Advice from someone who has been in your shoes
  Search entire web
Supervised Visitation Directory
Return to list of questions Return to topic groups
Mother ignored father's court-ordered holiday time with the kids-- how to respond?

Your Question:
Divorced 5 years.....x-wife took kids away Christmas eve 2004 on an ski trip....without me knowing....Christmas morning at 10am was my holiday and the kids were gone. It was documented by the police... She has said as a make up she will give me half of x-mas 05, I think i should get the whole day....would court see it my way? Should I take the 1/2 day? What's from preventing her from taking them another


My Answer:

You have two choices: file for contempt or try to work it out with your ex.

If you're trying to work it out, I imagine you should get the exact amount of time that you lost and get it at the time you want it. According to you, she unilaterally took away your "premium" holiday time without consulting you, so it's reasonable that you would be able to say, "Hey, you took 28 hours of time that I really wanted with the kids, so I'd like to have those 28 hours run from December 31 at 10AM to January 1 at 2PM."

If she refuses, then you either take what she's offering, or you take her to court for contempt of orders during December 2004.

In answer to your question as to what stops her from taking them another holiday... only consequences from prior actions can influence future actions. So, if she loses something of value (i.e., holiday time in the future), that's a consequence. If she has to defend herself against a contempt motion, that's another consequence.

I can't imagine this was her only such behavior of ignoring court orders, as it's pretty emblazened to do without good reason. So, it's up to you to start holding her accountable, else she'll continue to do whatever she wants.



© 2005 ~ 2012 All Rights Reserved.