MEGAN’S STORY

Keep in mind while reading Megan’s* story that she is a doctor, so her status and access to money may have made it a bit harder for judges to switch custody. More likely, it is because her ex is a foreigner which sometimes works to the advantage of the mother, as it becomes an issue of State control over children rather than father control. It’s never a woman’s power that decides the outcome.

Megan met her ex, a Middle Easterner, in 2008. Soon after, they had two children but never married. When the youngest child was two, they separated and the father moved out of the UK. He came back occasionally for visits. There were some problems with these visitations (not surprisingly) and in 2016, when the kids were 4 and 6 years-old, he filed a motion for custody.

Megan then applied for a Restraining Order detailing her ex’s abuse. This included extreme verbal abuse and threats to kill her and her mother, much in front of the kids.

The first judge granted the RO and made numerous findings against the father. He found the father had launched a campaign of controlling behavior and harassment of Megan.  He found the father had said “vile” things to Megan in front of their children.

When you die I will have the children. You’re the doctor, you know how people die…I’m going to sort you out [assault].

(Note: Threats to kill and assault go well beyond “vile”—they are criminal and indicate he is quite dangerous. Calling them vile minimizes the danger he poses.)

In 2020, the father again filed for custody and a GAL [guardian ad litem] was appointed. The next year, an evaluator was appointed via a children’s charity that is affiliated with the court. This evaluator is known in the UK for spinning her reports to favor the father.

The evaluator report was filed in early ’22 and, not surprisingly, it accused Megan of alienation. Megan filed a motion to remove her report/evidence from the case based on her lack of qualification for the job. However, there was a high-profile appellate case against the evaluator filed by another mother whom she had falsely accused of alienation. This was based largely on the fact that the evaluator was not “regulated”. Megan’s case was delayed until that case resolved.

At some point, Judge Frances Judd was assigned to the case. She had already been taken off one case by the appellate court after being caught on a hot mic denigrating the mother (i.e. doing her job). She had refused to recuse herself so the mother took it to the Appellate Court and won.