Court Procedures / Evidence / Service

Unfortunately, we cannot give specific advice about interpreting terms of a court order. Sometimes, if there is a term that is unclear, the parents may discuss it and be able to agree on how to interpret it on their own. However, there are also situations where this is not an option – either the parents are not in communication with each other, it may not be safe for one party to contact the other, or they cannot agree. In many states, if someone is unclear about part of a court order, s/he may be able to file some sort of petition with the court to clarify a specific provision (term) of an order. Another possibility is that you may want to talk to a lawyer in your state who handles custody/visitation issues to ask if s/he can tell you how the courts usually handle this situation. Here is a link for free and paid lawyers, as well as a link with the courthouse contact information if you decide to call the court to ask the clerk about whether or not there is a way to clarify a term of an order:LINK