passed and Father had missed-out on substantial time with his daughters. During the trial, Mother’s attorney attempted every “trick in the book,” to try and convince the Court that Mother’s obstruction was justified, due to her allegations against Father. However, after a 3 hour trial where both sides of the case were presented to the Court, the Judge issued a detailed Ruling on the record that supported all of our arguments during the trial. Further, the Court specifically found that Mother’s allegations of drug use, significant domestic violence and mental illness, were unsubstantiated. Our client won in a landslide: he was granted sole legal custody of both children. In addition, he was granted the parenting time that he was requesting. The Court also warned and assured Mother that, if the parties appeared before the Court again and Father had not seen the children, that Mother would leave the Courtroom in handcuffs. Finally, the client was granted an award of attorneys fees and costs.

UCCJEA – Uniform Child Custody Jurisdictional Enforcement Act

admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:53:42 +0000

Mother and Father were married in Arizona and moved to Montana while she was pregnant with their first and only child (for both of them). After Wife gave birth prematurely, she left Montana and absconded to Arizona with their newborn son. Mother then notified Father that she would not be returning to Montana and he immediately filed for divorce and custody in Montana. Mother then filed for divorce and custody in Arizona. Father retained us to assist him in getting Mother’s Arizona divorce Petition dismissed. We filed a limited scope appearance on Father’s behalf and submitted a Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction, Lack of In Personam Jurisdiction and Lack of Initial Child Custody Jurisdiction. Upon learning of the simultaneous proceedings in both states, an oral argument was set between the Arizona Judge and both Arizona lawyers and the Montana Judge and both Montana lawyers. During this hearing, all four attorneys were allowed to argue their case. We, argued that Mother’s Arizona divorce Petition must be dismissed per Arizona law, which was cited in detail in my Motion to Dismiss. The Judges then conferred in chambers and issued a written Ruling several weeks later: In the Judge’s 9 Page Ruling, our Motion to Dismiss was granted! In fact, in his Ruling, the Judge utilized the exact same cases and exact same language that we cited in our Motion and argued on the record at the hearing. The client, a physician, was ecstatic! Then, after not seeing his newborn baby for 4 months, he traveled out to Arizona for a visit.

Mother is Successful After Retaining Cantor Simon The Day Before Trial

admin — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:55:37 +0000

In a Post-Decree matter, Father filed a Motion to Modify Custody, Parenting Time and Child Support in December, 2008. Father alleged that Client/Mother was unable to properly care for the children or provide a stable environment. After Father filed his Motion, Client/Mother failed to appear for a temporary Orders Hearing in January, 2009. At the hearing, all 4 of her children were taken away and placed in Father’s primary custody in an entirely different county. The matter was also set for a final trial regarding permanent Orders for August, 2009. At the close of business the night before the trial, Client/Mother retained CANTOR SIMON LAW GROUP for representation at the trial the following day. Since Client/Mother did not have previous counsel, no exhibits, pretrial statement or pretrial motions were submitted to the Court on her behalf. Brandy met with the Client/Mother for 1 ½ hours the morning of the trial and traveled to Court almost immediately thereafter. Upon arriving at Court, Brandy learned that Client/Mother also did not appear for two (2) additional Court-Ordered conferences. At the trial, Father was prepared with an outline and multiple exhibits to present to the Court. However, despite having been retained less that 24 hours earlier, having little to no time to prepare and appearing at trial without exhibits, Brandy was able to get all of Client/Mother’s children immediately returned to her custody. The case was opened and concluded in less than 1 week and the Client/Mother could not have been more pleased.

Father Wins UCCJEA and Arizona Retains Jurisdiction

admin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:56:30 +0000

The client retained us to establish Paternity, Custody, Parenting Time and Child Support. At the time he retained, Mother had falsely accused him of domestic violence, cleaned out his house, and fled Arizona with his son while our client had been detained by police. Upon filing and obtaining a hearing date, Mother thwarted service of the Order to Appear, forcing us to file a Motion for Alternative Means of Service (which the Court granted). After being served, Mother maliciously waited until 1 judicial day prior to the hearing to file a Motion for UCCJEA, which put a stay on the case, and filed a Paternity proceeding in California, in the hopes of moving the case to California, and keep our client from his son for an even longer period of time. At the hearing regarding UCCJEA, Judge Martin found that Arizona is the home state of the minor child, however, Mother then argued that Arizona was an inconvenient forum. Judge Martin then ordered both attorneys to submit Opening Briefs and Responsive Briefs on that issue. After spending countless hours trying to expose Mother’s web of lies and deceit, Heidi Lukacsik submitted impressive Opening and Responsive Briefs, leaving no doubt that not only is Arizona the more appropriate forum, but that Mother’s abhorrent behavior should not be tolerated. On June 16, 2009, Judge Martin found that Arizona is not an inconvenient forum, nor is California a more appropriate forum, and ruled that the case will proceed in Arizona.

