Visitation agreements

[ProLEOCiv]

I saw a discussion on another board about this, figured I'd get your take on it.

Have any of you ever been called by a non-custodial parent to enforce a visitation agreement? If so, what are you and what are you not allowed to do? What punishments have you seen courts hand out for custodial parents repeatedly violating visitation agreements?

[just joe]

I don't do anything other than document what happened and advise the agrieved party to contact their atty. I'm not forcing a kid to go with anybody; that is a civil matter.

[SmallCityCop]

Civil matter...refer them to the Commissioner.

[PhilipCal]

I saw a discussion on another board about this, figured I'd get your take on it.

Have any of you ever been called by a non-custodial parent to enforce a visitation agreement? If so, what are you and what are you not allowed to do? What punishments have you seen courts hand out for custodial parents repeatedly violating visitation agreements?

As has been noted, this is a Civil matter. I suggest to the complainant that he/she contact their Attorney, and pursue the matter through the courts.

[Monkeybomb]

Civil situation. The only thing we can enforce is a writ of assistance from our States court system.

[gloc_copper]

In Illinois, if they have the court documentation that i can physically read (no my attorney can tell you, call him) then I would write it up as a interference with visitation and the person could be charged. I assume this varies state to state.

[injunwil]

In Illinois, if they have the court documentation that i can physically read (no my attorney can tell you, call him) then I would write it up as a interference with visitation and the person could be charged. I assume this varies state to state.

that's AWESOME, i wish it was like that here. it's not, though, i'm in the "civil issue" boat :-(

[Smurfette_76]

If it's a court order, I have to take the child from the parent and give them to the other. It sucks. Those are the people that care more about the personal grudges between the adults than they do the children.

[Linkshinter]

My Agency will not enforce anything that isn't in writing signed by a judge with SPECIFIC days listed (Including dates) to where the child should be.

That said, with that paperwork, it has to be CURRENT up to the LAST business day where it could have been signed by a judge.

So if you show up and say mom won't give the kid up even though you have written/signed visitation agreements with a judge's blessing, then I look at it, make sure it has the right date, the location where the child is going to be, and that it was signed as recently as possible. Generally, people don't have "up to date" paperwork, so just getting them to admit that this paperwork is the most current paperwork is good enough.

If they can't fill all of the criteria, then we refer them to their lawyers.


And yes, I've never intervened in a situation like this where the child was the main point of interest...it's always the grudge involved that is the focus.

[injunwil]

http://www.geo.arizona.edu/~andyf/elian.jpg

YOUR WEEKENDS OVER!!!!!!

[SlowDownThere]

We send them back to Family Court.

The judge there can issue a warrant if one party violated the order, but that isn't done often. Sometimes the order simply gets modified.

[CruiserClass]

Yes, and they suck like few things have sucked before.

Unless there is evidence of unfit/unsafe conditions for the child I will not physically force change of custody. I will make a report for interference with custody, which is a criminal violation in Indiana, and let the prosecutor and judge hash it out. Since I can't be sure that your custody paperwork is the latest and greatest and hasn't been rescinded by the court, I'm not physically taking the child away from the person who has custody. I will let them know that they could face criminal and civil penalties if they are found to be holding the child against a valid custody agreement, though.

[Fuzz]

Civil.....as long as the child is not in any danger or neglected then it is referred back to family court. The reason for this is the HORRIBLE way that family court works around here. There could be 10 different court orders with different information....... no way to know we are reading the current one and the parents usually always disagree as to what the orders are. It stinks, but they get to go back to family court and further screw up the children.

[Nightshift va]

In Illinois, if they have the court documentation that i can physically read (no my attorney can tell you, call him) then I would write it up as a interference with visitation and the person could be charged. I assume this varies state to state.

Not only does it vary state to state it varies department to department. Where I used to work if the parent had the court order and it was current we could force the parent to comply with the order or arrest them for violation of court order but at the department I'm at now our commonwealth has made us handle all custody issue's as civil matters to take up with the court and lawyers. But if the parent never honors the agreement and doesn't come to court there is no teeth behind the orders like most civil orders that are not followed. It's basically a broke system with our County.

[tactical208]

Well there are two sides to this actually, if your case was done in family court it is civil, if your case went through State Supreme Court I can arrest you for failed to obey a court order. If the order states that the child must be with parent "X" then the child goes to parent "X". The order is what it is.

However most of the time it is documented for court purposes and the two parties can go back to court and argue the incidents in front of a judge for determination.

This is different by state and department.