PRO

Johanne Valois-Shoffstall's Legal Cases (2)

Call for a consultation Call (941) 241-1084 Message View Profile

Family

Stockard v. Stockard

Nov 14, 2007

OUTCOME: Successful on all fronts:children/civil/criminal

This case involved issues related to very young children and a wife who took evey step imaginable to prevent the development of a bond between the father and the children, especially a set of twins who ... were born a few months before the separationn took place. Those steps included not only filing for a domestic violence injunction, but having the father arrested, twice, once on a false accusation of battery, the other on a fasle accusation of violation of the injunction, even though the father was complying with the provisions of the temporary injunction as it related to picking up the children for time-sharing. This man spent a total of 5 days in jail for absolutely no reason. One of the reasons for the extended stay was that when the wife had him arrested for the alleged violation of the temporary domestic violence injunction, it was Memorial Day weekend and our office was closed until the Tuesday when we proceeded to obtain a bond hearing (he had been held without bond because of the "violation" of an existing domestic violence injunction). The hearing was set for the following day (Wednesday) and by the time he was "processed" it was in the middle of the night between Wednesday and Thursday. The state attorney's office never filed the charges of "violation" but they proceeded with the domestic violence battery charges. We had to wait for the criminal trial before proceeding with the civil trial in the domestic violence court. It was clear to the jury, who took a very short time to return a verdict, that the wife had lied all along.

Family

Oscar W. Prado, Jr. v. Karen D. Torrens

Aug 20, 2003

OUTCOME: Client granted custody modification request

This was a post-judgment case where father had been granted primary residential care of the parties' minor child. Our client, the former wife filed for modification alleging, among other things, that ... the father and his new wife were interfering with her relationship with the child, a 9 year old boy at the time. While Cole Jefferies represented the father, the parties reached an agreement, which the father soon thereafter proceeded to violate by moving to Texas with the child, thereby basically nullifying the agreement. Mr. Jefferies withdrew from the case and the father proceeded pro se. At the time, there was no relocation statute as there is now. The case had to proceed with the child remaining in Texas. The interference got worse. At the trial, the court granted the request and modified custody of the child to the mother. Thereafter, the father's new wife continued to escalate the problem. The father failed to stop the escalation. In the end, the court ordered that the father have only supervised contact with the child and no contact at all between the child and the step mother. Right before trial, the father hired another attorney, Peter Scaglione who probably saved this case from becoming a lot worse for this father. This is a perfect example of a high conflict case that could have been prevented with the right help and alternative dispute resolution, including a parenting coordinator.