Filing for Parenting Time or Visitation for Father Who Lives in Another State
Father (my son) lives in State of Colorado. Mother lives in Arizona. Never married. Had Twins in 2004. Broke up in 2006. Mother moved to AZ because she had family there and Father gave Verbal consent. Parents NEVER filed a plan.
Because of finances, Father only sees the children in Summer..Has asked for them for certain Holidays like Christmas but Mom makes excuses or does not return phone calls.
In 2006, 2007,2009 they met half way with no problems..2008 Father had to travel to her house to pick them up and I took them all the way back because of Fathers job.
Last year, 2010, Father picked them up from her house and HER mother picked them up and took them back to her. This year, HER mom brought them to Father because she was coming to visit relatives anyway and the plan was that Mother and Father would meet half way on return. Now Mother got a new job and says she can't meet half way because she does not have the money. Father lost his job and even though I am helping him with gas, None of us have the money to take children 660 miles or 12 hours. Said we would drive 8 hours and she would only have to drive 4 hours and became very upset with us..Said "if you don't bring them all the way, I will not let them come out there next year." Of course Father upset by the threat..Because there is no LEGAL documentation,
So...He wants to file for a parenting plan/Visitation plan but what state does he file in? He can't afford an attorney. Can he file by mail or will he have to travel to Arizona to file in their city?..Will they have to go to court..In front of a Judge?
YES he pays child support..Not behind and did recently file for an adjustment because he lost his job. Yes Mother not happy but it's not like he lost his job on purpose. Anyway, any help for information would be appreciated..
Re: Filing for Parenting/Visitation.for Father Who Lives in Another State
He needs to file where Mom and the kids live.
If he and Mom can come to an agreement, they can file a stipulation with the court in Arizona; they'd likely not have to actually appear in front of the judge unless there was something irregular with the parenting plan.
Otherwise he'll either have to travel to Arizona or hire an attorney in AZ to appear on his behalf. He should start researching long-distance parenting plans, and think about including Skype/webcam visitation too as well as regular phone calls with the twins. He should be specific - such as "Mom will make the children available for phone contact on X and Y evenings between the hours of 6-7pm" (that's just an example).
He needs to do his best to iron out who is responsible for pick up and drop off, and determine when exactly vacation periods start and finish. When does he have to give notice for summer vacation? April 1 is a popular deadline. Things like this.
He can also request that Mom is responsible for half of the cost of transportation.
Unfortunately Mom is correct, at the moment - without a parenting plan in place she doesn't have to allow any visitation at all. So it's absolutely in Dad's best interest (and the interest of everyone, actually) to get a court order.
Court orders are our friends. They protect everyone involved :)
Re: Filing for Parenting/Visitation.for Father Who Lives in Another State
Thanks so much for your reply.