Hi. I've posted before in the child support area. http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106458
This is, I guess, a continuation of that scenario. Due to the NCP and I not agreeing about the child support arrears, he's stated that he's going to take me to court for custody. I don't think he stands a big chance to take custody from me so that isn't my question. My question is about visitation. I have absolutely no objections to him visiting our son. In fact, I moved from Louisiana to Georgia (at the NCP's request) to be closer to where he's stationed in North Carolina. I gave it several months of consideration and went ahead with the move. This wasn't the only reason I moved, but it weighed heavily upon my decision. I didn't move all the way to NC because I'd have no support system there and I have a couple of family members here in GA, so I thought it would be a good compromise. Actually, he didn't ask me to move to NC. He says that he's planning to settle down in GA in a couple of years when his military service is over.
My question is this, if in fact we are to go to court and he's awarded visitation, will I be responsible for part of his travel costs? Seeing as though I've already moved several hundred miles away to be closer to where he is, it seems as though my part of trying to foster a better relationship with he and our son should be fullfilled.
Additionally, is there some way for it to be written into the visitation order that he doesn't follow the schedule, he can be penalized? I do not want to stop the visitation at all. I just want to there to be a consequence for him to fear if he doesn't adhere to the schedule. The reason I'm asking is because this is the first time in my child's life we've been close enough to see him with some type of regularity and not use distance as an excuse. He's only seen our son about 10 times (give or take a few) in his life. In the past he's promised to come see him and wouldn't show up and offered some excuse later on. Even since we've moved to GA, he's still missed visits he's promised to him. I know this whole custody thing is just out of spite for the child support case, but I think it'd be a good idea to hammer out planned time for him to see our son.
I'm not trying to paint a picture of him being a horrible father and I'm a perfect, cookie cutter mom. I just don't feel like he makes our son his top priority, he's more like an option for him. That is both sad and frustrating to me and disappointing to my son.

