Visitation Rights

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Ohio. Recently my husband have been fighting his ex in regards to visitation rights. She has repeatedly violated the court order for not letting my husband see his son when he is allowed. What I'm trying to figure out is how much will it cost to take her to court for those violations and how much it would cost to change it to shared parenting. Right now we have him for a 4 week vacation period as agreed by both my husband and herself and the judge. She recently came to our house to try an take his son back which the police said that she would have to go to court in order to change it. I'm trying to figure out if their is anything she can legal do to get him back before the 4 week period is up considering that it's a court order that my husband is allowed to have him for the 4 weeks of entitled vacation time.

~D. Howell

Unless she can support a claim that your husband is in someway an unfit parent (i.e. abusing his son), then no, there is nothing that she can do to end his vacation time early. However, she can file a petition with the court, just like your husband can, requesting that the visitation order be modified. She can aske for less time, he can ask for more. Whether or not she will win or your husband will win will depend upon each person's reasons for requesting the change. Without specific information, it is impossible to give a more specific answer.

As for how much it will cost to take her to court, that can vary. It all depends upon the family lawyer that your husband retains and what sort of retainer and fees they negotiate, but expect it to cost at a minimum of a couple thousand dollars.

If he is truly serious about seeking reprecusions against his ex for her violations, or about pursuing a modification, then he should schedule several free or low-cost consultations to truly gauge the feasibility of his case.