- 905 Plumas Street, Reno, NV 89509
- Mon-Fri 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Jessica Anderson joins The Alice Morning Show every Friday morning to talk all things family law during Love Court.
“I am separating from my girlfriend. We have a daughter together. My girlfriend does not work and says that I have to pay child support, which she’ll use to pay her rent. I plan on having my daughter 2-3 days a week. I’m willing to provide her with clothes and food but I don’t think I should have to pay rent too. What will happen in court?”
“My ex husband sends me harassing text messages daily. We have 2 kids together and we share custody, but his text messages go way beyond talking about the kids. It is clear that he’s stalking me. He always knows when I’m out with friends, if I went on a date and what I did the night before. It’s creepy. Obviously we need to be able to talk about our kids but I don’t want him interfering with other aspects of my life. What can I do? I really don’t want to talk to him about anything outside of the kids.”
“My daughter turned 18 in July and is starting her senior year in high school. Her mom and I have 50/50 custody on a week on/week off schedule. But ever since her birthday my daughter has barely come to my house. Last week I tried to lay down the law with both her and her mother that she needs to abide by the custody schedule or I am going to take her back to court. My ex told me that she spoke to a lawyer and my daughter is no longer required to follow the schedule since she is 18. Is this true? I pay child support because I make a lot more than my ex. My old lawyer told me I have to pay child support until she graduates from high school. I’m so confused. What is the law?”
“My wife told me last week that she wants a divorce after 10 years of marriage. She won’t agree to try to fix it. She insists on it and I’m in shock. It is was out of the blue and I’m still processing it. Luckily we don’t have kids. She has printed out all of the paperwork online and is really pushing me to sign. It says that I keep my stuff and she keeps hers but we have always had separate finances so I’m not sure what she really has. The paperwork has her keeping the house and buying me out but she is using a Zillow value and with this market, I think it might be worth more. Before telling me that she wanted a divorce she had me file separate taxes. She hasn’t filed for 2021 and I don’t even know her income but she is a professional. What is your advice- should I just sign and get it over with?”
“My Ex husband moved 4 years ago and has lived in various states. I have primary physical custody of our 13 year old son. He is entitled to holiday and summer visitation but it has been sporadic. Now that summer is approaching, my ex has text asking when our son gets out so he can plan a visit. My son reports that his dad is mean to him and has been physically abusive during visits. My son is adamant that he doesn’t want to go this summer. Where do I stand. Our son doesn’t want to go, and he’s almost 13…It’s hard to force a an almost 13 year old to go. What are the NV Laws for this?”
“I was divorced 3 years ago. I have 4 children. As part of the divorce, we each were awarded 2 of the children’s college saving plans to manage and control. This week I received statements for the accounts he manages which the company sent to me by mistake. It appears that he recently cashed out the accounts and used our children’s college money for his own purposes. Can I take him back to court over this?”
“I have two kids and my ex and I are supposed to each claim one child on our tax return each year. I just heard from my accountant that my ex claimed both children and my tax return got rejected because of it. What can I do?”
“We got married a few months ago. We are both in our 50s and have each been married once before. He was not completely truthful about his financial situation among other things. Shortly after getting married I figured out that he had pretty bad previously undiagnosed ADD. He is not interested in trying to managing his ADD through through counseling or discussing meds with his doctor. We have not lived together and it is unbearable to spend much time together. He is mentally and emotionally “all over the place” and contradicts himself during short conversations. I am at my wit’s end. He is a good person with a good heart but he is not capable of being a partner/husband. He is impulsive and lack regulation in many basic aspects of his life. What are my options?”
“I’m interested in getting divorced. what is the quickest way to do it? We don’t have kids or a lot of property. We do have a truck in both of our names. She wants to keep it but I’m worried that she won’t make the payments and my credit will be screwed up. What can I do about that?”
“My ex and I share custody of our son on a week on week off basis. We do not have a formal custody order. We’ve never had an issue and have always shared custody equally. A few months ago I sent him an email about a vacation I wanted to take with my son over the first week of spring break, along with some other issues. He didn’t respond but I know he got it because we verbally discussed the other issues I brought you the next day. I just assumed he agreed with my trip and I made my spring break arrangements. I called him yesterday to figure out where he wanted to exchange my son for my trip and he said he never agreed to it and I can’t have him because he already made plans. My trip is planned and paid for what can I do.”
