By Denice Menard
It was a good day on July 12, 2012 when Alexis Scott ‘07 with the San Diego based firm Solare & Scott was able to tell her client Josh Smith that his daughter Kailey was coming home for good.
"I am a father and I could not have gotten my daughter back in my arms without the tremendous work done by Alexis Scott,” said Smith. “I now have my five-year-old daughter back in my life AND with full custody after her mom abducted her and fled the state in 2009.”
“For me, knowing that my client's child was now going to be with a parent that could provide a stable, safe and loving home made me incredibly happy,” Scott said.
Scott got involved in this child custody case in early 2012 that resulted in Smith being reunited with his daughter two years after the child’s mother took Kailey from San Diego and fled to Washington State.
“So often in child custody situations we deal with mothers and fathers who want to shirk their responsibilities as a parent,” said Scott. “My client wanted nothing more than to be a good father to his daughter. Being able to be a part of changing their lives for the better will always be one of my greatest achievements.”
According to Scott the birth mother, who was not married to Smith, took their daughter Kailey, even though Smith’s client had been awarded 100 percent custody.
“I had her personally served and then filed for a contempt proceeding to hold her in contempt for violating the orders,” Scott said. “Since contempt motions are quasi-criminal the process took a while.”
After not showing up for the arraignment and contempt hearing, the mother was found to be in contempt and a warrant was issued. “Once we had the warrant and court order from the court, my client was able to go to Washington and have the authorities enforce the order and my client got his child back almost immediately,” Scott explains.
“An outcome like this makes all the other frustrating cases worth it. His daughter is doing extremely well and clearly missed her father.”
“I wasted precious time and money with the wrong lawyer for over a year,” said Smith. When I hired Alexis and Tony Solare, they fixed the mistakes made by my previous lawyer and covered all the bases to ensure that I received full physical and legal custody of my daughter.
“It cannot go unmentioned how extremely difficult it is for a father to receive custody of his child, but Alexis Scott did it!”
