View Full Version : Can a parent continuously miss visitation?
koruptified
Oct 29, 2011, 08:41 AM
My girlfriend has a situation and I was hoping to get some answers for her. She got divorced a while back and has two kids with the guy. They have a visitation order set up where he gets them Wednesday evening and every other weekend, plus five weeks over the summer. Last summer, he had them for about 2 of the 5 weeks and has consistently missed his visitations by calling at the last minute and canceling. He missed his visitation on Wednesday, wanted to do it Thursday instead and she obliged. He called her two minutes before he was supposed to pick them up and cancelled. He was supposed to pick them up yesterday and cancelled again, saying that he had to do it today at noon instead. An hour before he was supposed to pick them up, he once again called to cancel. He does this all the time. What can she do?
ScottGem
Oct 29, 2011, 09:15 AM
She can't force him to use his visitation. She can only enforce the existing order by not letting him switch, return the children early, etc.
She can keep a journal of each scheduled visit and maybe go back to court to modify the order.
She also has to have the children ready for each scheduled visit.
JudyKayTee
Oct 29, 2011, 09:24 AM
You cannot force someone to visit BUT you can keep track of when the person promises and never shows up and use that information in Court, explaining that the visits that never happen upset the children, bringing proof, and getting big changes in visitation.
cdad
Oct 29, 2011, 10:56 AM
What is he stating as to why he is missing the visitation ? Also do you live in the same house as your girlfriend ?
Fr_Chuck
Oct 29, 2011, 11:18 AM
She can and should keep a journal of any of the missed visits.
She can then go back to court and ask that his visits be reduced since he is not properly coming as scheduled.
She, if he is always meeting, not allow him to switch days unless there are good reasons.