Leving Court double victory: Dad wins in court twice to be reunited with son
Sometimes it takes more than one court victory for a father’s proper place with his children to be upheld.
Some time ago, a dad came to us to secure his place in his 3-year-old son’s life. We won exclusive parenting time for him with his son, and the mother was ordered not to take the boy from Dad’s care.
However, more recently, according to court documents, the mother took the child while Dad was at work, and threatened that Dad would never see his son again.
Desperate to get his son back, Dad called the police.
“I was informed they refused to turn the child over to Dad, even though Dad had a court order granting him exclusive parenting time,” says Jeffery M. Leving, founder and president of the Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving Ltd in Chicago, who represented the father for both victories.
“I was concerned for the child’s safety.”
Leving will talk about these victories on his weekly radio show, the Dads Rights Legal Hour, 9-10 a.m. CDT Saturday, July 9 on Power 92.3 FM in Chicago.
Leving and his legal team jumped into action, filing an emergency petition for order of protection, and getting it before the judge the very next day.
“We prepared like a life depended on this,” Leving says.
“We argued the case, and we won. The judge granted the emergency order of protection we needed, the police retrieved the child, transferred him to Dad pursuant to the court order, and Dad was reunited with his son.”
This is a victory, modified for broadcast, which made Dad extremely happy. “I’m glad that he and his son are together again, where they belong,” Leving says.
“But it should not have come to this. The first court victory should have been enough, but it is clear we still have work to do in terms of making everyone aware that fathers have rights too – especially when they’re detailed in a court order.”
Leving also will speak about Gabby Giffords, the former congresswoman from Arizona who was shot in the head in 2011, and who is to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, on July 7.
Giffords recently visited Chicago. She and her husband, U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona), are Leving’s friends, and they’re both committed to stopping gun violence. He joined her at a reception downtown at which she said she believes a better world is possible.
Leving agrees with her that better laws and better enforcement will keep guns out of the hands of criminals. “But I think in the bigger picture, father involvement plays a huge role in reducing crime rates,” Leving says.
“The no. 1 predictor of crime in America is father absence. It is essential that we, as a society, impress upon fathers that it is right and necessary for them to raise their children, and that we clear away obstacles that fathers face in safeguarding their children, especially if they’re single or divorced. Fathers MUST be able to raise their children. It’ll benefit the children, of course, and I’ve heard from many fathers that having children and parental rights has made them better men. It’s good all around.”
(Jeffery M. Leving is founder and president of the Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving Ltd., and is a strong advocate. He is the author of Fathers’ Rights, Divorce Wars and How to be a Good Divorced Dad, the latter of which was endorsed by President Obama and by Cardinal Francis E. George, then the archbishop of Chicago. To learn more about Leving and his latest court victories, follow him on Twitter and Facebook, and view his videos on You Tube.)
Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
Email Ray Hanania at rghanania@gmail.com.
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