What happens when a parent doesn’t follow the rules?

I recently heard a story about a divorced couple with two children. The former spouses adopted the state guidelines for their divorce which stated the mother retained full custody while the father had every other weekend, one evening on opposite weeks, and a full week a year for vacation.

For a short time, everybody followed the rules, but eventually the father remarried and moved out of town. He changed jobs frequently which caused several delays in child support and he also stopped seeing the children on the opposite weeks as well as many weekends.

The mother, pleaded with the kid’s father to see them regularly as they missed him, but he was out-of-state now and that made it too difficult for him. Out of frustration, the mother decided to withhold visitation from the father until he agreed to see them regularly and maintain his child support. Seems reasonable, right?

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. While the full-time parent may not simply “decide not to show up”, the non, full-time parent does have the right to waive visitation as the court does not require them to show up. Child support is also controlled by the state and can be disrupted when a person changes job.

The answer to this situation is to go back to court. Your kids have rights too and you can have your agreement changed. If you have found yourself in a similar situation, contact your family attorney and discuss your options.