Comments on: Contempt Of Court for Parenting Time Violations

By: C. Sean Stephens

C. Sean Stephens — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:32:32 +0000

Danielle:

Does the judgment say you can deny parenting time if he is present? Contempt is a good remedy for your situation. I encourage you to call to discuss.

By: lisa kravitz

lisa kravitz — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:09:34 +0000

Nine-plus years ago I agreed to allow my then-12-year-old to live with his dad and signed a shared parenting agreement in Ohio allowing me bi-weekly and alternate holiday/b-day visitation. I spent an entire college fund on preventing this from happening, but I wasn’t going to win and my son was very belligerent about living with his dad. This and the fact that I didn’t want him to hate me in the future for not letting him go PLUS other personal considerations made me cave in. For awhile he visited regularly, even though it wasn’t always smooth-sailing. By the ninth grade, visitation dwindled to almost nothing; my phone calls were ignored/not returned for months at a time; and I was treated badly by his dad, my lawyer and Athens County. When I reported this to the lawyer, Tom Eslocker (Athens) and asked if it was illegal, he said, “Not really”. I got papers to file contempt charges, but was asked by the county what I really wanted them to do about a child’s unwillingness to come. They couldn’t very well take him by force. For years, I have watched in depression, sadness, anger, helplessness, horror as that family has marginalized me as a parent. My child has been taught to do the same. It’s inhumane treatment. I was a good parent, not a raging anything. I was really caught up in something beyond myself. My son is now 22; I rarely see him. That’s how it’s been for years. Do I have legal recourse for myself? Can I make a legal difference in the lives of others who have been mistreated by the legal system? Please help me.

By: danielle

danielle — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:28:36 +0000

so my husband and I have costody of his 2 boys. Their mom has 3 weekends a month for visitation. We gained costody after she was with a abusive man for several years. Our order state that this man is not supposed to be in her home at anytime , even if the children are not there. As this man has several DV cases against him. We found out recently that he has been staying the night over there even when the boys are there. My question is are we in viloation of the visitation agreement if we keep them from going over there? Can we file contempt of court on her?

By: C. Sean Stephens

C. Sean Stephens — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:47:55 +0000

Generally, bringing kids to court is a bad idea. Most judges think having a child testify for you and against the other parent shows very poor judgment. There are better ways to get a child’s position in front of a judge, including using an expert for a parenting time study, or an attorney for the children.

By: Travis

Travis — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 18:50:20 +0000

I have a interesting situation, My ex and I went to mediation in January of 2011 and came up with a parenting plan through mediation. With in 4-5 weeks of this agreement my oldest son 15 at the time could not get along with his mother and she “gave him back to me” she could not deal with him. He has been in my care now from then. Part of the mediated agreement stated that all 3 of the kids would stay in the prior school district that hey attended until the completion of high school. What I failed to mention is that we worked out a 50/50 joint custody in mediation. So all three of the children spent half the time with there mother and half the time with me. I have since been remarried and live about 10 miles from there old school. His mother agreed to let him change schools in september and he now attends a new high school and is doing great. In the 11 months he has had 1 over night visit on Thanksgiving in which his mother got so intoxicated she passed out. My two other children which are both girls 13 and 15 have since December 5th have also came to live with me on a full time basis also. My 15 year old daughter has had a VERY hard time getting along with her mother and from July to Sept had also lived with us full time. But now that all the children live with us we need to change them in schools. There mother has filed a Enforcement of Parenting plan with the courts and the court hearing is at the end of this month. I have stack of emails from the mother backing up all the irratic actions that she has taken including a email stating she wants me to take care of the children until she finishes school, gets a job, and gets help for her problems. She gives us no support for the kids and even when they where with her we had to provide almost everything for the girls. All of the kids want nothing to do with there mother anylonger and dont want to see her at all. I am in the process of filing a change of custody order with the courts but am wondering if I should bring the kids to court with me at the end of the month or not. And do I need to file a response with the courts prior to the hearing? Any help would be awesome. Thank you

By: Tulsa Divorce Attorney

Tulsa Divorce Attorney — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 03:14:05 +0000

Whenever one of the parents violates the parenting plan, technically legally speaking they can be convicted of being in contempt of court.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 03:18:39 +0000

My ex-husband and I have a parenting plan that states that he is not to have any alcohol when our child is with him, as well as awarding me Sole Custody with all major decision making authority (including religious training). Our daughter, now 14, has told me that on multiple occasions, he has stopped at the local liquor store after picking her up on his designated weekends, routinely leaves her with other family or friends on his weekends, telling her that he has ‘other things to do’, and is forcing her to go to his church. During our mediation, I requested that he and his family not be allowed to take her to their church as I do not agree with their religious practices. Per our parenting plan, he is not to have alcohol in his possession when she is with him, as well as the fact that, as being the Sole Custodial parent, I have all major decision authority. Is there anything the court can do in this situation? He is clearly not following the parenting plan that he signed and agreed to and I’m not sure what my options for enforcement are.

Thanks!

By: C. Sean Stephens

C. Sean Stephens — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:23:04 +0000

Stephanie,

Talk to an attorney in person right away. The consequences for contempt are potentially severe.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:26:03 +0000

My ex husband has filed a contempt order against me because I have not followed the parenting plan set forth when our divorce decree took place. Before we divorced I was a stay-at-home-mom; so when we got the divorce and got the plan I was to meet him at 7pm half way for his weekend visitation. That happened for about 9 months; I got a new job that would not allow me to take off work early so I am not 3-1/2 hours late each visitation weekend. So, he has filed the contempt order. I am scared to death. What can happen to me since my employeer will not allow me to take off work? I have to work to support my 2 kids.

By: C. Sean Stephens

C. Sean Stephens — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 16:37:36 +0000

Jan:

The court has a broad range of sanctions they can impose if someone willfully violates a court order, however, judges have discretion in what sanctions to impose, and generally withhold the harshest sanctions for serious violations and people that repeatedly violate court orders.