Not Following the Mediation Papers

[mommy4ever02]

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Texas

The father of my child and I went to mediation with our attorneys to come to an agreement of how we were going to both raise our child. We agreed and the terms are set, but know he feels like some things that are in the order do NOT need to be followed.

1. Each parent is supposed to provide age appropraie bed/crib. Obviously to sleep in but he insists that our child sleep in the bed with him which we discussed in mediation was to NEVER happen.

2. He was supposed to have full cover insurance on our child 10 days after we signed the final order but still does NOT have any type of insurance on our child. He is waiting for a birth certificate he says.

**Is there anything I can do to make sure that he is following the mediation docs that we agreed to??

[Mr. Knowitall]

If the mediation agreement has been reduced to a court order, entered by a court, you can use the court's powers to enforce it, such as by asking the court to hold a non-complying party in contempt.

[FatherWhoWon]

I personally don't see a judge ordering that the child never sleep in the same bed as a parent unless you both agreed to it and stipulated that in your agreement that was then actually made into an order signed by the judge. Even then, I don't see a judge actually enforcing that. Unless you can show that for some reason it would be harmful to the child or there's some kind of issue that you haven't mentioned.

As for insurance, is dad making a good faith effort to take care of that situation? If so, and for reasons beyond his control tbings are being delayed, I don't see too much good in you looking to get litigious about that. However, if dad is just making excuses and not taking appropriate steps, thats a different story. Sometimes it can be difficult to discern which is the case, and I think I'd be inclined to give dad the benefit of the doubt for a reasonable lengtb of time.

In any case, if your mediated agreement was not signed into order by a judge, it is not enforcable by a judge and does not carry the same weight a court order does.

[Dogmatique]

In fact I can see the "you won't sleep in the same bed with kiddo" thing being tossed out. Let's be reasonable here - your 8 year old has a nightmare and you're not allowed to let them sneak into your bed so they can feel safer and comforted?

Really?