I have a five-year-old daughter with my ex, and we split up two years ago. For a year, she refused to let me see our child regularly, so I had to take her to court. Since then, it has been nothing but trouble.
The court ordered visitation, child support, and coparenting classes, but the counselor said it wasn’t working because my ex kept ignoring what was agreed upon. She has denied my visits multiple times, tried to force her way into my home, chased my car, and verbally abused me—even in front of the police. I’ve had to get police escorts, and I have reports documenting all of this.
We were supposed to go to mediation before a final court date, but my ex ignored emails from the mediation center for weeks. When she finally responded, she refused the proposed date. We eventually agreed on one, but she and her attorney ignored emails about the required payments, so mediation never happened. The mediation center gave me a letter proving she didn’t respond.
I think she did this on purpose to let the temporary order expire. I no longer have a lawyer since I’m still paying off the bills from my last one, and I can’t afford a new one right now. I don’t want to lose time with my child, but when I tried to hold her in contempt in court by myself, I lost because of legal technicalities. Any advice?