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Video Transcribed: How to remove a parenting coordinator in Oklahoma family law case. I’m Oklahoma attorney James Wirth, and we’re about to talk about how to remove a parenting coordinator.
So if you’re in a family law case and a parenting coordinator is appointed, first off, a lot of times that appointment order will specify for how long the person is going to be the parenting coordinator.
And that is something you can put in the order, if it’s an agreement or the judge will determine if it’s not an agreement. Now that can be for 12 months, two years, three years, four years.
That’s typically within that range that it would be done. Once that time expires, the person is no longer the parenting coordinator. If issues come up and you need it again, you can file a motion to have them reappointed. So that’s one way to get somebody off as being a parenting coordinator, is just wait that time out.
But what if you’ve got a long parenting coordinator order and you find that you don’t want that person as the parenting coordinator? All right. So the statutes are clear that we’re looking for someone who’s a neutral third party as a parenting coordinator.
If you’ve got evidence that shows that the parenting coordinator is being biased or not being helpful in some way, the statutes do allow you to file a motion to remove the parenting coordinator, and you would want to specify the reason to do so.
Some orders like the default order we use in Tulsa County requires that you actually talk to the parenting coordinator first, express your concerns, give the parenting coordinator an opportunity to respond.
And if you don’t get resolution that way, you’re then able to file with the court. So you’ll want to look at the particular order in your case to see if it has resolution processes you need to go through before you go to the judge.
But in any case, if that doesn’t work, you are allowed to go to the judge and show why it’s not in the best interest of the children to have the parenting coordinator on there.
And that could be, because you can no longer afford it, it could be because the parties are going along and it’s no longer needed.
And it could be that something’s happened that you believe the parenting coordinator is not a good person for your particular case, or you can show that they’ve been biased against you in a way that you feel that the judge will find meaningful. Any of those circumstances, you can file it.
And if there’s an agreement, then it’s not a problem, you can do it by agreed order to get it off as the parenting coordinator.
If it’s not by agreement, and there’s an objection to your motion, then it could be set for a hearing and you can put on evidence and testimony, and the judge can make that determination on whether it makes sense to have that parenting coordinator withdraw, because you don’t need one or because you need somebody else appointed as the parenting coordinator.
If you’re going through that circumstance, that type of issue can be heavily litigated.
Because sometimes we feel that if the parenting coordinator is against us, the other party feels like maybe it’s in their benefit and they want to fight hard to keep that person on as the parenting coordinator.
So, if you’re under those circumstances, you’re going to want the specific advice of an attorney. If you want to talk to somebody at my office, go to makelaweasy.com.