Parties Divorced – Post Decree/Contempt of Court Victory

admin — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:27:28 +0000

At trial Mother requested to relocate the children from SE valley to Tucson, which the Court denied as Mother failed to prove it was in the children’s best interest, despite two earlier requests the Court had denied. Court awarded joint legal custody with weekly and weekend access to our client, Father. In early August, without notice to Father nor permission from the Court, Mother relocated to Oro Valley and enrolled the older child in school in Tucson. Father, upon finding out of Mother’s relocation, immediately filed Contempt Petition and requested emergency custody, that Mother be ordered to immediately reenroll the child in his prior school, attorneys’ fees and sanctions. Following three half day hearings, the Court, among other things, ordered Mother to return the children to SE valley at the end of the 2009/2010 school year and awarded Father attorneys’ fees to be determined by submittal of an affidavit.

Court orders our client to receive equal custody time

admin — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 23:34:25 +0000

In the summer of 2007, Mr. D retained The Cantor Simon Law Group for assistance with his custody, parenting time and child support issues he was currently facing. He was never married to his ex-girlfriend, but they had two very young children together. Immediately upon the couple’s breakup, the mother began controlling and obstructing the father’s parenting time. When the father initially retained our services, the mother was allowing him to only have very little contact with his two children.

The mother went so far as to demand that both children be placed in third party day care, despite the fact that the father’s work schedule was the opposite of the mother’s work schedule. In addition, he was eager and available to provide care for the children all day long (since he worked nights). The mother was demanding sole legal custody and made unilateral decisions for the children’s welfare without the father’s participation. After we took the case to trial, the judge ruled that the mother’s behavior was obstructive and inappropriate. The judge ordered that Mr. D receive joint legal custody, along with 50% parenting time.

If you are in a similar situation where your ex-partner is not allowing you to participate in making parenting decisions or adequate visitation, then click on “CONTACT US” or call The Cantor Simon Law Group to set an appointment today! Remember, we can often get the Court to order that you have the visitation and parental supervision that you are entitled to!

Court Orders Ex-spouse to Pay Our Client’s Attorney Fees

admin — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 23:48:23 +0000

In the spring of 2007, Mrs. A retained The Cantor Simon Law Group based upon a personal referral from another prominent local attorney. Mrs. A was having issues with her ex husband’s parenting time, drug use, failure to pay medical expenses, and failure to pay child support. At the beginning of the case, Mrs. A was owed approximately $45,000 in back child support and another $6,000 in past due medical expenses from her ex-husband.

Over the course of two hearings, our attorney received a $20,000 payment from the opposing party after he was incarcerated pursuant to our request citing Arizona Revised Statute 25-502(1), (which I refer to as the “Dead Beat Dad” statute) which allows the Court to set “purge” amounts and arrest warrants. Mrs. A. was awarded a judgment for 100% of her attorney’s fees and 100% of the past due medical expenses. The Court also awarded Mrs. A the parenting time she requested and ordered Father to drug test. In an effort to prevent future payment issues, our attorney requested an received a Court order that should Father fail to pay on time in the future, he will be incarcerated and won’t be released until he pays all remaining arrearages.

If you are in a similar situation where your ex-spouse is not paying what they owe, then click on contact us or call The Cantor Simon Law Group to set an appointment today! Remember, we can often get the Court to order your ex-spouse to pay our attorney’s fees!

Court Upholds Wife’s Judgement

admin — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 00:09:57 +0000

This case involved a client who walked into our Cantor Simon Law Group Tempe office having already settled her divorce with another attorney. Her ex-husband then filed an Appeal challenging the decision of the Trial Court giving Mrs. C child support, spousal maintenance, and attorney’s fees. Her ex-husband was claiming that Mrs. C was not entitled to spousal maintenance and that child support had been incorrectly calculated. Specifically, in regards to his income, he claimed that attorney’s fees should not have been awarded and child support should have been reduced.

We filed the response on behalf of Mrs. C and then argued in front of the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals listened intently to arguments on both sides, and then took the case “under advisement.” This means we had to wait a little bit until they issued their written ruling. When the ruling was issued, the Court of Appeals ruled in our client’s favor on all issues. This included the determination of her ex-husband’s income, the amount of child support, and the awarding of attorney’s fees. They even went so far as to award Mrs. C the attorney’s fees on the Appeal itself. This means that she didn’t have to pay us for the work we performed; her ex-husband did!