Printable View
A mother moved to another state with the child, a preschooler, after a divorce. She has become angry at her ex-husband and has cut off all communication by phone or video. The father has a visitation coming up, and he is supposed to travel to the mother's state to pick up the child. He is concerned that he will arrive in the state and she will refuse to allow him to exercise his visitation. She has done that once before. What should he do to protect himself?
If the contact she is denying already is court-ordered, he should take the issue back before the court that issued the last custody order asking that the mother be compelled to comply with the order. If mom continues to obstruct contact once the court rules on that issue, and then further denies a visit, she will be facing an unhappy judge and dad will have the potential of recovering some of the costs associated with the failed visit. Meanwhile, a wake-up call from the court may cause the mother to follow the order, reducing the risk that she'll escalate by refusing visitation.