Reply to Asked to be a witness in a custody dispute involving my son's kindergarten friend

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If you are a witness, stick to facts, not opinions. 
As in, when you were present, did the father arrive on time to drop off or pick up his child, did he feed his child at mealtimes, did he raise his voice, did you see him do X, Y, Z act on his child, did he insult his child with X, Y, Z words, did you see him drunk, use drugs or drive erratically, etc.

Very, very factual. No injection of opinion at all. The father will have to determine with his lawyer whether that's sufficient. You're not in a position to gush and say: "in all the years I've know Josh, he's been the best father that Larlo could ever ask for, blah blah blah...".
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This.  My DH was a witness in a friend's custody dispute.  They're not going to ask you who you think is a better parent.  Just your observations.  [/quote]

NP. The OP did say: [i]"The kids just met each other this year, so I've only seen the father interact with his kids a handful of times."[/i] In those circumstances there's no way I'd be remotely comfortable with even giving "just" my "observations." I would feel I did not have enough real knowledge of him or his relationship with his kids based on that alone, and like OP, I'd be concerned that I likely don't know the full story on either side.

And to OP: I'd wonder why he asked a relatively new acquaintance to be a witness (parent of a kid's friend, who's seen dad "a handful of times" is, relatively speaking, just an acquaintance) to be a witness in something as important as a custody case.

I would say no to the request and as others noted, you do not need to give a reason. If this were someone you actually knew well and felt strongly about adding your testimony, that's one thing. But this is not that situation. Say no. [/quote]

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