“I have a question about communication. My ex and I have been divorced for several years. Our children are now teenagers. Fortunately for the kids, we have always got along and never had any issues. I would have even called us friends. We have both always been really flexible and never really abided by our parenting agreement. Lately though, something has changed. His wife texted me recently and accused me of interfering with their custodial time and now my ex will not communicate with me at all. He won’t respond to texts or emails. I’m not sure how we are supposed to finish the job of raising these kids without speaking. My kids are in the middle and he is telling them to relay important information to me. Isn’t he required by law to talk to me? I don’t know what to do.”
“I just settled my divorce. We agreed that I would have primary custody of my three daughters who are ages 2, 4, and 7. My ex-husband works nights so he only has custody every other weekend. I just found out from their schools that he is trying to visit with them and volunteer in their classroom during my custodial time while I’m at work. Isn’t this a violation of the custody order?”
“If my ex-husband got our child a covid shot without my knowledge, and I find out later that he got a covid shot, does that mean that I can take him to court because in our court order it states we do have to discuss his health because we have joint custody?”
“Dear Jessica, My stepson’s mother hid an assessment the school was conducting. My stepson was placed in IEP. We are glad he is getting the support he needs in school. The only reason we found out is that he was absent, and I needed to get his homework from the teacher. The teacher accidentally shared he was on IEP. However, the mother continues to refuse co-parenting and communication anything. The custody states the following on education arrangements: Both parties are committed to a quality education for Anonymous child and will discuss any decision regarding changes in their educational needs as they see appropriate. Both Parents have the right to participate in school conferences, events, and activities and will advise each other on these events. Both parents shall have complete access to any school records and the right to be informed of any school-parent activities and participate in school events and conferences. The parties shall consult with one another regarding any of their child’s education arrangements. The mother signed the IEP without the father’s knowledge. Is this enough to take her back to court? She refuses to communicate in the best interest of the child. Based on his disabilities needs, could the father be granted full physical and legal custody?”
“I was divorced three years ago. I have 3 children. I have custody of them and their dad has visitation every other weekend. He is also allowed to claim one of the kids on his taxes every year and receives the child tax credit monthly. In the last 6 months he has a new girlfriend and he has stopped taking the kids on his weekends. I don’t think it’s fair that he gets the tax money and tax break but never takes them. Is there a way to force him to take the kids or to change our agreement?”
“I am trying to get some information for my niece. She is currently pregnant and due in November. She lives in Reno however she is thinking of moving to Florida where her mom lives to get support and help for the baby. She has been in an off and on relationship with the baby’s father but he does have a felony and she is unsure if being with him is the best decision for her and her baby. If she moves before the baby is born what kind of rights does he have over the baby? Does his rights as a father change at all weather she has the baby in Reno or in Florida? Can she file for child support if she moves?”
“My ex-husband has installed Life360 on my children’s iPhones so that he can track their whereabouts during my custodial time. Is this legal? I feel that it is an invasion of my privacy. He knows everything that we do on my time. He has accused me of just letting them lay around all weekend and never leaving the house. Can I bring this to the court’s attention? It feels like harassment.”
“My ex-husband has a substance abuse problem and has been in and out of rehab. The last several years, I have primary custody of our three children. My ex has visitation, but the last time we went to court, he was ordered to do random drug tests for 12 months, which ended at the end of January. The drug tests have been clean except the last one came back positive for ethyl glucuronide, basically trace amounts of alcohol. This was literally the last test and maybe he wasn’t expecting it because it was the day after another random test. Although his drug issue was mainly with heroin. He is supposed to maintain a hundred percent sobriety at all times. So here we go again. I don’t want to take the kids from him again, but if he can’t stay sober, I don’t feel like I have a choice. Please let me know what you think I should do.”
“My daughter is 8 years old. Her mom and I were never married but we were together until my daughter was 4 and then we lived nearby one another for the last 4 years. We never went to court but we shared my daughter equally. In June this year she told me that she had a family Emergency in Oregon and she was taking my daughter with her. She said she would be back in a few weeks. It’s now been 2 months. Last week I asked her when she was coming back because school was starting, she said that she wanted to stay in Oregon indefinitely with my daughter and that she gave up her lease here in Reno. She started talking about a new custody schedule that included my daughter living mostly in Oregon and going to school there. I’m beside myself. This is not what I want. Do I even have a choice?”
