Comment #: MO253
Rating:1.0
Comments:
My motherhood was destroyed by the courts. In 1996, Judge Wallace presided over the Family Court in St. Louis County. She would not let me collect my financial awards, and was forcing me into poverty. Several petitions and motions were filed on my behalf. In 1997, after the decree was issued, a hearing was scheduled to hear my petitions. On November 24, 1997, the lawyers met with her behind closed doors. After six hours of deliberations, I was threatened with losing custody of my children unless I agreed to sign an agreement changing my custody and releasing my awarded property. I was told by both lawyers: "the judge said that if you don't sign the papers the case will be transferred to the juvenile court and you could lose custody of your kids." I signed the papers on a Friday night, at 6:30 pm. The next Monday morning, before 8:00 am, I delivered and filed a copy of my letter requesting Judge Wallace to dismiss the signed agreement that was forced upon me by duress. Later that day, I went to the court files and saw a letter filed from the U.S. Probation Office concerning my husband. I met with a representative of the U.S. Probation office a month later and found that my then-husband was involved with kiting checks and would be going to prison for six months, assuming that he plead guilty. He plead guilty. The day he was released from prison, he married the sales manager of the business (marital property) that we owned. I was denied the right to relocate with the children to Chicago, where I am from. Not long after, I became homeless, lost custody of my children, and was left with $4 million of his business debt. It wasn't until ten years later that I was able to collect any financial awards, but by then, it had all gone for attorneys' fees.