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00:00A courthouse, the Judy Justice logo appears.
00:10In the courtroom, Herman, Tina, and Dalton.
00:13Herman and Tina Smoody are accusing
00:15their former son-in-law, Dalton McDonald,
00:18of refusing to pay back loans.
00:20Was that an acrimonious transfer
00:23or was it something that you both?
00:25What happened there was he called my husband
00:28to see if we would.
00:29Now, don't tell me what he said to your husband.
00:30Okay, he can tell.
00:31I will tell you then.
00:32He called me in December and asked me
00:34if I would please take the two boys.
00:35I told him, I will take them, Dalton,
00:37if you start making regular payments.
00:39Oh, well, that's, I'm not,
00:41we're out of the money business now, sir.
00:43What you're saying is from 2017,
00:45when the children were in his custody,
00:47your daughter may have been there,
00:48but they were in joint custody,
00:49and then he maintained custody of the children,
00:51and during the time he maintained custody of the children,
00:53there was no question whatsoever
00:55that he was not paying you back money.
00:57He did not make any payments to you.
00:59Occasional here and there, we don't keep records.
01:02All of a sudden, now you have the boys with you,
01:04and then in July, he comes back and he takes the boys back.
01:07All I asked you was whether that was an acrimonious,
01:10which is an unpleasant,
01:12or a harmonious transfer of the children.
01:14Mr. Smoody, was that in July?
01:17In July, it was acrimonious because at that point,
01:20he'd gotten a restraining order against me.
01:22Against you?
01:22Against me, well, we had the children
01:25because I sent him a letter saying that I wanted payment,
01:30and he went and got a restraining order against me
01:32because they took that as a threat.
01:34I'd like to see the letter, please, Kevin.
01:36Herman hands a document to Kevin,
01:37who brings it to Judy.
01:39She reviews it.
01:42And this is what needs to happen moving forward.
01:44That's correct.
01:45You need to mail me $200 on the first of every month
01:48and $200 on the 15th, starting March 1st, 2022.
01:51If I do not get these payments on time,
01:53the following will happen,
01:55you could say, I'm going to sue you, right?
01:57I'm gonna sue you, but that's not what you say.
01:59You say, I will go to your boss
02:01and talk to them about garnishing your wages.
02:04Any employer that has gone through all the paperwork
02:06and red tape as I have will do anything to avoid it.
02:09So that's a threat.
02:11What you're saying is I'm gonna call your boss
02:13and tell him that I'm going to sue you,
02:16and then your boss is gonna have to go through
02:18all the red tape of what it means
02:20to have a garnish on your salary.
02:21You have to go through accounting
02:23and they have to deduct it.
02:24And no boss wants to do that,
02:25which is an effect, say, so either you pay me
02:27or your boss is gonna fire you.
02:28That's what you meant when you said
02:30any employer that has gone through all that paperwork
02:33and red tape as I have will do anything to avoid it.
02:35The anything is firing the employee.
02:37The only thing that-
02:38I think you can legally fire somebody.
02:39Just a second.
02:40Whether you can legally fire them or not,
02:41that's what you were threatening.
02:42That's what that said.
02:43So we got an order of protection against you.
02:45Correct.
02:46And?
02:47Then I didn't fight it
02:47because I didn't anticipate having any conversations
02:50or contact with him.
02:51When you wrote this letter,
02:53you had the boys.
02:55Yes.
02:55Right.
02:56Not before.
02:57No.
02:58Not before.
02:59And he had had the boys for some time alone.
03:00Three months.
03:00He had had the boys for some time alone.
03:01Okay.
03:02Let's go back to my original question, which was,
03:03when the boys went back to their father,
03:05was it acrimonious or harmonious?
03:07It was not good.
03:08Well, so tell me your version of what happened.
03:11The reason it was acrimonious is because
03:13he knew very well that once we got him,
03:14we put him on a strict schedule.
03:15Eight o'clock, brush your teeth,
03:178.15, pajamas, 8.30, bed.
03:18Where was your daughter living at this time?
03:20With us.
03:21Just a second.
03:22If you're going to interrupt him
03:22because you want to get it out-
03:24I'm sorry.
03:25That's not going to be good for you.
03:26She had a room at our house.
03:26Just a second.
03:27So your daughter was living with you.
