Q: Do I have to give my daughters Father my weekend if she was sick on his the weekend before?
I have full legal and sole custody. He was given a strict parentIng time schedule due to mental illness. No overnights, and every other Sat. and Sun. 10am-6pm and I’m required to provide her all transportation. She’s been under distress the last few months being there with her Dads constant fights and verbal abuse towards his 19 year old live in fiancé that’s been there 4 months now. I don’t want her to have to be there more than she has to be but she was sick with strep throat over his weekend and I don’t know if I’m required to let him make up his time with mine.
A: If your parenting time agreement doesn't specify make up visits when your daughter is ill, then you are not under a court order to do so. However the court wants to see parents take extra measures to insure that the other parent isn't deprived of parenting time when there are unforeseen circumstances such as an illness so I think you should absolutely consider some makeup time to show you are not interfering with father's rights to spend time with his daughter, but on the contrary you are taking steps to actively facilitate that relationship. The issues with the father's new girlfriend and your daughter really need to be treated as a separate matter. I suggest that you and the father arrange to go to mediation and discuss the problems that the daughter is having with the girlfriend and come up with a mutually agreed solution. Maybe dad can agree to spend his visitation time with the daughter only and away from the fiancee. Otherwise you file a petition to amend parenting time and put the matter before a judge. It is a mistake to use apples (your daughter being sick) to deal with oranges (your daughter's problem with the girlfriend.)
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