How To Handle A Skipped Visitation

Your parenting time plan is designed to give both parents meaningful access to your child. This time is important not only for you as a parent, but it is essential for your child’s development to have real relationships with both parents. Learning what to do when visitation is missed or skipped is something you need to know as you move forward after your divorce or custody case.

If you are the residential parent and the other parent skips his or her scheduled parenting times, you may be frustrated by the schedule changes. While it’s important to be flexible with each about necessary schedule adjustments, if your ex is simply not showing up on a regular basis without rescheduling or letting you know, it’s stressful for you and your child. There is nothing you can do to force a parent to utilize his or her scheduled parenting time, except lay guilt trips about how disappointed your child is. What you can do is seek to modify the schedule so that visits are planned at times when your ex might actually use them. If visits continue to be completely missed, you can seek to have them completely removed from the schedule.

If you are the nonresidential parent and your ex, the residential parent, is doing things to prevent you from using your scheduled parenting time, like constantly moving dates and times, or simply not being there for your pick up, you need to talk to your attorney. You can enforce the schedule in court and you can use these evasion techniques as a basis for asking for more time with your child, and possibly even a change in legal custody.

The Sampair Group has experience in difficult parenting time cases all across the valley. Make an appointment to meet the attorney that will help you with your case.