Chapter 7 - The temporary order
The emergency custody hearing occurred four days after the attack.
I attended by video from Natalie’s office because my face still looked terrible and concussion symptoms made courthouse lighting miserable.
Lucas appeared with attorney Peter Lang.
Andrea represented me.
Judge Margaret Sloan did not call Lucas an abuser.
She focused on immediate safety.
Evidence:
Valerie attacked me with pan.
Children present.
Lucas intentionally kept children in kitchen after I told them to leave.
Lucas recorded confrontation from a selective angle.
Main kitchen camera disabled from his account.
Lucas tried to grab hidden recording phone from Natalie.
Lucas had not physically assaulted me.
No evidence he had harmed children.
Then temporary order.
Children primarily with me.
Lucas:
Supervised parenting twice weekly for two hours at professional center initially.
Why supervised?
Not punishment for adultery.
Concern about judgment, exposing children to violence, and possible deliberate staging of confrontation.
No Valerie contact.
No discussing case with children.
No asking them what they told interviewer.
No recording them about litigation.
Exclusive use of marital home granted to me after Lucas retrieved personal belongings under supervision.
Joint legal decision-making temporarily suspended?
Judge gave me temporary sole authority for nonemergency medical and therapy decisions for children and pregnancy-related matters involving me, while Lucas retained direct access to children’s school/medical information where appropriate.
School decisions stayed status quo.
No changes.
Then finances.
Neither spouse could:
Drain accounts.
Sell company interest.
Take new secured debt above ordinary-business thresholds without disclosure.
No freezing Lucas’s company.
No locking him out of every dollar.
Then Judge Sloan addressed me.
“Ms. Ellison, did your sister strike Mr. Ellison?”
“Yes.”
“Is she serving as caregiver during exchanges?”
“No.”
Good.
The court did not want more conflict.
Natalie could see children socially.
But she would not manage exchanges.
Professional center.
Then Lucas said:
“Mara is turning one terrible night into a reason to erase me.”
Judge responded:
“You are receiving parenting time. The court is evaluating whether the night was only one terrible night.”
May you like
That sentence mattered.
Because I didn’t know either.
