Legal question regarding a custody issue

I thought to post this here because there are so many bright and knowledgeable people here that even though this is well off topic I'm wondering if someone might be able to shed some light on this.

I have a friend (fwb) that is in the middle of a custody battle over her 3 year old son. I can get into more details if asked but here's a quick summary.

My friend Penni has lost custody of her 3 year old son. She had some trouble with a anxiety/pain pill addiction but has been clean for several months now and has drug testing going back to September showing that she is clean. While she was using the pain pills she agreed for the father to take the son for a time and the father will not give her back custody, will not allow her to see him or talk to him on the phone. The father has a lot of money (or HIS father does) and has a team of lawyers working on this for him. Penni does not have any money really, shes gone to a lot of legal aid consultations and has filed a lot of motions herself based on her own research and the free legal advice but while she can get some of this free legal advice she cannot get a lawyer to take on the case and appear with her at court. All lawyers, she's telling me, are requiring a $2,500 retainer and while she's saving she does not have this money yet and has several court dates coming up to determine the custody situation. She feels really helpless and I think its crazy for her to be doing all this without a lawyer.

I don't want to give her the money hire a lawyer for a number of reasons, partly because we are not really that close and I don't really consider her a friend. Also I am trying to really extricate myself from the 'friendship' and I don't want her to get the wrong idea in terms of my interest but I do feel bad for her. Any legal advice on how she should proceed?

She is in Massachusetts. The father also has UK/Australian citizenship and has filed for the child to get a passport, she's afraid the father will relocate. It seems there should be some sort of legal aid that might assist a woman in this position.

There are also some other details, some possible sexual abuse/misconduct from the father to Penni and some other details I would be happy to fill in if any questions are relevant.

what are you asking? You say she isn't a friend, so move on and let her sort it out

i have a name of a great custody/ divorce atty, who is female and im sure would sit down and explain her options after hearing the story from her.. then she can decide whether to proceed

fuck her and move on

this isn't about your "friend" who is a recovering drug addict that can't afford $2500 for a lawyer. It's also not about her sons father.

you're question shouldn't be, how can I help her... she is an adult she can help herself.

question should be, what is best for the child and how can you help him?

It would take a dream team of lawyers and a letter signed by Dr. Phil and Obama to convince a judge that kid should move back in with his broke mom who is 3 months clean and very very sorry.

She's said some truly horrible things about the Dad, I don't know how much is true and I'm not looking to help her get her son back I'm looking for her to get fair representation. She wants the court to appoint a pro tem (sp?) guardian for the child and for the guardian to act in the child's best interest.

MIKEY.1TIME said:

i have a name of a great custody/ divorce atty, who is female and im sure would sit down and explain her options after hearing the story from her.. then she can decide whether to proceed

Click to expand...

That's very thoughtful, thanks. Can you PM me.

Were they ever married? If so, is the divorce final? If so, was she granted custody of her son? If so, and she just let the father have custody while she was recovering, the judges order regarding custody is still in effect.

If she was granted custody, then the father has no right to keep her son. Obviously calling the police won't help, as this is a civil matter. There has to be somebody who will take her case because she can't afford it.

I suggest you find a appropriate forum to ask legal questions. This probably isn't the best place.