What to do if the other parent is violating a visitation order

Going through a divorce in Connecticut is not usually an easy process. There are many emotions that are involved as people separate the life they had shared throughout the marriage. This includes separating their finances and assets, but it also involves separating their homes, which means reducing the time they are able to spend with their children. Even in situations where parents equally split visitation, parents are going from seeing their children almost every day to 50% of the time.

Parents can and should try to make the best of it for the sake of their children, but making this new situation work involves both parents working together. If one parent decides to stop following a visitation order, it makes it impossible to work together. If this occurs, the parent being denied their visitation may not have a choice but to try and enforce the visitation order.

The way that a parent can enforce the order is by filing a motion for contempt. This motion states the ways in which the other parent is violating and requests relief for the violation. This relief can take many different forms.

• It can include potentially modifying the existing visitation order,
• providing compensatory visitation for the time that the parent was denied,
• ordering the parent to pay a fine for missed visitation,
• potentially reducing or suspending child support,
• requiring the parent violating the order to pay for attorney’s fees associated with the contempt motion,
• other penalties to ensure the parent will follow the order in the future.

Many parents in Connecticut have visitation orders that they must follow. These orders are not perfect and sometimes issues arise that make it difficult or impossible to follow the order. In those situations, it is best for the parents to work together to find a solution.

However, there are some instances when one parent is willfully denying the other parent time with the children without a good basis for doing so. In these situations that parent may be help in contempt of court for violating the order. The goal is to ensure that each parent is receiving the visitation that is ordered and therefore the punishments will be tailored to ensure that happens. These can be very complicated matters though and experienced attorneys may be able to guide one through the process.