03:28So what you're telling me was
03:29your daughter was in the wind someplace.
03:31Accurate.
03:32Okay.
03:33You know, you had her for a long time.
03:34He only had her for five years.
03:35And I can understand the sadness
03:37if your daughter is in the wind
03:38and not being responsible, sir.
03:39But that doesn't mean he has to shoulder all the burden.
03:41Right now, he's shouldering all the burden
03:43of supporting the two children,
03:45which I assume you're doing.
03:46They're living with you.
03:47And so are you working?
03:48Yes, I am.
03:49And he's working.
03:49Your daughter is not.
03:50She's working two jobs.
03:51She always has.
03:52She's working two jobs.
03:53Why was she in a room?
03:54She wasn't renting.
03:55She was living there free.
03:56Okay.
03:57So now let's get back to this acrimonious transfer
04:00by the children back in July.
04:01Dalton called me, or called the kids.
04:03Okay.
04:04So he called the children.
04:05After bedtime.
04:06Okay.
04:07Called my wife's phone four times.
04:07Ring, ring, ring, ring.
04:08And she wouldn't answer because kids were in bed.
04:09And then he called my phone twice the second time.
04:12I have an old flip phone.
04:13I flipped it, walked in,
04:14because now I hear the boys are awake.
04:16I let him talk to the boys.
04:17And then I took the phone back
04:19and I said some naughty things to him and hung it up.
04:21What did you say naughty things to him for?
04:23Because I was very angry at him.
04:25And I used some swear words that I used when I told him.
04:27No, I assume you used some terrible words.
04:29Yeah, I just told him, don't call me anymore.
04:30Is there any reason that you've discussed
04:32with your wife why she didn't answer the phone?
04:34Because the boys were already in bed.
04:35He had done that before.
04:36You already told me that you heard the boys,
04:38so you took the phone into his room.
04:39Not, no.
04:39After the phone calls, they woke up.
04:40Is what you're telling me that that the first time
04:42that he tried to talk to the boys,
04:44that you or your wife didn't answer the phone?
04:47I think it probably happened once or twice prior,
04:49and then we told him, don't do it anymore.
04:51Okay, fine.
04:52And this time we were fed up.
04:53Fine, so that's when he said,
04:55I'm coming to take the boys?
04:56No, no.
04:57Well, when did he say he was coming to take the boys?
04:58Not until July.
05:00Jacqueline told us that Dalton was gonna be taking the kids
05:03once they got out of school.
05:04Okay, I'm gonna take the pain out of this case
05:06and I'm gonna do it relatively quickly.
05:07I think, Mr. and Mrs. Smoody,
05:08that this lawsuit was very ill-advised.
05:10The defendant doesn't owe you any money.
05:12He doesn't owe you any money
05:13because if there was money owed, it was a marital debt
05:15and it should have been taken up at the time of the divorce,
05:17listed as a marital debt,
05:18and then it could have been fixed
05:19by the judge who approved the divorce.
05:21How much and by whom is owed money?
05:24You chose not to do that.
05:25It was only after a very acrimonious set of circumstances,
05:28roughly five and a half years later,
05:30after this truck was purchased,
05:32that you chose to exercise any prerogatives
05:34with regard to a debt,
05:35except this letter, which threatens to go to his boss
05:40to get him fired if you don't start making payments,
05:42and that was only after the two children
05:44came to live with you and were sort of overwhelmed.
05:46You have to understand, Mr. McDonald,
05:48who I think probably is trying,
05:50he's got the two boys.
05:51It got very complicated, but it's not a lawsuit
05:52and I would make nice with him.
05:53He's got two children
05:54that you probably wanna have some connection with
05:57and this lawsuit certainly doesn't help that.
05:59But anyway, for all the reasons that I've stated,
06:00your lawsuit's dismissed.
06:01We're finished.
06:02Thank you, Your Honor.
06:03This court is adjourned.
06:03Herman.
06:04He owes us that money.
06:05He admitted he owed us the money.
06:06I think the judge was absolutely correct.
06:07He promised he was gonna pay us the money back.
06:09I don't owe Jerry any money.
06:10Kids are irresponsible,
06:12have no sense of honor, duty, respect,
06:15responsibility, nothing.
06:17Really should be a family thing
06:18and maybe one day it can go back to it.
06:20This is a great case that explains.