7 chapters
All chapters tagged with NY Family Court
The court appoints a supervisor who promises integrity and transparency. She meets privately with Tara before the first visit, invites her to attend in violation of the court order, dismisses Steve's concerns about being poisoned, and tells him she has a special relationship with the judge. She charges $250 an hour. The judge who appointed her later admits she wanted Steve to die on his own sword.
Steve files a detailed memorandum describing the ambush, the supervision manipulation, and the historical abuse inside the Walsh household. The court destabilizes. The judge recuses. The case is reassigned.
Kelly undergoes surgery. Steve's attorneys request remote appearance at a visitation conference. At five o'clock the evening before, the court denies the request. He boards an overnight flight. When he arrives, Judge Horowitz has already entered a default — granting permanent custody and a five-year order of protection at what was scheduled as a status conference.
Steve seeks a Temporary Order of Protection in New York. The TOP is granted. At the evidentiary hearing, Tara and her attorneys fail to appear. Twice. A second default is entered. Judge Humphreys recuses himself.
The case passes to a fourth judge. Schauer vacates the Horowitz default and issues two temporary orders of protection — one against each party. The poisoner and the poisoned are treated as symmetrical threats. Steve tells the court a permanent temporary order does not give him a chance to face his accuser. The court tells him he is muddying the record.
Jennifer Jackman resigns as Attorney for the Child without explanation. Her replacement files a motion to suppress all blog content. A visitation conference is converted into a gag order hearing. Steve is declared in default. Judge Schauer orders the blog removed — every post, every photograph, every grandmother's letter. The words are precise. Erase. Deactivate. Delete.
His attorney was in the courtroom. He was not. The phone rang after. The voice on the other end sounded beaten. 'Well, that didn't go well.' The orders were final.