The life of a child was at stake

Hobson & Hobson Case Studies

Often, a case really pulls on the heart strings of every person in the office. We rally around our team working the case; we worry, pray and ask for updates about the people involved. Recently we had just one of those cases. Our client John* called our office one afternoon wanting to come in to discuss modifying his child custody agreement; he was pursuing full physical and legal custody of his children with ex-wife Jane*. Jane had moved out of state with the children and in with her new boyfriend that she’d only known for a very short time. Little did we know then how quickly this case would take a turn for the worse, and that one of those children would soon be fighting for his life.

Shortly after hiring our firm, we received the terrible news that that 5 year old Ethan* was in the pediatric ICU after being severely abused by the mother’s boyfriend as a result of being left in his care for several days. Emergency hearings were set., and our team went to work gathering evidence from social workers and doctors to prove that the mother should have been aware of the abuse from her boyfriend before she left Ethan in his care. Our attorneys used prior testimony of the mother against her to show her pattern of consistent lying, which served to destroy her credibility in front of the court. Ultimately, the court found by a preponderance of evidence that there was a substantial change in circumstances that warranted the court to give the father legal and physical custody of the child immediately.

Little Ethan has been released from the hospital and is in the process of re-learning how to talk and gain back his motor skills. He’s got a long way to go, but we were able to get him into the safety of this father’s care to begin healing physically and emotionally. We are always happy for a win in the courtroom, but in this situation, we were in a fight for a young boy’s life.

*Names and identifying details changed to protect the privacy of all parties

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