Can you help us? My daughter married at the age of 17 to a man 9 years older than her, and a officer in the Marine Corp. He tried to control her every move. A lot of emotional and physical abuse went on. She finally moved home with me and divorced her husband - in the state of Washington- . He had talked her into giving him custody of their boy and she had custody of their daughter. He promised to work together for the benefit of the children. He offered to have her move back to California and he would set her up in an apartment and pay her first 6 months of rent. The children could spend time together and they could both finish the degrees- her's in Criminal Law and his Law. Once she moved down there he got them a place together, stating it would save them money, just for convenience only. He had a girl friend! After my daughter moved in, the controlling side of him started all over again. She fled the state without her daughter because he legally had summer visitation rights and there was nothing else she could do. In the state of Washington she hired her attorney that handled the divorce to handle this matter. The judge ruled to have the CA court hear the case. Any help you can give us would be greatly apprecitated. This man knew what he was doing and if he couldn't have my daughter he'd try and destroy her, through the children. His family has money and knows the system - Gen

Thanks for your note and for being so supportive of your daughter. Unfortunately, cases like this happen all too often. There is a book by Phyllis Chelser - Women on Trial - which documents how mistreated women are by the Judicial system. The book may also offer resources. It also references the fact that in almost 90% of the cases when the father asks for custody of the child, he gets it. It sounds like what you need is a smart/caring attorney who is used to dealing with this mistreatment. I don't know of any in the state of CA, but I do know of an online service that may be able to help you - CAVNET. CAVNET deals with violence, which isn't necessarily the case with your daughter, but control over other people is the purpose of both. Good luck.
—Amy