My child’s mother does not follow our visitation schedule, how can I get her to comply?
/Experienced San Francisco Bay Area family law attorneys will tell their clients that child custody and visitation can always be modified by either parent until the child’s 18th birthday.
I frequently consult with clients who have court ordered parenting schedules that are no longer followed by the primary parent. Sometimes this happens because my client cannot afford to pay support or they have a new work schedule. However, failure to pay support is not actually a legally sufficient reason to restrict custody and visitation.
A common complaint is that the primary parent fails to make the child available for the agreed upon court ordered schedule and that the non-primary parent is prevented from seeing the child. If this sounds like your situation, where the custodial parent has stopped complying with a custody schedule, it may be necessary to seek a Contempt order.
As a practical matter, a motion for contempt for custody and visitation is a last resort and may prevent reasonable cooperation and may detrimentally affect the child. Thus, the decision to bring a contempt motion for visitation must be carefully considered and other methods such as FCS mediation and co-parent counseling should be exhausted before a motion for contempt is filed.
Contempt is available to enforce orders governing custody, visitation, and residence of a child. California case law states that contempt is a remedy available against a parent who does not comply with a court-ordered parenting plan regarding custody and visitation. Additionally, Custody and visitation orders issues by a foreign court are also enforceable by contempt. Contempt may even be available when a parent fails to follow the spirit of co-parenting.
In one case, the court had made an initial court order that Mom was not to interfere with Dad’s custodial time. However, Mom attempted to alienate the children by her actions, words and demeanor and she continued to interfere with Dad’s custodial time and was ultimately found in contempt.
The failure to follow custody and visitation comes up most frequently in the context of teenagers.
I frequently get questions by parents of teenagers whose teenagers refuse to see the non-primary parent. Unfortunately, these cases may not be good candidates for Contempt because if a parent shows that they do not have sufficient control of the teenager, then there can be no contempt finding if the child refuses to participate in the ordered visitation. For example, a custodial parent may not be held in contempt for violation of a visitation order based on the failure of an unwilling child to visit unless you show proof that the parent is able to compel visitation.
In the context of child custody and visitation, in order to successfully pursue a contempt charge, you must describe the details of the violations that give rise to the charge of contempt. These are frequently documented in emails, text messages, and phone logs. You can prepare for a contempt hearing by describing how the order was violated and when it was violated. To learn more about filing Contempt, contact Gordon Family Law at (415) 326 – 4148.
Want to learn more, including how to file for Contempt?