Legal Aid helps mother and her children…
A sample of cases handled by Legal Aid of North Carolina
Note: This is an actual case submitted by an attorney from the Legal Aid of North Carolina office in New Bern, NC.
By the time Mary was referred to the Legal Aid Office in New Bern,
NC she had been separated from her husband, Mike, for three weeks. During
that separation time, Mike had snatched their son, Jack, from school.
He had told Mary that if she wanted to see Jack again, she would have
to return to him and "be a family."
Mary and Mike had been involved for nine years and had been married
for eight years. For part of that time, Mike had also been in jail,
mostly for property crimes, such as "breaking and entering" and "obtaining
property by false pretenses". And, during the course of their turbulent
relationship, Mike had been intermittently violent and threatening,
often in front of their two children, Jack and Maddy.
Mike tended to be especially abusive when Mary had been pregnant. He
had often dragged her by her hair and had told her that he would not
stop dragging her if she cried out. The last time he had done this,
he had dragged her outside of their mobile home and into a freezing
rain. Mary’s legs had been badly bruised and lacerated, and she has
permanent scars from that assault. During the incident, Mike and Mary's
children had stood in the door, crying and begging their father to stop
hurting their mother.
On the Fourth of July, Mike had (again) become intoxicated. Despite
Mary’s pleas and her attempt to stop him, he took the kids in the car
while he went for a "beer run". Mike had crashed the car, totaling their
only family vehicle. Fortunately, the children had not been injured.
After that incident, Mary had fled to her grandmother’s house and had
been referred to Legal Aid for help.
The Legal Aid attorney immediately filed an ex parte child custody lawsuit.
The attorney also successfully obtained an emergency order, which placed
Jack in Mary's temporary custody, pending the outcome of a hearing.
After several continuances (and flood-related interruption of the court
system) over a four-month period, the case was tried. The Court granted
Mary exclusive, permanent physical custody of the two children, Jack
and Maddy.
Since the conclusion of the trial and a legal separation from Mike,
Mary has secured her own housing and has become employed. The children
have stopped having nightmares (they have a fear of being taken and
never returned by their father). Jack is making improvement in school.
"Both Mary and the administration at Jack’s school are grateful for
Legal Aid's assistance," noted the Legal Aid attorney, "particularly
in securing a custody order that provided safety and stability for Mary
and the children."
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Legal Aid of North Carolina office or a private attorney if you need to speak to
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Mission Statement
Legal Aid of North Carolina is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that
provides free legal services in civil matters to low-income people in
order to ensure equal access to justice and to remove legal barriers
to economic opportunity.