“Here’s my situation. I have been trying to finalize my divorce with my ex for over 2 years now (that’s an entirely different issue). In the original court motion it was established that we would move to 50/50 custody. That began in April of 2020. In August 2020 he hastily up and moved out of state over 1000 miles away. I now have our daughters full time. I have tried to work with him to arrange visitation. However he is insisting that I pay for it or at least half of it. I don’t feel that this is fair or right as he made the choice to move (he had a job here and had just bought a house and has no family where he moved to) I also now Have our daughters full time and have to pay with all that is involved with that. I’ve tried looking up NV statues and can’t find anything. I’m trying to understand the Les surrounding this before our next court appearance later this month. Thank you!”
“I have a couple questions regarding a situation with my ex-wife. she moved to Truckee and I helped by adjusting the visitation as she would not make the effort to see them on her court-appointed times. she has now “lost” another job and is currently $17,000 behind in child support. She is still telling me that she has the job and has canceled her weekends with the boys because of “work”. I was also told by my boys that her boyfriend, on multiple occasions, has dragged my son through the house by his collar or hood when he is mad at him. what can I do at this point with everything going on? she is an addict and I don’t feel comfortable that my kids are safe with them and they hate going to her house as they are extremely unhappy there.”
“3 Welcome to the Alice 96.5 Love Court radio show where divorce attorney, Jessica Anderson, addresses and answers the questions submitted by the audience. The question: “I have been separated for a few months and my ex and I said early on that we wanted an amicable divorce without lawyers. We agreed that we are dividing everything in half. I’ve printed out all of the paperwork online and sent it to him a few weeks ago. First, he said he needed time to review, then he said that he is too busy right now but he will get to it soon. I trusted that he was telling the truth. Yesterday I logged in to our joint investment accounts and he has drained $20k over the last 2 weeks. I’m so upset- how can I stop him from spending all of our money? Can I get back my half of what he took?”
“3 weeks ago my husband of 16 years left me and our home out of the blue and with no warning and moved in with his girlfriend. He has apparently been having an affair for over a year. I had no idea and am completely devastated. We are obviously getting a divorce. I just need some time to get my head on straight before I start that process. In the meantime, I need him to get his stuff out of here. But he tells me that he doesn’t have room for his things. He has been coming over whenever he needs something- he just walks right in like he still lives here. I’m changing the locks this weekend but how can get his stuff out of here? I don’t want to look at it anymore. I’m not the type to throw everything on the front lawn, but I’m getting to that point. Any advice would be appreciated.“
“3 weeks ago my husband of 16 years left me and our home out of the blue and with no warning and moved in with his girlfriend. He has apparently been having an affair for over a year. I had no idea and am completely devastated. We are obviously getting a divorce. I just need some time to get my head on straight before I start that process. In the meantime, I need him to get his stuff out of here. But he tells me that he doesn’t have room for his things. He has been coming over whenever he needs something- he just walks right in like he still lives here. I’m changing the locks this weekend but how can get his stuff out of here? I don’t want to look at it anymore. I’m not the type to throw everything on the front lawn, but I’m getting to that point. Any advice would be appreciated.“
“I’m a nurse and I’ve been on the front lines of the pandemic seeing firsthand what this virus has done to families in our community. I’m also a divorced mother of a 13-year-old son. As I’m sure you know, this week the Pfizer vaccine was approved for 12-15-year-olds. I immediately reached out to my ex-husband about getting my son a vaccine appointment. To my surprise, he adamantly disagrees that my son should be vaccinated. He claims that the vaccine is too new and he doesn’t trust its safety for children. He says there is no real risk that my son will become ill if he gets Covid, so why take the risk? I’m so annoyed by this. I know that teenagers can become ill with this virus- and the point is that you just never know. I want him to be vaccinated so that he can have the protection, but also we all need to do our part to get to herd immunity. What are my rights here? Can a judge make this decision for us?“
“Approximately 1 year ago I got out of jail after a 2-year sentence. I signed over temporary custody of my daughter to my sister-in-law and am now ready to regain custody. If I am on parole due to a charge related to my daughter, does my parole affect me getting custody? There was no physical harm done to my child. I was intoxicated while she was in my care I have since been sober and received the help I need to stay sober. I have been sober for over 3 years now without being monitored. Please don’t judge me for the awful mistakes I have done.“
“Dear Jessica: I have 3 small kids, all under the age of 6. Their mother and I lived together for a few years but she has now gone off the deep end. She does drugs, she is violent and I’m not even sure where she is right now. I’m also pretty sure she is bipolar. I have had the kids with me for the last year. Their mom only comes around when she wants something- usually money. She rarely asks to see the kids but when she does, I don’t let her take them. I’m worried she is going to steal them or do something weird. The last few weeks she has been asking to take my oldest daughter overnight. I will not allow it but I’m not sure what legal right I have to prevent it. What should I do?”
