Custody & Kidnapping

[NOTE TO STUDENTS: THIS ADDRESSES 2 POSSIBLE OPTIONS - IF THE WRITER WANTS TO TERMINATE FATHER’S VISITS OR IF THE WRITER WANTS TO ENFORCE THE ORDER TO MAKE THE FATHER USE THE VISITS. IF YOU KNOW WHICH ONE THE PARENT WANTS, YOU CAN TAKE OUT THE PARAGRAPH THAT DOESN’T APPLY AND EDIT THE OTHER LANGUAGE ACCORDINGLY]

If someone is not following a court order, in general, the other parent may be able to file a petition in court to try to modify the order if that is what the parent wants. Sometimes a parent may do this as part of a violation petition, part of a modification petition, or perhaps there may be another petition to file. If a parent wants to enforce the order, to try to make the other parent follow it, there may also be a petition to file in that scenario. I cannot tell you what type of petition, if any, you may be able to file since I cannot give out legal advice and I am not specifically familiar with the laws and procedures of STATE. You may want to consult an attorney to ask what your options may be when, as in your case, a parent does not follow a court-ordered visitation schedule.

Sometimes, a parent may want to try to end the visits based on the other parent’s failure to consistently use the visits. In general, it may be hard for one parent to get a judge to terminate the other parent’s visitation rights – this generally may be done under extreme circumstances. Again, I can’t specifically tell you how your state deals with this. If this is what you are seeking to do, perhaps you can ask an attorney whether or not this is something that can be accomplished in court. Perhaps an attorney can tell you whether or not the judge may put some type of ultimatum to the other parent to say something such as “If you miss X number of visits, your visitation will be terminated.” I am not sure how [STATE’s] judges usually handle this situation so you may want to get advice from an attorney to see what possible outcomes you can realistically expect.

On other occasions, the parent does want the other parent to use the visits and wants to figure out a way to make the other parent follow the visitation schedule. Often times, it can be hard to force a parent to visit with a child if s/he is not motivated to do so. You may want to ask an attorney what possible options you may have to try to enforce the court order so that the other parent uses all of the visitation allotted to him/her if this is what you want.

Hopefully, a lawyer can advise you as to what type of petition you may be able to file in either circumstance and what likely outcomes you may be able to expect from the court. Here is a link for free and paid lawyers:LINK Also, here is a link with the information that we have on custody in your state in case that is useful: LINK.

Something that may come in handy if a parent does end up filing a petition in court based on missed visits is for that parent to keep accurate records of the visits missed, the notice given beforehand, etc. I cannot say whether or not this is something that would be useful for your situation - but it may be something to ask a lawyer about.