A PARENTING TIME ORDER IS MORE THAN JUST A PIECE OF PAPER.

Getting a parenting time order is not as simple as one would think and once a person obtains a court order for parenting time, that order carries substantial weight and rights. Unfortunately, many people violate the parenting time order preventing the non-custodial parent from seeing their child. When the parent goes to the police, the police often do nothing, zilch, say it is a civil matter or any other excuse not to get involved. While the police may do nothing, it is important to get an incident report so that you have evidence to show the judge that the order is or has been violated. Proof of text messages, voice mails, Facebook messages are also very important as the Judge needs to be convinced that you are or have been prevented from seeing your child.

WHAT TO DO IF A PARENTING ORDER HAS BEEN VIOLATED

Different lawyers and different judges have different opinions as to what is considered emergent or what is considered to be non-emergent. For me, if a parenting order has been violated more than once, I suggest bringing an emergent order to show cause as there is no reason why a parent should have to wait 4-6 weeks to be heard about the parenting time violation and during this time the parent continues to violate the court order. By filing an emergent order, the Judge can hear your case the very same day and decide if it should be heard now or during the course of a normal motion cycle. If a judge finds that a parent willfully violated the court order, the Judge can issue fines, sanctions, hold the party in contempt, order compensatory time with the child, modify transportation agreements, arrest the non-complying parent, change custody and beyond. The ramifications can be substantial.

OBLIGATIONS OF THE CUSTODIAL PARENT

The custodial parent has a duty to encourage a bond/relationship between the children and the non-custodial parent. The parenting time philosophy of family courts throughout the country follow the idea that a court should not permit one parent from depriving a child of that child’s right to know, love and respect both parents. There have been cases where the custodial parent has taught the children to hate the non-custodial parent and in turn the court adjusted child support. This is something most people do not know but should utilize. Why should someone run to pay the full amount of child support if the custodial parent continues to alienate the children?

In conclusion, the longer you wait and continue to allow parenting time to be blocked, the worse you look. It is important to prevent further obstruction and alienation as soon as possible, you deserve it and more importantly your children do.