Well, I've got a call in to my old lawyer. She hasn't gotten back to me yet though, so I'm assuming she's probably in court for the day. Anyway, I'm going to relate the past couple years to her and get her opinion on my chances if I sue for full custody.
Flea, I get what you're saying but I've spent the last three years (we settled on custody in December 2000) fighting with her to have a relationship with her son. Three years of badgering her to call, write, visit... anything to show she was even aware she
had a son outside of holidays and the summer visitation. After this past January, I decided to just leave her to her own devices. And, left to her own devices, she apparently ignores him completely.
The last time she's seen him was August '03. Around Thanksgiving (it was her year to have him for Turkey Day) I asked her when she wanted to get him. She said she wanted him for Christmas instead. I told her to **** up a rope because it was my year to have him for Christmas and when did she want to get him for Thanksgiving. She responded by blowing Thanksgiving off completely. So, right Christmas, I start sending e-mails and stuff offering for them to have him right after the New Year. No reply. So, on the 3rd, I call multiple times, finally get through to her and ask if she's taking him or not and she says it'd be "too hard". This is someone with no job, living with her parents. I can't fathom a situation where I'd be sitting at home all day, at my mom's house, and it'd be "too hard" for me to take my child for a week. I told her that I guessed I'd hear from her to have him around his birthday, but she never contacted me. I got a package from her mother and, inside it, was a letter saying she (the ex) would be sending a card with some money or something for him. A couple weeks later, still no card and I had registered my son for kindergarten so I sent out an e-mail saying "Hey, he's registered for school and I never got a card so if you think I'm sitting on a check or anything, I'm not." No reply.
Bah. I could go on, but I'll spare you the Jerry Springer routine
Point being (and long in the making) that it's not as if I've been hiding out for six months, rubbing my hands and waiting to pounce. I've just figured that if she hasn't learned in three years, she's not going to learn.