A New Lawyer. Perry Mason, He Was Not

My new lawyer was named LK.  I decided to hire a new lawyer because I had a gut feeling that this would not be a quick “Law and Order” one-episode event.  We were in this for the long-haul.  (And, 8 years later, that gut feeling proved true). 

LK is known around the community for being in the business for a long time.  He knows the law.  I wouldn’t call him super aggressive.  He has been around a long time, to put it nicely.  To put it another way… he is more mature, shall we say. 

He was referred to me by my uncle when my uncle heard what was happening.  I liked him, we clicked.  He was short, to the point and that meshed with me.  Let’s go in, get things done and get out. 

He also had a lot of history with Judge R. 

This was the meeting where we would settle on child support as well as try to figure out why DP wasn’t complying with the ordered Parenting Time rules. 

In Oregon, and perhaps other states, the odd thing about child support is that it is in no way tied to visitation.  In other words, if the father does not pay Child Support, he still has full rights to see his children.  This to me is asinine.  There should be some rule that ties the two together.  Why on Earth are they separate? To further chap my hide with the rules of Child Support, if someone isn’t working, that person would get to pay the least amount of child support possible.  Even if they are a capable human being who could go and get a job.  Let’s continue on what really is ridiculous with Child Support… The notion of being a “dead-beat dad” really just means that the father doesn’t pay Child Support.  But, does it mean that he will go to jail? Not in Oregon.   Now, there could be some punishment.  If, for instance, a taillight is out on his car, and he is pulled over and that officer does a check to see if said person owes Child Support and they are more than $5,000 in arrears, he could lose his license.  That’s it.  BUT, he would never be “hunted down” and pulled over specifically because he owes money.  And, really, just losing a license?

At the end of filling out the paperwork, DP would owe me $300 a month.  The lowest amount possible.  So far I have seen $84.  Not a month.  Not a year.  Total.  $84.    

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Court with my new lawyer LK was an education.  I was taught to always dress nicely (not that I wasn’t already.) How to act in front of Judge R.  How to react to DP.  I believe these things I already knew, but he knew the law and had been in it so long.  He took no funny business.  It was game faces on once you entered the court house and until you left.  You were practiced with your testimony and if you had to get your shit together, you did it quickly. 

One of the most frustrating things was that DP was representing himself.  Not a very educated man, and now messed up on drugs, his questions to me made no sense.  They got me flustered easily and staying calm and collected was nearly impossible.  I looked to the Judge often to “save” me from his babble or to my lawyer to try to get him to jump in.  Often before that, though I would get frustrated and say something like, “you are making no sense.” Or, “you just asked that” and then I would get the look of shame from LK. 

Court that day was about Ellie’s continued supervised visits with DP.  The fact that he often left early to go to work came up.  The fact that there were often several people in the apartment came up.  The fact that times were changed and canceled came up.  And no one seemed to bat an eye. 

Was he getting to know his daughter? In the Judge’s eye… yes. 

And so, they would continue.