Re: LETTER: Judicial Corruption Alive and Well in Pennsylvania
Same here. Went from two unfounded PFA’s along with unfounded Child Sexual Abuse Allegations by ex wife, who gained custody as soon as she filed in Lancaster, PA and was allowed to maintain after everything was made officially unfounded.
No accountability for her action;s just rewarded with gaining full custody.
I was basically shut down by the judge, being back then Judge Henry Kenderdine, and he basically stated that it was old news during continued custody cases.
I contacted the local Lancaster Country Children and Youth when the ex took my then 2 year old daughter, who was completely attached to me due to her mother never being home or being locked up in bedroom when her mother was on phone with other men for hours. they told me of the Child Sexual Abuse allegations after I told them that the Mother was very unstable and I needed help getting my daughter back.
They made excuses for the Mother as if the allegations were true and helped her keep my daughter. My ex also has used the local child support office, the Office of Domestic Relations, to modify support almost yearly causing arrears each time after I just got caught up with support from the last increase.
I have been through multiple custody cases and made several statements about the mother doing things to disrupt our visits, causing problems, “friction” in our relationship because of her behaviors along with the new husbands.
The courts make it worse each time by taking time away except when I had a good attorney and we filed for contempt actions. The Mother agreed to most of my terms as I live out of state, for which I moved to enjoy uninterrupted visit as I was always having problems while living in Lancaster Pa.
I spent so much money for court fees and attorney fees, even drove back and fourth for weekly visits, holidays, ecetera after being advised by my attorneys that this would help with my case, but it never did; just put the Mother in control over me and being manipulated.
I have been lied to by corrupt attorneys that favored my ex the whole time and manipulated to give into her irrational demands, even lost a case and precious time because one of my attorneys set me up to lose as he was friends with the ex wife’s attorney.
The current judge in my case is Judge Jeffery Reich and he has continued to take time away and set up any visitation schedule that interferes with work schedules etc to include constantly taking off for work and putting my employment in jeopardy constantly.
There is no doubt in my mind that Lancaster County PA courts system is corrupt and discriminates against fathers except the lucky few to whom they have to give custody too from time to time to try to prove otherwise on paper. It the quid pro quo status 80/20 percentage.
So here is to you the lucky 20% that the court awards custody to you, but probably lose later I am sure.
EDITOR: We cannot speak to the accuracy of the above. But we do know that people can bring outrageous and unsubstantiated charges and depend on often ‘knee jerk’ judicial system to serve their ends.
On the other hand, one slip up and the case worker or judge will be pilloried by the media.
The entire family court system in Lancaster is a sham.
The good news is that Jeffrey Reich is currently under investigation by the Judicial Conduct Board for having ex parte’ communication with an attorney about a case that, to date, he denies ever having.
The good news is he has been caught red handed and doesn’t even know it yet. The bad news is there are at least 7 other judges that also need to begin practicing what is “fair” for the child vs. the “winner take all” strategy given to the mother.
It’s unreal. At least one Lancaster Judge has been through divorce himself, and he got EQUAL custody of his children (go figure).
There will come a time when father’s are treated equally, I just don’t know if I will ever see it in my lifetime. Lancaster has it pretty wrapped up with the way they do “business.” There’s no doubt about it.
Follow up on previous letter posted on here. Yes it is all true and it is like I am being scammed both by the ex and the courts as if they know what they are doing and have done many times before. Seems very calculated.
We had the final hearing and after I presented how the Mother and Step Father placed the lives of my Daughter, young Son and myself in danger due to a disruptive phone call by the Mother and Step Father causing outburst in vehicle and aggressive behavior toward me while driving in dangerous holiday conditions on Florida pan handle, decrease in academics, problems at school, problems with daughter’s cell phone with the Mother and Step Father and how it interferes with our visit.
