My Ex Left Me For Refusing To Have A Third Child While We Were Broke. Now That I’m Rich And Happy, He’s Suing For Full Custody To “Save” Our Kids. Is He Delusional Or Just Greedy?
Chapter 14: The Final Verdict
The judge announced that she was ordering mandatory mediation before proceeding to a full trial. Two weeks later, Dale walked out of mediation after 3 hours, saying the system was rigged. The mediator told us that failed mediation actually helped our case because it demonstrated Dale’s unwillingness to negotiate.
The full trial came two weeks later. The judge reviewed all the preliminary reports, financial documents, and witness testimony. Hadley presented our case, walking through Dale’s history methodically. Dominic argued that the court system always favored mothers and that Dale deserved equal consideration just because he was the biological father.
The judge held up her hand and cut him off mid-sentence. She said this case was about the children’s welfare, not Dale’s hurt feelings about my life choices.
After a recess, the judge returned. She said Dale’s emergency custody motion was denied completely. She said there was no evidence that I was an unfit mother. She said Dale’s filing appeared inappropriate and designed to harass rather than protect the children.
She went further. She was modifying the custody arrangement to give me full legal and physical custody. She said Dale would receive supervised visitation only until he could demonstrate stable housing and consistent financial responsibility. She ordered him to pay the recalculated child support including all back payments within 90 days.
Dale jumped up from his chair and started yelling that the ruling was unfair. The bailiff stepped forward and warned Dale about contempt of court.
Robert and I walked out of the courtroom and down the hall. The fresh air hit my face and suddenly I was crying. All the stress and fear from the past weeks came pouring out. Robert pulled me into his arms and let me sob against his chest.
We picked up Addison and Travis. Travis hugged me from behind and said he’d been worried he’d miss meeting his baby brother. Addison said she knew the judge would see that Dad wasn’t being fair.
Chapter 15: A New Beginning
Dale’s first supervised visit was scheduled at a community center. The monitor’s report said Dale spent most of the two hours complaining about the custody ruling instead of playing with Addison and Travis.
Robert and I started focusing on the baby. I hit seven months pregnant and finally felt like I could breathe without worrying about losing my kids. Robert brought home paint samples for the nursery walls and we spent an entire Saturday afternoon finishing the room together.
Two weeks later, Hadley forwarded me a letter from Dominic proposing a settlement. Dale would accept the custody arrangement permanently if we agreed to a slower payment schedule on the back child support he owed. We settled on a 2-year payment plan with automatic wage garnishment.
My phone buzzed one afternoon. It was Melissa. She wrote that Dale had started paying her child support regularly after the judge’s ruling apparently scared him. She asked if I’d be open to the kids meeting their half-sister someday. I texted back that once everything was more stable, we’d be open to it.
3 months passed and I went into labor on a Tuesday morning. I gave birth to a healthy baby boy that afternoon and we named him James, after Robert’s grandfather. The kids met their brother that evening and couldn’t stop staring at him.
We brought James home two days later and settled into the chaos of having a newborn. Dale showed up for his supervised visits with Addison and Travis more consistently now, probably because his mother was pushing him to be more responsible.
My family didn’t look anything like what I’d imagined during my marriage to Dale, but it was better because it was built on actual planning and genuine partnership instead of romantic ideas with no foundation.