“I have been divorced for 2 years and I have a 13 year old son with my ex. Our divorce decree says that we have to share medical and activity costs for my son. Last week I received a packet in the mail from my ex with a request for reimbursement and a bunch of receipts. She claims I owe her $640 for the last two years of expenses and that I have to pay her within 30 days. I’ve looked at the receipts and invoices and on some it’s not clear that the expense was really for my son. How can I verify this? Do I really have to pay this within 30 days?”
“My ex has this thing where he ignores my text message if he doesn’t want to respond via text. Doesn’t even acknowledge that he got it in any way, and then the next time I see him he is generally semi-confrontational. I recently sent him some proposed schedule changes for the summer months because he only works 4 days in summer and our original schedule was built around him working 5 days a week. The normal schedule is every Friday and every other Saturday. I proposed for summer that it change to every other Friday through Sunday. Anyway the main point is he hasn’t responded to my message, and I don’t like the have face-to-face exchanges because he can be intimidating and I am non-confrontational. Is it illegal if we had this conversation on my driveway and my ring camera was recording it (he is aware that I have cameras, and the cameras begin to record as soon as there is motion) I would just like to save the conversation in case he tries to say something different about the conversation afterward as I think that is why he doesn’t want to put it in a text.“
“About 2 months ago, my wife left me and my infant daughter. She always had mental health issues and recently stopped taking her meds. She basically went off of the deep end and started using drugs again and hanging out with her druggie friends. I have not heard from her in 3 weeks. I filed a complaint for divorce and the forms say that I have to have her personally served. The problem is that I don’t know where she is. As far as I know, she is couch surfing with several of her friends. How do I personally serve her if I can’t find her?“
“Dear Jessica, my son was born in June 2014 (we were not married but both signed the birth certificate) and the last physical contact with his biological father was November 2014. The father’s contacts have been holidays from 2015-2016, “Happy Thanksgiving” “Merry Christmas”, “Happy Easter” and finally “Happy Birthday [child]” in 2016. As I understand, I cannot terminate his parental rights since I am a single parent. Is this true? If something happens to me, is my son going to go a total stranger simply because of a signature on a birth certificate? How do I protect my child and make sure he goes to the family he knows? And what can I do to make sure I have physical and legal custody?”
“I have not been able to see my grandchildren for the last 2 years. The kids are 8 and 10 and I basically helped raise them when they were little. They were at my house almost every day. Their mom is my daughter. Their dad, my daughter’s husband, is a very abusive man. Because of her husband our relationship fell apart. He does not allow my daughter or the kids to have a relationship with me. I would like to know if I can file for grandparent rights. I miss my grandchildren terribly.“
“Dear Jessica, after this year with COVID and many other things I had decided I would like to move with my children to be closer to my parents in Utah. I was divorced three years ago. I wanted to move then, but my ex said no, and I wanted to get the divorce over with circumstances and financials have changed since then. What is the legal approach to do this? He is very money driven. And I think that maybe if I gave up child support, he would agree. What do you suggest?”
“I have two children ages seven and nine. I’ve been married to my husband for two years but he isn’t the biological father of my children. In 2018, I filed termination of parental rights paperwork against my children’s biological father and it was awarded. My husband has accepted financial responsibility of the children and told me that he wanted to adopt them. He has since left and we’d like a divorce. Is there any way that I can hold him responsible for child support for my two children?”
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