Q: My ex-wife now has supervised visitation of our 3 children. Would she still be allowed to pick them up by herself?
The court awarded my request for supervised visitation and my ex-wife's visitation time (every other weekend) is supposed to be spent at her mother's house and under her mother's supervision. My ex-wife is arguing that she is still allowed to pick up/transport the children on her own or without her mother and wants to pick them up (either alone or with her new boyfriend) under the pretense that she is going to take them to her mother's house for her visitation time. Doesn't supervised visitation mean supervision at all times, not excluding transporting them? She's also responsible for transportation per a previous court order, so she's made things quite difficult for herself. She's been forfeiting weekends and since March 12th (when she got kicked out of her mother's house), she's only seen them for about 30 minutes (when her parents brought them to her) and about 4 hours on July 4th. Would this be sufficient to argue for abandonment against her? She barely even calls or writes them.
A: You have included several issues in your question. The short answer is that she must follow the court orders, as written. If the two of you do not agree on what the court orders mean then you must return to court for clarification. Since timesharing is modifiable until the children emancipate, rather than thinking about "abandonment," you can return to court to modify the timesharing schedule so that you have the majority, if not all, of the time. Speak with a local family lawyer for more specific advice.
Justia Ask a Lawyer is a forum for consumers to get answers to basic legal questions. Any information sent through Justia Ask a Lawyer is not secure and is done so on a non-confidential basis only.
The use of this website to ask questions or receive answers does not create an attorney–client relationship between you and Justia, or between you and any attorney who receives your information or responds to your questions, nor is it intended to create such a relationship. Additionally, no responses on this forum constitute legal advice, which must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case. You should not act upon information provided in Justia Ask a Lawyer without seeking professional counsel from an attorney admitted or authorized to practice in your jurisdiction. Justia assumes no responsibility to any person who relies on information contained on or received through this site and disclaims all liability in respect to such information.
Justia cannot guarantee that the information on this website (including any legal information provided by an attorney through this service) is accurate, complete, or up-to-date. While we intend to make every attempt to keep the information on this site current, the owners of and contributors to this site make no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the information contained in or linked to from this site.
