Honorable Janet Thorpe

Judge Thorpe is fair and compassionate! I dealt with her several times during a drawn out trial, and her conduct has always been outstanding.

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My ex and I went through mediation in Orlando without resolutions and, because mediation was failing, we decided to do a pre trial hearing with a Judge that had tried hundreds of divorce cases. The purpose was to let my ex and I know what the probable outcome would be if we continued on to trial. The most important issue was her accepting a job offer in Texas and move from Orlando with our three daughters. We were in the hearing for approximately 45 minutes. The Judge, a male, listened to our attorneys' arguments and ultimately told my ex that she could move to Dallas but, without good reason, our three daughters would not be going with her. My ex hated Orlando and she hated the Judge for that and so our case we finally went before Thorpe. All it took for Thorpe was a bogus job offer from her brother's friend in Dallas and off she went to Texas. Thorpe "awarded" full visitation rights to me but my ex had total control and alienated the two youngest. This was done in 2006. I learned later that the bogus job last a month. My ex was a Special Ed teaching in high demand that could have easily found employment in Florida. Thanks to Judge Thorpe I haven't seen the youngest of oldest daughter since 2007! This woman ruined these children by allowing their mother to leave the state and I grieve to this very day! She's very biased in a negative sense toward men, husbands, and father's. Be warned!

Judge Thorpe oversaw my lengthy divorce years ago. She noted me a "Marine Mom" and upset I lived with my boyfriend of 1 year at the time. She appointed my 2 young children to live full time with their father. It was a decision by an outsider able to be manipulated by a divisive lawyer. It's been just over 10 years. I've watched my children be neglected, live with multiple random women (where my BF & I are now married). They slept on a couch for years in an open room because they weren't given a bedroom while living with family members. At one point, they slept in their fathers room. Their father goes to sleep at 5 every day, leaving them alone for YEARS from 5 to (whenever) they decided to go to bed. My children were exposed to their father physically abusing a family member and using others financially. My children had to grocery shop and cook for themselves for years because their father would only cook himself dinner. They had to buy their own mini fridge to store their food because they weren't "allowed" to use the kitchen fridge. Their home was filthy, they contracted parasites due to poor hygiene because their father would only allow them to shower once a week, or at my home during visits. My oldest developed a drug problem, found drinking at 14, both children overweight and failing their classes. For 10 years they didn't tell anyone because they were embarrassed. When I would ask, they decided to stay there because they got to do whatever they wanted. Why have rules at all? When I asked my ex to move them with me - he had the documents & law on his side that HE was given custody. And this is only a piece of what I've learned over the last year. They've been gone for over 10.
I now have them with me, learning basic hygiene (at 14 & 16), down to an appropriate weight, passing with A's, and into hobbies.
Thorpe is merely a pawn in the broken judicial system of "objective" strangers that have too much power without discernment to appoint parental rights. I'm sure she thought she was helping, seeing me, a mother that reasonably disciplines, obviously triggers her. She would not listen to anything in court because my lawyer failed to meet the required timeframe and all of my evidence was dismissed in court. Instead of listening, she ripped my children from my home and gave them to a mentally unfit and unstable individual. 10 years my children will never get back. A decade of neglect and depression they are now working to heal from.
The silver lining is that I appreciate my time more every day, with all my children, because I never know when a completely stranger with more power will take them from me again.