A great example of how a judge can issue an exceptionally poorly written court order that leads to much confusion is the custody agreement that Judge Ruest wrote and then refused to enforce when Rita violated it. I lost even more respect for Judge Ruest after this as she was more than happy to hold me in contempt and jail me for minor violations of a court order but looked the other way when Rita did the same. It’s not that I wanted Rita to spend time in jail over this; I just wanted the court to acknowledge she violated the order and maybe force Rita to pay a court bond that she would lose if she disobeyed the order again.
This incident, which occurred just before Easter in 2015, also shows how ridiculous it got with Rita trying to take my custodial time away to take the kids to Michigan. I was supposed to have custody of the kids every Monday and Wednesday evening and every other weekend. As it turned out, Easter weekend was supposed to be my weekend. However, according to the custody agreement, Rita was to have them on Easter day. The week before Easter, the kids did not have school on Thursday or Friday. Since I figured Rita would like to go to Michigan for the entire time the kids were out of school, I agreed to trade the Saturday before Easter for a whole Monday when the kids didn’t have school. When Rita didn’t show up for the custody exchange, I told her the deal was off.
A week or so before Easter, Rita informed me that she would still take the kids to Michigan for the entire weekend. I told her doing so would violate the custody order, and she informed me she didn’t care. I had the following email exchange with Tonia about this.
Sent: Friday, March 27, 2015 10: 28 AM
Subject: Custody on April 4
Tonia,
I am contacting you because yesterday’s custody hearing was postponed and some time-sensitive issues were not discussed. As I mentioned in a previous email, your client did not honor our agreement that would have allowed her to have custody of the kids on April 4. As she will not discuss this with me, I believe she still intents to have the children in Michigan on that day, in violation of the custody order.
I plan to exercise my rights to have the children on that day from 12:00 – 8:00 pm whether they are in Michigan or Pennsylvania. I obviously do not want to go to Michigan.
Please ask your client to consider our children in this situation. Me going there to get them will likely be unpleasant for everyone. I do not want them or me to be put into that situation.
Eric Mockensturm
[…]Subject: RE: Custody on April 4
Date: March 27, 2015 at 12: 43: 27 PM EDT
Dear Eric:
Upon review of the Order, this Easter holiday is Rita’s holiday this year and holidays supersede your regular periods of physical custody. Rita will be happy to schedule another 12 to 8 visit another day. She is not agreeable to breaking up the Easter holiday to make up this time but will certainly make it up another day. Please provide me with alternate dates so I may forward those for her consideration.
Sincerely, Tonia
[…]
Thus, the meaning of the order was clear to Tonia that Rita was to have Easter day and needed to make up the time I would miss on that Saturday before. On March 30, 2015, Rita told me there would be no make-up time, and she was going to Michigan for the entire time the kids were out of school. Before Rita left, I sent the following message to Judge Ruest’s judicial assistant, Wanda, and Tonia to try to schedule the hearing that the court had delayed for months because of Tonia’s availability.
We need to get this hearing rescheduled again. Again, I would like to do it ASAP as Tonia’s client plans to disregard the court order that says I should have the kids on Saturday, April 4.