Episode 3 - Troy And Aiden - It's only the lawyers who win
Send us a textEpisode 3. Troy Knight & Aidan Bourke On our third episode, I sit down with two Fathers: Troy Knight, a father of five children and Aidan Bourke, a father of three children. Both men are veterans who have known each other for almost two decades, and were also next-door neighbours one stage. Troy had a decorated career within the Australian Airforce. Troy discusses the impacts on his relationship that working extended periods away from home to provide for his family had, and his ex-partner’s resentment that arose due to it, with an eventual separation taking place. Troy discusses forms of parent alienation that his children began to notice their mother utilising even before the relationship had ended. He speaks about being deprived of seeing his children for a 13-month period, which only ended when his ex-partner wanted to offload his children whilst she went on holidays with her new partner. Aidan pursued a career in the Royal Australian Air Force joining No. 4 Squadron, deploying with Troy in the Special Operations Tactical Group overseas. Aidan’s relationship with his spouse was also a casualty of extended periods away from home, and began to breakdown. Whilst dealing with this, Aidan also discovered he required a heart transplant, due to a genetic disorder within his family. After receiving the treatment and being released from hospital, Aidan bravely admits whilst in this vulnerable state, he feared for his safety due to acts of domestic violence inflicted upon him by his ex-spouse, forcing him to leave his own home and beloved children, and live elsewhere. Aidan details how he tried to initiate separation documents, however did not receive anything back from his ex-spouse for over 14 months, later discovering this was deliberately done to allow time for him to receive his service-related injury compensation, which his ex-spouse attempted to claim was her entitlement. Aidan also recounts his shambolic family court experience, where the legal team representing him were not aware of fundamental processes, and misinformed him about entitlements his ex-spouse had no rights to. This resulted in Aidan paying exorbitant amounts of money for no positive result, both in legal fees and relinquishing almost all his superannuation. Since separation and a large financial gain in her favour, Aidan details how his ex-spouse weaponised his children against him, and has deprived him of access, not seeing his child for over five years. Amongst many other topics covered, Aidan also discusses how federal court orders issued by the family court are not worth the paper they are written on, detailing an injunction that was meant to prevent his children from being relocated, only for his ex-spouse to do so
New Zealand