HC Article about Family Court history and clear explanation of Dr Herman hiring (recommended by Atty Midler) - note ongoing issue of DA 'reposting' Atty. P. comments about the psych report which DA has never himself viewed (or at least admitted to seeing IMO):
‘I’m not Charles Manson:’ Court transcripts show escalating tension and anger in two-year Dulos divorce
Quotes from article:
40 different motions
The hearings on the custody motion ended in October 2018, but it wasn’t until March of this year that Heller issued new orders — the ones that Dulos’ attorney, Norm Pattis, referred to in court last month as being beneficial to his client.
Heller set up a schedule allowing supervised visitation for Dulos to see his children every other weekend, seven hours at a time, starting on March 30. She kept many of the previous restrictions in place, including no contact between Troconis and the children.
But as with other orders in this case, it was immediately challenged by the other side, causing even further delays in the case.
On April 25, the date of the last hearing held before Farber Dulos’ May 24 disappearance, the couple argued about whether Dulos’ drive to and from New Canaan should count as part of his visitation time and where he should pick up and drop off the children. The hearing was long, prompting Heller to suggest that they visit family relations, which Midler dismissed as just another level of bureaucracy.
“There needs to be some mechanism for addressing disputes that do not require the court’s intervention, because if that is the case, then this case will be here five years from now,” Heller said, according to transcripts. “There are probably at this point forty different motions, and we could shut down the courthouse and not hear any other case and spend the rest of 2019 hearing and deciding those motions.”
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The hearing ended with Midler arguing strenuously against Dulos getting the children for the Greek Orthodox Easter weekend on April 28.
“This is a piece of self-interest litigation that’s being driven by the defendant, because he has other concerns than the healing of the family; he’s more concerned with the problems back at” Dulos’ home in Farmington, Midler said, according to court transcripts.
Midler raised concerns about how the children would be supervised during the weekend, saying 15 relatives of Troconis would be there in addition to another 20 to 30 people that are usually invited.
“We’ve had problems with children going missing in action before while visiting there, so this would be totally unworkable, it is not appropriate,” he said.
Heller didn’t adjust the visitation schedule to allow the Easter visit. She said she was waiting to get the custody report from Dr. Herman, which was overdue.
“Then the children will not have Easter,” Dulos said. “That’s great.”
Herman submitted his custody report to Meehan on April 24. A week later, Midler filed a motion asking the judge to remove Meehan as the guardian because he claimed Meehan had allowed Michael Rose, Dulos’ new attorney, to see it before the judge issued an order on how it would be distributed. It was Rose’s copy that was found in Dulos’ home after state police searched it last month.
Meehan asked Heller to investigate how Dulos ended up with the report. Heller ordered copies of the reports returned to Meehan and said attorneys could only look at it and take notes in his presence.
The motion to remove Meehan was never acted upon. Family law experts have said the motion to remove the guardian so far into the case was unusual.
Forensic exam
After Herman’s report was finished, he testified about it in a closed courtroom, but Midler could not complete his cross-examination once Herman left the witness stand and refused to return to court. Because of that, the sealed report is not officially part of the family court file, though Pattis is arguing in criminal court to have it unsealed.
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Midler, who had recommended Herman, had emphasized the importance of the report during the previous hearing.
“We’re talking about one week, and when you consider the importance that many people attach to a custody evaluation that it may very well cause one or the other party to change their position,” Midler said.
While the details of Herman’s report haven’t been released publicly, no one disputed Pattis when he said in court two weeks ago that it was favorable to Dulos. But whether the report ever officially becomes evidence in the divorce case is now uncertain, which Dulos would have been well aware of as he played basketball with his sons on May 22.
In addition, Midler filed motions requesting that a forensic examination of Dulos’ computers be done to determine if he had lied on his financial affidavit. A hearing on those motions was scheduled to take place in May and was expected to last for several days.
Pattis has submitted a motion to put the divorce case on hold since Farber Dulos is missing, and he is expected to eventually ask the court to dismiss the case if she is never found.
In recent interviews, Dulos has spoken publicly about missing his children and has denied knowing what happened to his wife.
Dulos is not allowed to see his children, and there is no indication when he will again.
