More details to this question:
My ex "Jack" had a girlfriend "Diane" that took the family pets when they broke up. Jack had them temporarily until the kids and I could get settled. Jack refuses to communicate with me. The kids miss them and kept asking Jack where the dogs were and when he was going to get them back. At a recent hearing, he said he filed something with small claims court to get them back from Diane. The judge awarded the dogs to to me and it is up to me to file something. After this hearing, we later found out that he lied about the small claims court filing and he never did file anything. The dogs are chipped in my name and I tried to report them lost with police, but they said I can't file the report since I am 3rd party and that my ex has to do it since they were in his possession, regardless of being awarded the dogs. Is this correct? What can I do if my ex won't retrieve them? He is afraid of Diane and does not want a confrontation. If I have to hire an atty / P.I. can I collect fees?
1 ANSWER
The exact order of who was where when is a bit confusing, but if I understand the situation, the pets were yours but left with Jack, he later had a girlfriend and the pets went with her (it is hard to see how much time passed here) and now you want them per your agreement with Jack before the two of you broke up.
It is unclear why there are are hearings, or in what court.
Your comment about the police does not make sense if, indeed, they are your property per court order. If you have a court order stating that they are yours, and you know who has them, the police should assist you in retrieving them (this would be the simplest way to solve the problem). It is unclear why you wish to hire a P.I.
If you have a family court case open, you could seek joinder of the girlfriend -- bringing her into your family court case -- and the same judge who awarded them to you could then order her to turn them over to you. That might be simpler than starting up yet another court case. But the simplest of all these things would be to track Diane down, and ask for the pets, telling her that you will go to court if you cannot resolve the matter informally. Of course, never threaten anything you are not in fact willing to do.
Answered on Mar 15th, 2015 at 9:26 AM