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Violation of Visitation Arrangement
When parents get divorced, they usually have to agree on custody. Often, one parent (usually the mother) gets custody of the child, while the other is entitled to visitation. Whether custody and visitation are agreed upon, or a system is set up by the court, it is legally binding. As such, violating a visitation agreement is a very serious matter.
If the custodial parent fails to deliver a child to a scheduled visitation, or otherwise prevents visitation, he or she is directly violating a court order, and is creating potential criminal liability.
Pressing criminal charges, however, should be a last resort. If the other parent violated a visitation agreement, first it is best to attempt to work out the problem with the other parent, without involving the courts. If it was a one-time occurrence, it may save a lot of time and energy to let it slide once. If it becomes habitual, however, problems can arise.
If the courts must get involved, the parents should go before the family court that approved the visitation agreement in the first place, as that court will be in the best position to determine that it has been violated. At that point, the court might order the missed visitation time to be made up.
After repeated violations, the court may hold the offending parent in contempt, which could subject them to a loss of custody or visitation rights, fines, and jail time.
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