Waiting Time to Modify a Parenting Plan

[seatown]

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

Is it normal practice to wait for a year before modifying a PP?

[Mr. Knowitall]

It's unusual that there are going to be any changes in circumstances that would warrant revisiting the court's most recent order in less than a year (or even after a single year).

In Washington, "the court shall not modify a prior custody decree or a parenting plan unless it finds, upon the basis of facts that have arisen since the prior decree or plan or that were unknown to the court at the time of the prior decree or plan, that a substantial change has occurred in the circumstances of the child or the nonmoving party and that the modification is in the best interest of the child and is necessary to serve the best interests of the child." RCW 26.09.260.

[seatown]

My daughter's father and I are having interpretational issues with our existing plan. This last summer was his first summer having her (she's seven) the entire summer with my residential time being everyother weekend and one day a week. He refused to let me have her for my time on various weekends stating that the clause in our pp that stated "neither parent should go without seeing the child for more than two weeks" meant my weekday time with her was good enough and I didn't need to see her on the weekends as long as it hadn't been more than two weeks.

He also used vacation time, claiming four weeks in a row, to withhold her from me saying that his vacation time superseded my weekends. He had already used a week of vac time during the spring, and our pp alllows two one week periods and one two week period. He wasn't even home during the 'vacation' our daughter spent the majority of the time with her step-mother. He did end up taking her out of state against my wishes (due to the duration of time, not the location) and then made her promise not to tell me.

So my question: Since I can't file for another modification of the pp, should I be filing a contempt order so that this nightmare doesnt repeat next summer?

Thanks for your response.

[Mr. Knowitall]

Have your lawyer clarify your rights under the custody and visitation order for you.

Presumably you have no problem with dad's getting the child every other weekend and one midweek evening during the school year; presumably the order provides the same to you during the summer. If he's not complying with the order, you can seek enforcement of the order and make-up parenting time.

It's generally implicit within an order that allows for four weeks of vaction, in one two week block and two one week blocks, that the vacation time not be exercised as a continuous four-week block. That's also suggested by the "neither parent should go without seeing the child for more than two weeks" language. That said, vacation parenting time does take precedence over standard parenting time. If a parent wants to take a seven day vacation to another state, they don't have to cut it short because their vacation overlaps with what would otherwise be "your weekend".

At the end of the day, nobody here can tell you your rights under your order, as nobody here has read it.

[seatown]

That's helpful, thank you for your time.