Nice to see other fathers on here. I am new to the board and recently separated from wife and kids and looking for support where I feel I dont just overburden other people with my marriage breakdown.
My marriage was in the process of falling apart for 18 months + but I clung in there. In that time the wife and mother inlaw who has divorced 3 times had been planning an exit strategy which they swung into force in late November ordering me out of the home and then dragging me to the family court to get a residency order on the children.
They hired adversarial solicitors who threw as much mud at me as possible but failed to get a supervised access order. I take great care of the children, meet all their needs and do not drink other than moderately or take drugs but they are now dragging the eldest to child psychiatrists in an attempt to show that the contact he having with me is detrimental to his well being and we now have a further hearing in February.
I am just remaining calm and not responding to the daily provocation. I represented myself in court for the first two hearings and the judges seemed to be okay with that. They dismissed the wifes affidavit as tittle tattle (didn't even read it) and just awarded residency to her as the youngest was just under 1 and the wife is still breast feeding.
Some people would fight but I just do not go in for all the animosity that my wife and mother inlaw want to heap upon me.
I have moved back to an area where I always used to live until the wifes career took us 70 miles away 3 years ago, and am now re-engaging with family and old friends that I had lost contact with and trying to maintain my own peace and sanity. I now have a niece of a similar age to my own daughter who my sister is only too happy to drop off with me when she feels like she needs a break.
2 months in and it already feels normal to only see my own kids at weekends.