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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Orlando, Florida
    Posts
    10

    Default Unable to Get Visitation

    My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Florida.
    Per our court agreement I am to have my 9 year old daughter every other weekend, several weeks during summer school break and all major holidays every other year.
    Since May of this year suddenly my daughter stopped calling. I have tried calling her but only get the message machine and my calls are never returned. For her birthday I got her a cell phone so that I can talk to her and she can call me anytime. ( FireFly phones are made for children. They can only call the preprogramed numbers.)
    She called me on her birthday to thank me for the phone and she called me one more time a few days later and we talked for awhile.
    I asked her about coming over to visit and she said she would ask her mom when she got back from vacation.
    I never heard back and could not get through to her on the cell phone and had been turned off.
    Ihave written several letters and sent several cards to her but I still don't get a response.
    This is not the first time my ex has prevented me from speaking to or seeing my daughter.
    The judge has already spoken to her about not allowing me to see my daughter. But that only lasted a short while.
    My question is what recourse do I have to prevent my ex from doing this. Here we are at the holidays and I can't see my daughter. She plays the system well knowing that the courts do very little. Its a big game to her.
    Any words of wisdom would be helpful.

  2. #2

    Default Re: Unable to Get Visitation

    Is your daughter in Florida too? Within driving distance? How do you usually go about getting your daughter (you pick her up, or mom drops her off, or puts her on a plane, or.....)? Do you know for sure that they haven't moved or that some "sudden" thing didn't happen back in May to make them unreachable?

    Why wait 7 months?????? That's great ammo for mom to argue that you've abandoned the child (since obviously mom is going to claim that your cards/letters were never received). The answer to a court order not being followed is always: to take it to the court. Every time. The court can't and won't enforce orders if they don't know there are violations, and asking for a change in the custody order based on mom withholding the child isn't going to be reviewed in a favorable light when 7 months goes by. If you're not in a position to show up and get your daughter (with a copy of the court order in your hot little hands in case the police are called), you'll need to get to court asap.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    2,773

    Default Re: Unable to Get Visitation

    Quote Quoting rrybinski
    View Post
    My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Florida.
    Per our court agreement I am to have my 9 year old daughter every other weekend, several weeks during summer school break and all major holidays every other year.
    Since May of this year suddenly my daughter stopped calling. I have tried calling her but only get the message machine and my calls are never returned. For her birthday I got her a cell phone so that I can talk to her and she can call me anytime. ( FireFly phones are made for children. They can only call the preprogramed numbers.)
    She called me on her birthday to thank me for the phone and she called me one more time a few days later and we talked for awhile.
    I asked her about coming over to visit and she said she would ask her mom when she got back from vacation.
    I never heard back and could not get through to her on the cell phone and had been turned off.
    Ihave written several letters and sent several cards to her but I still don't get a response.
    This is not the first time my ex has prevented me from speaking to or seeing my daughter.
    The judge has already spoken to her about not allowing me to see my daughter. But that only lasted a short while.
    My question is what recourse do I have to prevent my ex from doing this. Here we are at the holidays and I can't see my daughter. She plays the system well knowing that the courts do very little. Its a big game to her.
    Any words of wisdom would be helpful.
    You should file a motion for contempt ASAP. You won't be able to get into court right away, but filing is the only way to enforce the order.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Orlando, Florida
    Posts
    10

    Default Re: Unable to Get Visitation

    Quote Quoting aardvarc
    View Post
    Is your daughter in Florida too? Within driving distance? How do you usually go about getting your daughter (you pick her up, or mom drops her off, or puts her on a plane, or.....)? Do you know for sure that they haven't moved or that some "sudden" thing didn't happen back in May to make them unreachable?

    Why wait 7 months?????? That's great ammo for mom to argue that you've abandoned the child (since obviously mom is going to claim that your cards/letters were never received). The answer to a court order not being followed is always: to take it to the court. Every time. The court can't and won't enforce orders if they don't know there are violations, and asking for a change in the custody order based on mom withholding the child isn't going to be reviewed in a favorable light when 7 months goes by. If you're not in a position to show up and get your daughter (with a copy of the court order in your hot little hands in case the police are called), you'll need to get to court asap.
    Thank you for your time in answering my post.
    To answer your questions: I send every piece of mail registered so it has to be signed for. And it has been.
    I also keep all my phone records showing that I have made many calls to her phone number and have left messages.
    To let you know what kind of person I am dealing with, couple of years ago I had my daughter for a weekend.
    Being feed up with driving the 65 miles my lawyer at the time advised me to call her and tell her she has to come and pick her up that Sunday evening. Later that day she called and left a message on my answering machine saying that she will pick her up that evening at 7:00 pm.
    The next thing I know she stated that I took my daughter and would not return her. Well to her surprise I had the answering machine message to prove she was lying. Her lawyer told her to drop it and she did. She can not be trusted. Thats why I go that extra mile with documenting all of my calls and letters. I guess I'll go back to court and see if they can do anything for me. Thanks again.
    rrybinski

  5. #5
    panther10758 Guest

    Default Re: Unable to Get Visitation

    A contempt filing is your only solution

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