Divorced Military Dad Being Being Denied Visitation with Daughter

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

Issue: Mother will not let my daughter (age 13) fly out to see me for visitation without an escort.

Background: I am an active duty service member currently stationed in Virginia and my daughter age 13 lives with her mother in Sacramento California. My divorce was finalized over ten years ago in San Diego County, CA and I received joint custody with a 15% visitation rate per year.

The child custody agreement states that transportation of our daughter for visitation is a shared responsibility. For the past ten years I have assumed almost 100% of this responsibility by either flying out to see my daughter or flying out to escort her to/from my home. Last year I relocated in Virginia and since that time my daughter has flown out to see me twice. Both times she was escorted by her mom's father who I paid for. I did this as part of a verbal agreement that for the first year of me living in Virginia she would fly out to see me with her grandpa and get used to the flight routine so the next year when she was 13 years old and old enough to fly by herself it would be a familiar and comfortable experience.

It is a year later and now that I have pushed the subject and through much consternation on behalf of my ex wife finally came to an agreement and purchased airline tickets for my daughter for this summer's visit. As part of the discussions leading up to this visit I stated that from now on if an escort was required for my daughter to fly out and see me I was not going to assume the responsibility. If she wanted someone to fly with her then either she could do it herself or pay to have someone else fly with her.

it's now the day before my daughter is scheduled to fly out to see me and all I have received is an email from my ex wife saying that she isn't comfortable with my daughter flying by herself and if I want to see her that I can come and get her. That was the last I heard and now I can not get her to answer her phone, email or text to tell me what's going on for my scheduled visitation for next week; although I assume it means my daughter will not be flying out to see me tomorrow.

Question 1: What forcing function, if any is there to make my ex-wife put my daughter on a plane to come see me without me having to incur the cost of either traveling out to fly with her both ways or arrange/pay for someone to fly with her?

Question 2: Jurisdiction for our child custody order is in San Diego County. Will I need to file for a change of venue in the county where my daughter now lives before I proceed with any actions?

Question 3: What can I do to get the ex wife to at least call me back and tell me what's going on for my visitation this week? Nobody in her family will return my calls.

I appreciate any feedback and/or recommendations. Thank you in advance...

v/r, GSH

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Quoting ripper

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Question 1: What forcing function, if any is there to make my ex-wife put my daughter on a plane to come see me without me having to incur the cost of either traveling out to fly with her both ways or arrange/pay for someone to fly with her?

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There isn't a way for you to FORCE mom to do anything. If you feel that mom is either interfering with custody, or not following the court's order, the recourse is to bring the matter back before the court and ask the court to find mom in contempt, ask the court to modify the order to specifically address the issue of travel arrangements, ask that mom be ordered to reimburse expenses incurred by you in good faith in anticipation of the visit, or any combination of these.

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Question 2: Jurisdiction for our child custody order is in San Diego County. Will I need to file for a change of venue in the county where my daughter now lives before I proceed with any actions?

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It may not be necessary, but could certainly speed things up, as doing so would prevent mom from answering any challenge from you by bringing up venue further down the road to create more paperwork and delays.

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Question 3: What can I do to get the ex wife to at least call me back and tell me what's going on for my visitation this week? Nobody in her family will return my calls.

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Nothing. Again, you cannot FORCE action on mom's part. You can only hold her accountable for actions she takes or doesn't take by bringing the matter to the court after the fact.

^^^^Thank you for the reply.

- - - Updated - - -

So I'm off the phone with my lawyer who originally handled my divorce and he recommends filing locally in San Diego for a "modify and enforce". Is this worth the effort? I have an order now that I can't enforce so how will a new order be more effective?