The Judge granted their wish of only three weeks of visitation for the entire year, can’t take away cell phone, basically defamed me on the court order in the findings. I took on my own case because I couldn’t afford and attorney and since the Mother had already used the “Lancaster County free legal clinic” I wasn’t able to use.
I even caught both the Mother and Step Father lying in court and nothing happened. The judge just kept saying that he was more interested in knowing about how much time he should grant for custody.
He lied about allowing my Daughter to participate in Custody Conference by stating to me during the Mother petition for relief Family Business Court that he would only allow her to speak with him in his chambers but marked on his order he allowed her to be a Custody Conference. So I am not only defending the against the Mother but my own Daughter in the same room.
I wasn’t allowed in the Judges Chambers because of being a parent even though I was representing myself. So it was only the Judge, the Mother’s attorney and my Daughter. So I don’t even know what was said.
So bottom line is I went from having most of the summer, week for Christmas break, one week in spring to just three weeks for the entire year. I live out of state in my own home state where my Daughter has extended family here to include two other sibling for which the Judge stated that my daughter was only here for limited time and didn’t have enough time to build up a bond with any of her younger siblings which was wrong since she was coming out for that much time since her oldest Brother was born.
He even didn’t state the accurate time frame I moved to Indiana. Totally ignored the fact that the Mother was in contempt during prior custody case and made excuses for not allowing me to submit a long list of harassing and slandering text messages from the Mother and Step Father, to include emails that was the greatest piece of evidence I had to prove my case.
See Gravitt VS Gravitt (Thompson) on the prothonotary web page and search. My exhibits may be public as well.
Lancaster Country parents of Divorce with Children, more so Fathers…Watch every step and communications written and spoken during all custody conferences (especially this first starting point), your attorney and court if take that far, however noting your probably damned twice if taken that far and you are not the one with the child before either point.
BE CAREFUL of the unlawful ABUSE ALLEGATIONS given out like candy to parents who use them as initial tools to gain custody and the court so willing to grant.
DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CHILD if there is a dispute between you and the other parent, especially if your not the aggressor. So hard to prove after the fact.
DO NOT PLAY the NICE guy either, it will screw you even more. ALL officials will twist words of both non-custodial “NON-FAVORED” (for what ever reason not favored either politics, money, or even employment security for themselves.)
BE DEMANDING with your attorney and pick wisely. They hook you in with the pay for initial consultation knowing that you probably won’t go to many if can’t afford it. They talk a good game to get you in but don’t always follow through once you pay them.
If you suspect mental health as issue, get evaluations started immediately, worth paying for if you have to pay for it otherwise your child is doomed if given to that parent with mental health issues and so are you.
The ONE JUDGE, ONE FAMILY isn’t worth anything if they don’t consider any factor beyond one or two years such as cases where unlawful PFA’s began the process and you can’t prove at the time that it is false as you will be told this (won’t know if abused until the child reaches a certain age, by that time it won’t even be allowed to be spoken and you will be told that the reason is that is presumed to have “BEEN RESOLVED” at a prior hearing, when at the prior hearing you would have been told the same or that it is “OLD NEWS”. Never getting addressed and leaving custody to the other parent with you looking “CRAZY” for bringing it up or just taking continued stabs at the other parent. Watch CYA (they will twist facts and make you lose you children), DOMESTIC RELATIONS AND THE COURTS.
If your marriage is rocky with children and possible divorce, get the hell away from there. GO FAR FAR AWAY FROM EITHER LANCASTER CO, OR THE STATE. It will be worth it. They are not out to protect the child, they are out to protect other interests like if you two parent live in two different states they will manipulate the cases to keep the child there in PA or Lancaster to force to become a permanent resident to provide economics future benefits.
Its all political and favor to Mothers. I am sorry for the good Mothers who deserve but there are a lot of not so good Mothers who are not the best fit but get them anyway.
They are not fair by any means. You can go online and look at the stats for child support and see who is paying more and who is behind the most between Mothers and Fathers. You will find Fathers are the majority that are both. So that speaks for itself.