Need Advice!Kids Witnessing Domestic Violence!What steps will I need to take ?Kids never told law G, they were threaten not to!

Q:  My husbands ex has been involved with her first cousin on and off for the past 8 years. The boyfriends moves out for months at a time and then comes back. Last year we went for custody of the children because there schooling along with them wanted to live with us, No change is Circumstance ! So our trial end in 09-2012 and in 11-2012 the boyfriend was thrown out of the house because he had throw the ex against the wall and begun choking her in front of the kids, also he had flipped the dinner table on her while kids were there. We knew there was alot of verbal abuse but the kids neglacted to tell us about the 8 years of physical . The ex started dating cousin again kids are afraid for him to move back in and if he does they want to live with dad. Kids are 17 & 12


A:  David's Answer:   If you don't have independent corroboration of the d.v. event, then the issue will ultimately be whether the children report the events to their assigned attorney. If they do not & there were no police reports of the incident - and the mother denies the incident - then it may go nowhere. That said, I highly encourage you to schedule a follow-up consultation with a Dutchess/Westchester Co. Domestic Violence attorney.  -- David Bliven, Westchester Family Law attorney (www.blivenlaw.net)