Q: Teen is refusing visitation? Even if I show up to drop off and teen does not comply, can I be held in contempt?

A: As long as it is the teen who refuses to visit and you are not telling him not to go there is no contempt. The therapists opinion is also helpful.

A: An especially nasty trick some non-custodial parents play is to deliberately estrange a child from himself. Bad conversation, bad food, unkempt bedding, and no activities are all easily manufactured. Why would a non-custodial parent do this? Because there are at least four more years of child support to pay, and a flip of custody as an incident of contempt would come in mighty handy.

Family court is a court of policy. One policy is to keep children and non-custodial parents together. This is done through the visitation process. The court will be headstrong in its enforcement of this policy and will not likely understand estrangement. A family court judge is not a psychologist who conducted an in depth assessment, but rather a political figure hand-picked by the Mayor of New York City or elected upstate. Party favorites are ordinarily quite inept and can mismanage a family easily.

This means that the best case for trimming visitation can fall on deaf ears. Having a therapist available to testify is a plus though a family court typically does not find outsiders credible and finds insiders credible.

Otherwise, failure to follow an order of custody and visitation is a serious matter that can lead to a flip of custody and a flip of child support. It can also lead to civil incarceration for up to six months. Family court tends to operate in the best interests of its orders rather than in the best interests of children.

Counsel fees are available in the Family Court Act and could be awarded for a violation petition involving custody and visitation. However, the one counsel fee the asker must be concerned with is her own. The asker must not go into family court on a hunch that she will find justice there that operates her way. She must retain counsel well before filing for the best advice possible, and not advice here online.